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Found a Polytone 102 on Craigslist and ended up pulling the trigger. Couldn’t find that much info online regarding this particular late 60s/early 70s 102 but did see it pop up in a couple of Joe Pass videos like this one:
and this one;
I probably paid too much for it given how much the later model 102s seem to be going for, but I was a sucker for the silver grill and the amp was extremely clean given the age. Here are some additional pics.
Unlike other 102s I’ve seen, this one is only single channel. I haven’t had a lot of time to play around with it and open it up, but it sounds great so far. Hope this information is helpful for someone. I haven’t posted many times on this forum but I have gleaned a lot through it so wanted to share my experience as a pay back
for all the helpful threads I’ve read.
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12-30-2018 06:30 PM
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GREAT amp! It will outshine the layer MiniBrute amps.
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Oh god ... another old polytone to lust after. Do we really have to go there???
Lovely amp!
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Yeah. The 102 was the amp that attracted both Pass and Herb Ellis to Polytone in the first place.
Lots of 70s records and concerts done using the 102.
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Is this a 102, but 1x15??
1969 Polytone Custom 1x15 2 Channel Combo | Reverb
Always wanted to try the 102.
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I think the 102 I bought may be a 15” but I haven’t measured it. I saw that listing on reverb too and that could be a 100 or 101 since it doesn’t have reverb and tremolo. It also sports an open back which may or may not be original but is different than my 102.
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They do look similar JT. Yours is in far better condition, and still has the badge. Any further reports on sound et al. would be most appreciated.
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Controls look similar to these Polytone 101’s but these don’t have the open back.
1974 Polytone Model 101 Bass Amp- Fantastic Condition !! | Reverb
Polytone Model 101 | Reverb
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Mine is a 102V no reverb. The grill cloth was replaced, and the badges are gone, but it's the last amp I bought and the last I will buy.
I have schematics for it if anyone needs it PM me.
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Mad Dog - Looks like someone is selling the larger version of the 102 with the 2x8’s in Jersey City.
Polytone 102 Vintage Jazz Guitar Amp - musical instruments - by dealer - sale
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I did see that one JT. Makes me a bit leery, no pic and no price. Truth is, with two Polytones in my office right now, moderation is the only sane course. I'm just as curious about Evans amps. The attendants have been instructed to keep me from the BIN button ...
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I have a 102 with the 1 12" and 2 8" Good sounding amp. I favor it with guitars with floaters. Seems like I like the Fender amps for set pickup guitars.
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After traveling over the holidays, I've finally had a chance to sit down and play with the amp for a while. Hard to get a bad sound out of it to be honest. My guitar with a floating pickup sounds warm but retains a woody/acoustic tone with a lot of clarity. My fixed pickup guitars sounds fatter with less individual note clarity, but still great. The brite switch significantly changes the overall brightness; I'm currently partial to the middle position. The bass knob adjusts the bass from next to nothing to booming. The treble adjustment is much more subtle. It's actually so subtle, I had to check a few times to see if the control was working. Rather than boosting, it seems to merely open up the mids and trebles. Since I know these were originally designed for bass/accordian, I'm not sure if this is normal or whether I need to have the tone pot replaced.
I compared to my first gen Blues Jr., and it produces a much warmer more rounded tone. Through my blues jr, no matter how much I dialed down the tone controls on the amp, I'd still get what I can best describe as a more clangy tone. With the polytone, even with a telecaster, I can dial-in a warm jazz tone. All-in-all, I love the voice coming out of this amp.
The only thing wrong with the amp is that the tremolo isn't working. This is something I knew when I bought it, but was willing to overlook since it's not something I regularly use. Gary, I know you said your trem circuit wasn't working either on your 102v. Were you able to diagnose the problem? I'm debating whether I should try to get it fixed or just leave it. From what I've read, these amps can be a little unreliable and finicky. I'd hate to have someone poke around to fix it only to have other problems arise. Which leads me to my next question, what maintenance should I do or get done on the amp? Since it's SS, I'm not sure I need to do anything, but I do want to do everything I can to preserve its longevity.
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You may find that the vibrato actually works, but requires an on/off footswitch to activate.
The Polytone sound is awfully difficult to dislike, unless you have become addicted to the huge mid-dip associated with the 1960s Fender amp sound that many guitarists grew up with. For my part, I thought that an amp was _supposed_ to sound like a Fender Twin/Super/Deluxe Reverb Amp, until I played my first Ampeg amp around 1968/9. What a difference in warmth! Although Ampeg often used CTS speakers, often the speakers were the same Jensens that Fender used. Moreover, the tubes were often the same...more or less. It turned out that the tone circuits were quite different. Ampeg used a baxandall tone stack. This produced quite flat results when the bass/mid/treble knobs were at mid-rotation. The Fender amps were flattest when the base/mid/treble knobs were at near-zero/near-max/near-zero, respectively. At mid-rotation, the Fender tone stack produced a big bass and big treble peak, with a midrange dip...the classic "Fender sound." This is the "twang" that you associate with a Telecaster into, say, a Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp.
