Seymour Duncan has a handful of great guitar amps to his name along with his pickups, and the Convertible is his crown jewel. Released around 1980-81, the Convertible was an all-tube, modular preamp design so full of ground-breaking features that Jeff Beck himself made them his go-to rig. But these features made the amplifiers WAY ahead of their time. In fact, the industry is just now catching up. With this groundswell of interest in the Convertible, we thought we’d take this opportunity to tell its story. Not only will we get into the amp’s history, but we’ll explain all its futuristic features demonstrating how revolutionary the Seymour Duncan Convertible 100-watt guitar amp really was.

Tech Tips

There are several different Convertible amplifiers with different onboard options, power ratings, etc. We will focus on the earliest design and the flagship of the line, the Convertible 100.

The History of the Convertible

The Convertible was one of the most versatile amps of its day. And while many players embraced its design, the famous Convertible player was undoubtedly Jeff Beck. Rumor has it that he was the impetus behind the amp’s creation. But we’ll let Seymour tell the story via this early 1980s Convertible ad.

“I’ve always found it challenging to design pickups for [Jeff Beck’s] sound. The only way I could design an amp with the versatility he needs was with a modular preamp. He just inserts the preamp modules he wants into his Convertible amp and gets a whole new sound. There’s no need for me to ‘Hot Rod’ his amp — he does it himself in two minutes.”

As you can see, the Convertible had to do everything and be every amp for every player. That’s an extremely tall order, but Seymour had the perfect guy, engineer (now VP of Engineering New Product Development) Kevin Beller.

Beller’s modular preamp design allowed players to insert and remove pre-voiced preamp sections in any different combination, fine-tuning the Convertible to their taste. And that’s only one of the Convertible’s many pioneering features. Features that are commonplace today but revolutionary at the time. But, as with other groundbreaking inventions, the Convertible did suffer some growing pains that, after being discontinued in the early ’90s, made it one of the most under-rated tube amps out there.

That’s not just our opinion. In a 2017 article with Premier Guitar, Joe Bonamassa included the amp on his list of the top five most under-rated amps.

“Seymour made them in the ’80s, and it was the first amp to feature power scaling. It could go from 100 watts to one watt. It had different modules, like cards, that would go into the amp, and they had tubes in them with different gain stages and preamps. Mine is set up with low gain, and it sounds like a cross between a Deluxe Reverb and an early Mesa/Boogie. It’s pretty fun. I talked to Seymour about why they stopped making them, and it was just way ahead of its time.”

Let’s take a look at some of those features a little closer.

Modular Preamp Design

The Convertible could sound like any amp in any setting. In addition to its all-tube power section, there were five slots for specially designed preamp modules; a global input stage and two more for each of the amp’s two channels. You could have a vintage-voiced clean platform or a fire-breathing high-gain monster with ease by mixing and matching modules.

The Convertible 100 shipped from the factory with the following modules installed:

• 2 x Classic
• 1 x High-Gain
• 1 x Normal
• 1 x Presence

But the company offered a ton of different additional modules for purchase separately, capturing every voice from JC120-like cleans to modded-Marshall roar. These included the Classic Distortion, High-Gain Hybrid, FET, IC, and many more. We even offered versions of the modules with additional EQ onboard for tweaking every aspect of the circuit.

Always ones to lend some advice, the Convertible’s manual even came with some great-sounding combination suggestions to get players started.

Today, tube amps with modular preamps are relatively common. Everyone from Synergy, Randall, and Egnater has shown what such a flexible rig can do. But in 1980, the Convertible started it all.

Variable Power Control

Power attenuation and power scaling are other features found on tube amps all over today’s market. But, as with the modular preamp design, the Convertible was there first. We called it the Variable Power Control. It lets you take the amp’s output from a massive 100 watts down to a practice-friendly 5 watts. And the control is 100 percent variable to set it to the exact level required for your situation.

As if that weren’t enough, the control features a Variable Power Jack, which lets you control the whole thing via any passive volume pedal! Power attenuators are everywhere these days. But not many people have caught up to that one.

Most important, the Variable Power Control sounds terrific throughout its sweep. And again, we’re not honking our own horn. Bonamassa agrees. When speaking to Beller, the amp’s designer, he said, “The power attenuator alone you guys should make. It’s the coolest and most natural-sounding one.”

A Whole List of Player-friendly Features

An all-tube guitar amplifier from the 1980s with modular preamps and variable power is enough to put the Convertible on the list of all-time greats. But these amps were loaded with even more tools gigging guitarists continue to need to this day.

1. The head version can be removed from its shell and rack-mounted
2. Load Resistor Input: Included load resistor plugs optimize the amp’s input for different pickups.
3. AC Convenience Outlets: 2 x 9V outlets for plugging in additional equipment.
4. Variable Damping: Speaker output that lets you loosen or tighten the feel of your speaker response.
5. Effects Loop with level control.
6. Slave Out: Sends attenuated, line-level signal from the amp’s output stage to F.O.H., interface, etc.
7. Accutronics spring reverb
8. Custom output transformer allows for mixed/matched cabs and impedances (just like the PowerStage pedal amplifiers).
9. The power section works with EL34, 6L6, or 6550 tubes (Rebiasing required).
10. Pentode/Triode Switch selects between 100- and 60-watt max power.

A True Classic

If the Convertible amps had one drawback, it’s that all of these boundary-pushing features were hampered by the technology of their day. This led to some of the amps overheating and other less-than-desirable on-the-gig events. That’s why it’s not uncommon to find as-is versions on the used market.

Thankfully technology has improved in leaps and bounds since then, creating mods and upgrades for the old Convertibles, bringing them back better than ever. And you can still find plenty of the original preamp modules for sale. There’s never been a better time to get one of these classics for yourself. But you’ll want to move fast. Word is out on these game-changing amplifiers, and prices are on the rise.

Let’s Talk Tone

If you have any other questions about the Seymour Duncan Convertible or any other Seymour Duncan amps, don’t hesitate to reach out. And don’t forget to dig into the Seymour Duncan blog. There’s a ton of in-depth information on our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a lot more.

Remember to sign up for Seymour Duncan’s free Pickup Installation 101 online course for more in-depth information, tips, and tricks.

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