1980s Jim Kelly FACS head & 2x12 Custom cabinet

For your consideration, Garrett Park Guitars presents this 1980s Jim Kelly FACS head & 2x12 Custom cabinet.

This custom cabinet was built for the previous owner around 2011 from a Jim Kelly 1x12 FACS amp. You can switch the FACS’ output from 30 watts to 60 watts. In the 30-watt mode, only two output tubes are active, whereas all four output tubes are active in the 60-watt setting. The amp’s massively over-designed power transformer is rated at 135 watts RMS, which guarantees it an easy life, even when you drive the amplifier at full power. The FACS also sports active-shelving EQ controls, which sound very open, breathy, and natural. These amps have tremendous reverb circuits as well, with a deep, rich tone. Operating a FACS combo or head is very straightforward because the front panel has only three controls: Gain (which has a pull-out Presence function), Treble (with a pull-out Bright setting), and Bass (with a pull-out Mid-boost function). One key element of the FACS circuit is that the tone controls boost and cut from the noon position. Adjusting counterclockwise from 12 o’clock cuts the setting, while adjusting clockwise past 12 o’ clock boosts it. It’s a brilliant design.

Truly a deserving name in the early era of the “boutique” amp scene, Jim Kelley is also an extremely under-recognized one. After working at Music Man amplifiers and other jobs in electronics in the 1970s, Kelley formed Active Guitar Electronics in Tustin, California, in 1978 and began building tube amps under his own name in ’79.

For the following six years, Kelley built approximately 100 amps per year, landing them in the backlines of Bonnie Raitt, Daryl Stuermer, Lee Ritenour, Vince Gill, Mark Knopfler, Jim Messina, Alan Holdsworth, and many others, while sending a great many to Japan, too.

Serial Number: O175

Condition: Very Good

All photos are of the amp itself and not stock photos.

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