bizzwriter Posted November 7, 2008 Posted November 7, 2008 Posted this last night over on The Gear Page -- lemme know if you're interested. I'll throw in some extra NOS 12ax7s for free for an HFC buyer... # # # Okay. It really pains me to do this, but I am offering my low-wattage TW Express-inspired clone for sale. This amp honestly has the best tone of any amp I've every owned -- it's remarkable -- and I've owned a LOT of amps over the years. Unfortunately, it is loud as heck and my gigs don't allow me to get loud enough to really let it sing. If I can't gig with it, then it doesn't make sense for me to hang onto it, no matter how good it sounds. I bought this amp from esteemed GP member Pete Faragher a little more than a year ago. It was built by Homebrew Custom Tube Amplifiers and offers up the 'Wreck attitude in spades at a lower wattage than the original. The amp (named Elise by the builder) uses two vintage coke-bottle Brimar 6V6s that crank out somewhere between 20-30 watts of rock 'n' roll glory, and the chassis sits in a gorgeous custom-built flame cherry cabinet with mesquite trim (built by R.L. Mott -- blues49). Here's what the builder had to say about Elise: "Homebrew/custom Tube Amplifier inspired by the Trainwreck Express. I have named her Elise. She features 3 JJ 12ax7 preamp tubes, and uses 6V6 output tubes. Chassis was custom made locally out of .080 aluminum, then I had the chassis powder coated in metallic grey. Chassis is 16 3/4" wide, 7" deep, and 2" high. Very proportional, IMO. Ceramic preamp sockets, bakelite octals. I used point to point construction in the fabrication of this wonderful amp and lovingly wired her by hand. Every wire is in its proper place, and the amp is virtually noise free. Output transformer is a custom clone by Schumacher and the power transformer is a NOS Fender, voltages are right on with a Trainwreck power tranny. Where I strayed from the Trainwreck schem, was I used the leftover half of a 12ax7 to convert the first stage into a directly coupled cathode follower to drive a standard, and more useful tone stack. I feel this beefs up the sound quite a bit (this is the 3rd build I have done of this circuit), the layout (which is dictated by the chassis I used), output stage optimized for cathode biased 6V6, and the power supply (mild increase in filtration with the use of 22uf and 47uf caps versus the 20uf and 40uf spec'ed in the schem). Front panel controls consist of, from left to right, bass, middle, treble, input, volume, presence, standby, and power. Rear panel is IEC AC in, HV fuse, and 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker output." No master volume -- loads of harmonics, feedback, and gain as you dial up the volume. As Pete put it, "This is really for a touch sensitive, volume knob using player." This amp works and sounds GREAT -- unbelievable tone -- thick like a milkshake, powerful, with lots of bloom. If you've been wanting a high-quality TW clone but at a lower wattage, then this is the amp for you. I put on the yellow labels to mark the different knobs and speaker output jacks, which were originally labeled with a faint black marker pen on the chassis. The labels are easily removable if you desire. Price is $1200 which includes paypal fees, professional packing, and shipping anywhere in the Continental U.S. Sorry no trades -- I'm going to put the proceeds from this sale into the new super-light ash body for my Keef Tele that I'm having custom built and painted. I've had a bunch of sales here on the board and I have 100% positive feedback (299 unique transactions) on fleabay under my name bizzwriter. PM or email me with any questions you might have...
specialk Posted November 7, 2008 Posted November 7, 2008 Wow, that is a NICE looking amp! Too bad I'm in a selling mode, dang it....
MCChris Posted November 7, 2008 Posted November 7, 2008 Damn that's cool. I have big bottle Brimars in my Valvetech 22 and they are indeed sweet.
bizzwriter Posted November 7, 2008 Author Posted November 7, 2008 Wow, that is a NICE looking amp! Too bad I'm in a selling mode, dang it....Thanks! Know what you mean about selling mode -- there's a LOT of GREAT equipment selling nowadays at REALLY good prices. Wish I had a big, fat GAS account...
bubs_42 Posted November 7, 2008 Posted November 7, 2008 Do you know what else it too loud?? Checkerboard Vectors...
bizzwriter Posted November 7, 2008 Author Posted November 7, 2008 Do you know what else it too loud?? Checkerboard Vectors... Ha, ha -- you should hear the checkerboard vector through this amp. It'll melt down your eardrums for SURE.
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