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The Spotnicks 1963 .. name those amps.
- Thread starter dbase
- Start date
A few years old thread, happened to see this when I was looking for something completely different.
I know a lot about this bass guitar, I've known the Spotnicks members since I was a little 10 year old boy, and heard about the story of this one.
It is a home built around 1961 for bass player Björn Thelin made by Bo Winberg The Spotnicks lead guitarist who was technically gifted genius and also built the group's amplifier, tape echo-machine and speakers.
The bass guitar parts were probably bought from the "Herman Carlson-Levin" guitar factory which was located in Gothenburg, Sweden at the time, the same home town that The Spotnicks comes from.
The bass pickups seems to be a DeArmond brand, and this was also a brand that the Levin factory sold in bulk at that time here in Sweden.
It is said to still exist today, and should be preserved in a glass cabinet in a music store in Stockholm.
Björn Thelin also used a bass speaker box with a 30 inch Electrovoice/University 30W speaker.
--Bo
I know a lot about this bass guitar, I've known the Spotnicks members since I was a little 10 year old boy, and heard about the story of this one.
It is a home built around 1961 for bass player Björn Thelin made by Bo Winberg The Spotnicks lead guitarist who was technically gifted genius and also built the group's amplifier, tape echo-machine and speakers.
The bass guitar parts were probably bought from the "Herman Carlson-Levin" guitar factory which was located in Gothenburg, Sweden at the time, the same home town that The Spotnicks comes from.
The bass pickups seems to be a DeArmond brand, and this was also a brand that the Levin factory sold in bulk at that time here in Sweden.
It is said to still exist today, and should be preserved in a glass cabinet in a music store in Stockholm.
Björn Thelin also used a bass speaker box with a 30 inch Electrovoice/University 30W speaker.
--Bo
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Sweden was a little behind in the space race. I have a double CD “best of”; there’s a few vocal songs that are the weak moments. They should have just remained the Scandinavian Shadows.
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Thanks for this information, It puts an end to the mystery of the identification of this bass. it appears they even repaired the pick guard on the bass. It is very interesting that you actually knew the Spotnicks.
Here's an hour-long viddy of those guys performing a live show in Spain in 2008. The guitars are mostly all Fenders, but they seem to be playing all the hits with the amps: Fender, Vox, Marshall and Music Man are all represented. That could have been a festival back line set-up, but it's still quite a collection of old weirdness. Apropos the music I guess -- also quite a collection of old weirdness. 
Also, I'm not sure what amps Bo Winberg is playing on this fairly pedestrian rendering of "Sleepwalk", from 2003, but they are BIG and boutiquey-looking. Check it out.
BTW, he's playing that same stripped and re-lacquered Stratocaster in every video I've found of them.
Also, I'm not sure what amps Bo Winberg is playing on this fairly pedestrian rendering of "Sleepwalk", from 2003, but they are BIG and boutiquey-looking. Check it out.
BTW, he's playing that same stripped and re-lacquered Stratocaster in every video I've found of them.
Redbrangus,
The amplifier that Bo Winberg and also Bob Lander vocal and rhythm guitar play on is Bo W's own built "Signature" amplifier.
He built about 20 of these in his old age, and the last one when he was almost 80 years old.
One of the later bass players also had a special version of the Sinatur amplifier with 8 output tubes.
--Bo
The amplifier that Bo Winberg and also Bob Lander vocal and rhythm guitar play on is Bo W's own built "Signature" amplifier.
He built about 20 of these in his old age, and the last one when he was almost 80 years old.
One of the later bass players also had a special version of the Sinatur amplifier with 8 output tubes.
--Bo
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buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
The last two guys who were doing this schtick died earlier this year. From the Wiki entry, it sounded like they milked this old beast right up until 2014, when they announced their "final tour"...I'm not sure how I could have missed what must have been a big media flurry around that news.I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see them. Or the Beatles.
Just for the record, I've worked with several acts that had a similar provenance--they HAD been a band, a million years ago, and now there's still one or two guys--the ones who own the name--who are riding the old broke-down nag some 30 or 40 years later. Or in this case, 50 years after their 'hit' era. And they maintained a loyal following in Japan; it's funny, the Texas fusion-jazz bands I worked with in the '70's have a loyal following over there, too. Their self-released LP's from the '70's sell for up to $1K, even after a German label re-released their stuff on CD. Weird.
Not sure why people say things like this, yet people who pay huge money to see the Stones, Who, Billy Joel, etc.
Either way, people will get paid as long as they can get paid.
Apologies if that offended; it was written before I had more fully informed myself about the Spotnicks. My opinion now is that they -- and Bo Winberg in particular -- were sufficiently eccentric and quirky to command more than a modicum of respect. Still, that hour long YouTube video of a live show I posted the link for earlier speaks for itself. I watched the whole thing and it mostly just made me sad. More power to them that they were still able to get booked somewhere, but I don't see the correlation between that and the Stones, etc. ability to command large ticket prices.
That’s partly why they didn’t command large ticket prices. Very simple solution, though…don’t go see acts you don’t want to see.
Since most gear is specified in this thread: I was intrigued by the other guitar, the apparently mahogany single cut. Took some time and creative searching, but Bo Starlander's guitar is the only solid body model (just 'solid body') made by Swedish manufacturer Levin (number produced: 139 (estimated)).
