Standel

Standel Musical Instrument Amplifiers is an american company specialized in the manufacture of electric, semi-acoustic and electric acoustic guitar amplifiers. It was founded in 1953 by Robert "Bob" Crooks in Temple City, California.

History

Origins

Bob Crooks, an electronics engineer from Temple City, California, was approached by musician Paul Bigsby in 1953. At the time, Crooks owned an electronics repair shop named Standel (a portmanteau of the words stand and electronics). Bigsby, a guitarist, advanced the engineer 50 dollars to build him a custom guitar amplifier to go with the then famous Bigsby solid bodied electric guitars. It would be the first ever to be manufactured under the Standel label.

Crooks manufactured the amplifier, but the results were dissatisfying. He would play Les Paul's song, Lover, several times through the amplifier and tweak it until it sounded "right". However, the final result lacked quality. Paul Bigsby played through the amp with one of his steel guitars and it "sounded terrible". Crooks noted the difference between building a guitar amplifier and building a standard hi-fi amplifier. He then borrowed one of Bigsby's guitars and continued improving the amplifier.

Founding

Bigsby would eventually lose interest on the development and marketing of his own line of amplifiers, but Crooks nevertheless continued working on his design for months. He eventually came up with one he was satisfied with. Its cabinet featured padded Naugahyde, aluminum guards across the top, a lit control panel and other aesthetic details. Crooks meant to make the amplifier both visually and sonorously appealing. He used his shop's name as the amplifier's brand.

Ascent to popularity

Crooks then started attending local concerts in order to spread the word about his amplifiers and get musicians to test them. The first one of these musicians was the late "Speedy" West. West, a steel guitarist, was asked by Crooks, while at Cliffie Stone's "Hometown Jamboree" show, to try out his guitar amp. He liked it and ordered the first Standel amplifier the same night.

He then took his amp to the town hall party dance in Compton, California, where Merle Davis and Joe Maphis would be playing. They ordered the second and third Standel amplifiers.

The Standel amplifiers would benefit of a relative rise in popularity among professional musicians, although at a small scale (only approximately 75 amplifiers were hand-built by Crooks using the original design). They were used mostly by session musicians, as their high prices made them difficult to attain for an amateur or hobbyist (their entry level model cost around $250 in the 1950's).

Downfall

Standel started experimenting with solid state amplification in the mid 1960's. Crooks coated the amplifier's modules in resin, in order to protect them. Standel's downfall began here, because the resin-coated modules were unworkable. In 1973, he unknowingly received a batch of broken modules and put them into new amplifiers, which meant the end for the company. There is some controversy as to whether Standel was bought by rival amplifier manufacturer Randall Amplifiers [ [http://www.harpamps.com/micKamps/Standel-History.html Amplifiers - Standel History ] ] .

Present day

As Standel stopped production in 1973, a decline in popularity among the general public was to be foreseen. Standel amps began to be a prized possession in the musician community, as their rarity increased. However, in 1998, 25 years after stopping production, Standel came back into business, and is still custom-building amplifiers as of July 2008.

Technical Achievements

Standel was a pioneer in some aspects, the following are some of the company's achievements.

*First to use padded upholstery
*First to use JBL speakers in a musical instrument amplifier
*First amplifier to have illuminated dials
*First closed-back bass amplifiers
*First piggy back amplifiers
*First amplifier to contain its dials on the front panel
*First hybrid amplifier (used both valve and solid state circuitry)
*First self-powered solid state speaker cabinets
*First to have separate "Bass" and "Treble" dials (most amplifiers only had one "Tone" dial at the time)

Amplifiers

Standel amplifiers span across two series. Only used JBL D130 speakers are used in new amplifiers, since JBL discontinued the model. However, Standel offers full warranty on them. Standel makes available both manuals and schematics of their amplifiers at their website.

Vintage Plus Series

Combo amplifiers

*25L15 - 25 Watt valve amplifier, the first one to be developed by Robert Crooks. Featured lit dials with separate bass and treble control, a JBL D130 speaker and padded upholstery.
*100UL15 - 100 Watt amplifier, idealized for Jazz.

Clean heads

*25VPH - Head-only version of the 25L15.
*100VPH - Head-only version of the 100UL15.

Acoustic magnifiers

*AM-25L15 - Self-powered extension speaker system for the 25L15.
*AM-100UL15 - Self-powered extension speaker system for the 100UL15.

peaker cabinets

*L15 - 1x15 speaker cabinet. JBL D130 speaker.

witchmaster Series

Combo amplifiers

*30C24 - 30 Watt amplifier sporting an all-tube circuit with an high-gain preamplifier.
*100C24 - 100 Watt version of the above. Uses Celestion speakers instead of JBL.

Power amplifier

*Model 484 - 30 Watt rack mount power amplifier.

High gain heads

*S30-H - Head only version of the 30C24.
*S100-H - Head only version of the 100C24.

peaker cabinets

*C24 2x12 - Lightweight cabinet with two 12" speakers. Buyer decides which speakers are to be used.
*C48 4x12 - Lightweight cabinet with four 12" speakers. Buyer decides which speakers are to be used.

Musical instruments

From 1961 to 1967, Standel had a short period as a manufacturer of stringed instruments.

Actually Standel never made instruments, but the name went on a series of good quality electric guitars and at least one hollow body electric bass, built by Sam Koontz at the request of Bob Crooks. Some of the instruments were sold as Harptone, Mosrite is also involved but it's not real clear how.

Notorious users

*Joe Maphis - used a 25L15 amplifier
*Merle Travis - used a 25L15 amplifier
*Speedy West - used a 25L15 amplifier
*Chet Atkins (recording only, due to an endorsement deal with rival Gretsch)
*Hank Thompson
*Grady Martin
*Hank Garland
*Larry Collins
*Barbara Mandrell
*Ralph Mooney
*Noel Boggs
*Buddie Emmons
*Wes Montgomery
*Cliff Gallup

References

[http://www.standelamps.com/ Standel's website]

[http://www.standelamps.com/about_us/story/index.html Standel's history at their website]

External links

[http://www.standelamps.com/ Standel's website]