MID 1950's HENRI SELMER RSA TV10 AMPLIFIER

SERIAL No: 10/310



AMPLIFIER OWNED BY TIM FLETCHER:



I have recently acquired this amp (many thanks to Bob Sawyer !). Unfortunately the cab has been painted a light brown colour, but from a small unpainted area inside the cab it can be seen that the original covering is a very fine yellow/black check pattern : hopefully the paint might be removable. Otherwise apart from some of the screws retaining the back panel it seems all-original.

 



t10a1.jpeg - 39Kb


This amp has the RSA logo on the control panel, but the back panel is stencilled "Made in England by Henri Selmer & Co. Ltd., London WC2". 



t10a2.jpeg - 78Kb

 



t10a3.jpeg - 64Kb


Judging by the screws, the Rola model Z1ORO 2330 speaker is original. The American Rola company bought Celestion in the late 1940's and although production was brought under one roof at Thames Ditton, similar speakers continued to be produced under both the Rola and Celestion brands until 1970 when the Rola-Celestion label was first used. Hence the Rola speakers used the same date codes as Celestions, in this case 25JK stamped on the rim. Mike Doyle's Celestion date codes run back only to 1956 : as the speaker is very clearly older than 1965 (K), and assuming the codes for the 10 years prior to 1956 followed the same sequence as those following (which is by no means certain), then the date code might indicate 25 October 1953.



t10a4.jpeg - 56Kb


The serial number is 10/310 Valves are Mullard ECC83 (1), Brimar BVA 2116 12AX7 (1), and 2 Mullards with worn-off markings which look like they might be EL84's, all very possibly original. Could the strange tall green thing be a metal rectifier valve?

This amp was certainly designed as a PA, and having evidently had very little attention over the last half-century it seemed very unlikely that it would make any noise whatsoever, let alone sound good for guitar. The expressions on the faces of Steve Russell and I must therefore have been quite comical when Bob plugged in his PRS and promptly produced a huge sound not dissimilar to a stack of Vox AC30's from it !!! Absolutely unbelievable - and at lower volume a good sweet clean tone too. Nice one, Henri !





Return to SELMER AMPLIFIERS - 1947 TO 1957