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Bedrock 1200

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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Anyone remember these amps? I used to have a 1200 in the '90's, it was a great sounding amp. I have a dead one that I am going to have fixed.
The early ones were PTP wired with turret lugs on a epoxy board. Some of the prices they go for seem like a bargain.
 

BluesForDan

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Aug 31, 2002
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I remember those from the days they were built here in Nashua, NH. I've tried a bunch of them, but it was back in my 'quiet as a church mouse' phase, which many people undoubtably wish I would regress to :wail :note :bh

In a desire to not inflict my playing upon a world that did not deserve it, I would barely crack the volume on amps when I tried them. To my dismay, everything sounded like crap, and I couldn't figure out why. Finally one day at a store, the guy working there said "Look, in order for the amp to sound any good, you have to turn it up and get it to push the tubes and speakers a little bit." After that, I recused myself from music store tryouts until i had better chops under my belt. By the time I felt confident enough to embarass myself in public, the Bedrocks were gone.

I was looking at one of those recently, and tried to find schematics. I had thought about contacting one of the original principles in the company, but found out from a knowledgable amp guy who used to work for them that the dude is totally and forever out of the amp biz.

Dave, are you fixing this for yourself?
 

Dave Paetow

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I have a 1200 schematic, but it's too big to scan. I heard former Bedrock head honcho Jay Abend has schematics, but I don't have his email address anymore.

I am going to have someone else fix it up, looks like someone was dicking around inside the amp and messed it all up, and has some cheesy output transformer in it, but the original one was in the back of the amp. Looks like too big of a project for me to tackle.
 

Kiwi

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Jul 31, 2002
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I picked up a clean used Bedrock 1202 combo a year or two ago for a handful of beans. I was struck by how terrific the clean tones were, then I started messing with the master-volume tones, and went home with it after trading in about $400 worth of gear.

I opened it up and yep, it's PTP wired inside, and the two 12" speakers are Fane Medusas. The transformers are massive, and the components are top notch.

The beast was so heavy, I pulled the chassis and had Sean at Mad Sound make a head box for it. Pic at http://www.madsound.com/gallery.htm about halfway down.

The combo box with the speakers in it is now my 2x12 cab.

Bedrock's early amps are terrific. They get no love, though, on the used market, and that's your opportunity.

Kiwi
 

Cream Fan

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May 1, 2003
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I remember those amps, too, as I used to live in Boston. There's no love lost on those amps for the main reasons that the tone controls did absolutely nothing.
 

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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They got a bad rep because of some of the unreliable stuff they put out later on. Sending GP a screwed up amp for a amp shootout probably was the nail in the coffin for them.

The early 1200 PTP amps usually go for a song, and when compared to some of the other new boutique PTP amps, they seem like the bargain of the century. There's virtually no info about them online, which doesn't help things.
 

peeninety

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Mar 31, 2002
Messages
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I'm a huge fan of these things; traded a Marshall for my first one in 1989 and have accumulated several more (at very low prices) since. I have no inclination to work on them myself, but I've had a couple of different local amp techs (NC) work on them over the years quite successfully.
 

Marshallhead

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Jul 19, 2001
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Were those Canadian built?

I seem to remember this killer guitar player in a tribute band around 94 that played one in a show near me. He had a GREAT sound. Ozzy tribute I think and we were shooting the shit on his break and he said something to the effect of "built in Canada".

It wasnt a Wizard. Those are Canadian too right?
 

lpnv59

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Jul 15, 2001
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They were originally called "Fred" amps and they were made in Nashua NH. I don't know when, but eventually they moved closer to Boston. When the company was starting out, they contacted me about endorsing them. I found them too bassy, but still liked it. I thought if they solved that I could use one. They modeled it directly from a JTM45 owned by Jay's partner Brad posted. I believe he was a member here at one time. They changed the name to Bedrock pretty quick.
 

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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I found the same thing, the low end was a little loose. Back in the day I called the factory up and talked to the tech Evan Cantor, and he sent me a schematic and a capacitor to change which made a difference and tightened up the low end.
Here's a lousy scan of the schematic which I got back in the day (kept it after all these years), and a parts list.
2246_p31066.jpg

2246_p31067.jpg
 

lpnv59

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Evan's great! He modded my Bluesbreaker RI for me and fixed up my Deluxe Reverb. Evan was the guy who designed the Vox AC15 reissue. Marshall or Korg, I forget.........subcontracted Bedrock to design and build them. Then Marshall canceled the deal after Evan and Bedrock turned in the designs. I think that was the begining of the end for Bedrock.
 

Dave Paetow

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He seemed pretty cool when I talked to him years ago. He hooked me up with some Re-an Marshall jacks for a plexi Marshall I had back when it was darn near impossible to find them.

I wish I still had my old green 1200 combo, it was really great sounding. Jesse Johnson from The Time ended up with it, don't know if he still has it though.
 

LesterP

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May 13, 2003
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1,249
I still have my Bedrock combo. Not sure of the model (too lazy to get up and take a look :)
It's a 20 watt 1-12 combo with 3 12AX7's and 2 EL84's. Not PTP wired. Preamp and output tube sockets soldered directly to the board. This must be one of the later ones... as it used to breakdown all the time :)

As I recall, the company started in Nashua NH, then moved to Framingham MA.

Overall, a pretty cool amp and well worth the price as no one knows what they are.
 

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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I had one of the later AC30 looking amps, sounded nice when it worked.
I also had a 1600, it actually sounded awesome, but it always hummed which drove me nuts.
 

EdMan57

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Oct 1, 2002
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106
I currently have three Bedrock amps...a 600 Series 621 25 watt combo in which I installed a Celestion G12H-30,a sweet 1600 50 watt head and an early 1400 50 watt head for which I am currently having a custom small box shell being built.All three are quite loud for the stated power ratings...probably something to do with the use of oversized transformers and the high plate voltages.
Btw,I believe that Jay Abend is currently into the digital photography field in the Boston area...much of it related to that area's sports teams...I think that "Abend Design" is the company name.
Ed
 

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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Did they do PTP on the early 1400's too? I had a 1400 head a few years back, it was a nice amp. I know where a 1400 combo is, I might snag it.
 

Dave Paetow

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Jul 15, 2001
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Because I couldn't find much of anything out online about Bedrock amps, I started a Bedrock amp site. It won't win any design awards, but it's better than nothing I guess. If anyone has any Bedrock amp info, schematic, pix or whatever, let me know! I need all the help I can get.
http://bedrock27.tripod.com/bedrockamp/index.html
 
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