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Vintage Park Tube Amp...anybody?

A

Amorica

Dec 19, 2011
43
0
#1
Found this amp under a stack of bass gear at my local GC (see pics). GSM said it's been there forever. It's a Park, Model 2574, 50w tube, 1 x 12, built 5/10/79 (I was two years old...should have bought it then) :D

This thing just sounds incredible, lots of sweet overdrive. My bass teacher was there to help pick out my first rig, but we got sidetracked. He said it reminded him of an old B15 (never heard one myself, so I can't say). Sales guy whipped out a tele and plugged in, it sounded great too. On a gut feeling I bought it for $800. Tried to haggle, but GSM said that's what GC paid for it, so the price was firm. I have 5 days to return it for full refund. Anybody out there that can give me some good information? Am I the worlds biggest sucker? Give it to me straight...and thank you.
 

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#2
Hi.

First of all, the Park amp You have, has nothing to do with modern small crappy SS amps bearing that name.

From GT tube amp book, but they copied it from somewhere anyway:

Park is/was Johnny Jones's wifes maiden name. Johnny was the Jim Marshall's Northern England distributor, and when Jim sold the distribution rights to Rose-Morris, all his distributors were left with... nothing. So several "side-brands" were created, most popular was Park, then there was Kitchen-Marshall, Narb, and probably many more.

So, what You have there is basically a late 70's Marshall.

$800 is more than I'd pay for one, but then again, I seriously doubt that You could get one for less.

Enjoy.

Regards
Sam
 
#3
I think your amp is a great find, you will get a lot of respect on the "50 W to 100 W Tube amp owners' club" here on Talkbass.

It will probably not sound modern at all, and the open back structure makes me doubt its utility for stage use. But you have a cool piece of gear to practice on for sure. There are collectors on the net who would drool over such a well-preserved unit.

Looking at how to spend your money otherwise, for 800 dollars, you could probably get a good 500 W micro head and an iffy cab, maybe a 200 W combo? I am not sure of the prices over there. but a tube amp is always the sound to go for.

I would probably keep it.
 
#4
rust_preacher said:
It will probably not sound modern at all, and the open back structure makes me doubt its utility for stage use.
Click to expand...

It actually has a closed back with what seems like a million screws. It's two pieces, bottom panel covers the speaker box, top panel covers the tubes (with a grill made of genuine vintage plastic :eyebrow:) Bottom panel has a 1/4" out, but it's not connected and don't see any loss wires (old preamp out maybe?)

Still, I don't about gigging with it,*must weigh like 55 pounds!
 
#5
Very Very Nice recording amp mate, not the original speaker in it I bet, but hell what would it sound like with a JBL K120 in the cab.
Vintage Marshall is like Vintage Rolls Royce and Park is like
Vintage Bentley, very close relation quite a lot of similarities
but some very nice differences as well.
In an odd way Vintage Park is like Vintage Bentley slightly classier than Marshall or Rolls to the real cognoscenti.
:bassist:
Start getting all snobby about it, saying things like "all original Drake transformers old boy, dont'ch know!
just as good as Partridge iron and all that"
 
#7
Amorica said:
It actually has a closed back with what seems like a million screws. It's two pieces, bottom panel covers the speaker box, top panel covers the tubes (with a grill made of genuine vintage plastic :eyebrow:) Bottom panel has a 1/4" out, but it's not connected and don't see any loss wires (old preamp out maybe?)

Still, I don't about gigging with it,*must weigh like 55 pounds!
Click to expand...

OK, fine, then it's all good.

For sound modifications, maybe a Weber speaker could give you more bang for the weight - but added weight as well. Just retain the original. The magnet doesn't look all that hefty.

I hope you enjoy it! I would!
 
#10
rust_preacher said:
OK, fine, then it's all good.

For sound modifications, maybe a Weber speaker could give you more bang for the weight - but added weight as well. Just retain the original. The magnet doesn't look all that hefty
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'd love to get a little more SPL out of her live if possible. As is I'm unsure if I could keep up live w/ drummer + 2 guitars. Any suggestions on speaker alternatives that might do that and respect the units natural tone? Also, does anybody think this is the original speaker...I have my doubts.
 
#11
Original speaker?
It's clearly labeled MusicMan, so, I'd bet no.

Neat amp, but, expecting it to be loud is probably going to leave you disappointed.
 
#12
Amorica said:
Thanks, I'd love to get a little more SPL out of her live if possible. As is I'm unsure if I could keep up live w/ drummer + 2 guitars. Any suggestions on speaker alternatives that might do that and respect the units natural tone? Also, does anybody think this is the original speaker...I have my doubts.
Click to expand...
Its not the original speaker, that would have been a Celestion
G12 of some power rating like 75 the same speaker they put
on the marshall 1960 cab, do you see an ohms selector switch
on the amp. make sure whatever speakers you do connect are always properly connected at the correct ohms before you turn it on and if you get an efficient substitute bass cab like an old sunn 2 x 15 with JBL 140's you will be loud enough for live drums if a little bit filthy, but in a good way.:D
 
#13
It also appears to have JJ and GT tubes in it which are both recent, so it's not an attic find either, looks to be a regularly used amp for someone.

I'd eventually look to switch out that MM speaker and maybe find something that was closer to vintage appropriate.
 
#14
I don't know much about them but I'd imagine it originally came with some model of Celestion guitar speaker, no?

The thing has collector value so I wouldn't go messing with it/altering anything other than to maybe track down an "appropriate" guitar speaker if that will help it's value any. If you want to gig it with bass, I'd get a good, loud bass cab to run it to and leave the guitar speaker out of the loop, or use it on the top half of a biamped clean/dirty rig.

Nice amp. Were it me, I'd probably just use it with guitar, or mild bass use, like practice and recording.
 
#15
Back in 1997 when I bought my first electric guitar (I know I know evil me) the guy at the local music store threw in a free small practice combo amp that was a Park (honestly I can remember it looking just like a Marshall). I blew the speaker out jamming with my friend and then I bought a new Marshall combo...then I started playing bass ;)

I still have that guitar and Marshall combo though.
 
#16
Thanks to everybody who chimed in. I love this thing, its tone is so musical. I swapped out the GT 12ax7's with NOS Mullard's. I like what I'm getting out of the MM speaker, but I'm thinking about tring a period correct vintage Celestion. Anybody know how I could track down the right model and ohm load? Where does one start researching such a thing?
 
#18
If I were to track down a "period correct" speaker, I'd make it the guitar speaker it's supposed to be. Let's face it, everything doesn't have to be turned into a bass amp, there are some sweet guitar amps out there. That said, I'd probably highpass it and try it with my bass.....with a proper guitar speaker of course.:p
 
#19
Bassmec said:
Its not the original speaker, that would have been a Celestion
G12 of some power rating like 75 the same speaker they put
on the marshall 1960 cab, do you see an ohms selector switch
on the amp. make sure whatever speakers you do connect are always properly connected at the correct ohms before you turn it on and if you get an efficient substitute bass cab like an old sunn 2 x 15 with JBL 140's you will be loud enough for live drums if a little bit filthy, but in a good way.:D
Click to expand...

Don't see an ohm seceltor switch, anybody know where I'd look? Also, is there another way to tell what the ohm rating is?
 

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