Can someone explain old combo amps to me

[Rip Van Dan]

Boy your giving away your age

Yeah, I know @dbase. And, it's a bit weird to be the same age as old people are!!

 

[matthewbrown]

I've owned few combos, but the most memorable one was a Polytone Mini-Brute III, a 1X15. This worked fairly well for low-volume jazz gigs, and it was quite portable. I had to keep a screwdriver around because the screws came loose over time. It had a muffled sound, but it was a useful amp. Quality control on them was iffy -- I have a friend who helped assemble them back in the day and he says as much. Mine was pretty good despite this.

 

[Geogio]

...PS, I've heard several stories of whole bands plugging into a single AC30

Don't forget.... a vocal mic was plugged in there too... when "the band" got together - it got ugly.

 

[Guitalia]

The Voodoo is the designer's understanding of player's wants/needs, their intent and skill at executing the design.

IMO, there is no "best amp", there are many different amps that better address each player's desires and personal tastes. For example there are players who think the Marshall Major is the worst amp ever and players who think it's the best amp ever. That's life in a nut shell.

I've mentioned this before, but in the hope of amusing a few newcomers:

Back in my home town of New Haven, my best friend in high school, who always did everything in a big way, decided that his two Fender Dual Showman amps weren't enough. (He almost never played with a band; they were set up in his bedroom.) So he sold them.

He then drove to Manny's Music in midtown Manhattan and bought a pair of used Marshall Major full stacks. ($550 each.)

One stack had all three pieces stenciled "JACK BRUCE" across the back.

The other was stenciled "PETER PAUL AND MARY."

History lesson: Peter Paul and Mary were an enormously successful folk music trio whose heyday lasted from the early '60's until rock music obliterated the folk scene. They were always accompanied in concert by an upright bass player.

I can only guess that when they played the biggest venues, the sound people threw a mic on the bass and plugged it into the Marshall stack, since the PA systems of the time couldn't handle anything but vocals and, in their case, nylon- and steel-string acoustic guitars.

The Marshall Major was introduced in 1967, and Peter Paul and Mary's popularity had waned significantly by 1969, so the amp my friend bought was probably still in great shape when he bought it in 1970 or so.

Can't vouch for the condition of Jack Bruce's amp, though. That said, I borrowed it a couple of times. Worked fine.