Vintage Valve Guitar Amplifier Celestion "44" 1950s!

Vintage Valve Guitar Amplifier Celestion "44" 1950s! Pre Vox Blue!

Celestion "44" Speaker - Brimar Valves - Great tone!

This amplifier came with a 1956 Hofner Club 50 electric guitar which I have since sold to a collector in France. Both were bought by the original Irish owner at the same time, and I acquired them from him 11 years ago. In incredible condition for it's age.

The only branding I’ve been able to find is on the Celestion "44" Speaker and on the English Brimar valves. (see pics).

I contacted Celestion directly and received this assessment of the amp:

"The speaker you have is a Celestion P44. These were made certainly as early as the 1950’s, possibly earlier. We have very little records from that time, but it does appear in the July 1957 brochure. The speaker used a smaller alnico magnet than the Vox Blue, and a 1.5" voice coil instead of 1.75".

The brochure for the P44 describes it as "a lightweight, relatively inexpensive speaker possessing the full bodied bass response normally associated with more costly 12" speakers, together with a particularly clean and smooth upper register. This model can advantageously replace a 10" speaker in most radiogram applications".

The speaker was rated at 10W. It should be gently warmed before use by allowing background hiss/hum through it or playing at very low levels for a few minutes before turning it up. This warms the voice coil, and prevents it blistering due to sudden heating. The sound should be very clear and defined, but with less depth and solidity to the bass compared to a Celestion Blue. It should have more warmth, and perhaps more treble attack also."

Also, after hunting around on the net for information about it, I came up with the following from http://www.celestion.com/history/1940s.htm

"During July 1948 Celestion ceased production at Kingston-upon-Thames, and production machinery and personnel moved to Thames Ditton as a consolidation of the two companies. The company title became Rola Celestion Limited, and Celestion was adopted and registered as the trade mark for the company’s product."

As this speaker has the Kingston-On-Thames inscription, It may very well be dated pre-1950. What a find!

Works great, takes a few seconds to warm up, and gives a fantastic warm tone. I get almost zero noise/hum from my Tele through this amp when played clean.

Has that unmistakeably vintage look, feel and sound.

Local pickup (Brisbane) only.

PAYMENT must be made BY PAYPAL within 2 days of auction end, or cash on pickup if you're local. You could own and be gigging this by the weekend...

99c START! You decide what it's worth... Happy bidding...