So great to hear a 15″ speaker again. This is driven by a 30 watt class A four valve EL84 power section in WEM’s seemingly dated combo. But oh boy does it pack a punch. Rather than 30 watts you would be forgiven for thinking 100 to 150 watts. Such is the trickery that we have become accustomed to.
It’s called a 45 Dominator but nobody seems to know why. Perhaps it was meant to put out 45 watts but that is going to be tricky with EL84. Maybe it was aimed at middle aged home musicians in their mid 40s.
Couple of things to point out about this amp that make it rather special. Features that would be welcomed on many of today’s amps.
First of all is the amp chassis cushioning system. The brackets holding the amp chassis have for rubber supports that cushion and absorb all vibrations from the mighty 15 inch Italian speaker. I would so like to see this feature added on to some of the Princeton clone amps and other small Fender combos.
The other thing that I really like is the preamp screening cans. Most amps have aluminium screening cans to minimise noise in a preamp stage. The problems with these things spring loaded cans is that they tend to resonate and rattle. here in WEM they have chosen to wrap the preamp tube with a spring loaded piece of steel. This simple innovation is truly a sign of the innovation that WEM was capable of.
Hello, nice restoration on the Dominator 45 bass. I have a similar one, the non bass version, which seems identical to the pictures you’ve shown. However, I can’t find a schematic anywhere on the net. I wondered if you knew of one, and if not can you tell me if the can cap is 50uf x 50uf. And do you know what diodes it uses, and if they’re still available. Many thank, Matthew.
Hi Matthew, yes it is an oddball. I looked through my schematics and I don’t have anything. I suspect it is a 4 valve version of dominator mk3 which you can find on the net easily. It shows a 50 / 50 cap and BY127 rectifiers. I doubt the rectifiers are available but 1N4007 will be acceptable. PS there is a good Facebook group on wem which will probably have better knowledge on this amp than I.