Pre Owned 1979 Jim Kelley 30/60 Reverb Guitar Amp Combo Tweed

Here at Truetone, we love presenting the rare - and here we have something that you will rarely see: a Jim Kelley 30/60 Reverb
 
Jim Kelley Amplifiers were designed by Jim Kelley himself and manufactured by his company Active Guitar Electronics of Tustin, California between the years of 1978 and 1985. Approximately 600 of these amps were built during that time.  Truetone has for sale one of those originals - this one was made in 1979 - and was with one owner the entire time!
 
For those not in the know, Jim Kelley once worked for Leo Fender at the Music Man factory in the 1970’s before striking out on his own.  Fred Walecki, the original owner of Westwood Music, loved the amps so much that he started to spread the news to his regular heavy hitters like Lee Ritenour, Robben Ford, Alan Holdsworth, Carl Wilson and others.  The fact that Eric Clapton got one of the first five amps he ever built didn’t hurt either!  In 1980, with the help of John Suhr, Jim was able to get his amps into Rudy’s Music in NYC.  This opened up an entire east coast market and they soon began selling amps to artists like Lou Reed, Vince Gill and Bonnie Raitt.  Although the Jim Kelley model still lives on today as an exclusive amp line through Suhr's own company, the originals are highly sought after and incredibly hard to find.
 
This particular amplifier was in a guitar shop in Pasadena that’s long gone.  The building was bought by producer Bill Bottrel, and is where he recorded Sheryl Crow’s hit song, “All I Wanna Do”.  It's this store where the owner bought the amp and has had it ever since.  Now, 45 years later, he has decided to part with this amazing piece of amplifier folklore.  So, you can find yourself the second owner of one of the original 600 amps Jim Kelley ever made.
 
The original Active Guitar Electronics amps didn’t have reverb, but after several trusted guitarists suggested channel switching and reverb, both were added to the next batch of amps.  The Active Guitar Electronics name was dropped by the end of 1979 as the Reverb Model had become the mainstay of Jim’s amp line and, going forward, he decided to market the amps under his own name.  The original L-pad device (the box) was removed many years ago “when it burned out”, according to the original owner.  The amp has all 4 tubes for you to live out the 60 watt experience or you can remove 2 tubes and run it at 30 watts.
 
The amp is in great condition considering its age.  It does show signs of wear, of course, but we all do once we're over 45.  The original owner put it to good use but also made a point to take care of the amp and kept it serviced.  Check out the photos to see everything. This is a heavy amp - no denying that - but for those that know, that's besides the point.  Built like a tank, it's ready to go for another 45 years.

A Jim Kelley amp is a special find, unparalleled to many who are into rare boutique amps like this.  We were thrilled to see it come in and will be sad to see it go out - but we're ready to get it to its second owner!

Serial # 98084