Selmer® Amplifiers

These things are quite rare in the USA but if you are familiar with the immortal guitar riff from The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" then you have heard one of these amps.

Back in England in the ‘60s, Vox had all the glory and Selmer took second place, leaving poor old Watkins (aka WEM) in third. Selmer started selling amps for the UK market before Vox ever did, but they lacked The Shadows and The Beatles as high-profile users. Ironically, both those groups initially used Selmers, but abandoned them for Vox on the point of finding fame; Vox were very good at giving free gear to the next set of pop icons.

During the skiffle craze in the late ‘50s Selmer were having trouble sourcing suitable amplification for the guitars they were distributing and so they started to make their own – and the Truevoice amps were born. The first real Selmer brand amps, which were done out in maroon and cream tolex (the blood and custard models) ran from ’58 to ’61. Then came the two-tone blue and grey amps in ’62 and ’63, moving to the infamous crocodile skin models from ’63 to ’65. In 1965 Semer amps were made in all black with grill cloth reminiscent of the Vox amps. At the same time they introduced a budget range of amps under the Futurama name (40 years before the cartoon). If you are interested in more Selmer history, click on this link.

All these amps are collectible and playable and, properly maintained, will sound every bit as good if not better than their Vox cousins. They have plenty of treble bite and, like an AC30, have to be ridden hard to get the most out of them. No hiding behind a wall of input tube overdrive with these beauties.

There has been a Selmer amp in the Ludlow Guitars family since 1977 and we still have it. That one is not for sale but we usually have one or two of these special Brit all-tube, handwired amps from the early/mid '60s and we are always interested in acquiring more. Check out the links below and come into the store to play the amps yourself.

Click on an item below for detailed pics and descriptions.