Mitch Colby has been building hand-wired, tube amplifiers for rock stars for 50 years. He played an integral role at major amp makers such as Marshall, Hiwatt, Park, VOX and Sundragon. Since starting his own amp company in 2010, Mitch has recreated some of the most iconic amps from the past.
Mitch states the following: "There are a number of very cool things about Elpico® that inspired me to recreate this obscure British brand including it’s unusual circuit design. Paul McCartney is known for using one as a teenager and as it turns out, he still has his Elpico® AC55 to this day. Also and maybe more significantly, the Elpico® AC55 was the amp that Dave Davies of The Kinks used in 1964 to record “You Really Got Me”, one of the very first British recordings of distorted guitar".
Colby took the liberty to add some features to make it more usable for guitarists in 2023 including Master Volume (bypassable), Mid control, Bright switches on both channels, Direct Line out for recording and plugging into a PA or additional amp. Since both original MIC channels were identical and redundant, Colby revoiced channel two for more tonal variety. The GRAM input was eliminated and the ability to switch in a cascade feature allows for additional gain if desired. It uses a pair of EL84s in Ultralinear mode for 16 watts of clean power. It’s got three 12AX7s and a bit more gain that other amps of the era. It has three inputs, three volume controls (two for microphones and one for the Gramophone input which has been eliminated on the new version) plus Baxandall style treble and bass controls. It also has an EZ81 tube rectifier which was typical for a British amp of this power.
As with all Colby amps, this Teal Blue Elpico® AC55 is completely hand wired by Mitch Colby with high quality resistors, capacitors and transformers. A thick, welded aluminum chassis is used for strength and lightweight. The result is an amp that offers great clean, crunch and overdrive that sounds different than anything else.
SPECS
* Two channels are voiced differently (vintage and modern)
* Mid range control for added tonal flexibility
* two EL84s for 16 watts
* 3-way Bright switches on each channel
* Switch to cascade the channels for additional gain
* Master Volume control to tame the beast (bypassable)
* Line out (with level control and tone compensation switch)
* Available as a head and 1x12 combo with Celestion 12” G12M speaker
