McPherson amplifiers

A little bit of the history of these amazing old aussie valve amps
For a technical breakdown of the circuits Tim Robbins provides a wealth of information and details of the restoration of one unit here.

This information is from sources around the boronia district and may or may not be entirely accurate. If anyone has further or differing information please let us all know. The primary source of this information is from Dean Jones, maker of the famous Razzledog wide format cameras.
Further Information and photographs are courtesy of John Fox guitarist of the band 2 by Two nee The Cruisers. [see photos]
Amazingly the band with pretty much the original lineup, currently has a residency at Steelyard in Blacburn in Melbournes East.

Dean Jones, then aged 15, worked after school for Keith MacPherson who owned and ran HI-FI & MUSIC CENTRE from 1963 to 1972.
It was situated at 205 Dorset Road Boronia and known by the locals as BORONIA HiFi. In 1964, the heyday of the Aussie built valve amplifier. Keith McPherson, an audio and telecommunications engineer, designed and built McPherson amplifiers at Boronia HiFi. Keith’s son Ron, a mate of Deans, worked at the Shop with his father Keith McPherson has passed on. Ron McPherson is still around and is reported to be fighting fit. .

7/3/2011 - Quote from Dean Jones.
As for the amp...a guy in the air force designed the circuitry..Ron McPherson and Ron Olsson, (the lead guitarist along with me on skins in Beat Unlimited) [see pic below] were the guys responsible for the build. Father Keith McPherson had nothing to do with the assembly.
I was right about a few things...Macs ran KT88's in matched pairs in a push/pull environment. Voltages were very high, around 400V!
Front panels were screen printed but with only 50% usability.. :-P

Early blue covered amps were not assembled in the Boronia store. PA's were McPherson badged but were actually made by AWA.
What actually happened was one amp was built and tested...when this worked OK the chassis (I remember this!) sat on the bench and was copied
time after time, Ron thinks that less than 100 units were made.

The KT88 equipped McPhersons were very expensive to produce...They were never fitted with 6CM5's, however EL34's were used.
Ron thinks the amps came in 60W and 100W configuration. the KT88's required so much grunt the transformers were especially wound by A+R .
When I get hold of Ron Olsson I may discover more.

A s far as I know (and according to Ron Mac) only one model of the McPherson amp was made...there were never any PA''s or twin channel amps.
Almost all amps ran EL34's with only a couple running KT88's.
Transformers were specially wound by A+R for those, but proved too costly.
Original circuit was designed by a guy in the Air Force then copied by the two Ronnies :-P
I remember there was always a chassis upside down on the bench in the back room.

End Quote

Dean recalls the McPhersons being a very heavy lift and super loud, in fact louder than any of the popular Goldentone amps that just about everyone was using in Melbourne at the time. He remembers lugging them around the corner to the Progress hall in Boronia Road every Saturday for the weekly dance which was called “Mod Motion”. Boronia Hifi would provide the PA, guitar and bass amps for the show. 2 by Two are shown below playing at "Mod Motion" in the Boronia progress hall circa 1965.

The amplifiers were rated at 60 watts and carried huge transformers. The head came with a quad of Rola 12 UEG's in a chipboard cabinet. John Fox recalls one being used for bass the other for guitar.

Dean states that he was the main organiser of Mod Motion which was later taken over by Ivor and Barbara Hose and became Rock Rumble. Apparently it was a pretty wild affair.

Quote from Dean: It all started as 'Mod Motion'...I organised the whole bl00dy thing to begin with, then Ivor and Barbara Hose took over management and it became known as Rock Rumble. We played for a dollar each. Played my brand new kit of Drouyn drums direct from Brisbane...purchased through McPhersons Hi Fi...paid for by my old man! "Cops closed it down after several brawls...even made a double page spread in 'The Sun'! CFA turned on the water cannon..as I remember....(but perhaps it was featured in the Free Press?) Bayswater gig was known as 'Bayswater Rock'...Now THAT was rough!

Above BEAT UNLIMITED Circa 1965 - Dean Jones Drums, Ron Olssen on one of the guitars - look like a Maton Flamingo and a Maton Fyrbyrd. Possibly a McPherson behind the Bass Player right

John fox, lead guitarist for 2 by Two recalls buying two Mcpherson amps at Boronia HiFi in 1965. The first one was covered in blue tolex, the second in black. The earliest run of amps were blue but then changed to black. The reason for the colour change can only be guessed at
2 by Two reformed after a very long break [40 years] and currently have a residency at Steelyard in Blackburn

John bought his first fender strat, as shown in the pic, from Boronia HiFi, he paid the princely sum of 118 Aussie pounds for it in installments. It looks as though Boronia HiFi was also a dealer in Fender guitars, Drouyn Drums and probably other brands of musical equipment as well.

I used a McPherson head myself in the 80's 90's and remember it as having a beautiful clear voice with a touch of very smooth and light overdrive. It looked old and obviously needed some work as I thought it was a fairly quiet amp. I used it as a rehearsal amp for quite a few years and then as my number 1 until I sold it at Soundworks in 96 or 97 for not enough. As far as I know it still had the original valves etc. It had been found in a chookshed at Caldamede out the back of Cranbourne way.

I know of three McPherson heads, The one above,current location unknown, Tim Robins' example that is being restored and one owned by a mate of mine which unfortunately is in poor condition but recoverable. There must be more of these out there and if you know of one please email any info you have here.