Anyone remember Alligator amps?

John_P

A mate of mine has an alligator 30 for sale - just curious about them.     I thought they were built in the 80s for a while but can’t remember specifics.  

https://imgur.com/gallery/GWrlycc

ThePrettyDamned

John_P said:

A mate of mine has an alligator 30 for sale - just curious about them.     I thought they were built in the 80s for a while but can’t remember specifics.  

https://imgur.com/gallery/GWrlycc

Great for a snappy, biting tone.

impmann

Paging @HarrySeven ;

TA22GT

Our bass player back in the 80's had one for a while. They were supposed to be good for guitar and bass but I remember I didn't like my guitar through it.

p90fool

They were fairly short lived I think and like Badger and Ohm just incredibly bland. 

There were a load of brands around that time which just seemed utterly pointless in a world where used Superleads were a hundred quid. 

DougCoda

I remember them being an "all purpose amp" and not particularly exciting sounding, they did a job as did many solid state amps at the time in a rather unspectacular way.. I'm sure they had a shop on the Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park back in the 90's  when I lived in Stokey, it never seemed to be open and was full of old junk and dusty stuff..

ICBM

Exactly that - someone apparently had the 'bright' idea of making an amp which would have a wide, flat frequency response so it would be suitable for any instrument.

And they did indeed have a wide, flat... bland, boring, completely characterless tone. 'Someone' obviously forgot that the reason there are different instruments is to make different sounds.

I seem to remember them being tolerably well made, but I can't be more specific than that - I only ever saw two or three of them. Definitely early-mid 1980s.

HarrySeven

impmann said:

Paging @HarrySeven ;

prowla

ThePrettyDamned said:

John_P said:

A mate of mine has an alligator 30 for sale - just curious about them.     I thought they were built in the 80s for a while but can’t remember specifics.  

https://imgur.com/gallery/GWrlycc

Great for a snappy, biting tone.

I heard they were a bit of a croc...

John_P

I haven’t seen it close up but his pics have a standby switch - never seen that before on a solid state but I assume it’s not valve.   

mr-mac

ICBM said:

Exactly that - someone apparently had the 'bright' idea of making an amp which would have a wide, flat frequency response so it would be suitable for any instrument.

And they did indeed have a wide, flat... bland, boring, completely characterless tone. 'Someone' obviously forgot that the reason there are different instruments is to make different sounds.

I seem to remember them being tolerably well made, but I can't be more specific than that - I only ever saw two or three of them. Definitely early-mid 1980s.

So maybe not too bad as a cheap amp to stick a modeller with.... Line6, eleven rack, GSP1101 etc etc.

ICBM

mr-mac said:

So maybe not too bad as a cheap amp to stick a modeller with.... Line6, eleven rack, GSP1101 etc etc.

Yes, probably quite good for that.

midlifecrisis

i dont think they 'swamped' the market

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

someone apparently had the 'bright' idea of making an amp which would have a wide, flat frequency response so it would be suitable for any instrument.

And they did indeed have a wide, flat... bland, boring, completely characterless tone. 'Someone' obviously forgot that the reason there are different instruments is to make different sounds.

A bassist and rehearsal room owner in my area had one - a 2x10, if I recall correctly. If imposed upon to lend a bass amp for an open mic night, he would supply the Alligator, secure in the knowledge that nobody would want to steal it.

grungebob

I heard they where a croc of shit. 

ESBlonde

They were heavily promoted in the press of the day. Thick green tolex and a 2x10" set diagonally with sort of triangle ports in the other two corners. Quite a brittle tranny sound iirc. Didn't live up to the hype. As P90fool says you could get a sound city or roost or impact valve head for peanuts that would sound fabulous even if it looked a bit rough.

viz

Is this the small company in Montreux or are there two Alligator amps? The one in Montreux seems amazing - I was there yesterday - he has an awesome workshop. The guy used to build amplifiers mainly to order - they’re all point-to-point valve amps. He has a heritage in amp design, tweaking, etc and he also restores old amps. I can’t believe his amps were bland - they’re all unique and are things of beauty. 

viz

@John_P could you re-upload the picture by any chance? I’d love to see it 

ICBM

viz said:

Is this the small company in Montreux or are there two Alligator amps? The one in Montreux seems amazing - I was there yesterday - he has an awesome workshop. The guy used to build amplifiers mainly to order - they’re all point-to-point valve amps. He has a heritage in amp design, tweaking, etc and he also restores old amps. I can’t believe his amps were bland - they’re all unique and are things of beauty. 

Must be a different company.

ESBlonde

This is the original lineup.

http://www.muzines.co.uk/ad/6561

sweepy

I remember those , OMG I feel old