Polytone 401 Maxibrute

[SG John]

I got this amp along with a bunch of other stuff yesterday from a friend who can no longer play due to an accident several years ago. He‘s trying to get his wife to throw stuff out, and he figured if he gave me stuff that hasn‘t been turned on in over thirty years, it would give home some leverage.

About the amp. I know it‘s solid state. It has a Harmonic Divider with Switches for high and low. An Octave Divider with Switches for One and Two. Then it also has onboard reverb and distortion. Ed also put a pair of EV speakers in it, and made a new grill for it.

It hasn‘t seen electricity for over thirty years, so I‘ll need to clean it up and make sure it‘s safe to turn on. Other than being a sought after jazz amp back in the late seventies and early eighties, does anyone know anything about these? I sent pictures to my bass player last night, and he called me back in milliseconds to say I scored big time and that they are pretty nice. He has been on the hunt for a Minibrute for ages.

Along with the amp, Ed also gave me a Scholtz Soloist with the original power supply, a seventies Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man, and an Ibanez DM1000 Digital Delay.

It will be fun to see ifany of this stuff still works. I hope they all do. The Memory Man will probably be the easiest to repair if they don’t.

 

[BFT Gibson]

Cool stuff...looks like some new tone ready to happen... keep thinking more & more of the odd's and end's of gear that was used...keeps creativetly level way up when you plug into something dif...

 

[Session 5]

Congrats on the new scores, hope the amp works well for you , once you give it a check over.

 

[syscokid]

You just got more free stuff? I'm jealous! All I get free these days are limes and my neighbor's dog's poop on my front lawn...

Congrats...

 

[67plexi]

John if nothing else the EV speakers if OK are a huge score. I have only seen the Mini Brute

Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[JohnnyGoo]

Great score.

 

[SG John]

Goofed around with the Scholtz Soloist for a few minutes. It's a tad crackly, but still works. It has that big, fat mid boost that Scholtz and Boston a known for. WIth the chorus turned on, it definitely had that "More Than A Feeling" vibe to it. Later tonight, I can start messing around with the other stuff.

 

[eSGEe]

thats funny I JUST POSTED a pic of my OLD POLYTONE 2x12 jazz amp--

the POLY TONE is STRONG on the forum today!!!

 

[Amp Mad Scientist]

I got this amp along with a bunch of other stuff yesterday from a friend who can no longer play due to an accident several years ago. He‘s trying to get his wife to throw stuff out, and he figured if he gave me stuff that hasn‘t been turned on in over thirty years, it would give home some leverage.

About the amp. I know it‘s solid state. It has a Harmonic Divider with Switches for high and low. An Octave Divider with Switches for One and Two. Then it also has onboard reverb and distortion. Ed also put a pair of EV speakers in it, and made a new grill for it.

It hasn‘t seen electricity for over thirty years, so I‘ll need to clean it up and make sure it‘s safe to turn on. Other than being a sought after jazz amp back in the late seventies and early eighties, does anyone know anything about these? I sent pictures to my bass player last night, and he called me back in milliseconds to say I scored big time and that they are pretty nice. He has been on the hunt for a Minibrute for ages.

Along with the amp, Ed also gave me a Scholtz Soloist with the original power supply, a seventies Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man, and an Ibanez DM1000 Digital Delay.

It will be fun to see ifany of this stuff still works. I hope they all do. The Memory Man will probably be the easiest to repair if they don’t.

View attachment 37740
View attachment 37741
View attachment 37742
View attachment 37743
View attachment 37746
View attachment 37748

It's a good thing you got the polytone for free because that's what it's worth.
(buy a fire extinguisher)
EV speakers, now that's something.

 

[CabanaBoy]

Sorry to hear about Ed's accident and getting rid of his gear. But, on the other side that is some great old gear he gifted you - congrats.

 

[eSGEe]

hows that Polytone working out fer ya? maybe it needs a little soggy bottom swamp lovin

 

[SG John]

hows that Polytone working out fer ya? maybe it needs a little soggy bottom swamp lovin

Haven't had a chance to fire it up yet. The Memory Man semi-functions, and needs some work. The DM1000 is dead. The Scholtz Soloist works fairly well, but is a bit scratchy. I was busy with my Princeton build, and doing sheetrock work in the cellar. Another couple of weeks, and I should be ready to start all my new work benches. Maybe I'll get too the Polytone soon. Need to actually play some guitar a bit first.