2000 Standel 25L12 Vintage Plus 1×12 USA-Made Hand-Wired Boutique Tube Amp
Thursday, July 18th, 2024Up for sale, a 2000 Standel 25L12 (20C12) Vintage Plus 1×12 combo amplifier in exceptional condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original paperwork and footswitch. Produced in exceedingly small quantities, the modern Standel company is a no-corners-cut operation, boasting USA-made point-to-point construction across their product line. The original Standel 25L15 combo, first developed in 1952, is an iconic design, especially in the sphere of country music, with notable players throughout the 1950s-60s including Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and Speedy West, to name just a few. This modern version of the slightly scaled-down 12L12 (12″ speaker as opposed to 15″) delivers the same pristine, warm clean tones that made the originals so beloved among Nashville’s finest. According to Standel, the 25L12′s specialty is its “accuracy and smooth rich sound, ” and this classic amp is the ideal blend of immediacy and big tone, with ample sparkle and treble clarity. The five-knob control layout includes Volume, Treble, Bass, Contour, and Reverb knobs, just like on the original, with a backlit control plate for ease of on-stage usage. The Contour knob is an excellent tone sculpting tool, with broad midrange heft when rolled off and brighter twang as you turn it up. The circuit features point-to-point wiring, handwired in the USA, delivering approximately 25 watts of power. The tube complement includes a matched pair of Russian-made Svetlana 6L6GC power tubes, an Electron Tube 5AR4 rectifier, and a preamp section of two Philips 12AT7s, a Sovtek 12AX7, and a Amperex 12AT7, plus a GE JAN-5751 phase splitter. The cabinet is loaded with the stock Celestion G12 Vintage 30; this natural-sounding ceramic magnet speaker is highly detailed, with sweet trebles, complex overtones, a warm low end, and a famously rich vocal midrange. The cabinet is crafted from solid oak, with dovetail joints, and other cosmetic touches include the oxblood/gold-stripe grillcloth, clear plexi Standel badge, and original cream chickenhead knobs. This combo is in fantastic shape, with just a scant few dings on the wood and a very light wear on the grillcloth. The original factory documentation and bill of sale are included, along with the one-button footswitch.