bjoish
Joined: Jul 06, 2010
Posts: 596
Stockholm
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 06:16 AM
Last week I was lucky to find a Yamaha TA-60 amp on Ebay.
A very cool unique amp! 
I can imagine the engineers at Yamaha discussing the exceptional product they planned back in the early 60s
They were about to design their first guitar amp for the international market. The goal was to design a super powerful combo amp using the latest technology available. A state of the art silicon transistor amp, a revolutionary non-directional speaker and an exceptional cabinet design.
Amp
They obviously studied the best tube amps on the market and designed the new amp using the concept of replacing each tube with a three-nfb-transistor circuit. Two channels with Treble, Midrange and Bass controls. Spring reverb and tremolo.
For the power amp they used the silicon NPN power transistors from Hitachi.
A traditional tube amp have a transformer on the output. The Yamaha engineers found a way to place a transformer before the power NPN transistors. This was an innovative way to create a quasi-complimentary push-pull driver. (Complementary NPN and PNP transistors having the necessary matched characteristics were not available at that time.) Power rating is 100W music power.
For optimal weight distribution the power amp is located on the bottom and the preamp board at the top.
Speaker
Unique "Natural Sound Speaker".
Traditionally, speakers cones are made of a stiff paper that pump the air. A big cone is needed for a good bass response. Unfortunately the big cone is a drawback for treble that becomes very directional!
At Yamaha they found a solution in making the cone flexible in a way to use only the center of the cone for treble and the whole area for the bass response!
Two "JA 4001 flexion speakers" are used for the TA-60 and its remarkable how well these speakers still work after 50+ years!
These speakers are highly efficient and non-directional.
My impression is that the Flexion speakers softens up the sound from the solid-state amp and the treble is truely non-directional. The very low end response is not very "tight", for that a stiffer cone would have be needed.
Cabinet
A unique design and and an exclusive anodized alu look. The build is very robust and well designed with many interesting details. The speaker has an open back covered with grill cloth. The build is quite advanced and with low weight as a priority. Two openings on the back, one for replacing fuses and one for keeping the mains cable during transport.
Last edited: Feb 22, 2024 06:42:31
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TallTenor
Joined: Nov 30, 2022
Posts: 71
Coast of the Great Lakes
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 07:25 AM
Wow! Like the culmination of space race era dreaming. How does it sound? Im unfamiliar with that amp entirely. Any notable uses or recordings out there?
— Kitten and The Tonics
https://kittenandthetonics.com/
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J_Durango
Joined: Oct 15, 2017
Posts: 90
Ulverston
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 07:44 AM
I've never seen such a thing before!
Looks great - the dimensions look really practical, nice and thin.
I guess the sound is less than amazing - otherwise that design would have revolutionised the industry!
— The Spiratones - Instro/Surf from the rain-soaked north-northwest of England
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bjoish
Joined: Jul 06, 2010
Posts: 596
Stockholm
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 08:09 AM
TallTenor wrote:
Wow! Like the culmination of space race era dreaming. How does it sound? Im unfamiliar with that amp entirely. Any notable uses or recordings out there?
The sound is a bit dark, not very different to a Showman.
The non-directional speakers are quite special.
Here are two sound clips on youtube:
https://youtu.be/TGr_X7bbouU?si=JS7XExRj33NLHuok
https://youtu.be/o4QjwwYk6fk?si=DPcEThNLi5Pmo0Dr
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edwardsand
Joined: Jun 29, 2018
Posts: 757
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 08:14 AM
Very cool! I've seen photos of those before, and have always been interested in trying one out. They clearly don't take up a lot of space. How heavy is it?
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bjoish
Joined: Jul 06, 2010
Posts: 596
Stockholm
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 08:17 AM
J_Durango wrote:
I've never seen such a thing before!
Looks great - the dimensions look really practical, nice and thin.
I guess the sound is less than amazing - otherwise that design would have revolutionised the industry!
Well this was an expensive design. 650usd in 1968 was about twice of a regular amp at the time. And you dont get any compression or tube amp distortion. So I suppose many people preferred other amps..
For clean sound, its very good amp.
The speakers has pros and cons.
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bjoish
Joined: Jul 06, 2010
Posts: 596
Stockholm
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 08:18 AM
edwardsand wrote:
Very cool! I've seen photos of those before, and have always been interested in trying one out. They clearly don't take up a lot of space. How heavy is it?
About 20kg
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DeathTide
Joined: Apr 13, 2018
Posts: 1374
New Orleans
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 11:09 AM
Wow! That's wild.
— Daniel Deathtide
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ArtS
Joined: May 09, 2008
Posts: 1348
Isle of Kent, MD
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 11:28 AM
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chiba
Joined: Sep 02, 2022
Posts: 514
Central VA
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Posted on Feb 22 2024 12:33 PM
Crazy design - what a cool idea, making it flat like that!
— --
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!
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Tele295
Joined: Feb 16, 2012
Posts: 153
Rincon Beach, California, USA
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Posted on Feb 26 2024 02:37 PM
Is it the same speaker as a Fender Bantam Bass amp?
“The Fender Bantam Bass was a bass amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1969. This silverfaced amp used an asymmetrical trapezoidal Yamaha speaker using a white styrofoam cone, and so the speakers blew very easily. As a result, the amp was not a commercial success, and it is rare to find a Bantam Bass today that still has its original speaker.[1] The Bantam tone circuit was used in the Bassman 10 combo amps, introduced in 1972, but these were barely good enough to compete with the other amps available at the time.”
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Padraig
Joined: Feb 26, 2022
Posts: 401
Dollars, Taxes
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Posted on Feb 26 2024 03:18 PM
Our guitarist bought it's little brother, the Yamaha TA-30 (50 watts), back in '67 and we all thought it sounded great although it did look a bit strange!
— Patrick
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bjoish
Joined: Jul 06, 2010
Posts: 596
Stockholm
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Posted on Feb 27 2024 03:37 AM
Tele295 wrote:
Is it the same speaker as a Fender Bantam Bass amp?
“The Fender Bantam Bass was a bass amplifier made by Fender. It was introduced in 1969. This silverfaced amp used an asymmetrical trapezoidal Yamaha speaker using a white styrofoam cone, and so the speakers blew very easily. As a result, the amp was not a commercial success, and it is rare to find a Bantam Bass today that still has its original speaker.[1] The Bantam tone circuit was used in the Bassman 10 combo amps, introduced in 1972, but these were barely good enough to compete with the other amps available at the time.”
To use the Flexion speaker in a bass amp seems like VERY stupid idea.
The advantages of the speaker are the non-directional sound and high efficiency, not the lowest bass response.
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