When I started playing Polytone amps, I found the old Ampeg sound in an easily portable package. Thus, I've been a Polytone player for going on 40 years.
Enjoy your 102.
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Yeah, my amp tech is a lazy slob... he hates working on stuff unless it's dead, or bringing in buckazoids :-)
Originally Posted by JT88
When I got it I opened it up and the amp tech inside my head said: "Yup, it's all there, now close er up till something breaks" It's been a bit over a year now and I use it every day for 1-2 hours sometimes more and have not needed to kick my lazy ass amp tech to open it up again :-)
Since it doesn't have reverb, I have a Boss multi effects pedal for a tad of reverb, if I ever really wanted tremolo it's easier to dial it in on the boss than pull one screw out of the 102's cabinet.
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Thanks you, guys. Very helpful and informative. Greentone, unfortunately, I can't find anywhere on the amp where a footswitch would be plugged in. The only controls/inputs other than the ones on the top of the amp is a room eq switch on the back near the power cord. Like I said, I don't really miss the tremolo at all which probably means I'm going to take a conservative approach similar to Gary's when it comes to working on it. Though, I do wonder weather the treble control is working properly given how subtle it is compared to the bass. Is this something you noticed on your polytones? If it's not, I may poke around a bit. The cord was converted at some point to a 3-prong so it's not like it's never been opened up. There are also some pots that are scratchy and I was thinking of using deoxit f5 on them as carefully as I can.
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You found a nit I think all of the 102's have. Take the switch off the "DARK" setting and put it on "bright" you'll see all of the treble effect is built into the bright setting. When you want a darker sound, drop the treble to zero, and when you want it bright just up the treble. Originally Posted by JT88
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Gary is right. Treble comes out to play when amp's on brite.
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Armed with Deoxit F5, I opened up the back to spray the pots and get a glimpse of what was behind the closed cab. I’ve never replaced a tube, let alone sprayed a pot, so I proceeded cautiously. The holes for the pots were on the speaker side of the amp and thus pretty inaccessible. I was worried about overspraying onto circuitry, so I ended up taking the knobs off and spraying from the top and twisting the posts back and forth a bunch of times. I did this for each knob at least 3 times. This method worked well and I was able to get rid of the scratchiness. Im not sure this was as effective as spraying through the holes as some of the knobs turn very freely while others aren’t so frictionless.
The tremolo still isn’t working and I’ve tried to search the internet for solutions to no avail.
The speaker looks like like the original CTS speaker, but will await Greentone’s confirmation.
The preamp box has written 52275EC in marker which I would assume dates it to May 22, 1975. The speaker is also marked 7505 which I believe dates it to the 5th week of 1975. I initially thought these blackface controls/silver grill Polytones were from the 60’s because I thought they were the earliest Polytone models. However, 1975 seems to coincide with the Joe Pass videos in my original post. Here are some pictures of it opened up.Last edited by JT88; 01-12-2019 at 11:19 AM.
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Yep. 137 = CTS
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I recently bought a Polytone amp (model 102) in a Goodwill auction: Polytone Model 102 Amplifier | ShopGoodwill.com
It's in great shape and all functions appear to work. I'm seeking information about the control panel settings. I can figure them out but any guidance would help.
Can anyone tell me anything about using these settings?
1) Hi & Lo input settings
2) Bright/Dark setting
3) Speed & Int (?) of Vibrato/Reverb
4) Reverse Power switch? I'm thinking I don't want to turn this on
5) Room EQ (Live/Damped) switch on the back of the amp
Any advice or comments from those of you who are familiar with this model would be appreciated, thanks.
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Have you see this page? Originally Posted by Mick-7
https://www.reddit.com/r/GuitarAmps/...ext/?rdt=52189
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Actually I have, thank you, but I don't see any "Octave/Harmonic Divider" switches on this amp, must be something they added to newer models. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
The most mysterious switch is the "Room EQ" switch on the back of the amp.
P.S. - This Polytone 102 amp on Reverb has the Octave/Harmonic effects panel and a much later serial number than mine, so it must have been a feature added to later models. Also, it doesn't have the Room EQ switch -- Polytone 102 amp - Reverb.com
Last edited by Mick-7; 02-14-2025 at 04:07 AM.
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Hi input, depending on the guitar, middle setting on bright/dark... if you're playing a Tele and want it to sound jazzy, that's where dark shines. Never liked anything set to bright. Reverb on 3'ish.. Power doesn't matter, leave room eq on live, Originally Posted by Mick-7
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Thank you, appreciate it. So it has no direct output/preamp jacks? What is the purpose of the Bass & Treble jacks on the back of the amp? (next to the Room EQ switch). Originally Posted by vintagelove
P.S. - I discovered that the High/Low input scheme is common in vintage amps but may not serve the same function in each one:
https://www.guitarchalk.com/amps-with-dual-inputs/Last edited by Mick-7; 02-16-2025 at 10:25 PM.
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Raney and Abersold, great interview.
Yesterday, 11:21 PM in Improvisation