This is quite a rare combo. It appears in my WEM leaflet dated July 1978 so this combo must have been made around that time. As well as the Lead version with a 12″ driver, and a Bass version with a 15″ driver, there was also a Reverb model of this combo produced. It’s an upgraded version of the AP25 and uses 4 x EL84 valves to produce its power. I suspect the “45” in the name is a little misleading as four EL84s would probably give you around 30 watts. It also has 3 pre-amp valves. One is definitely an ECC83 as can be seen in the pics and I suspect the other two are also ECC83s. I will take the valve covers off at some point to check this.

I acquired the Lead version of this combo in July 2016 and the pictures show it exactly as it came to me. It’s in good working condition although the electronics needed some work. The mains transformer is a replacement. Also, on other AP45s, the driver is a Celestion but I know that WEM tended to use whatever they had available at the time and so I think the Fane driver in this combo is probably original.

(See further down the page for the Bass version)

Bass version – This was acquired in June 2019. The electrics were in good condition and just needed basic servicing but the casing was in poor cosmetic condition and took a lot of cleaning and polishing. It now looks a lot better. The first 2 pics show it as it came to me and the following pics show the refurbished combo.