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POLYTONE BASS AMP

#61
My Polytone B515.
Control panel:
20221213_155327.jpg

Front. I previously mentioned the foam stuff that got crunchy and crumbly after a while. I put cloth & clear vinyl on the baffle board and added the speaker grille cover. It looks like the weatherstripping I used to help seat the plastic grille is coming undone. This amp doesn't get out much any more. You have to admit that it has a distinctive look.
20221213_155340 2.jpg
 
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#62
I’ve had two. When I was younger, I lusted after one but when I finally found one, I was disappointed in many ways.

Both that I’ve owned were very cheaply made, but at least they made up for or it by sounding pretty bad too.

Maybe a mint or new one did the job in some fashion back in the day, but my experience was low power, no headroom, and poor extension. However, there must have been something to them to make them as popular as they were back in their heyday. Or was it just that there wasn’t anything else available? Don’t know, don’t care. I paid $100 for my second one. That would be as much as I’d ever pay and then only for small room, acoustic level stuff.

They were a fave of 60-70 vintage jazz guitarists, but maybe they were a bit ambitious as a bass amp.

maybe if I had exposure to a thoroughly reconditioned one, I’d think differently, but that would either be a labor of love or put it in a different price class than the ones I found locally that had a little age on them.

In my uninformed old boomer opinion, a small, more or less portable amp that had its day. Now, (admittedly for more money) AER or Acoustic Image for db or many nice little combos for electric.

Flame on, Polytone fans!
 
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#63
shortscalesrule said:
My Polytone B515.
Control panel:
View attachment 4902789
Front. I previously mentioned the foam stuff that got crunchy and crumbly after a while. I put cloth & clear vinyl on the baffle board and added the speaker grille cover. It looks like the weatherstripping I used to help seat the plastic grille is coming undone. This amp doesn't get out much any more. You have to admit that it has a distinctive look. View attachment 4902791
Click to expand...

Oh man, seeing that control panel brings back nightmares. ;)
 

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