Anyone have any experience with these USA-made tube amps?

calypsocoral302 · #1 11-14-2010, 01:14 AM

I'm referring to MatAmp/ElectricAmp/AnyColorThatIsn'tOrangeAmp. (And yes, I used the "search" function. No, nothing relevant came up in the first couple of pages. So stop yelling at me!)

They look totally cool, have a krap-load (that's a technical term, dontcha know!) of cab configurations, and a multitude of power ratings, based on whether they use EL-34 or KT-88 power tubes.

I'm wondering the following things:

1) How well are they built?

2) Are their heads and cabs designed for bass? Or are they simply adapted guitar designs?

3) How much would a KT-88 powered, 180W version go for?

4) How well do these heads take to Tung Sol KT-90's or 120's?

5) Do they have a lot of clean headroom (a la SVT/HiWatt)? Or are they designed for heavier gain?

Any input, especially from current users, would be greatly appreciated!

Sartori · #2 11-14-2010, 01:54 AM

You did a search and nothing came up for electricamp or matamp? Really?

From what I've heard, they are quite well built.

The heads can be either/or. They make both guitar cabs and bass cabs.

Electricamp's price list is on their website. I think it's over $2000 though. Not sure about that, though.

I have no idea. If they have adjustable bias, it should work.

Ha ha, headroom? Not really what these amps seem to be going for.

gricko · #3 11-14-2010, 03:11 AM

matamp is UK, not USA. electricamp is, allegedly, matamp rip-off.

here's your matamp@talkbass search:
http://goo.gl/83rFg
same for electricamp:
http://goo.gl/X8dL7

as far as i know, matamp guys are pretty str8forward. get in touch if you have any question regarding their products. they are also quite open for customising their basic designs.
they do not have pricelist on their site, but on distributor sites. look up who's is their distributor in your area.

calypsocoral302 · #4 11-14-2010, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gricko

matamp is UK, not USA. electricamp is, allegedly, matamp rip-off.

here's your matamp@talkbass search:
http://goo.gl/83rFg
same for electricamp:
http://goo.gl/X8dL7

Yeah, I guess I made the mistake of entering "Green Amps" in the search criteria, which turned up virtually every thread with the words "Green" and "Amps" in them.

Thanks!

dokazaado · #5 11-14-2010, 12:06 PM

I own an Electric head, a 180-watt KT88 power unit.

to answer your questions-

1. It's a very well built amp. The chassis is strong, everything is very secure internally, it uses the best parts available (Mercury Magnetics transformers, etc.), turret board construction that is quite tidy - they seem to have improved in that regard.

2. All of these designs work equally well for guitar or bass.
I don't know what sort of "designed for bass" features you're looking for,
but bells & whistles is not what these amps are about.
They're built to be cranked and not burn up in the process.

3. approx. $3000

4. no clue.

5. I don't know about the master volume unit, but for non-master unit, the answer is no, there isn't a ton of clean headroom, at least not compared to an SVT or Hiwatt or Reeves. They break up sooner and are tonally darker, period. You would have a difficult time getting a clean sound out of it and loud rock band volumes.

I'll also let you know that the waiting period for heads is 6 months at a minimum.
I waited over a year for my head - the cabs are built a lot quicker.
Great cabs, too, but mine is so huge it almost never leaves my practice spot.
It's just a lot easier to bring around a couple of 15s.

bongomania · #6 11-14-2010, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gricko

matamp is UK, not USA. electricamp is, allegedly, matamp rip-off.

Nope. Matamp has had various different owners and manufacturing facilities, in both the US and the UK. Eventually Matamp UK went one direction (smaller amps with circuitboards), and Matamp USA went another (larger amps handwired). Matamp UK became Orange, Matamp USA became Electric. Later, in the '90s, an upholstery salesman in the UK bought the rights to the Matamp brand name, and started production up again, claiming his goods to be the only true original Matamp.

Edit: see correction below about "Matamp became Orange".

dokazaado · #7 11-14-2010, 12:47 PM

Ha, I wouldn't even begin to delve into that can of worms.
I'm fairly certain that Matamp UK didn't become Orange, though-
Matamp was originally a partner with Orange and the two separated long ago.

