INTERMUSIC IMP AMP.

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GORDON
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INTERMUSIC IMP AMP.

Postby GORDON » Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:54 pm

Very unusual for me to post about gear BUT...I recently acquired an INTERMUSIC IMP solid state 20 watt amp. The amp has a Celestion G10 50 8 ohms speaker. Anyone got any idea about where they were made and its current value.

Be Well fellow Anoraks.

G.

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Mike Stranks
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Postby Mike Stranks » Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:02 pm

... and it's even more unusual for me to be posting about guitars and their amplifiers! :lol:

Anyway some quick web-trawling has found this review:

"Basic solid state practice amp with a ten inch speaker. Thought I would say something about these amps because they seem to crop-up every once in a while so they aren't as obscure as you might think. The company made a range of amps which were boxed in flight cases and made to look robust and ready for the road (but actually weren't always as tough as they looked). I would guess this is their entry-level amp. Two jack inputs for guitar, volume, treble, middle and bass controls, loudness switch and a jack socket for a headphone, fuse and power switch. Nothing round the back. It is a combo with kind of mellow-out-man styling, about 16 inches wide, 14 high and 7 deep (at a guess). Compact would be the best way to describe it - it is not large but it is big enough to pass for OK, rather than looking like a piece of junk. The amp is nicely trimmed and looks pretty good. 20watts output but actually capable of more. Made in 1979 by somebody called R.Rogers from a kit (says on a sticker inside). I wouldn't be surprised if the company employed people to build these from a kit of parts. R.Rogers must have been pretty skilled at it as this one is very neat inside. UK made, 240volts.

Sound Quality : 7
Here is where the problems start. In its un-tweeked form you are not going to get a lot of hours usage from it, as it suffers from design faults in its power supply. More on this below. However with a little work with a soldering iron and a few replacement parts you will be surprised to get a serviceable amp out of it. A loud one as well. The ten inch Celestion speaker has a lot to do with the sound. Rated at 20 watts at 8 ohm the amp dumps more than enough power into it to get a real meaty growl. This compensates for the lack of overdrive in the tone controls. When the first knob says Volume, that really is all you have; more volume = gets louder. With pedals you can push the signal into clip - but its pretty basic and doesn't sound good at all. The tone controls can only boost - theres no cut on the frequency range. You notice the increase in volume as you turn the dials up. The Treble control is way too sensitive for my liking. Past the first couple of notches and the high freq really starts to chip at your skull. But with a little fooling around with the three dials it is possible to get a good variation in tone. Would recommend the amp if you are after clean sounds, dirty distorted sounds aren't too good.
The loudness switch simply sends the output to the speaker through a 2 watt 270ohm resistor. This results in a strangulated sound with very little volume. I can't think who would find this useful other than for novelty value. If you want to keep the noise down when practicing in the bedroom, well use the headphone socket. The loudness switch makes anybody's playing sound lousy.

Reliability : 4
The amp was buzzing when I got it, second hand. Another cheap amp to tinker about with. In its un-adulterated state you will find problems with the power supply. The transformer/bridge will supply 27volts into + and - rails, meanwhile the design makes use of smoothing caps that can only take 25v. These will slowly burn out, or at least become unreliable. Replace the caps with a pair with a higher working voltage - say at least 35volts. Having 27 voluts running around with a 1 amp fuse on the mains inlet, got me thinking about the speaker. If the amp could take a 4 ohm load then you would have a 27 watt amp. Doing the maths and you find that a 8 ohm load would need a 20watt speaker. This is exactly what you have here. I tried replacing the speaker with a 4 ohm version at 30watts, and just as I thought the amp copes without any undue overheating. Just to be safe though, you might also want to install a heatsink onto the back of the casing.
Its a funny amp - designed for the cheap end of the market and with some oversights in the design, but at the same time uses decent quality components (gold jack sockets, poly caps, celestion speaker). When new, would this have been slightly more expensive than the average practice amp? Dodgy reliablity means like me, someone could probably pick one of these up cheaply. Once the problem is resolved there is every likelihood that the amp could run trouble-free for years; it is after all pretty solidly constructed.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I think the company is still going but no longer makes amps. Seems to specialise in musical intruments for schools (violins, wind instruments etc). I have made no attempt to contact the company.

Overall Rating : 7
I wouldn't be bothered if the amp was stolen. It is one of those take it or leave it amps. It can get loud enough to do damage to your hearing. Good for practice, possble to gig with it if you replace the speaker with a 4 ohm and 30watt version. Fairly easy to carry around. The loudness switch has practically no use. Tone controls/volume its the bare minimum you would need. Would be a better choice than the majority of practice amps badged with Fender or Marshall and made in the Far East. Those are all 12 or 15 watts with a single silcone chip output device and cheap speaker, sounding real nasty. This amp at least is capable of more solid tones. If I was starting-out, then I would like it more and would probably stay with me longer. Ideal for somebody who does a lot of travelling as its not too much trouble to lug around. Likely to find this one second-hand in the UK only. "

...and this thread on the Sound on Sound forums:


http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=727298&Main=402759
The older I get, the better I used to be

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Mike Stranks
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Postby Mike Stranks » Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:13 pm

The older I get, the better I used to be

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GORDON
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Postby GORDON » Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:08 pm

Hi Mike.

Bless yer guv. LOADS of info there eh. Not a bad little amp actually one of my car boot finds for £20.

Be Well.

G.

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Bob Wilson
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Postby Bob Wilson » Fri Aug 28, 2009 2:23 pm

Hi Gordon
Just got back from a fortnight in the Scillies to find out that you have not only bought the Les Paul Recording copy like mine but also an Intermusic amp. (Don't tell me you are trying to get MY sound :D :D :D :wink: - I don't have one!)
One of my amps is a 100Watt Intermusic Amp with reverb, tremelo and phaser in-built. They were late 70s I think and mine is a very robust piece of electronics. I can't think that they were made from kits as they were sold in quite a few music shops and were quite popular. They certainly give a broad range of sounds from acoustic to very heavy and were a mid range amp ideal for group use because of the flight case and castors. At the same time as I used this I was using a Vox AC30. Obviously, this held its price as it became a collectors amp, but I just could'nt let the Intermusic go. Time to dust it off and use it again methinks :)
See you soon
Bob

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GORDON
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Postby GORDON » Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:48 pm

Hi Bob....What can I say, your just my ultimate hero.... :D

See you both soon.

G.

mel randall
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Re: INTERMUSIC IMP AMP.

Postby mel randall » Sun Jan 18, 2015 2:48 pm

Found this post whilst looking for more information about a 50w intermusic combo I have had since the mid 70s which I bought from an auction in Sheffield where a music shop had gone bust. Incidentally its claim to fame is Def Leppard who had just made it big in America at the time were at the auction and were also bidding for it. At the end of the auction Joe Elliot was sat on it when i came to collect it and we had a good chat. Anyway enough of that I found this amp to be really good at the time as it was designed to be a cross between a transistor and valve amp soundwise. It is encased in a really sturdy flight case and the only problem I had with it was when a buzzing started which turned out to be a blue coloured transistor unit which was leaking oil which I replaced. I have used this amp both on and off stage ever since I bought it and it still works like new. When I first started using it I used to play a 1966 Starway guitar through it and later a 1980 Westbury when they stsrted using Dimarzio pickups, both guitars I still have even though the Starway is now looking tired.
The only drawback I had with it was for a period of a few weeks in the mid 80s while playing live it started picking up police radio messages which was a bit disconcerting at the time.
It has not been used live for a few years as nowadays I tend to concentrate on an electro acoustic guitar which doesn,t sound right on it.
Mel


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