In the mid 1930s, the “electric” guitar was the latest in a string of innovations aimed at making the instrument louder, though it was by no means guaranteed to be a final solution. This pristine Dobro amplifier is a time capsule from the first decade of plugging in and turning up.

Any fan of vintage amplifiers will feel a flutter in the ol’ ticker at the sight of an immaculate early example like we have here. But this mid-/late-’30s combo is even more stunning to behold when you consider that it arrived just a decade after the world’s best solution to the guitar’s paltry volume was to put its strings directly in contact with a thin aluminum resonator cone built into its body. As such, the electric-Hawaiian and electric-Spanish guitars and the amplifiers that accompanied them were a great and swift leap forward, and many were designed and manufactured by the same pioneers who had concocted that more-archaic solution of the ’20s.

The concept of “guitar made louder” was changing at breakneck speed in that era, and the National Dobro Company was evolving just as quickly. As founders of the National Stringed Instrument Corporation, John Dopyera and his brother, Rudy, developed the resonator guitar in 1926 and introduced it to the market in ’27. Slovak-Americans whose family had emigrated to California in 1908, John was a skilled instrument maker, repairman, and inventor – and the brains behind the resonator concept. He filed for a patent for the original tricone resonator design in April, 1927, and it was granted in December of ’29. By then, he and Rudy had split from their National partners, which included co-founder musician/inventor George Beauchamp and an expanded management team. Along with brothers Louis, Emil, and Robert, they formed the Dobro Manufacturing Company (the name being an acronym derived by merging Dopyera and Brothers), and began building single-cone resonator guitars.

By 1933, National had moved on to manufacturing electric lap-steel guitars that it sold with outsourced amplifiers, and the rift between the Dopyeras and their former partners was on the mend. The two joined forces as the National Dobro Corporation and moved to Chicago in ’36, becoming a much bigger operation that then morphed into Valco a few years later as it stepped into the modern age of electric guitars and amplification. Along the way, however, this distinctive combo was born wearing a brand name that most guitarists today associate purely with acoustic resonator guitars.

This combo – referred to in the catalog of the day simply as “new Dobro Amplifier,” with no model name or number given – was likely made in 1937-’38 as the company got its feet on the ground, but before partners Victor Smith, Al Frost, and Louis Dopyera combined the first letters of their first names with “co” (for company) to form Valco.

Housed in a nifty two-chamber cabinet with the upper left corner stylishly rounded off and the upper right squared, the Dobro Amplifier carries an 11″ field-coil speaker in one compartment and a 10-watt amplifier chassis in the other, inserted from the back. A pair of Coke-bottle-shaped 6V6 output tubes do the heavy lifting, with two metal-sleeve 6N7 preamp tubes and a 90 rectifier tube. The catalog boasts of “two independent inputs” but makes no play of the Volume control that goes all the way to… 9. The amplifier’s stylish looks do get a nod, however:

“This new Dobro Amplifier introduces for the first time advanced improvement in portable amplifiers – the Streamlined ‘Over Night Bag’ cabinet – is compact, light weight and handy to carry… Covered with a hard wearing whip-cord waterproof material… An attractive grill plate protects the speaker adding modern lines to its appearance.”

In this case, the “modern” is obviously relative, but point taken. The set, including an accompanying Dobro Electric Hawaiian or Spanish model cost an even $100. That sounds like an insane bargain until you calculate for inflation and discover the sum in 1937 had the same purchasing power as $2,200 today.

This example is owned by amp collector Jim Dulfer.

“From 1980 until 1995 – when I was between 30 and 45 and primarily an acoustic-guitar player – I went through a phase when I was attracted to the design and look of old amplifiers, and sought out the eye-catching examples I could find at estate sales and antique shows, which were plentiful throughout my home state of Florida,” he said. “I acquired close to 50 cool amps that I used to decorate my music room.

“I was not savvy and I learned a hard lesson never to plug in old amps without a Variac and someone with some expertise, so I bought amps to enjoy as examples of musical-history art and design.”

One result of Dulfer’s disinterest in bringing this Dobro up to playing condition is that it remains even more frozen in time. A look inside the square, folded-steel chassis reveals a real rat’s nest of archaic electronic components. Among them, we find a massive yellow multi-capacitor electrolytic can that would certainly need replacing to make the amp safely functional, and a large, red power resistor, which – in displaying its scorch marks as signs of past (or imminent) catastrophic failure – reinforces Dulfer’s wisdom in exercising caution when firing up old amps.

Provided the original speaker is functional or can be repaired/replaced, there’s no reason another guitarist couldn’t make an old gem like this fully operational and enjoy the sound of some of the earliest tech in guitar amplification. Even as it sits, though, the Dobro makes for a heady trip back in time to a bygone age, and a fun reminder of the early efforts to crank it up.

This article originally appeared in VG’s July 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.