We have now got our dealers, I think 110 of them, and they get the maximum support from us because they do the maximum business for us, and they're allowed, if they want to, to use the name Soundhouse.

Carlsbro

Much as Selmer was the number two to Vox in the ‘60s, Carlsbro never managed to achieve the glory accorded its UK rival, Marshall, in the ‘70s. This wasn’t due to any lack of quality on Carlsbro’s part.

In fact, its amps were the mainstay of the semi-pro scene for over two decades. But just as an earlier generation had tended to switch from Selmer to Vox once they hit the big time, so Carlsbro users tended to gravitate to Marshall.

Carlsbro did have one or two name artists, however, and one of the most prominent was the cult guitarist Bill Nelson, who made tremendous use of the TC 100 all-tube head..

TC 100s and their 50-watt siblings, the TC 60s, have all the basics right: Partridge transformers, EL34 output tubes, and a high standard of build quality. They don’t sound exactly the same as a Marshall equivalent, despite sharing so many components in common, but they do sound great. And who wants to sound like everyone else, anyway?

Also, Carlsbro amps tend to sell for a lot less money than their Marshall equivalents, which makes them tempting and quite practical to own and use. Look out for other vintage Carlsbro tube amps, too, but don’t confuse them with today’s Chinese-made models. These are quite acceptable modern production amps but are not recreations of the old handmade tube heads and combos.