1970s Ibanez AD-230 Analog Delay & Multi-Flanger

Vintage Japanese effects unit, super high-quality pro-audio equipment

After suspecting that the GX60 Ibanez guitar amp that I've recently come across was built by Maxon, the discovery of this beauty may have confirmed it. The circuit boards inside the casing all have Maxon stamped on them and it all looks super clean as well.

This will need repair, however. It powers up fine and switches between effects, but the effects don't actually kick in unless you crank the volume to the max. Something must be shorted out somewhere. Hopefully it will be an easy fix. When I'm able to find the sweet spot and this thing works like it should, the sounds are top-notch.

This has a very large following in the collector's market, like most 70s and early-80s Ibanez gear. Famous players who used this model, which was manufactured between 1977 and 1979 are Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Steve Miller. On top of being highly-collectable, these are also incredibly rare. I've seen it listed from anywhere between $550 and $1200 recently.

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.

1980s Ibanez GX60 Guitar Amp

Vintage early-80s Japanese combo amp, great cleans and distortions, takes pedals very well 

 

This was an incredible thrift store find and a rarity at that. Ibanez is among my favorite guitar brands, namely because of their electric guitars and the "fast necks" that they've been equipped with since at least 1980. This amp was also built around that time and just about everything they pumped out seems to be high quality merchandise.

Ibanez guitars and pedals from the era have a great reputation and are highly-sought after in the collectors' market, but I had no idea that they made amps as well. Much like the Boss SE processors from the late-80s simulate the sound of the pedals produced by Roland in the same period, this amp is capable of reproducing "tubescreamer" tones with the distortion on and the reverb is also very smooth.

Like many of the other items that have been featured here over the years, I haven't been able to dig up much information on this beauty. Its possible that the amp was built by Maxon, which also made the Ibanez pedals referred to above. If anyone has any info on this amp, including whether or not it came with a footswitch, please feel free to drop a line.

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.