Roy Blankenship, founder and president of Blankenship Amplification, recently sat down to offer some answers. So, what does an extra 20 volts mean to a vintage amp? More bone-crushing power? More whump? Or is it a recipe for disaster? And is there anything you can do about that nasty static that sounds like you’re playing in Dr. Depending on where you live, wall voltages fluctuate on a daily basis, and range from 100 to 130 volts! And that’s not taking into account the daily spies in power experienced on almost every line - power surges, transient voltage spikes, and of course that weird static sound that comes out of your amp, or the occasional radio station. The closer to new an amp is, the higher its optimal operating voltage. The back of an amp should indicate the wall voltage for which the amp is designed.
But they don’t, because while that old amp may have sat in a closet for 50 years untouched, something else has changed over time - wall voltages.Īmplifiers from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s were meant to run on 110 to 115 volts AC, while amps made in the ’70s are mostly rated at 117 volts. And that’s not because the amp is old and worn out most old amps will run forever and sound great if treated well and maintained.
If you plug a vintage amplifier directly into a wall socket, chances are you’re not hearing what that amp sounded like back in the day. It was bound to go sooner or later.” But maybe it wasn’t… an maybe age had nothing to do with it. And you think to yourself, “Okay, the amp is 50 years old. Next thing you know, you’re blown the transformer, the caps have puked, or you’ve toasted an original speaker. You plug your prized mint-condition ’51 Fender Deluxe into the wall socket and crank it up.
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