Elk Custom Amp 45 (1967)

The Japanese company which made Elk guitars & amps was found by Yukiho Yamada in the mid-sixties. Yukiho learnt to love country music during the American occupation and was heavily influenced by Western music. But this head is not a Fender clone despite the obvious similarities, it's a decent amp in it's own right. Tube rectified with a pair of 6V6s, the amp sounds warm and dynamic. What really makes this amp stand out, however, is the reverb, which is incredibly strong, but more angry robot than splashy cave. When combined with the trem, which gives a firm, deep, sine wave, playing the amp starts to get inspirational. This would be a great amp for someone who's into creating new sounds and experimentation and not just bashing out soft rock covers. This amp deserves recognition for enabling the production of some truly unique modulation effects.

It's been converted to UK voltage and has 4, 8 & 16 ohm taps on the output transformer. Some mods have been added via switches on the control panel, which are as unobtrusive as they should be. We've given it a full service and removed the few remaining Quickfail(TM) oil caps. The head is slightly smaller and lighter than your typical Fender head from the same period. And for what you get, it's cheap as chips, someone will "discover" these amps soon, and then you'll be rich beyond your wildest dreams!