1950's Tandberg TB2 reel to reel tape machine as guitar tube amp. Great tone for studio recordings.

These vintage reel to reel tape machines incorporates a 5 watt amp with high quality preamp tubes that sounds quite awesome. From the internal speaker you get a tone with early breakup. Connecting it to an external speaker it can get a higher headroom and play louder. I would even consider bringing it to a live gig.
The soundtrack is my version of Neil Young's Coupe DeVille.
This particular Tandberg model is a TB2 (1954 -1961)
Tubes: ECC83, EF804, EL84, EM71
External speaker cabinet with a George Alessandro Signature Eminence GA10 SC64 10" speaker.
Guitars used:
Partscaster Black Strat with Evil Sheep '63 pickups
Partscaster Sunburst Strat with Radioshop Chris Buck pickups
2013 Gibson ES-335 1963 VOS RI w/ MHS humbuckers
2001 GIBSON ES-335 DOT FLAMETOP CHERRY RED, stock pickups, probably Classic '57's
Tandberg Tape Recorder reel to reel TB-2

[@SAPSPIT]

Dette låter kuler og krutt - og veldig bra spilt! Brukte selv en slik som min første gitaramp i 1976 med ekstern 2x10 selvbygd kasse av TV høytalere.

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Takker 😊 Ja utrolig kult å hente så bra toner fra et gammelt spolebånd. Det er nok mange som har minner fra å ha brukt en slik som gitarforsterkere hjemme på gutterommet.

[@ferchindo]

Gorgeous tone and playing !

[@DavRuiz]

Very impressive tone! Great playing as well, thanks for sharing. 🔥🤙

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Thank you! You seem to have a cool youtube channel yourself. New subscriber here 🙂

[@borjar.6373]

Great sound!!!! You should do a profile with the free NAM software

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Thank you, and great idea. I will look it up. Cheers.

[@tommycato6368]

Just got one of these and hooked up to a 1x12 cabinet I built with the speaker from a Wurlitzer organ, the speaker btw is from Norway. I think the amp puts out 15-18 W based on the power consumption which is 55 W and it´s loud as you say, the input is for a crystal mic so it breaks up really early. I live in Karlstad Sweden if you are passing through.

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Hi that sounds to be a great sounding combination of amp and speaker. Real gems some of these amps. If I go by Karlstad I might drop by to check it out 😀 Cheers, Thor

[@TheEvral]

Flott tone! (Og lyd, bevares.)

[@evilsheepguitarpickups9936]

Really lovely tone 👍 Though high risk here now of becoming obsessive about going into junk shops.....

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Thanks Mark, it is a true gem this machine. And yeah, I think to find a decent one in working condition might take some searching.

[@FotballGuy734]

Great tone and playing. I'm about to do something similar also with a Tandberg. Are you using any effect between the guitar and Tandberg mic input? What speaker size do you think works best with the Tandberg? Saw you used a 10.

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Hi, thanks! I had reverb, delay and maybe a touch of tremolo from my pedalboard. I think the 10" speaker is quite optimal for this amp. With a 12" it will start to get a bit muddy in the lower frequencies. Good luck with your project 😊

[@coldgarageband5447]

Wow, that was an amazing tone....can you get any sort of Delay/Chorus effects from that unit? Great playing as well, Thor, as always!

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Thanks Marcello.Yes it is a really great sounding gizmo this. For utilising the echo it would involve putting some tape reels on it and I suppose you can get a slap back delay. I'm not quite sure but it might have to involve a mixing desk to hook it up for that feature. I think it's not worth the efforts these days with lots of delay pedals on the market that will probably do a better and more versatile job at it. Cheers, Thor

[@Srensen-ny1et]

Great demo! Sound wise, how does this Tandberg compare to a small guitar amp like a 5w Tweed?

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Thanks 😀 With the internal speaker it is a bit limiting regarding volume as the speaker will sound like it is cracking up pretty fast. But I think that tone is great for recordings where you don't need to be at loud volume. When I connect the external speaker cabinet it provides more headroom and it allows for it to play at least as loud as my 5W tweed amp.

[@Srensen-ny1et]

@@GUITARSGIZMOS Thanks for great answer! :-)

[@SolidShaves]

Kult. Kan en fremdeles bruke den som spolebånd spiller?

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Hei, ja i prinsippet, men tipper de fleste av disse eldre spillerne sliter mekanisk i forhold til å spille båndene jevnt.

[@joeltidey9615]

Did you have to add a Jack only or did you have other mods? Sounds great!

[@GUITARSGIZMOS]

Hi, yes I totally agree, it sounds just fab!. It is my brother who has restored this Tandberg, and what he says he has done with it is: Installed grounded power cable, cleaned contacts and potentiometer, tightened springs in tube sockets, changed defective components and checked that the amplifier part is ok. The circuit internally is original Tandberg. The jack input is originally there, but the speaker cable with jack outputs is soldered internally to the banana plugs that are originally for external speakers. So it's quite a task to take on. Hope that helps. All the best, Thor

[@joeltidey9615]

@@GUITARSGIZMOS thank you very much! Wonderful playing.

[@thoroliversenmusic]

@@joeltidey9615 Thank you 😊