BIRD AMPLIFIERS

THE BIRD GOLDEN EAGLE 2/15 (1961 to c1965)

 

c1963 Bird Golden Eagle 2/15, courtesy of Mike Guthrie of Athens GA, USA.

Introduced in 1961, maybe to follow the Talisman amp which seems to have been introduced a year or so earlier. This was a very "state-of-the-art" amp for British manufacturers at that time. It was equipped with a spring reverberation effect, tremolo, and bass plus treble tone controls. The Golden Eagle and the Selmer Twin Selectortone were the first two British amps to be equipped with reverb, as far as I can remember. In the Golden Eagle's case, this was controlled by three push-buttons on the amps control panel, with further overall adjustment available by means of a master level control set into the back panel.

15 watts output power was produced by two EL84 valves feeding three Elac eliptical loudspeakers. Other valves in the amp were: 3 x ECC83, 2 x EF86, and a EZ81 rectifier.

Early models were covered in a rather delicate light brown/fawn fabric, and the speaker grill was fawn weave. After a few months, this was changed to a heavier brown/fawn fabric, with a darker brown tweed speaker cloth. Fittings were attached to the base of the amplifier to facilitate the fitting of domestic coffee table legs in order to provide a very effective stand.

 

Advertisment for the Bird Golden Eagle - September 1961.

 

 

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