Seen one of these? Anymore known?

[Michael Hogan]

I have several Oahu amps and Recently found an oddity that I have not been able to find any information about.
This is a “standard” Oahh amp:-





And this is the recent acquisition:-



Looks identical until you look at the back:-



No power cord! Is this a 1940s busker’s amp?
It was given to me as a non working project and my amp tech kept the skin of the original battery and loaded new rechargeable batteries inside.
It looks original and sounds great. 120v battery powered amp.
What we were wondering was what happened when the original batteries ran flat?
It was not rechargeable and one would assume that a replacement would be expensive.
Does anyone know anything about these early battery powered amps?

[Brad Bechtel]

Moved from Steel Without Pedals to Electronics.

[Michael Maddex]

Very interesting! Any chance for a photo of the original Battery setup? How about a Schematic or Tube List?

Much of Rural America was not electrified until after WWII. Farms had battery powered Tube Radios. So did Autos. As a result, big batteries were more common and presumably more affordable back then.

This is obviously an area of Interest to me, so more photos and info would be greatly appreciated. Good Stuff! Thanks for posting.

[Donny Hinson]

Some of the earliest tube amps (and radios) were battery powered. They would be used away from the cities and towns, where there was yet no power grid. The batteries were expensive for the day, some costing around $3 to $7, and there were usually two. One (the "A" battery) supplied low voltage for the filaments, and the other ("B" battery) supplied high voltage for the plate supply. These battery-tube amps and radios lasted for only a few hours playing time, so a few were converted to 110v when electric became available, and most of the rest were just junked.

I've seen many battery-tube radios (own a couple myself), but only one amplifier, and it wasn't an Oahu. Your's is certainly a rare bird, valuable as a collectible, but not really practical for regular use.

[Bill A. Moore]

I had a battery powered portable tube radio back in the 50's. It used a 67.5 volt battery, and they didn't last long. An uncle, (who gave me the radio), would bring me batteries from the base, I don't know how long a new battery would last!

[George Kimery]

Interesting. This has the look of something that the door to door salesmen that sold lap steels would have carried and sold, along with the guitar. Just a stab in the dark guess, but with the word Ohau on it, looks like it would have been a natural to go along with a Hawaiian steel guitar.

[Michael Hogan]

I will follow up with pics of the battery casing and the chassis. This is the Islander guitar that accompanied the amp.

[Michael Hogan]

Very interesting! Any chance for a photo of the original Battery setup? How about a Schematic or Tube List?

Much of Rural America was not electrified until after WWII. Farms had battery powered Tube Radios. So did Autos. As a result, big batteries were more common and presumably more affordable back then.

This is obviously an area of Interest to me, so more photos and info would be greatly appreciated. Good Stuff! Thanks for posting.

The tubes in the battery powered amp are 2 x 1G6-G and 2 x 1C6-G

[img]https://bb. .com/userpix1712/9945_8D5D1A1C137543E7B227218583862687_1.jpg[/img]

[Michael Butler]

very, very interesting! thanks for sharing this.

do you use it?

it does look like that one cap is about to pop.

play music!

[Michael Hogan]

very, very interesting! thanks for sharing this.

do you use it?

it does look like that one cap is about to pop.

play music!

Yes I do use the amp no on off just plug and play.