Boutique Amplifiers

[rocknrolldork]

With Ed coming out with his new amp it put me in the mood to play a bunch of boutique stuff. I know there are tons of hand wired boutique tube amp makers out there but the 2 amp makers who I think got it right are Uncle Alberts for the 100 watt and 50 watt heads and all of the Dr. Z stuff. The Dr. Z amps are amazing to say the least. That dude does everything right as far as I can tell.

What are the best boutique amps you all have played through?

[twonabomber]

i haven't played through one, but i've heard these Valvetechs live and they sound great.

http://valvetechamps.com/home.htm

[Blackflag]

Matchless is the shit. Apparently they sold the company since the last time I played through one...not sure how they are nowadays.

[Eddie's Booze]

Re: Boutique Amplifiers

Originally posted by rocknrolldork
With Ed coming out with his new amp it put me in the mood to play a bunch of boutique stuff. I know there are tons of hand wired boutique tube amp makers out there but the 2 amp makers who I think got it right are Uncle Alberts for the 100 watt and 50 watt heads and all of the Dr. Z stuff. The Dr. Z amps are amazing to say the least. That dude does everything right as far as I can tell.

What are the best boutique amps you all have played through?

SOLDANO, I have one. It sounds amazing and is 110% reliable.

In all seriousness they are the best production line Amps on the Market, IMO.

[kentuckyklira]

Is Diezel still considered boutique?

If so, then they get my vote!

[Hardrock69]

Soldano has a cool little operation. THey turn out one head per day, and have a six-month backlog of orders (at least Mike Soldano told me that last August when I was up in Seattle).

I have a friend who builds his own amps for fun....he built a Trainwreck that sounded fucking incredible. Then earlier this year he built a tube AC-30 clone. I have not actually heard it yet, but apparently it rules as well.


Someday I might build my own, as I got started in electronics right around the same time I began to play guitar, in 1972. I was one of the youngest Ham Radio operators in the country at that time, and used to help my dad build Heathkit Transceivers out of kits and stuff.

Man...35 years is a lot of water under the bridge lol.

Nothing beats hand-wired tube amps.

[eddie007]

Metropolis Amps

https://www.metroamp.com

Both kit amps and there own PTP finished products.

NOTHING does EVH better.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Blackflag
Matchless is the shit. Apparently they sold the company since the last time I played through one...not sure how they are nowadays.

Like most people who build amps, those guys were ham radio hobbiests that really knew their stuff. They built the amp around the transformers that were custom made by them.

Most of the major manufactures were botique amps makers at one time. Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Mesa Engineering. They have economies of scale and modern manufacturing processes.

Botique guys are small shops and have to charge a lot because their manufacturing costs are higher. That being said, just because they are small doesn't mean they make a supperior product. A small shop is more likely to have employee problems, caos in the shop due to poor planning, equipment breakdowns and such.

To many guys it all becomes such a pain it's no longer fun and they sell the business to someone if they are lucky. Others stick it out and grow large but hold onto all the stock like Peavey did.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by Hardrock69
Soldano has a cool little operation. THey turn out one head per day, and have a six-month backlog of orders (at least Mike Soldano told me that last August when I was up in Seattle).

I have a friend who builds his own amps for fun....he built a Trainwreck that sounded fucking incredible. Then earlier this year he built a tube AC-30 clone. I have not actually heard it yet, but apparently it rules as well.


Someday I might build my own, as I got started in electronics right around the same time I began to play guitar, in 1972. I was one of the youngest Ham Radio operators in the country at that time, and used to help my dad build Heathkit Transceivers out of kits and stuff.

Man...35 years is a lot of water under the bridge lol.

Nothing beats hand-wired tube amps.

Ha! My dad was a HAM. He drove the nieghbors nuts because we had huge ugly antanaes all over our house and he put out the juice and his voice would come out of the nieghbors stereo. I never caught the bug but I liked helping him make those Heathkit projects. Rumor is Alex Van Halen is a Ham radio opperator.

[Nitro Express]

It really sounds if you want a more modern hi-gain amp SOLDANO is the way to go and if you want old British Marshall go Metropolos.

[rustoffa]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
That being said, just because they are small doesn't mean they make a supperior product. A small shop is more likely to have employee problems, caos in the shop due to poor planning, equipment breakdowns and such.

Lets all thank the lord above that Ed Roman isn't trying to dis-credit the boutique amplifier niche. Holy shit...can you imagine the megalomaniacal rants he would go on? Based on his track record, he'd probably say his AMTRAK amps were better than Trainwrecks. Next up would be some inane sermon about his METHANOL amps being better than Diezels!!

Ed Roman?

Middle Earth wants you back.

Make it happen.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by rustoffa
Lets all thank the lord above that Ed Roman isn't trying to dis-credit the boutique amplifier niche. Holy shit...can you imagine the megalomaniacal rants he would go on? Based on his track record, he'd probably say his AMTRAK amps were better than Trainwrecks. Next up would be some inane sermon about his METHANOL amps being better than Diezels!!

Ed Roman?

Middle Earth wants you back.

Make it happen.

I've never heard anyone say anything good about him. I guess he's made custom guitars for big names like Paul Stanley.

I'm remodeling our kitchen and I'm dealing with supposedly the best cabinet maker in the area. He does good work but his customer service sucks and his installers suck. I'm two fucking months behind because of his opperation. That's the probelm with small shops and talented specialist. They can make a good product themselves but they suck at running a production opperation or just suck at business all together.

Botique like mass production can be good or bad. A mass produced amp done right can be a good reliable amp. So it's buyer's beware as usual.

[ELVIS]

Only one "p"

[Hardrock69]

Instead of two, as in Ppaul Stanley?

[BrownSound1]

Most boutique amps are either tributes or take offs of old amps, so you really have to figure out what type of tone you're looking for. For me personally it is all about the old Plexi tones, so I'm going to say Metroamp for that, but there are other good ones. For Fender tones...shit there are so many boutiques out there I'm not even going to start naming them. Then you have the ones based off of Vox amps, like Trainwrecks.

Depends on what you're looking for really.