Hidden gem

Only few players remember Bedrock Amplification. It went bankrupt in the early ‘90ies. Even fewer remember their VOX AC-30 version, that they built for VOX. Their attempt to get the build contract for an original design model was not successful (Marshall got the order), but they decided to release it anyway. Lawsuit. Lost. The Bedrock BC-50 is that amp. A VOX AC30 evolution I would say, with high quality components and very reliable. It had a brother with Tremolo, called the BC-75, which is even rarer. I’ve played a few in my quest to find Rene van Barneveld’s tone on Urban Dance Squad’s “Persona Non Grata” album. Fender Tele, BC-50 and a Marshall DriveMaster. On it’s own, the 50W amp has two switchable channels, a clean and an overdriven one. Both sound really great, very similar to the Bedrock 1000 series half stack. A Fender-like shimmering clean channel that can go very loud without breaking up. You can make it break up if you add more volume (crank it). The overdrive channel has a fat, round thick character. The “Persona Non Grata” sound is present, but it’s only with a Marshall DriveMaster pedal with gain on 2-3 that the Marshally barky midrange comes to life. Useful amp that has many good tones in it (with or without the boost). Construction-wise it is a tank. Very solid metal housing in a sturdy plywood enclosure. 2 own design 12E100 speakers designed and built by Bedrock founder Jay Abend with parts from Stanford Acoustics, Eminence and some design assistance from Hartke. Here is the answer Rich Curtis (Bedrock “Tripod” page maintainer) got when he asked Jay about them: “ Rich Stanford Acoustics made the baskets. Cones were from Eminence. Some other place custom made the specially weighted dust caps. We did the assembly by hand in Framingham MA. And it was a ROYAL pain in the a**!! I just built four for a Marshall cab the other day from some stuff in my attic. They really do sound great. All the compression of a Vintage 30 but with the bottom end of a Vox blue!! My friend Ron Lorman from Hartke Systems helped me in the design.

PS: Rich’s Bedrock page helped me a lot in my enduring quest for Bedrocks. It sadly went offline years ago. Jay”

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