Watkins Westminster 'Black Star' 14w

Super-rare 14 watt incarnation of the fabulous Watkins Westminster – serviced and sounding stunning – missing original back panel (has new plywood panel instead).

One of only ten of these amps ever made utilising a pair of EL90s, this is a stunning little amp with a big warm sound – scroll down for a demo of a similar unit.

Read Tony’s detailed blog post about the history and sound of this amp here.

This amp still has the original black and white star covering unlike the one shown in our blog. The amp is in reasonable cosmetic condition for its age, although the cover and panel are showing signs of age. Serviced and ready to rock. We love these early Westminsters – they are superb recording amps.

Internally it has had a careful full service to bring it up to spec and replace ageing components. It contains a selection of vintage and more recent valves. Click on the photos to zoom in and scroll through to see more shots including detail of the interior and valves.

In this condition it is not a collector’s piece. What it is however is a superb and uncommon recording amp that’s loud enough for smaller gigs. It sounds lovely – warm and mellow when you want, but with plenty of grunt and snarl when pushed – a fantastic, versatile recording amp.

It is a 220v model so will require a step-up transformer for US/Canada.