Members tsunamijesus Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Im doing a stupid paper for school and my topic is the history and evolution of guitar amps, and i need some examples of stolen circuits, lawsuit amps, stuff like that. also, what amps led to what other amps? like how the first mesas were just modded fender circuits and that whole rigamaroll Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 The only ones I can think of would be Trainwreck and Dumble amps but I guess they're more clones than "lawsuit" amps. I don't think an amp manufacturer has ever sued another one or at least I've never heard of it. Besides even Fenders started from circuits found in tube manufacturer or radio books if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tsunamijesus Posted May 13, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 thanks dude. i always thought htere were some lawsuits at one point or another. my mistake so what are some examples of ripoffs then? besides the whole splawn/marshall thing (how is that not enough to sue on?) does marshall just turn a blind eye to the DIY kits or are those circuits purshased by the guys who sell the kits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GYBE! Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 I thought a lawsuit was threatened against peavey by marshall for the butcher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vinhoff Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Earth Amplification was sued successfully by peavey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrk5150 Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 I think I heard that soldano was going to sue peavey because of the 5150. I think it had more to do with the look than the actual circuit though. Also, wasn't the first marshall just a modified fender bassman circuit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 TEH SOUL OF VALVES!!1!!!!11!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tsunamijesus Posted May 13, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Earth Amplification was sued successfully by peavey. what were they suing about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AMSnell Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Bugera! Marshall stole bassman circuitry. Peavy stole some circuity. Mesa stole Fender circuitry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mpdan Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 I'm not sure if a lawsuit was involved, but I'm pretty sure that Randall Smith sold Fender amps back in the day and decided to hot rod some Princetons and called them "Boogies" because Carlos Santana said "man, that thing really boogies." Fender cut him off and a successful amp company was born. Something like that. I think the story is on his web page. Weren't the original marshalls a modded bassman? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JamesPeters Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 I predict this paper will get you really good grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AMSnell Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Peters! I hear all his amps are Gorilla copies, but sound worse. Oh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kishjor Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 The marshall plexi is basically a copy of a fender bassman using british parts... more iron in the transformer, more gain and wattage and of course el 34s... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tsunamijesus Posted May 13, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 I predict this paper will get you really good grades. sarcasm? its actually a culminating project paper. Its going to involve my internship at THD, but i have to write a paper on the subject before i do the internship:confused: so its an uninformed mishmash of shitty shit. any tips? haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Herald of Light Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 any tips? Stop using an internet message board as a source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JamesPeters Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 sarcasm? its actually a culminating project paper. Its going to involve my internship at THD, but i have to write a paper on the subject before i do the internship:confused: so its an uninformed mishmash of shitty shit. any tips? haha I'd recommend not choosing a subject for which solid information is difficult to find (as HoL pointed out in his own way). My bet is that coming to HC to ask about this isn't going to get you anything you can sink your teeth into...just like that paper about NAMM. If you're saying THD told you to write a paper about this specific subject, I'd be a bit surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AMSnell Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 +1 on what jamespeters just said, doing a paper on something with so little information is a bitch. I had to do my History Paper on the reasons behind the downfall of Khrushchev, and theres NOTHING on it, literally, and everything there is on it is just about his erratic behaviour. I wanted to dive deep into the individual reasonings behind the people that otherthrew him, but there was so little. I had to use limited sources in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Mesa threatened to sue Carvin over the X-series. I believe Mesa also made Acoustic and Mitchell stop making their "cascading preamp" tube amps. Bedrock had a Vox lawsuit model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Echoes Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Yamaha had the T100 and T50 amps that Soldano helped with the circuits and later sued Yamaha over...I suppose Yamaha quit paying royalties or something, I dunno...definitely a lawsuit amp though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Furtive Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 The first production guitar amps were used with lap steel guitars back in the 1930s. Go look on ebay for "Gibson lap steel". I think that those models had a prefix of "EH-" but I could be wrong. To the best of my knowledge, many early instrument amplifier circuits were derived from RCA patents that were released to the public during WW2. Leo Fender started off repairing radios before building his first amplifiers while working with Doc Kauffman. Good luck on your paper, sounds like a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Inertiatic_SKS Posted May 14, 2007 Members Share Posted May 14, 2007 Expect Bugera to be sued by Peavey soon. But there have always been companies who "stole" from other companies. Jim Marshall built the first Marshalls based off of the Fender 59 Bassman. Peavey based the 5150s off of Soldano Decatones (I think. Going by my bad memory on this one). Mesa started with a modded Fender Princeton. However, I don't think there's ever been lawsuits filed against an amp brand for copying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members exposeenmity Posted May 14, 2007 Members Share Posted May 14, 2007 Wow, surprised no one's said Madison yet. No lawsuits involved that I'm aware of, but JerryP said it's a direct rip of another amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Inertiatic_SKS Posted May 14, 2007 Members Share Posted May 14, 2007 That totally slipped my mind. The circuit board of the Divinity is an exact copy of the TSL100, but according to my friend who owns a Divinity, he said it sounds nothing like the TSL100. I dunno how that works, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stevehollx Posted May 14, 2007 Members Share Posted May 14, 2007 The marshall plexi is basically a copy of a fender bassman using british parts... more iron in the transformer, more gain and wattage and of course el 34s... I think the plexi circuit was different from the Bassman circuit. I believe you are referring to the Marshall JTM45, which was a Bassman with British parts...and I want to say even a 6L6 power section for a little while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members slideroni Posted May 14, 2007 Members Share Posted May 14, 2007 Google is your friend. Please, Vinhoff, post something with a source, rather than something you heard. From the Unofficial Earth Sound Research site: The following is an E-mail I received from Andy Fuchs He said I could post it here so ..... "I worked for them for about a year. They were an interesting company. There's a website at www.plushamps.com or is it www.plush-amps.com (I forget which), which covers their sister company. I believe that Plush became Earth after they moved to California and I think Earth bought the remains of what was left in the NYC factories. I worked for one of a number of subcontractors who actually built the Earth gear for them. They never actually had their own factory (that I'm aware of) , but rather ended up making their stuff at various subcontractors. They used a few around the NY/Long Island area, and mostly copied Fenders (for the Plush and later Earth stuff that looked like it), or Peaveys. We actually used Peavey schematics in the shop for service ! The biggest problem was, they copied Peavey, but used inferior output transistors. Sad part was, that everything else was equal (or in some cases better) than the Peavey counterparts, but the outputs failing hurt them as many amps came back for service or repairs. They used a high-grade military subcontractor (Qualtrol Electronics in Deer Park), who built vending machines, and military aircraft electronics. The metalwork and circuit boards were copied from Peavey, and duplicated very accurately. Peavey was planning to sue them (they actually flew one of our technicians to Mississippi to interview him about the whole process), but the end result was Peavey's attorneys advised him to change the models to new designs, as it would be cheaper than suing Earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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