For Sale: "Sano Stereophonic 35 watt High Fidelity Amplifier" combo amp made in or around 1959 in Irvington, New Jersey. Sounds VERY nice with electric guitar. Can get quite loud- seems like a lot more than 35 watts. Full range with good bass and good treble. If you turn up the volume there is just a tiny amount of hum like a normal tube guitar amplifier, not excessive at all, not noticeable to me. No distortion, no static, no issues.
Quoting something found online about a very similar Sano model amp:
"It has a smooth, bluesy/jazzy Gibson-like voice but, with the treble cranked, it delves right into clean-and-clear Fender territory. It has a lot of reserve "clean" power, too, so you have to crank a bit on the tremolo preamp ... and dig into the main power to get saucy distortion out of it."
This has a 1/4" guitar input, a 1/4" instrument input, and a 4 pin "stereo" input. Have read the 4 pin input is for use with accordion that has stereo pickups- despite the name this amp is a mono amp. The original 15" Utah speaker has been replaced with what I was told is a Peavey Black Widow, not sure if this is correct but regardless it's a high quality speaker with a massive ceramic magnet. There are controls for tremolo speed and gain but AM NOT SURE if tremolo is working, believe it only works with the 4 pin input which has not been tested. Turning the tremolo knobs has no effect. The guitar and instrument volume controls are working, the main volume, bass, and treble controls are working. Good power light, power switch, and standby switch.
Cosmetically very nice shape probably due to the original canvas cover that comes with it. No rust or oxidation is evident. The original unique looking black/gold grill cloth is excellent. Tolex shows some scrapes here and there but overall pretty nice. Is on four wheels which are in good shape. Canvas zipper cover shows a lot of wear. Power cord is a newer 3 pin grounded cable. This may be all original except for the speaker and power cord but don't know for sure.
Amp uses 11 tubes- there are 7 on the main chassis. Two are 6CA7/ EL34 made in Great Britain so Mullard I assume. Four 6SN7 GTB preamp tubes in the upper assembly. You will probably be able to use as-is from day one but like all vintage tube amps it's a good idea to have it gone over by a tech, maybe update the electrolytic capacitors if needed, check for out of spec components, check tubes, etc.
Additional and higher resolution photos are available on request.
Send your zip code and city for a ship quote- should be between $24.99 and $79.99 if you are located in the US. (Feb. 2024).
