salem Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 I've been researching some of the finer, hand wired amps out there and would like to get opinions about some of the ones I've discovered.Victoria makes some meticulous reproductions of the Fender tweed amps of the late 50's. A problem with these amps is that I would have to drive about two hours away to order one in person, or order one online and have it shipped to me without having played it. Another problem is that these amps are meant to reproduce the sounds of 50s roots rock, and I don't play this style of music.Tone King makes some well reviewed amps. These are point to point reproductions of the blackface amps. I would get a 40 watter with two 12 inch speakers. I could order this from a local dealer.Marshall makes a vintage reissue of the 1974x hand wired combo 18 watt amplifier of the 1966-68 era that I'm interested in, very well reviewed. I could also order a separate speaker to go with it.All of these companies have amps at about the $2,500 range that I'm interested in. Does anyone have any opinions about these amps. Anyone own one? Are there any other brands I should be looking into, such as Bad Cat, Dr Z, or Matchless?
tgoss Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Let the games begin!Seriously though, if you can, check out as many as possible, only your ears know for sure.Can you can narrow down what sound/wattage/features you want?You hit the nail on the head when you said an embarrasement of choices.
salem Posted July 24, 2005 Author Posted July 24, 2005 Let the games begin!Seriously though, if you can, check out as many as possible, only your ears know for sure.Can you can narrow down what sound/wattage/features you want?You hit the nail on the head when you said an embarrasement of choices. That's one problem with these higher end amps: they're not just sitting around in stores. I would have to order one based on company trust and all the reviews from the mags and HC.I wish I could get one of the better Fenders, but most of the reviews at HC state they are unreliable.I know I don't need anything more powerful than 40 watts. I want something beautiful, well made, reliable, and with great tone. I would like a resonant, wooden cabinet, finger jointed. I want something extremely simple, the less features the better.
Guest galejt Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Fuchs modded twin reverb on eBayFuchs ODS 50Modded Twin Reverb FuchsFuchs ODS 30 HeadI'm biased I know.
kurtsstuff Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Fuchs modded twin reverb on eBayFuchs ODS 50 Modded Twin Reverb Fuchs Fuchs ODS 30 Head I'm biased I know. but the question is!!.are your amps "Biased"???? lol! ..I crack myself up so much!! hehe
salem Posted July 24, 2005 Author Posted July 24, 2005 What style of music? I guess British classic rock. My fav bands are Bowie, the Kinks, the Who, Stones, Beatles, Moody Blues, and Jethro Tull. I like clean tones and just slightly, barely dirty enough to crunch.What I do mostly is try to come up with chord sequences.
edgar_allan_poe Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Sounds to me like you want an early Hi-watt, or Marshall. Unfortunately those are way too loud.If you have a sound in your head...don't alter that sound to fit the amp, you will eventually be unhappy. I would call one of the custom builders and describe in detail what kind of sound and features you are looking for. I will again suggest Ben Fargen. Fargen AmpsIf you go this route...even with a different builder... it will be a rewarding experience. I don't think that the guys you mentioned will alter their designs to suit your needs.
edgar_allan_poe Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Salem, your quest ends at GerminoExcellent suggestion... I would still give Ben Fargen a try, but this is right up Germino's alley,
frankb Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 The aforementioned suggestions are great. You may also want to try Pete Cage as his scan o plex may get you in the desired tonal ground. www.audiocage.com He's a great guy to do business with as are the others s(fargen,germino).
