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Cool, rare, or odd-ball amps to look out for?

B-TH (British Thompson Houston), Radford, Leak, Quad, Langevin (Thanks Radioactive) Heathkit, Acrosound, some Realistic, Altec, Stromburg Carlson
Edit: spelling
 
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Dswankey said:
IMHO I have to agree, with all the love the Maggy pulls get and rightly so you don't hear to much about the RCA amps. The one keeper I've had is an RCA RS-177, very impressive Power Transformer and with some mods to boost the gain this little gem is sweet.
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Ditto on the RCA RS-177, well built and easy to use as a standalone - but - in comparison, the same makeup Motorola's RS711 are the cats meow. Don't get me wrong, the RCA is a keeper but the moto has beefier output transformers. I have two of the moto's, one kept in a pristine Drexel cab with tuning eye and another I use for stand alone. Man I love this hobby.!!!
 
... and then there was also this.
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source: www.radioshackcatalogs.com (1962)

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source: www.radioshackcatalogs.com (1963)
 
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Don't forget Pedersen. They made a beautiful Williamson amp, among other things. I have a mono preamp with a neat range of early phono EQs. Works but needs refurbishing. Haven't had the time. ;-)

ETA: I see someone mentioned Pedersen earlier.
 
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Fwiw electohome was mentioned earlier but no one metnione that the pa 100 monobloc uses partridge output transformers so if you come across one don't dismiss it as just a electrohome amp.
 
I think we got the rare and obscure almost covered now. I'll dig through my memory bank and see what else I can come up with.
 
With all the obscure and rare brands that have been mentioned in this thread so far and with the member count of audiokarma the secret is out.
I can just see someone now making a spreadsheet and printing it out or keeping it on their phones when they're out and about and see something they're not familar with.onething though is searching ebay for completed auctions will come up blank for alot of it as some of it is so rare.
 
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Lucky Pierre said:
Greetings,

Killing time here are work...

I have had fairly good luck "finding" gear, word of mouth, trash picked, etc... What are some cool, rare, or oddball amps/preamps I should have on my radar? I am thinking along the likes of Fairchilds, Grommes, really early Realistic gear... Bonus points for gear that was designed to be stand alone, rather than in consoles.

Bear in mind that I am not going to rush out and look for something now. I just want to have ideas in the back of my mind for the future.

Thanks!
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Want something exotic - look for Western Electric amplifiers. Here are examples http://dejavu-audio.com/vintage-audio-equipment.html
 
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