Sho Bud amps

Kermit Lee · Post by **Kermit Lee** » 8 Mar 2004 11:26 am

I have a chance to buy a ShoBud amp with 15" JBL, dont know the model yet or anything else about these amps. If anyone has any info to pass along I would appreciate it. Thanks.

pdl20 · Post by **pdl20** » 8 Mar 2004 1:24 pm

i used a single channel back in the 70's when i was working for the late Dottie West and i loved it .the JBL D130 speaker gave it good tone .it had around 100 watts rms as i remember.it may not compare to todays amps but i recently found a single channel like new and bought it .works for smaller playing jobs(VFW,ETC)

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Rudy

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 8 Mar 2004 2:13 pm

If it's a "Christmas Tree", jump on it.

Kermit Lee · Post by **Kermit Lee** » 8 Mar 2004 3:11 pm

How will I be able to tell? What do you like about the "christmas tree" model? Thanks kl[This message was edited by Kermit Lee on 08 March 2004 at 03:12 PM.]

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 8 Mar 2004 3:19 pm

The Christmas Tree Model has all the controls in a square panel in the upper left front of the amp.

Actually, The single Channel amp and the Christmas Tree amp are EXCATLY the Same electronically except that the Christmas Tree or Dual Channel amp has two Channels.

The Single Channel amp came along a little later and is in my opinion, is better constructed, All of the elctronics being on the same chassis.

Lloyd Green used a Single Channel amp in the 70's and I recovered it in Green Naugahyde to match a Green pad I made for for his Guitar in 1974 while working in the Factory on 2nd Avenue.

100 watts was claimed, but I always had serious doubts about that claim. It was only a two output transistor design in the power amp and they frequently blew up taking out the speaker as well as the output transistors. When they worked, they sounded great, and were very popular among NAshville pickers.[This message was edited by John Floyd on 08 March 2004 at 03:28 PM.]

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 8 Mar 2004 7:34 pm

To add to what John said, they look cool, they have a lot of "presence", which my "tube-nazi" friends admire. I have two of them, one sounds better with a D-130, the other sounds better with an Altec 418B. The down side is, one time the voice coil of the speaker welded itself and when that happened, it took out every piece of silicon in the entire amp, there's no protection circuitry in there. That was a "pricey" event. Also, they are low-wattage amps, which is bad for loud bands and good for recording.

Duane Dunard · Post by **Duane Dunard** » 9 Mar 2004 4:38 am

Like Chas, I also own two single channel Buds. One I bought new in 1973/74, and the other I purchased for back-up from a Forum member three years ago. My origional amp always turned heads and brought me many compliments about tone until I cracked the speaker and was forced to have it reconed. Sadly, it never sounded the same after that, so I usually play an Evans or Nash-1000 and the old "Buds" just look nice here in the the shop. BTW, the models with slide controls were not in the same league as the earlier models with knobs, and the single channel model has a "mid" control which is a big advantage over the duel channel.

MALCOLM KIRBY · Post by **MALCOLM KIRBY** » 10 Mar 2004 7:14 pm

What would you guys say a Sho-Bud Little Bull is worth? I know a guitar player that has one, and I've had my eye on it for a while. Thanks in advance.

John Floyd · Post by **John Floyd** » 11 Mar 2004 1:06 am

Dunno Malcolm, I've never seen or heard of one until I did here on the forum.

I do know that When you get on these amps really hard, they will blow. I was in Deeman's Den one night in the 70's and Larry Sasser was playing that night. JD Maness was in town to tape Hee HAw with Buck and He sat In on Larry's rig. Sasser kept saying, He's gonna blow my amp" because JD was really cooking and playing some great Stuff, Sure enough, He got on it on a great ride where he needed to slap down on the volume pedal and dig in hard and it blew. The amp went into my car to go to the shop where I worked on my day gig. I got to the amp on stage that night quick enough to kill the power before it took out the JBL D-130F. JD went to his car and got his Twin out and he sounded great on that one too.

There was no Warning on this, the amp was really sounding sweet when it went, but thats what happens on a two ouput transistor solid state amp with no protection. The Solid State Standels were the same way.Sounded great but were un reliable as hell.[This message was edited by John Floyd on 11 March 2004 at 01:16 AM.]