JohnnyB Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 What style of music? I guess British classic rock. My fav bands are Bowie, the Kinks, the Who, Stones, Beatles, Moody Blues, and Jethro Tull. I don't think your search would be complete without wringing out a Dr. Z Route 66. If there's not one locally, it would be worth the trip to try one. Seriously. It was GP's first ever "Editor's Pick." I was in a shop hearing a guy on a Les Paul A-B-ing a Rte66 w/matching 2x12 vs. a Marshall reissue Bluesbreaker, and the 66 (imo) destroyed the Bluesbreaker. I've never heard such a powerful, focused, all-encompassing, voice-of-God midrange. Dr. Z uses an EF-86 tube in his preamp section which gives this thing a unique voice and dynamism. EF-86 is an ultra-high end pre-amp tube with extremely low noise and the most nuanced dynamics I've ever heard. The KT-66 tubes in the amp don't hurt either. It's the only amp I've heard that made me consider dumping everything I have to get on the waiting list to get one. Consider that the current guitarist in Mayall's Bluesbreakers is using one. Mike Fuller of Fulltone Custom Effects went nuts over it too. I think the Top Hat Plexi and Vox-style amps would be worth a look. I have a Top Hat. I like it better than Tone King, but nothing re-defined my concept of what an amp could be like the Route 66 did.
salem Posted July 24, 2005 Author Posted July 24, 2005 Johnny B:Yes, I've heard nothing but great things about the Dr. Z Rt. 66. That's one I'd like to check out, too.
DEMENTED Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 How about a Germino Masonette?, Rivera Pubster?, Aiken Intruder?. It is hard to know the sound someone else is hearing in their head.
BadgerDave Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 I'm guessing that you wouldn't like the Victorias. SirDan and I A/B'd pretty much the entire line at Dave's Guitars with other combos including Dr. Z, Matchless and Fender CS. My impression of the Victorias was that they were a bit weak in the low end - a very accurate reproduction of the original Fender design, but not optimal if you're looking for a versatile amp that can do more than "tweed". The winner in our shoot-out was a Fender CS "Bass-Breaker" which is the reissue Bassman circuit with 2 12's. Not point to point, but a great sound. As I mentioned in another thread, the Fender CS '57 40 watt Twin is an amazingly good amp, but it's firmly in the Fender 6L6 camp.For clasic brit, you might want to concentrate on EL34 (Marshally) or EL84 (Voxy) powered amps. Of the handful of these I've tried, I absolutely love the Bogner Shiva, but there are dozens to choose from. Dr. Z and TopHat make some great amps at the lower end of the boutique price range. From there, you can spend as much as you like.Don't forget ValveTech
Turdus Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 If you can find a VHT Pitbull 45, give it a try. The TopHat Club (Deluxe/Royale) are also decent.
seeker Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 IMHO you could go with two (that funny enough, I also have), both Marshall-like. For lower volume applications, try the Aiken Invader 18 watt. For somewhat higher, try DABECK. He built me a two channel amp (completely separate preamps including tone stacks with separate master vols) that is Plexi to Ali panel on one channel, and JCM 800 on the other. If volume is not a problem at all, then many swear by Germino.
Brownsound Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Might as well add my bias. Budda makes handwired amps and PCB as well. They can be and have been described as Vox AC30 meets Marshall Plexi. I have two. One is a point to point SD30 head and the other is the PCB based SD18 watt combo. Some really warm, fat, articulate sound there. If I were on the market for another amp it would be a Rivera or a Cornford....both sound phenom!!!
kenjones Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 About a year ago I bought a 1976 SFDR (Silverface Deluxe Reverb) on eBay. I got a decent deal because it had a replaced speaker and a rip in the grillcloth. It's one of the "non-boost" models. I had my buddy who works on amps convert the electronics to blackface specs, do a cap job, and give it a general going over. He spent about 2-3 hours working on it. I put a Weber Ceramic Blue Dog speaker in it (more "British" sounding), replaced the ripped grillcloth with blackface grillcloth, and replaced the faceplate with a re-issue blackface one.SFDR - $650 (shipped)Weber - $95Faceplate - $30Grillcloth - $20Caps, tubes - $150Six pack Bud - $5 (my friend works cheap)Total - $950And guess what? It sounds AWESOME. On top of that, it has the cool look of a BFDR. It sounds great with single coils and humbuckers. Pedals even sound good with it. I keep trying my other "boutique" amps and keep going back to this amp. I play in several bands - alt country, Americana, power pop - and this amp does it all (for me, at least).
