Standel Imperial XV

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 1 Oct 2003 8:04 am

Anyone know anything about the Standel Imperial XV? It is a small amp head with tubes, but says "transistorized" on the face. It comes with a 15" speaker cabinet, and has a bass channel and a "normal" channel. What is the rated output of this amp? How does it compare with other Standel amps? What years were its production run? How would it work for pedal steel? How much is it worth? Thanks for any help.[This message was edited by David Doggett on 01 October 2003 at 09:05 AM.]

J J Harmon · Post by **J J Harmon** » 1 Oct 2003 10:44 am

I have one; sounds great for Guitar, Bass or Steel. Mine has a bad trem and rev module. It is SS and has epoxy filled modules. The modules can't be melted down. Some guy has a bypass built for the other modules somewhere on the web.

Coleman Music in China Grove, NC had one a few weeks ago with $400 on it. Paul Yandell said on a fingerstyle guitar post that they aren't worth $50. The 2 15" JBL's are worth $300 to $600 if in good condition. They are 16 ohm.

Built in the 60's.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 1 Oct 2003 3:08 pm

David, as I understand it, that was the first model of transister amps for Standel, around 1964. I have one and I think the output is around 35 watts. Evidently it has FET transistors.

The speaker cabinet is a bass reflex, so it has a lot of bottom. If you like the sound of a Sho-Bud Christmas tree, you will love the sound of the Imperial XV. I've been practicing with using both at the same time and they compliment each other really well, because the Sho-Bud has reverb, whereas the Standel does not.

This one was also rebuilt by Tim Maag.

What's it worth? I traded an Ampeg VT-22 straight across and the guy at the store didn't flinch.

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 1 Oct 2003 8:56 pm

I bought an Imperial XV in '62 when Irby Mandrell was the sales rep for them on the west coast. It replaced a piggy back amp I bought earlier from him also with a 12" JBL. Gene Breeden bought that one so I could buy the XV. I traded it for a Pre CBS Fender Super Reverb in the fall of '63 because the Fender had a reverb and the Standell didn't. I kept the original JBL 15" until about a year ago. It was coned for 16 ohms but was original to the bone

J J Harmon · Post by **J J Harmon** » 2 Oct 2003 5:47 am

If it didn't have Reverb it wasn't an Imperial XV. This one is a lead guitar amp.

Michael Brebes · Post by **Michael Brebes** » 2 Oct 2003 6:24 am

I had a Standel Imperial amp head for a number of years. Very clean sounding amp with 40-60 watts. 2 channel, one with tremolo, and stacked tone and tremolo controls. If I remember, they used 6DW6(lead cap on top of tube) tubes for the power amp. The preamp and tremolo transistor modules were potted and unrepairable. I had it repaired by Standel back around 69 or 70 and got a set of schematics back with it, even though the schematics they had available didn't quite match. I donated the schematics to the Groove Tube archive a few years back, if anyone needs a copy. Unfortunately, at that time they still weren't giving out schematics for the modules, so a box with ins and outs is on the schematics for the modules.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 2 Oct 2003 10:54 am

If it didn't have Reverb it wasn't an Imperial XV

I'm looking at it and it says, The Imperial on the right side of the piggyback and it says Imperial XV on the speaker cabinet. This one doesn't have a reverb. Back in the mid '60s I had a Super Imperial that had two 15's in a single cabinet and that one had reverb.

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 2 Oct 2003 6:09 pm

The early Imperial XVs came out before they started putting reverb in their amps. That's why I got rid of mine.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 2 Oct 2003 9:28 pm

Thanks, guys. The one available here has no reverb and has one 15" in the cabinet. I don't remember seeing tremolo either, just a volume and single tone knob on each channel. Must be one of the early ones.

It's in a local shop, and seeing that it was a Standel I was wondering if it was worth bringing my pedal steel in to try it out. But I don't think 35 watts would work for me. 60 watts might (at least for some venues), but it's a really big package for that, and they are asking over $800 for it. The amp head is very small and light, but the speaker cabinet is pretty big, especially for a single 15. It probably works very efficiently with the small amp. But these days one would rather have either a little more power in the amp to drive a smaller speaker cabinet, or a lot more power in the amp to go with a big speaker cabinet (and a speaker that could handle it).

J J Harmon · Post by **J J Harmon** » 3 Oct 2003 9:00 am

Must be a Studio XV also I saw one on ebay that was an SA XV and I think that stands for Steel Amp.