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ENTITY · TECHNOLOGY / GEAR

Sound-system amplifier

Well supported

The heart of a sound, and the part that was rarely bought off a shelf. Jamaican sounds ran custom-built valve amplifiers wound and tuned by local engineers — King Tubby among them — because the sound wanted more low end and more level than commercial equipment offered. An amp was a competitive secret as much as a component, and a sound's character was substantially its own.

A valve amplifier on the repair benchwbaiv · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source ↗

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Story · Well supportedThe electronics men and the birth of the sound system

Before there were selectors and deejays, there was the amplifier, and the men who built it.

Story · Well supportedThe amp men of Kingston

From a 1947 shop-front amplifier to King Tubby's workshop, engineers built the sound system before anyone sang through it.

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