Since 1989, Matchless has been creating amplifiers that set the standard for durability, tone and style. The Los Angeles based company has specialized in class-A tube circuitry from the beginning. The DC-30 was the company's first design and still leads the lineup. 30 very conservatively rated watts from a quartet of EL-84's, through two channels, each with unique voicing and tone control layouts, produce a world of tone choices. The finishing touch is the signature backlit nameplate and control panel, which lets you (and the audience) know when the power is on. The Matchless DC-30 is without a doubt one of the greatest guitar amplifiers ever created.
**PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF THIS PIECE, THIS AMP DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR FREE SHIPPING. PLEASE SEND ME YOUR SHIPPING ZIP CODE FOR A SHIPPING QUOTE***
Here at Truetone, we are proud to be a long-time dealer - and also can recognize a piece of Matchless history when it comes in. That's exactly what we have here. This is a "vintage" one, from the Mark Sampson (original founder) era. These are very, very hard to find.
Designed to not just be an improved version an AC-30, the Matchless DC-30 lives in a tonal realm all by itself. The amp features two independent channels - the first provided a Vox Top Boost style sound, the second is a modified AC15/early AC30 preamp using a high-gain EF86 pentode preamp, with a 6 position "varitone" style Tone switch. It has a thick, rich tone with a full and balanced representation of the frequency spectrum. While it's fat, it's also well-defined. To those that haven't played one before, it's suprisingly versatile. The channels share a Cut control and a Master Volume, which proves to be extremely useful. Two powerful Celestion speakers, designed specifically for Matchless, produce unmistakable tone.
This one just came to us as a bit of surprise - the previous owner showed up with it one day, saying head had it for decades, hadn't played through it in years, and figured it was time to let it to go to someone that could put it to use. Overall, it's in very good condition - it does show it's age, but it's gracefully aged. View the photos to see everything in detail. Everything on it is original and in tact, save for a single knob that's not. Please note that in the photos, a knob is missing (the tone control). After the photos were taken, we were able to locate the correct type of knob and put it on, but did not do new photos.
The amp was vetted and tested to good working order by our amp tech. It simply sounds amazing, as to be expected!
A genuine hand-wired, point-to-point design like this is very labor intensive, and few amp builders do it. Even fewer have done it better than Matchless. For those that know what this is, this is a great score. Get it now before it's gone.
- Power: 30 Watts
- Channels: 2
- Controls Ch.1: Volume, Bass, Treble
- Controls Ch.2: Volume, Tone, Cut control, Bypassable master volume
- Switches: Reverse speaker phase, Hi-lo power, 3 Position rotary impedance, 6 Position rotary tone
- Power Tubes: 4 x EL84
- Preamp Tubes: 1 x EF86, 3 x 12AX7
- Rectifier Tube: 1 x 5AR4
- Features: Dual inputs for each channel, Effects loop
- Speaker Configuration: 2x12 (Celestion Special Design)
- Weight: 83 lbs.
- Dimensions: 21 x 27 x 10.5
