Guitar &
Musical Instrument
Amplifiers
Our favourite guitar amplifier sound is the sound of the 1940's. Gibson and Ampeg made the amplifiers that inspire us. Simple class A circuits, octal pre-amp tubes, tube rectifiers and chokes in the power supply. Do not expect channel switching and rows of knobs. Combine this with hard wood cabinets that look good in any environment, and you have a dynamic responsive amplifier that is fun to play and always sounds good.
The First Mars Probe
We own a Supro guitar amplifier combo that has only one knob (volume) and was sold in Benoni in 1952. The sound of this amplifier is incredible. From this example we developed our our Mars Probe.
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Mars Probe I

            • Parallel 6V6GT Single ended output stage
            • Eminence Alpha 8 speaker
            • High Z/Low Z inputs
            • Volume control
            • 12 watts class A power
            • Octal Dual Triode pre-amp tube
            • African Hard wood cabinet
            • Brass chassis
            • Hammond SE output transformer
            • Price: R7000.00 (excl. shipping)

Mars KG50
We wanted a loud combo for studio lead guitar application. We tried 6550 push-pull class A with a 6N7 inverter and a 6SJ7 gain stage á la RCA speech amplifier for a radio station. This sounded very good with the 6SJ7 in triode mode especially with a VOX fuzz/wha boosting the guitar signal. Unfortunately there was too little gain for clean work. Next was  6SL7 pre amp tubes and this time EL34 push-pull output tubes. The 450V on the plates killed the EL34's in class A, so we moved to directly connected cathode follower driver stage which seems to fix the reliability of the output tubes. The 6SL7 in the first stage was a bit microphonic, so we changed that to a 12AX7. Now the amp sounds good and is being played by Morten Kristiansen
marskg50
            • 30 Watt power EL34 push-pull circuit
            • 12 inch vintage Fender speaker
            • Volume with Bright pull switch
            • Boost switch
            • Treble and Bass controls
            • Fuse
            • Neon power switch
            • Stainless steel chassis
            • Kiaat cabinet
            • Recessed handles on the side
            • Price:R10 000.00 (excl. shipping)
Mars KG20
For the discerning bluesman we  designed around the popular Tweed Fender Deluxe circuit. The chosen format was a head separate from the speaker cabinet too allow different amp/speaker combinations.
            • 6V6GT push-pull class A circuit
            • Two channels; one with Volume and the other with Volume and Tone controls
            • Aluminium Chassis
            • Solid wood cabinet
            • 6SC7 pre-amp tubes
            • speaker out jack socket on the back of the amp
            • Price:R5000 (excl. shipping)



Mars Stereo 200
This amplifier was designed for the big stage. A 2 X 100 watt all tube half stack. This amp is loud!

            • 2 X 100 watt KT88 push-pull power amps with fixed bias
            • Mono guitar channel with stereo effects return (for those digital guitar processors:-)
            • Octal NOS pre-amp tubes
            • Brass chassis
            • Audio grade ERO mkp foil decoupling caps
            • 2 X 12" and 2 X 15" speakers
            • Ceramic sockets
            • Zambian Kiaat cabinet
            • Price:R35 000 (excl. shipping)


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Mars Tube Audio cc
P.O.Box 7306, Northern Paarl 7623
South Africa
phone: +27 72 446 5072
email: mars@artslink.co.za