Bradley RoadRunner 100W

ICBM

Anyone else got one of these or come across one?

I'm working on one today - I've never even heard of it before, but it was apparently made in Scotland in the late 90s... where I was at the time too! It's a hybrid (valves in the preamp, solid-state power amp) combo about the same size and general appearance as a Sessionette.


But *much* better sounding. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's one of the best-sounding non-valve amps I've heard... really chunky and responsive. Obviously it was a commercial failure though, or I would have come across them before presumably! It's so rare there is not even a single online pic of one I can find, or any reference on Google beyond it recognising the search term. And yet, it doesn't look like a DIY special - it's clearly professionally-made and to quite a high quality.

Three channels (Clean and Blue Drive share EQ, Red Drive is completely separate), FX loop, no reverb, extension speaker jack, Eminence OEM (same as the ones they did for Maplin I think) 100W 12" speaker internally. The clean is powerful and full-sounding, the Blue Drive is open and nicely gritty, and only the Red Drive is a tiny bit too dark really, but not at all bad.

I'm really very intrigued by it, and the owner actually doesn't really want it, so watch this space...

ecc83

Ooo! Can we get some nice piccies?

Dave/

ICBM

As you wish, master .

http://imgur.com/a/JkFzg

For what it's worth, the fault - "amp not working" - was caused simply by one of those big jumper connectors having worked loose. It also had a badly microphonic valve, which actually sounded quite interestingly Neil-Young-ish… always a good thing for me! But definitely needed replacing.

tlegend70

I have the only 2x12 version of this wonderful amp.

Custom voiced for a big name artist, has fender, marshall and soldano style voicings, 2x12 Celestion G12 75.

ICBM

Do you know more about the history of the company?

57Deluxe

I thought Bradley RoadRunner was a new range of bicycles...

EdGrip

Dual-gang pots for T M B?

ICBM

EdGrip said:

Dual-gang pots for T M B?

Yes, by the look of it. Presumably the two different channels have separate EQ or audio paths - that's the side with clean and crunch (blue) modes. I didn't reverse-engineer it though, so I'm just guessing.

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Do you know more about the history of the company?

They were bought out by acme at one point I think...








Sorry

ICBM

LOL

Dave_Mc

Gadgie

Hi,

Yes made in Scotland in the 90's...maybe early 00's. I loved these amps. Went to the shop to buy the only one in Aberdeen only to find it sold the day before. Never managed to track down another one.

They sound great and would be happy to buy one today if it came up for sale.

The company took out one other amp (valve I think) at the same time. I think I have a copy of the magazine report somewhere.

Pretty sure it was from around Montrose or Dundee area. Defo East Coast

ICBM

I think the chap who owned it when I was working on it then sold it to a friend - I'll ask if it's still around and if it could be for sale.

Gadgie

ICBM said:

I think the chap who owned it when I was working on it then sold it to a friend - I'll ask if it's still around and if it could be for sale.

That would be great....cheers

shstrandberg

Gadgie said:

Hi,

Yes made in Scotland in the 90's...maybe early 00's. I loved these amps. Went to the shop to buy the only one in Aberdeen only to find it sold the day before. Never managed to track down another one.

They sound great and would be happy to buy one today if it came up for sale.

The company took out one other amp (valve I think) at the same time. I think I have a copy of the magazine report somewhere.

Pretty sure it was from around Montrose or Dundee area. Defo East Coast

Hi Gadgie.

I just got my hands on a DualQuad 100 watt all tube amp from Bradley.

Are you still interested in a Bradley amp?

Cheers

/Søren

Tark

I know this thread started back in 2014 but I have just got one of these amps in for a service and this thread is the only mention I can find on the internet of the Bradley RoadRunner 100W.

The amp I have had fried most of its fuses because the custom power transformer developed an internal short. Happily after I replaced the custom transformer with three off-the-shelf transformers and replaced the fuses, the thing came to life. It too has microphonic feedback on the blue drive channel and several of the pots are very crackly. So still some work to do to get it working perfectly.

Also replaced all the knobs with grub screw locking knobs. The originals were just friction fit push on knobs on round shaft pots, so they didn't lock to the shaft. You could grab a knob and just keep on rotating it past the end of travel on the pot.

ICBM

Welcome Tark!

That's interesting and may explain why these amps were not a commercial success, if they had transformer issues.

The one I have is still working fine and is still for sale...

Do you have pics of yours? I'm not convinced the grille cloth is original on this one, and the logo is missing - it would be nice to know what it's meant to look like.

ElectroDan

I remember looking for an emergency amp replacement in the late 90's and popping into a shop in Caerphilly market South Wales. They had a Bradley in there for sale that I had a quick go of (can't remember the model). It was a bit rough and ready sounding for the covers band I was in at the time, so I ended up taking a SS Fender Stage amp (which actually sounded ok clean).

Torcs

Hi! 
I bought one of these amps. I have the 2x12" 100w. But after some seconds of playing on it the sound disappears in white noise. I had this problem once before and sent it for service. Got it back and it worked for some time. No the problem has returned.... 
I loved the sound from this amp. It played much better than any other amp at the store at the time I bought it. 

Shame there is bad quality in some parts inside.. 

Anyone knows how to fix? 

- Tor Christian 
Norway 

ICBM

Have you tried changing the valves? It's a hybrid amp and from memory there are three. I would replace one at a time with a known good valve rather than replace all three, which it probably doesn't need - even if it's a valve problem.

Torcs

Thank you for advice! 
I'm not so familiar with the electronics. As a matter of fact Ive never been fiddling with the inner parts at all before.
But I think I'll be able to replace the valves only if I start to work on it. 

Where do I get the right valves?