1978 Jim Kelley "FORTUNE" NUMBER ONE! PROTOTYPE (#2 went to Clapton!)

NOT SHIPPING UNTIL AFTER HOLIDAYS.

In the world of Southern California boutique amps, this is like finding an early Broadcaster without a truss rod! It's NUMBER ONE, built for Dale Fortune (who I aquired it from). See MANY details/history/story below - - - It was built in 1978 Fast Forward to early 2024.......... -

I was visiting Dale (he's been in the Portland area since the early '80's) and he had the amp in the house (unusual since the other times I'd seen it was out in one of his shop/studios) so I said (off the cuff as I had in the past) "I should have this!" I was shocked when he offered it to me, so we made the deal! No one else has ever used it. You can see it's "been around" but not really away from home but bumped around and "weathered" in his possession. When built he requested it have his personal/older/favorite JBL installed (still there). The ONLY change to the amp since it's creation was a crackling tube socket that Jim replaced a number of years ago when Dale took it to him during a California surfing holiday. Dale will be giving me a signed letter of authenticity soon as well.

THESE early Kelley AMPS SOUND LIKE NO OTHER - Full/round/robust with a "personality" hard to describe. Not a filthy/dirty "gain monster" (you CAN get it overdriven but not the horrible old Mesa grindy stuff). Really pure tube amp "MUSCLE". This single channel version of the amplifier employs moderate gain in the preamp stages, Baxandall type bass and treble controls, push/pull pots, a split load phase inverter, and four 6V6GT output tubes. The amplifiers produce 60 (LOUD) watts RMS at full power, and include a half power (30/60) switch. (The slip cover is a later '70's Mesa that fits great). SEE PHOTOS

It will packed and shipped with care. Here's YOUR chance for a piece of HISTORY!

** the amp's provenance is detailed below in email from Jim - AND more details following

From: jimkelleyamps@gmail.com

To: Wed, Jul 10 2024 at 1:46 PM

Hello Guitarcrazy -

Yes, Dale’s amp was the very first. I’ll explain. When I decided to make amplifiers And had decided on a basic design, I had a sheet metal shop make 5 blank chassis. I had them gold cadmium plated. I used that first chassis to layout locations for the transformers, tubes, filter caps, pots, and switches. I made a chassis drawing showing the layout. I cut and drilled all the holes, mounted the parts and then began work on laying out a circuit board. I cut some vulcanized circuit board material, drilled it and installed the eyelets. Then I soldered all the components to the circuit board. I installed the board and wired the entire chassis.

As I recall it worked the first time I fired it up. We played through it and made a few changes to component values. I started on it on a Friday morning, worked on it all weekend and finally went home on Monday morning.

I used that chassis as a model for the other four chassis. Then we built some cabinets. I was a fan of JBL speakers. I used one in a Carlson cabinet on my bench to sound test amps. The response of the JBL was such that I could hear the natural sound of the source with the greatest accuracy. Most of the amps were shipped without a speaker, so the end user would install his preference. I was a JBL dealer, so some the amps were supplied with an E120. But I was not a fan of the Altec speakers, and I doubt we ever provided more than a handful of EV’s in the 80’s.

The amp I gave to Dale was that first one. The second one I wired went to Eric Clapton in England. Eric sold that one at Bonham’s auction 10 or 15 years ago.

I have installed a couple sets of Tung Sols but not more than that. It’s better to use JJ’s I think. I don’t know the story on the grill frame. I do remember that Dale had trouble with a tube socket.

I recommend that this amp always be used with a variac or Brown Box to limit the line voltage to not greater than 115 volts.

FROM THE INTERWEB- Jim's "story"

In 1978 I quit my band, sold my Alembic bass, rented shop space from luthier Dale Fortune, and began doing business as Active Guitar Electronics in Tustin, Califonia. Relying on my college electronics degree, years as a TV broadcast engineer, and my experience working for Forrest White, Tommy Walker and Leo Fender at Music Man in Anaheim, I went to work doing amplifier repairs and modifications. As a result of this work, I determined that the push-pull output section of an amplifier produced a better sounding distortion than did the preamp section in master volume type amplifiers. It seems obvious now, but at the time it was a profound revelation. Subsequently, I built a series of prototype amplifiers, and with the tireless help of Todd Wilson from Fortune Guitars, I endeavored to eliminate any and every detectable bad sound from the amp. This resulted in a final design which I showed at the 1979 Winter NAMM under the Fortune name. The basic amplifier had 6 tubes and 3 knobs. It was an electronic hot rod, and it was small and loud. I sent one of those first 5 prototypes in a figured mahogany cabinet to Eric Clapton out of gratitude for the profound effect his music had on my life.

The amp was loud, and so to solve the volume control problem, I devised a variable L-pad device capable of handling the high amount of power produced by the amplifier when driven to full power. This provides essentially the same function as a master volume, only the sound is much better. My Power Attenuator remains one of the best guitar amp attenuators ever devised.

Thanks in part to Fred Walecki at Westwood Music, LA session and touring players began to hear about the amps. These included, among others, Carl Verheyen, Jake Hill, Mike Hamilton, Steve Farris, Richard Bredice, Bruce Boulanger, George Johnson, Curt Eilenberg, Robben Ford, Ricci Martin, Jim Messina, Dean Farley, Billy Hinsche, Carl Wilson, Dan Yablonka, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary Puckett, Daryl Stuermer, Doug Freeman, Mark Kendrick, Lee Ritenour, Pat Hennessey, Randy Thomas, Dana Olsen, Alan Holdsworth, Prince Robinson, and Ray Parker Jr.

Those are some of the people who I can recall using the amps and suggesting features such as reverb and channel switching (obviously I've forgotten the names of hundreds of others). By the end of 1979, the Reverb Model had become the mainstay of our amp line and I decided to market the amps under my own name. Initially, in order to answer the need for switching, I added a footswitch to the power attenuators. This allowed players to turn up the volume on their guitar for an overdriven solo tone with the attenuator engaged, or back-off the guitar volume and bypass the attenuator for a clean rhythm sound.

It was around this time that my dad, Stan Kelley, introduced me to record producer Rob Fraboni. Fraboni, who worked out of Shangri La studio in Zuma Beach, apparently loved the amps and recommended them to seemingly everyone. Through Rob, we were introduced to a number of recording artists including Vince Gill, Jeff Wilson, Rick Beilke, Max Gronenthal, Johnny Lee Schell, and Bonnie Raitt - more than I can remember. The amps were used on a number of albums recorded at Shangri La. Rob Fraboni was probably the single greatest contributor to the success I have had in my amp building career.

By the end of 1980 we had begun exporting amps to Japan (through Hank Hoshino), Germany (though Musik Jellinghaus), and Australia. Over the next few years we built an elite dealer network across the US. It was through our New York dealer, Rudy's Music Stop and John Suhr, that we were introduced to a number of prominent East Coast artists. Among them include Jack Sonni, Lou Reed, and Mark Knoffler (recording in New York at the time). In the modern day, players such as Joe Bonamassa and Pete Thorn, as well as European artist Ángel Miguel have become enthusiasts. There are undoubtedly others, but this is the best of my knowledge and recollection. ------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Kelley Amplifiers is the trademark for the vacuum tube guitar amplifiers designed by Jim Kelley and manufactured by his company Active Guitar Electronics of Tustin, California.