I recently inherited a deceased family members bass equipement. The bass is an easy call - it's a well known brand. It's the head that eludes me. I can't find any information on it online. No one I know in music has any clue. I can't find the manufacturers, either they were bought out or changed their name or went out of business. No tech manuals on eBay or info on Harmony-central.

It's a Road Electronics 440 solid state bass head. It was definitely purchased in the early 70's. I would assume that it was new, since the bass was bought new at the same time.

The only thing I know about it is how it sounds. It has a really deep bass tone, but can get some beautiful dirt up in the mids and highs. It could use a clean up job, since it's all dusty.

I remember seeing these in the late '70s. I think I have some old catalogues or magazines that may have an ad. I'll look around and see if I can find it.

Road amps were made by Bud Ross (of Kustom fame) and were later sold to and manufactured by Rickenbacker. Greg (from Technician) used to play through a Road combo and I was always a big fan of its sound . I've actually been looking for one myself recently.

There's a bit of info (mostly on Rickenbacker era models) here. There's a picture there of a Road 220 head/cabinet with the same "flight case" style of construction as its big brother, the 440, which you now own.

Sweet.

Weird, that 220 was build around an aluminum flight case. This 440 has wood panels and a metal casing. (it's heavy as fuck).

Here's a photo:

Ah, I see. I thought I had seen photos of a 440 built in a style similar to the 220, but I must have it confused with another model. Your amp looks to be in pretty nice shape. What sort of cabinet are you playing it through?

My main amp of the last decade has been a Dave Eden Traveler 300. Great amp. I don't know, though, this one sounds amazing. I don't know what to do! I'm definitely recording with it in november with my band. I've got an ampeg 4x10 classic, but I'm thinking of buying an Ampeg 1x15 just for this amp, since it has a lot of balls. Maybe combine it with the 4x10 if I need the extra oomph. I'm not necessarily all low-end for being a bass player. Sometimes I play the hook. The vocals tend to follow what I'm doing.

caix wrote:

A bandmate of mine had one of those (lent it to his brother, I don't think he's seen it since). Does that have the built-in fuzz? That was my favorite part about that amp.

that's a sweet looking amp. I love non standard stealth stuff.

I miss my road amp, it was avacado colored.
Loud as hell and crystal clear.

i had a 2x12 solid state road combo. it had hella crazy channel switching scheme, but shit, that was a very cool amp. one of the few things i really wish i never would have gotten rid of. solid state, great clean sound, fantastic loud driven sound. cool solid state distortion. that little amp could raise a whole lotta hell.