I'll just say that for my money, the Electric heads are much closer to the spirit of the original designs of Mat Mathias.

Mr. Foxen · #8 11-14-2010, 01:01 PM

Original Matamps used circuit boards and were handwired (you can handwire a printed circuit board). Having looked inside an original (mine), a current production UK Matamp, and seen pics of Electrics, they are all built in different ways. Current UK Matamp are build on a mix of turret-track (PCB track with turrets for components, so you get PCB reliability and turret ease of maintenance) and plain turret/tag boards, Electrics are turret boards, original Matamps are a mix of PCB and turret/tag. And don't forget Ashdowns, some of those are Matamps, in that they were designed by Matamps designer in the 90s, Dave Green of Green amps, and some built there.

bongomania · #9 11-14-2010, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dokazaado

I'm fairly certain that Matamp UK didn't become Orange, though- Matamp was originally a partner with Orange and the two separated long ago.

That's true, I was being too glib in my statement there. Matamp and Orange co-existed for about 16 years, until Matamp shut down in '89. I just said "Matamp became Orange" because Matamp originally made Orange, Orange amps were Matamp designs, and Orange kept going after Matamp closed down.

Mr. Foxen · #10 11-14-2010, 01:07 PM

Orange also closed down then re-opened, and Matamp re-opened first (and were going to be making the new Oranges with Gibson, but it didn't work out). People should probably start judging amps by their merits rather than their name tags. Have a good look at the guts and you can see if it is well made or not.

dokazaado · #11 11-14-2010, 01:16 PM

I'll go further and say that really Orange, Matamp, and Electric all make good amps.

it's all about getting exactly the kind of amp you want.

bassboysam · #12 11-14-2010, 01:16 PM

I own a Matamp GT200 and I love it. Great big smooth tone. I find the Matamp products are a lot cleaner sounding than the Electric counterparts which seem to be a little more over the top fuzz/distortion machines. When I tried the GT200 I was really surprised at how clear it sounded, has a nice old school tone and my favorite part is that the preamp stays fairly clean. Most of the overdrive only happens when you turn up the master volume. I emailed Matamp about using KT-120's in this amp and they do not reccomend it. Even still with KT-88's this amp does 200 Watts clean I'm sure it pushes 300 Watts when turned up. I play in a band with a loud guitarist and loud drummer and have no problems keeping up.

As far as I can tell the only distributor for Matamp in North America is g-spot music, and moog audio in Montreal tends to carry several matamp products as well.

dokazaado · #13 11-14-2010, 01:18 PM

by the way, we should all be posting pics.

I want to see some pretty Mat Mathias-style amps, please!

Mr. Foxen · #14 11-14-2010, 01:24 PM

Also should mention: http://www.verellenamplifiers.com/verellen.html

Also:

dokazaado · #15 11-14-2010, 01:27 PM

pics only woohoo! that's just a big stack of rad, sir.

bassboysam · #16 11-14-2010, 01:36 PM

mmmmmm

dokazaado · #17 11-14-2010, 01:39 PM

that's killer.

Deluge Of Sound · #18 11-14-2010, 02:33 PM

No pictures, but I have a pics & text OR120 (EL34s). These heads are killer.

dokazaado · #19 11-14-2010, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deluge Of Sound

No pictures, but I have a pics & text OR120 (EL34s). These heads are killer.

works well with bass?
the Electric version of this amp is one of the two I'm considering as my next.

MAMMOTHvolume · #20 11-14-2010, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

That's true, I was being too glib in my statement there. Matamp and Orange co-existed for about 16 years, until Matamp shut down in '89. I just said "Matamp became Orange" because Matamp originally made Orange, Orange amps were Matamp designs, and Orange kept going after Matamp closed down.

matamp lasted longer than orange actually, when they closed down they were mainly just doing pa equipment rather than amps though.

In my experience the new matamp amps are much closer to the original amps in terms of build quality etc. than the electric amps which look a bit like a spaghetti dinner inside