An Australian Vintage
"Savage" Guitar Amplifier
85 watts RMS
"Savage" Guitar Amplifier
85 watts RMS
Savage amplifiers were manufactured in Australia in the early 1970's.
Around 1974, all three guitarists in our Adelaide band "Mobius" bought these amps. The guitar amps had green livery (as seen in the photos) whilst the bass amp had orange livery.
You can see the Savage being used on stage in this picture taken in 1975 in Adelaide
They were pretty cheap, because there was a known fault whereby the amp would usually blow up within the four or five hours of operation. When it blew up, we were to bring it in, get it repaired free of charge and then it would function all right.
Thus duly happened... they all blew up, were repaired and then performed perfectly for years.
The box had four 12" Plessy C12P mid range speakers. (see picture 4)
About two years after I bought it, new solid-state power amps came on the market. They were about the size of a cigarette pack and fully encased in resin. A mate of mine - Dave "Electron" Park - tore out the old power amp and fitted one of these new solid state 100watt RMS monsters (see picture 3 with the heat sink sticking out the back).
This really supercharged the Savage and with the overdrive turned to maximum, I could make it howl like Terry Kaths's freeform guitar on Chicago Transit Authority's track "Liberation"
I used it for 10 years in Adelaide, then used it for about five years playing bass in a jazz piano trio. It hasn't had much use since 1989.
But is still sounds great!
January 2008
I found this web page recently - it has a lot of information and photos on the "Savage 85"
http://www.ozvalveamps.org/savage.htm
Around 1974, all three guitarists in our Adelaide band "Mobius" bought these amps. The guitar amps had green livery (as seen in the photos) whilst the bass amp had orange livery.
You can see the Savage being used on stage in this picture taken in 1975 in Adelaide
They were pretty cheap, because there was a known fault whereby the amp would usually blow up within the four or five hours of operation. When it blew up, we were to bring it in, get it repaired free of charge and then it would function all right.
Thus duly happened... they all blew up, were repaired and then performed perfectly for years.
The box had four 12" Plessy C12P mid range speakers. (see picture 4)
About two years after I bought it, new solid-state power amps came on the market. They were about the size of a cigarette pack and fully encased in resin. A mate of mine - Dave "Electron" Park - tore out the old power amp and fitted one of these new solid state 100watt RMS monsters (see picture 3 with the heat sink sticking out the back).
This really supercharged the Savage and with the overdrive turned to maximum, I could make it howl like Terry Kaths's freeform guitar on Chicago Transit Authority's track "Liberation"
I used it for 10 years in Adelaide, then used it for about five years playing bass in a jazz piano trio. It hasn't had much use since 1989.
But is still sounds great!
January 2008
I found this web page recently - it has a lot of information and photos on the "Savage 85"
http://www.ozvalveamps.org/savage.htm
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
here
