Top Hat Club Royale "best" years/version?

[carfish7]

As I understand it these had some changes over the years. Is there a consensus on the "right" formula or are they consistent across the evolutionary arc in terms of quality and tone?

If it matters I am looking at an '08 in 2x12 form. Have yet to get permission to crank it up and see where it goes. I know some of you have a love for these so what say you?

[duncans]

Mine was a "Scripty". Tube rectifier, 1x12. Great amp. Shoulda never sold it.

[JES1680]

I've had a couple and my buddy is a connisouer of the Club. My favorite was an older one that I believe was tube rectified, 2x12 before the bright, fat switch. It had a bit more Marshall DNA than Vox when cranked. Not a scripty but shortly after he moved to the block logo. This is my favorite era. 

I also had a couple SS rectified with the bright fat switch and they seem to be more Voxy, but still sound great clean or when cranked. 

Haven't played the newest EZ81 rectified version. 

Speakers can make a big difference. The ones i had usually had a V30 and a Weber blue dog ceramic which was ok, but a Blue and a G12H or a greenback style are well worth the upgrade.

They are good lookin.  The green is my older one that I miss, the black was the 2005 era. 

 

[it's me HHB]

Mine is a blk 112 block logo. Greenback speaker, best amp I've ever played through, makes the electric as organic as an acoustic. Bare bones features but it's an extension of your fingers, I will never be without one but mine is going strong and it's dated 5/21/99, almost it's birthday lol

 

ps my speaker is really broke in, just killer, at least 500 gigs in the last 8 years of owning it

[carfish7]

The amp in question has a Greenback and a Blue. Does not appear to be tube rectified. Do these amps have an effects loop?

[JES1680]

No loop in these.  The SS rectified ones usually have a switch on the bottom of the chassis that will give it a tighter or looser feel. 

[JohnnyB]

I bought my Top Hat in 1998, probably one of the earliest. Mine's a black script logo 1x12 Club Deluxe, identical to the Club Royale except that the power section copies the brown-era Fender Deluxe instead of the AC15 Top Boost. Mine also has the Greenback reissue which was still made in England back then. It also has the 5AR4 tube rectifier. Mine is so early I bought it when the first production run was on display in many stores at introductory prices. I got mine for $697. To pick that over a same-priced Fender Hot Rod Deluxe was a no-brainer.

Nightwolf bought his Club Royale based on my rave reviews, but by that time it came with the SS rectifier and he could never quite get the sag he was looking for. I believe the tight/loose switch was added to simulate a tube rectifier. That's why he sold it. He said that the switch attempted to mimic the tube rectifier but really didn't and he couldn't get past that.

So here's my take: If you want to capture the full, organic touch-sensitive expressive dynamics as well as the pure honey-and-cream overdrive, get one with the tube rectifier. From there, if it's important to you, look for the speakers you like the best. I'm just fine with the Greenback, but some were offered with the Vox Bulldog and others (IIRC) with the also excellent but less costly Weber Bluedog. Does the 2x12 you're looking at may have one of each?  

The Top Hat, being a true handbuilt, PTP hand-wired tube amp, is capable of a range and subtlety of expression you don't usually get from a mass-produced amp. The tone controls have far more range (probably + 15dB) and at better crossover points than you usually get. The "Cut" knob is a nod to the AC15 preamp and works in reverse, rolling off the very high treble the further you turn it. Between the 3-band EQ (Bass/Mid/Treble) and the Cut knob you can coax a lot of tonal balances out of it. Cut enables you to dial out some line noise frequencies without killing the tone.

The Club Royale with its controls can match up with a wide range of guitars, but possibly some more than others. My G&L Legacy is pure magic. You hear the sound jump out of the speaker before you're done plucking the string(s). The Hamer Anniversary is a great match as well, whether for clean or OD dirty. I had to fiddle with it a bit with my Newport, but with that wide-range midrange knob you can scoop (or boost) the mids to get the tonal balance you want. 

HHB would know a lot more about guitar matching, having played a variety of guitars through a Top Hat under a wide range of live conditions.

[it's me HHB]

OK, everything sounds great through a Tophat lol

[carfish7]

No loop might be a deal killer for me as I want to settle on one amp for all my home needs as the rocking chair years rapidly approach.

Not exactly a "grab and go" is it.......

 

Thanks for the input gents. If anyone here might be interested I can put you on the trail of this $800 road warrior.

[it's me HHB]

IMO it's the definitive grab and go, but I never use loops and shit

[it's me HHB]

$800 is a fuckin steal for any Tophat 

[JohnnyB]

16 hours ago, it's me HHB said:

$800 is a fuckin steal for any Tophat 

Especially a 2x12. If it has a 5AR4 tube rectifier, that would be even more of a steal. 

Top Hats are worth the paradigm shift--learning how to get along without an effects loop in favor of a freakishly immediate and organic sound. The immediacy (sound seems to jump out of the speakers before you're done plucking the string), transparency, jump factor, dynamics, tonal and distortion ranges of these amps is unlike anything you're familiar with, assuming you've never put a well-designed, all-tube hand-wired PTP amp through the paces.