Victoria Ivy League Amplifier

Victoria Amplifiers are produced in Naperville, IL and, though the company features an expanded product line these days, are still best known for the loving and accurate 50’s tweed Fender recreations that put them on the map in the first place. Victoria is excited to announce a new addition to its tweed line, the brand new Ivy League model. Read more

Line 6 Spider Valve MkII Amplifier Review

There are no two ways about it: Line 6 has revolutionized the way guitar is recorded. Since the dawn of Amp Farm, Line 6’s groundbreaking (and mind-bending) RTAS plug-in from a decade ago, Line 6 modeling has appeared on more records than you can count. And that number skyrockets when you consider all the generations of POD! Read more

Peavey Ultra Plus 120 Head

The Peavey Ultra Plus all-tube, 120 watt guitar amp head is designed for maximum tonal flexibility and power. The three channel amp has features and tone rivaling amps 2 or 3 times its price.

Dial in any degree of Clean, Crunch, or Dirty ith the amp’s three channels and switch among them from the front panel or the included footswitch. Peavey’s patented, three-way Resonance switch custom-tailors bottom end to your speaker cabinet and room environment. A half-power switch provides low-volume output tube saturation and ideal power for practice or small halls.

Determining which channel you are in is made easy by the large illuminated logo that changes color with selection-
Green for Clean, Yellow for Crunch, and Red for Overdrive. Gain boost Bright push switches add extra control tone shaping. Read more

Victoria Amplifiers 518 Amp Hands-On Review

The Victoria Amplifier Company is know far and wide for crafting some of the finest tube amps available today. Company founder/tone guru Mark Baier has a sterling reputation for his 50’s Fender Tweed recreations as well as his original amp designs and has seen his amps used by players like Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, Steve Cropper, Charlie Hunter, and Greg Koch.

One of Victoria’s most popular models is the 518, which is Vic’s version of a 50’s Fender Tweed Champ. It delivers five blistering watts into a single eight-inch speaker via a 5F1-type circuit. Tubes employed on the 518 are one 5Y3WGTA, one 6V6GT, and one 12AX7. The speaker is either a Jensen P8R or C8R. The 518 is as pure and simple as an amp gets, with only one knob on its control panel that turns it on and controls its volume. There are no EQ knobs of any kind. The tone coming out is determined by what kind of guitar is plugged into it. Read more

Hughes Kettner COREBLADE Metal Guitar Amp Head

COREBLADE by Hughes & Kettner – Okay metalheads, lets take a look at the COREBLADE all-tube guitar amplifier. COREBLADE is the flagship of Hughes & Kettner’s line of high-end tube amps. Packing a whopping 100 watts, the head delivers tough tone, devastating dynamics, and an explosive punch. We have posted soundclips by Jan Laacks at the end of this review… so be sure to check that out.

We’re clearly stoked about this four-channel amp’s advantages, here’s what metal meister Jeff Waters has to say:

“This amp has everything a metal guitarist needs. And I had always loved the idea of the programming aspect being introduced into real tube guitar amps. But no one had ever perfected it. Until now!”

Four independent channels, three parallel FX modules, an intelligent noise gate, automatic power tube management, and analog programming technology – all this adds up to an awe-inspiring arsenal of merciless sounds. And that makes COREBLADE the top-notch tube amp of choice for all metal axe-slingers. Grind your axe, indeed! Read more

Bugera TRIREC – Mesa Boogie Rectifier Tone?

From the Bugera Website –

Valves can be mined for an enormous palette of tones, but most amps leave you with just a Master Volume dial and one choice of valves, making it all but impossible to experience these varieties at anything less than titanic volumes. Enter the BUGERA TRIREC—this all-valve tone buff et features a Varipower dial that scales output power from 1 to 100 Watts, giving you sweet power tube saturation at apartment-friendly volumes. Feel like experiencing a power valve variety besides 6L6? Just flick a switch and you’re ready to swap them for EL34 valves (not included). It also features three preamp channels, each with a wide array of sound options, internal reverb, a boost option, an FX loop, and three rectifier modes (valve, silicon diode, valve and silicon diode). Read more

Blackstar HTV100 Review – Tone King Video

One of the fastest up and comers in the amp building industry, BlackStar amps is seeking a place in every rocker’s arsenal with the HT Venue 100 head. Powered by four EL34 valves, this three-channel amp provides something that most amps lack – versatility. Blackstar promises a ‘boutique’ style clean channel with both a ‘British Class A’ and a ‘Dynamic US’ mode. The overdrive channels also include different modes and are both equipped with Blackstar’s own patent-applied for Infinite Shape Feature (ISF). Read more

Slash & Marshall R&D Marshall AFD100 Videos

Marshall Amplifiers and legendary guitarist, Slash, have been working together to recreate the amp that was used on the 1987 Guns n’ Roses album, ‘Appetite For Destruction‘. Marshall have been posting a number of updates on their AFD100 website. Read more

Orange Amps Thunder 30

Orange Amplifiers -

Storming into the New Year, Orange Amps are giving their range of guitar amps a boost with the launch of the new Thunder 30 combo and head. This replaces the Rocker 30 and will roar into the shops spring 2010.

The new Thunder 30 is an all valve class A 30 watt, twin channel amplifier, powered by four EL84 power valves (two more than the Rocker 30). It will be available in head and 1 X 12 configurations and includes an F/X loop (not featured on the Rocker 30) and the 1×12 is front loaded.

A brand new design incorporating the best of the Rocker and Thunder series, the new amps have two channels. The first is a classic vintage channel which has crystal clear clean sound and when turned up delivers a thunderous vintage power amp overdrive. The second overdrive/distortion channel, features a shape control as seen in the Thunderverb models and has a British tone crunch of numbing proportions! Read more

Marshall & Slash collaborate AFD100

Marshall Amplification announced that it has begun working on a project with the legendary guitarist Slash to produce a new guitar amplifier, AFD100, that recreates the sound of the revered Marshall amplifier used on the 1987 album “Appetite for Destruction” by Guns N’ Roses. The new amplifier will be known as the AFD100. Watch video below. Read more

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