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The Traynors of the west
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:52 pm
by otisroom_Archive
I've decided to become the Vincent Gallo of Aims amps.
I'm going to buy them all up and be kind of weird and smarmy about it.
If anyones got one they want to sell come to me first. I'll make you a good offer and then start calling and harassing you at work.
Be forewarned that if your amp is customized I'll be compelled to insult your wife and or girlfriend.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:56 pm
by juice_Archive
otisroom wrote:I've decided to become the Vincent Gallo of Aims amps.
I'm going to buy them all up and be kind of weird and smarmy about it.
If anyones got one they want to sell come to me first. I'll make you a good offer and then start calling and harassing you at work.
Be forewarned that if your amp is customized I'll be compelled to insult your wife or girlfriend.
At these prices, at least you could afford to.
I always think it's amazing how much a name and popularity really means in terms of the resale value of an amp a lot of times.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 2:51 pm
by roman_Archive
I found one of these but it was a head.....It was buried in a stack of heads in a little guitar store in a strip mall in Oregon on the Pacific Coast.
I had never heard of it either.
The guy didn't even know what to quote me as a price but I assume I could have gotten it for $200 or less because he didn't even know if it was functional.
I plugged into it and it sounded great. I was just disappointed that I didn't have the means to get it home.
I would be willing to bet that it's still sitting in that shop. I plan to go get it one day.
Very little info exists about them online.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:41 am
by dontfeartheringo_Archive
There must be some way of finding out the history on these amps.
Can someone start a wikipedia page on them?
I may post something over at Gearslutz to see if anyone pops up with some history.
added:
OK, I have started a thread
at Gearslutz and the
TapeOp message board.
I'll let everyone know what I find out.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:58 am
by eliya_Archive
dontfeartheringo wrote:I may post something over at Gearslutz to see if anyone pops up with some history.
Just don't tell them it sounds good, you know, just so we can still get them for cheap
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:12 am
by dontfeartheringo_Archive
Cheap, schmeep... I got one already!
just kidding.
I am curious, though. I have to know more about these amps...
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:20 am
by eliya_Archive
I'm curious too. I never heard one, but I like obscure stuff.
Hey, maybe you can record some guitar through this amp and let us listen?
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:05 am
by chuckles_Archive
Hi chaps,
not sure exactly how much use this will be but searching
http://forums.vintageamps.com/
came back with a bunch of results which might be worth sifting through.
Might not, like.
You could also try posting on there to see if there are any more AIMS owners who have some interesting factoids about them.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:15 am
by otisroom_Archive
I know that Aims was a small company in Arizona in the early 1970's. From what I gather they were only in production for a few years and then they either turned into or were bought by Randall.
I will post sound samples after I recap my eclipsor. Sometime later this month.
The Traynors of the west
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:32 am
by dontfeartheringo_Archive
Found a little more info on the
vintageamps.com board (thanks for the tip!) :
I know that the company was started by a few dissillusioned Fender techs when CBS bought fender but exactly "HOW" close are the AIMS "twin reverbs" to a real fender twin? Anybody know?
even more from that source:
AIMS -> Arizona Instrument and Music Supply (pretty sure, definitely Arizona). So these were made in the west don't have much collector value, but do have tons of headroom as you say. Again, not much information out there, I don't know why.
seems like it might be a small step towards confirming the "disillusioned amp techs in Phoenix" theory.
more:
The AIMS Dual Twelve looks like it is basically an SFTR type circuit with TMB tone stack/ brite switch/ reverb on both channels, a pair of 6550's, and a primitive PSU--one cap feeding all the preamp and PI tubes! I haven't traced the circuit yet but I suspect it will have most or all Fender values. It's a pretty clean sound but not all that loud for a pair of 6550's; that may be d/t fixed-fixed bias a la Ampeg and Mesa and/or the alnico speakers.
There isn't much info out there on AIMS, but from what I pieced together, they were former Fender employees who basically made Fender circuits with some upgrades in the late 70's.
Mine is still with the amp tech, but I am so looking forward to getting it back- the word is that they have amazing clean tones and tons of head room.
in-depth
discussion of fixing the trem circuit here, which may illuminate what's going on in the guts of the thing.
and finally,
some red meat info here:
I just ran across my old AIMS (American Int'l Music Sales) amp brochure last night and thought I'd do a search to see if there were any discussions about them. What is really interesting is that according to the brochure, each of the 2 guitar amps they made (the VTG105 @ 105 watts rms & the VTG120 with 120 watts rms) used (2)6550s, four 7025s, and two 12AT7s with solid-state rectifiers. The pic of the rectifier board looks like it's ptp. Their P.A. systems were even tube-powered!