Uncle Albert's Del Ray Offers More than Meets the Eye
by James Rushmore, Scott Terry
When I first saw the Del Ray from Uncle Albert's Amplifiers, I'll admit that I was very skeptical. Let me describe the amplifier when I pulled it out of the box: The Del Ray looks like an end table that you would purchase at a certain Swedish furniture warehouse store. Now let's fast-forward to plugging in and playing. I plugged in an array of guitars (acoustic, electric, six-string, seven-string and crappy guitar player bass) and played several times. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The overall sound was very similar to a low-watt tweed amplifier, with a really nice, smooth overall tone.
Once I played the acoustic-electric through the Del Ray, I really discovered a sweet spot. The bottom end had a crystal-clear sound on the electric as well as the acoustic-electric, which was complemented by an equally sweet mid-range tone. After some noodling around, playing around with my only effect box, an EQ, as well as the bass and treble controls on the amplifier, I found a pretty nice high-end tone. After I went through my "clean” repertoire, I wanted to see if I could overdrive the tubes.
I cranked up the volume well past the halfway mark (actually closer to fully cranked) and discovered a blues rock/Texas rock tone reminiscent of ZZ Top. I tweaked up the treble and had a really fun time ripping out ZZ and Robin Trower, which sounded a whole lot better than my solid-state amps.
The Del Ray features a 10” Jensen MOD 50 speaker driven by six watts of power with a 6V6, a 5Y3 and (2) AX7 tubes. You have to really remember what this is: You're not going to be filling up Madison Square Garden with sound, but if you're strapped for space or have a partner or spouse that is opposed to using up space on a "useless” guitar amplifier, then this is absolutely a perfect solution. When not playing, you can use the space for an end table in an apartment or even in an office, but you have a sweet-sounding guitar amplifier when you want one. Just remember to take the beer off the tabletop when you plug a bass into the Del Ray … unless you want to clean the place.
The History
Uncle Albert's began in a 300-square-foot garage in the summer of 1990. It started as a part-time business, a hobby if you will, doing electronic repair on vacuum tube amplifiers. The name Uncle Albert's was derived in part by the song, and by owner Kevin Silva's grandfather, Albert "Duke" Silva.
Duke Silva was a radio engineer in the early 1920s. He was instrumental in designing several major audio-related devices and held over a dozen patents. Most of these patents pertained to audio amplifiers and speaker systems. He started Columbus Process in the late 1940s manufacturing transformers, and by the early 1950s they were supplying O.E.M. transformers to almost all major manufacturers, including RCA, Magnavox and Emerson.
Kevin Silva's father, Don Silva, took over that company in 1954. In 1957, with over 300 employees, Columbus Process became C.P. Electronics Inc. C.P. Electronics became one of the largest transformer manufacturers in the country, with over 5 million units sold in 1960 alone! In 1959 they started designing custom electronics for other companies. Don Silva designed most of Danelectro/Silvertone's amplifiers, including the Sears Silvertone 1448 guitar case amp. He also held several patents.
So, Kevin Silva gets it honestly; he got his first repair job at 15, repairing vacuum tube televisions. Being a guitar player, he was drawn to amplifiers early on and he still owns his first amp, a 1965 Fender Champ. He spent the better part of 10 years playing professionally and did time as an audio engineer. He's mixed sound for B.B. King, Charlie Daniels, Mark Chesnutt, the Guess Who and Sawyer Brown. He's mixed monitors for more country acts than he can remember. He received a patent on a water detection system in 1999. He is currently working on his second patent, also water related.