Guest Mike Lee Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 I've tried a few boutique amps and my money is on Dr. Z. I've got a Z28 2x10 and it's like a combination between a Deluxe and a Bluesbreaker. It's basically a Route 66 with 6V6 tubes. For cleaner Brit sounds, look into the KT45. 45 watts out of 2 EL34's. The MAZ 38 is Vox AC30-ish, but more versatile.Z's are priced quite resonably compared to many other boutique amps. They are not copies of old designs, but new circuits that sound vintage while fixing some of the weaknesses.
tombo Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 Lots of great suggestions already.I was THIS CLOSE (shows forefinger & thumb) to gettting the Marshall 1974X HW, and something went wrong with it the day I was to take it home. I ended up not getting it. It's a great little combo that does basically two things - a nice clean and a really loud crunch. If that's your thing, go for it. There are lots of other 18 watt builders out there, but at least you can probably try this amp out in a Guitar Center.My personal favorite? Savage Audio. The Macht 12 is about the same volume as the Marshall I mentioned above and the Rohr 15 has gorgeous cleans, and does the old Marshall & Vox thing. I think it has a little Hiwatt in there too. The Macht series (6 & 12) are real bargains. I think Arnie Z here on the HFC board owns a Glas 30. The Rohr & Glas aren't cheap, but you'll not find a better amp (ymmv) or better customer service. Call Jeff or Casey at Savage and tell them your needs. Savage Amps
DaxT1138 Posted July 24, 2005 Posted July 24, 2005 not PTP but the Orange Rocker 30 might fit the bill, or an AD30. the Rocker has just a volume for the clean (Natural Channel) and a gain+3 band for the Dirty plus a master volume. cool little combo and cheaper than what you may be considering. good brit sounds and the gain is massively versatile you can do super subtle breakup or saturation. look cool too
straightblues Posted July 25, 2005 Posted July 25, 2005 I have tried many of the botique amps out myself. I live in the LA area and there are many stores that have botique amps. I also have been to the winter NAMM show the last couple of years and have heard most every amp out there. What I can say is whatever you do, don't buy a $2,500 amp until you can play through it at whatever volume you will be using it at. It is worth driving or even flying if you need to, to be able to hear an amp before you buy. Don't buy something because it is point to point or expensive just because it is, buy it for what YOU HEAR!!! Trust your own ears.My current favorite amp is a $25 tube PA amp that I had converted for guitar. It sits next to my '64 Fender Deluxe, my '65 Fender Bassman, and my THD Bivalve. It looks like hell and was very cheap but man does it sound awesome for the blues I play. It wouldn't be the right amp for 90% of the people on this board, but man does it nail the tone I have had in my head for years. Trust your ears, forget the hype, forget the reviews!!!!! Whatever you do, don't buy an amp unless you can hear it cranked up to whatever volume you will be using it at. Amps can react very differently at different volume levels.Finally, where do you live? Maybe people could suggest some stores to check out or recommend a City that you could get to cheap like Las Vegas so you could check out a lot of amps.
JES1680 Posted July 25, 2005 Posted July 25, 2005 +1 or is it 3? for Dr Z. I've got a RT66, and Z28 but I think you might be looking more for the Kt45. It's got a more Marshall / Hiwatt flavor vs the Bluesbreaker / JTM45 type thing of the 66. Can't argue with Aiken. Intruder or Tomcat might be your cup of tea, they certainly do it for me. You can find them easily on TGP used. If you go new, and you can't play one, make sure you order from a reputable dealer with a 48 hour approval. I'm entirely too picky to order sight un-heard. Happy tone hunting.
edgar_allan_poe Posted July 25, 2005 Posted July 25, 2005 There are a ton of cool amps FS over on the gear page...several of them are the ones you are looking for...Gear page amp sales
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