BC Audio has a line of amps in ammo cans. They look awesome, retro indeed, with the still smoking from field training vibe. These amps are designed by award winning amp designer Bruce Clement. They have several models in the 15 to 25 watt range with big fat tone. The amps are true point to point wired and use your choice of 6V6 or 5881 tubes in the power section. Prices start at $1795 USD. Check out their website for full details BC Audio
This is a fascinating interview from NAMM 2010 with Paul Rivera Sr. from Rivera Amplification. In his own words, he chronologically talks about his life’s work in amplifier design from his electronic experiments as a 12 year old to the sonic thunder his Rivera amps are creating in the industry today.
Amp lovers enjoy…Danny
Hear an audio clip with a Telecaster
Hear an audio clip with a Les Paul Jr
Check out Carr Amps
Paul Reed Smith and master amp builder Doug Sewell have teamed up to create a new amplifier called the Sweet 16. This new single channel amp combines excellent tone and quality aesthetics and a not-so-expensive price point, and is available as a head or a combo amp. The Sweet 16 amp has 16 watts of cathode-biased 6v6 output tube power and is hand-wired in Stevensville, Maryland.
Under the Hood
The Sweet 16’s has a simple control layout that includes volume, treble, mid, bass, master volume and a bright switch. The preamp section incorporates two 12AXT tubes and two 12AT7 tubes. The amp runs on Class A power, the tubes are biased to run a bit hotter than normal. There is also a tube-driven 3-spring Reverb. The back panel has an impedance selector and the speaker outputs.
Premier Guitar Magazine has a review here
Check out PRS here
One hot amp at the 2010 NAMM show was the Egnater Tweaker from boutique amp designer Bruce Egnater. What is unique about this amp is the mini switches that are user accessible on the front panel for “tweaking” the amps tonal character. These switches include TIGHT and BRIGHT options as well as VINTAGE and MODERN gain voicings. I’m looking forward to some web reviews of this amp, heck, I would like to fire this amp up myself for a test drive.
The Egnater website has yet to list the Tweaker Amp, but here are the current specs.
15 Watts All-Tube
2 x 6V6 Power Tubes
3 x 12AX7 Pre-amp Tubes
Master Volume, Gain and 3-Band EQ
Modern/Vintage Amp Voicing Switch
Buffered Effects Loop
Selectable AC, British and American Tone Controls
Clean/Hot Gain Selector
Tight & Bright Voicing Switches
100V / 115V / 230V Switchable
Stay tuned to Egnater for more info.
Mesa Boogie introduces the TransAtlantic TA-15 lunchbox amp. The TA-15 packs all the footswitchable performance, including the patented multi-watt Channel Assignable Power, found in the company’s high-end full-size models and offers the most classic British and American sounds in a 12 3/8″ W x 6 3/4″ D x 5 7/8″ H package that weighs only 12 pounds.
The amp features two channels with five modes. You can choose a preamp style in each channel and then select either 5, 15 or 25 watts. The Channel Modes start off with lower gain Normal and higher gain classic versions of the iconic Top Boost sound in Channel 1, which includes an ingenious Pull Master on the Cut control that can be hard bypassed for purists. Channel 2 houses three modes: a tweed clean, a British high gain in HI 1 and a classic Boogie lead in HI 2.
The amp comes with a padded gig bag that holds the power cable and footswitch.
For more information check out Mesa/Boogie
Carr says that the amp is voiced like a combination of a Vox and blackface Fender that can be pushed into Vox/Marshall territory. While it draws on these classics for inspiration, Carr says that the amp is definitely its own thing. “The amp uses the Vox toolbox of architecture and tube compliment,” explains Steve Carr, “but it has been tweaked and expanded in a Carr way!”
The Artemus features a 5ar4 rectifier, 4 EL84s and 2 12AX7s. The output section is running class A Fixed bias (test points and bias pot easily accessible) with a zero negative feedback.
The amp will be ready to ship late February, and Carr says that they will be, “aggressively priced with all the normal Carr quality component and construction techniques.”
Link Carr Amplifiers