Early Watkins combos are glorified for helping establish Britain’s guitar-amp industry, but the company’s successor, WEM, made good, useable tube amps well into the 1970s. This Westminster 15 is a prime example.
The V-front Dominator combo of the late ’50s and early ’60s is the enduring image of Charlie Watkins’ legacy, along with the Copicat tape-echo that was often plugged into it. But those who have played through one of the tube-fired WEM combos that followed the Watkins era – after sidestepping the brief detour into solid-state amplification – know the Westminster 15 can also be a fiery little tone monster.
The Dominator remained WEM’s cornerstone, appended with a larger 30-watt version for a time in the ’70s, while the Westminster evolved as the company’s student amp. But, while the better-known Dominator in all its forms can sound like a mini Marshall, some later-era Westminsters come off as anemic… a tonal assessment that can be changed with a few basic modifications.
Watkins was an accordion player who got into musical-instrument retailing shortly after returning from serving in the Merchant Navy after World War II. In 1949, he and his brother, Reg, opened a record store in south London and, noting the increasing popularity of guitar-driven “skiffle” music, in ’52 began offering affordable jobber guitars and amplifiers. It’s worth mentioning that Watkins got into the business even before Tom Jennings (also an accordion player, as it happens) and JMI’s popular Vox line – in all-caps on the amps – inspired Watkins to change his brand name to WEM in late 1963 or early ’64.
After a run of AC/DC amps that proved to be potentially dangerous (see VG’s October ’24 feature on the 1955 Selmer Truvoice TV10), the Westminster settled in as Watkins’ first real production amp in 1957 and remained a staple in the lineup until the end of production in 1980. Early models were simple point-to-point circuits boasting around 10 watts and selling for around £19. The Westminster remained a point-to-point circuit for several years, even as larger Watkins amps moved to printed circuit boards in the mid ’60s.
While many of Watkins/WEM’s ads for the Westminster boasted of a “five-valve circuit,” that claim might confuse readers perusing the images of this amp and noting the three slender glass tubes within. The seeming anomaly arises from the fact that in addition to the single ECC83 (12AX7) dual-triode in the preamp, the Westminster uses two ECL82 (6BM8) tubes in the output stage. Each contains a high-gain preamp triode and a power pentode within the same glass envelope, enabling the pair to cover both phase-inverter and push/pull output duties. The ECL82 and dual-purpose tubes of its type were often used in radios, phonograms, and other compact/portable applications, but have occasionally migrated into small guitar amps. The Marshall Popular combo of the ’70s used a similarly configured ECL86, and more recently, Steve Carr has employed the ECL82 in his Super Bee, which seeks to replicate the tone of a Super Reverb in a smaller, lower-volume package.
The Westminster was still using the one-ECC83/two-ECL82 complement upon the arrival of its most-common version, the Mark IX of 1972-’76, by which time its circuit had also gone fully PCB. The schematic had changed in other ways, though, and those alterations largely remained in place in this 1978 Westminster 15 All Purpose (or “AP”) combo, which was also the last of its line.
What the 15 gained with the “All Purpose” label, however, it lost in raw, juicy tone when compared to earlier hand-wired models, at least, since it was much the same as the Mk IX but with the addition of a pushbutton bright switch labelled “Treble Boost.” As it sits, the Westminster 15 AP isn’t a bad-sounding amp, but it’s a little thin and sterile thanks to a few things that were taken away. For example, it lacks cathode-bypass caps, which help voice the preamp and output stages, often lending a fuller, gutsier tone and a little more gain. Adding two or three of these and maybe swapping a coupling cap or two for some of higher values could significantly increase its sonic muscle.
In broad terms, the Westminster’s preamp stage is closer to the ’60s Fender topology than any of the classic British designs. The independent Bass and Treble controls are sandwiched between the first gain stage of the ECC83 and the second (a gain make-up stage). Although, rather than following behind those tone pots and before the second triode, as it would in a Deluxe Reverb, for example, the Volume control sits after that gain stage – an unusual configuration. In any case, neither of these triode stages has a cathode-bypass cap attached; adding a standard low-voltage 25µF here in either or both positions (which a qualified tech could clip on temporarily to test) could really beef up the Westminster’s tone.
In addition, the coupling caps before and after the Volume pot and the two carrying the signal from the phase inverter to each pentode within the ECL82s are all .01µF, a rather low component value for these positions. Upping them to .022µF, .047µF, or .1µF (and experimenting with the results in different positions) would also increase the amp’s bass response and overall girth, bringing a lot more muscle through the 12″ Elac Alnico speaker.
Even so, as is, this ’78 Westminster is a fun and funky combo that offers a lot of character from a simple circuit and basic components. It’s also a fascinating look into one of the last designs from the original Watkins/WEM, and a last shot across the bow from the archetypal British “student amp” of the golden age of transatlantic tone.
This article originally appeared in VG’s November 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.