Elektra 185 with a vintage 40's field coil

[omphalopsychos]

How freaking cool is this amp? It's an EH 185 with a master vol, made by Michiel Helsloot in the Netherlands. I always wanted one but the cost to ship was prohibitive. Anyway, I found one used for a solid price and ordered it. It underwent some minor shipping damage, so I had to take it to the local amp wizard, Chris Barnett, whom I STRONGLY recommend for anyone in the bay area. Anyway, while he had it on the bench, he sent me a text "Do you want me to put a field coil in it? I've got a 40's Rola if you want." I said "Are you f**ing kidding me? Do it!" So he did. The result is just amazing.



Here's a clip of an arrangement I'm messing around with of Eric Dolphy's "Serene". For you swing purists, I apologize for desecrating your amp with flatwounds. You're probably also wondering why I got something like this to play Dolphy. And you may be wondering why I'm wearing a DEATH t shirt.

The pickup on this tele is made by the one and only TK Smith.

And a followup to my other question about recording devices. I got a Shure MV88 that I just plug into my iphone so that I can record easily without thinking about it. Makes live more fun so I can focus on just playing and recording occasionally rather than having it be a big ordeal. I think the sound came out pretty good.

[Little Jay]

Sounds great!! It has that old school thick mids thing going on! I like it a lot!

I think Michiel is a member here, so he can chime in, but I know from his Facebook posts that he spent a lot of time looking for the right speaker for his amp and I am sure if these field coils were still being made that would be his choice!

Congratz, you scored! Nice playing too, suits the amp!!

(And the amp suits the knobs on your tele, haha! ;-)

[Valdez]

WoW! That's way cool! Hope for more vids.

[Little Jay]

Oh and I looked for Shure SV88..... don’t you mean MV88? (Looking for a good iPhone mic, the iRig Mic Field that I bought is a waist of money....)

But this aside.... great amp!

[omphalopsychos]

Oh and I looked for Shure SV88..... don’t you mean MV88? (Looking for a good iPhone mic, the iRig Mic Field that I bought is a waist of money....)

But this aside.... great amp!

Yep, that's what I meant. Will correct my post. Thanks!

[icr]

"Do you want me to put a field coil in it? I've got a 40's Rola if you want." I said "Are you f**ing kidding me? Do it!"

That is great, love it!!

I went to great lengths to preserve the original Field Coil speaker in my EH-125. I had to re-glue and re-center the field-coil, and also repair a damaged voice coil.

[TedBPhx]

Oh that tone!
I’m afraid of old amps. Shockophobic?

[campusfive]

Sounds great (as I mentioned on facebook).
I'm gonna be playing in Heidelberg 5/31-6/2, so this reminded me to hit the Elektra guys up in case they're close enough to meet up.
Super nice guys for sure.

[omphalopsychos]

Do so and give him my regards! Michiel is the man. I didn't even buy my elektra from him (got it used from a shop in Spokane) but when I told him I had some issues he found time to chat with me for hours over WhatsApp to try to diagnose the issue.

Thanks for the comments guys. With the new recording setup I'll be trying to put up more content. And yes, this amp (and that TK tele) has THE tone. Super happy with this setup.

[Michiel]

Holy cow, that sounds just perfect! Teriffic picking too.

You're a mad genius omphalopsychos. I can't think of a better upgrade - this is the ultimate combination!

I'm so glad the amp found its way into your hands.
Did you get the certificate of ownership with the amp? Otherwise I'll send you a new one with my official stamp of approval on the FC speaker mod.

Would you be OK with it if I share that video on the Elektra FB page?

[vintagelove]

Sounds great.

[ruger9]

That's the amp I want, for the 185 thing. You may have the only one in America.

I can't believe you found a real field coil speaker for it! Wow!

[Michiel]

Sounds great (as I mentioned on facebook).
I'm gonna be playing in Heidelberg 5/31-6/2, so this reminded me to hit the Elektra guys up in case they're close enough to meet up.
Super nice guys for sure.

You're on Jonathan! We're finding a way to meet you there with an amp!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G930F met Tapatalk

[omphalopsychos]

Holy cow, that sounds just perfect! Teriffic picking too.

You're a mad genius omphalopsychos. I can't think of a better upgrade - this is the ultimate combination!

I'm so glad the amp found its way into your hands.
Did you get the certificate of ownership with the amp? Otherwise I'll send you a new one with my official stamp of approval on the FC speaker mod.

Would you be OK with it if I share that video on the Elektra FB page?

I did not get a certificate of ownership. The amp is serial no 1803011. Thank you!

And I’m honored that you’d share this little vid. Go for it!

Thanks again for everything! When I saw this am on reverb I knew I was lucky, but didn’t know it would be filled with so much fortuitous goodness.

[ruger9]

You're on Jonathan! We're finding a way to meet you there with an amp!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G930F met Tapatalk

Too cool....

[Greentone]

Holy smoke, Omph, that sounds great! I love the amp tone _and_ I love the Tele. Wow!

[lawson-stone]

For the novices among us, what is a "field coil"?

[omphalopsychos]

For the novices among us, what is a "field coil"?

Field coil loudspeaker - Wikipedia

[Michiel]

I did not get a certificate of ownership. The amp is serial no 1803011. Thank you!

And I’m honored that you’d share this little vid. Go for it!

Thanks again for everything! When I saw this am on reverb I knew I was lucky, but didn’t know it would be filled with so much fortuitous goodness.

Thanks much - just posted the vid on the Elektra FB page. Good stuff!

PM me your address and I'll put the certificate in the mail after Easter.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G930F met Tapatalk

[omphalopsychos]

Thank you!! Sent you an email with my home address.

[Klatu]

Demoing a 1930's style amp by playing an Eric Dolphy tune is just about the hippest thing I've seen on this forum.

[Robertito]

Omph, what a lovely sound, and a true jazz tone, to my ears.

[omphalopsychos]

Demoing a 1930's style amp by playing an Eric Dolphy tune is just about the hippest thing I've seen on this forum.

Lol! You might have dug this morning’s readings.

[Jabberwocky]

Crazy great tone from the TK Smith CC neck pup and Elektra 185 with the 40s Rola field coil! All the right bleeps and bloops. Love that tone. Trying to imagine how the great Charlie Christian would sound today with that amp. (You should Kemper Profile it and offer the profile for sale although I doubt seriously if the Kemper PFA could "profile" that organic character.)

You are one lucky dawg, OmPsychos. Would love to hear your Trenier Jazz Special and DeArmond Guitar Mike C through that amp.

[omphalopsychos]

Crazy great tone from the TK Smith CC neck pup and Elektra 185 with the 40s Rola field coil! All the right bleeps and bloops. Love that tone. Trying to imagine how the great Charlie Christian would sound today with that amp. (You should Kemper Profile it and offer the profile for sale although I doubt seriously if the Kemper PFA could "profile" that organic character.)

You are one lucky dawg, OmPsychos. Would love to hear your Trenier Jazz Special and DeArmond Guitar Mike C through that amp.

Sounds amazing, as if you couldn't have predicted. The DeArmond really makes this amp grind, which is wonderful. You can hear it in the double stops. I did some transcribing this afternoon and decided to record something with your suggestion.