![]() I thought, If they can do it, why can’t I? Thus was born the original spark that led to West Laboratories and West guitar amps.” “They were putting these items in a cabinet, putting JBL speakers in a cabinet, and getting large bucks for these things. Much to my surprise, it contained a completely stock Dynaco Mark III power amp and a very little modified Dynaco PAM-I monaural preamp. “I said, ‘What the heck, bring one in.’ The amp arrived in the shop and I proceeded to take it apart. “Dick told me that his friends in a local band were the first band outside of Norm Sundholm’s own band to play the new Sunn amplifiers, and ‘Would I like to see one?’” West wrote. West Laboratories Avalon R (Image credit: Future / Eija Ota) On his now-defunct website (formerly at ), West described being introduced to the glories of Sunn amps by local musician Dick Wagner, then of the Michigan band the Bossmen, and later a guitarist with Alice Cooper. That said, West was more likely emulating the powerful Sunn amps, created by Kingsmen bassist Norm Sundholm and his brother Conrad. Indeed, the general preamp topology of West amps appears to share some DNA with the Normal channel of the 50-watt Fender Bassman of the era. If that rings any bells, it’s because those are the preamp tubes found in those same positions in a late blackface or early silverface Fender amp if you knocked it down to one channel. All wiring was hand-soldered, with circuits mixing generally smaller eyelet boards loaded with Orange Drop capacitors and carbon-comp resistors, and with a lot of flying wires running somewhat pell-mell between these and the various tube sockets and controls.Īll early non-reverb models shared essentially the same preamp topology, which used a 12AX7 to provide two gain stages – one before and another after the tone controls – with a 12AT7 as the phase inverter. The circuits themselves were fairly simple, and the components and wiring configurations could look rather sparse inside the capacious chassis. This photo shows some of the band’s original gear, including their West guitar and bass heads and cabinets. Grand Funk Railroad were West Laboratories’ biggest client. Inside the bulky, roadworthy cabinets of the Fillmore and its brethren, the quality of the amps’ construction could vary somewhat. ![]() “My dad’s amps were the sound of the Grande Ballroom,” his son Aaron West told The Lansing State Journal (opens in new tab) for an obituary following his father’s death in November 2015 at the age of 71. His model names came from a penchant for the great rock and roll ballrooms of the 1960s: the Avalon and Fillmore (both in San Francisco, if you think “West”), and, closer to home, Detroit’s own Grande Ballroom, where Grand Funk Railroad frequently kicked out the jams alongside fellow Michiganders like the Stooges and the MC5. ![]() ![]() West himself was a live-music enthusiast, and even managed several regional bands for many years. Unfortunately for West, as Grand Funk had bigger hits, they moved on to other amps to suit their new pop-oriented sound. “Not only did they sound great,” Brewer said of the amps, “but they looked great.” Not only did they sound great, but they looked greatĪccording to Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer, West’s amps were used on the group’s first four albums – On Time, Grand Funk, Closer to Home, and Survival. 6CA7s), the 100-watt Grande with two 6550s, and the 200-watt Fillmore with four 6550s, made famous by guitarist Mark Farner and bassist Mel Schacher of Grand Funk Railroad. Three core models populated the lineup: the 50-watt Avalon head with two E元4s (a.k.a. ![]()
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