the handwired Electric Amps.. any experience or thoughts?

eyeballkid · #1 05-07-2010, 03:22 AM

So Ive been REALLY intriqued by Electric Amps for quite a while, but its been hard to find any first hand reviews... anybody EVER played one? Anyone want one too?... whats your thoughts and experiences guys?

http://www.electricamp.com/catalog.html
heres the link to their stuff if youre not familiar.

TaySte_2000 · #2 05-07-2010, 06:09 AM

All based on/made from stolen Matamp designs.

Which would mean good sounding, if made well but unscrupulous company.

MAMMOTHvolume · #3 05-07-2010, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaySte_2000

All based on/made from stolen Matamp designs.

Which would mean good sounding, if made well but unscrupulous company.

+1

eyeballkid · #4 05-07-2010, 08:42 AM

yeah, but i wonder how they would do for bass... I know it sounds great for Al Cisneros.. but....

plus.
ive read a few things that make it sound like they swiped designs, and stuff that makes it sound like designs were swiped from them... kinda he said, she said...

TaySte_2000 · #5 05-07-2010, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeballkid

yeah, but i wonder how they would do for bass... I know it sounds great for Al Cisneros.. but....

plus.
ive read a few things that make it sound like they swiped designs, and stuff that makes it sound like designs were swiped from them... kinda he said, she said...

My answer to that would be which company was founded in the 50's, which company made the original Orange heads and which company did Al Cisnero and the rest of Sleep spend their 25k advance from their first record contract with. I could go on but I won't.

Like I say if they sound like the Matamps they are clones of then they will sound great, unless made poorly in which case they may explode

eyeballkid · #6 05-07-2010, 10:46 AM

point taken on the first part... I actually thought they bought Electric amps.. as thats what Al uses now... ( i may be wrong on that bit of history as it never was something i looked fully into...)

but has anyone played one with Bass?

KramerBassFan · #7 05-07-2010, 01:04 PM

Aren't these Licensed by Matamp?

eyeballkid · #8 05-07-2010, 02:24 PM

thats what i originally thought.. but I came across something that said they split as entities at some point...

bovine mind · #9 05-07-2010, 03:51 PM

Good luck ever seeing one after you pay. The build time/wait/list is LONG.

eyeballkid · #10 05-07-2010, 05:41 PM

really?! like what?

D.M.N. · #11 05-07-2010, 05:44 PM

This is what I've heard:

Back in the 90's, Electric Amp was the American dealer/distributor/repairer for Matamp. They put in orders, Matamp made the amps, and sent them over seas. However, during the 90's Matamp started their process of making smaller and lower powered amps in place of the big old monsters they were famous for. However, people stateside were still demanding these old, loud designs, and though Electric was putting in orders, Matamp was no longer supplying them. Electric started manufacturing the old designs themselves, and eventually there was a split between the two. Matamp made small amps, Electric making big and loud amps.

That's the story as I know and have heard it. I could be way off, but I'm pretty sure that's what the deal is.

Regarding the amps themselves: From what I've seen and heard, they're really spectacular. Won't give you a bunch of clean headroom, but if you're looking at them, that's probably not your thing anyways. I mean, they can do clean, but it's not their thing. They do massive distortion well. Think Sleep. They're really well made too, beautiful internals.

Sartori · #12 05-07-2010, 06:21 PM

Interesting that Matamp would start concentrating on small amps when there was demand for the big heavy ones.

bovine mind · #13 05-07-2010, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeballkid

really?! like what?

I've heard he stopped making the amps all together, and that some folks waited months to get theirs, almost a year even.

Mr. Foxen · #14 05-07-2010, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sartori

Interesting that Matamp would start concentrating on small amps when there was demand for the big heavy ones.

Low powered valve amps seem pretty fashionable amongst guitarists. I don't think we have such a big 'huge powered rig' thing going on here. No space for those sort of shenanigans. Granted I have two kilowatt rigs and 900w of valve amps, but kinda fills up my house, and probably isn't typical.

Sartori · #15 05-07-2010, 07:51 PM

Probably. My amp is the same power as one of the Electrics though. 180 watts.

KramerBassFan · #16 05-07-2010, 07:55 PM

Well look at it this way - you can make more money selling a bunch of small valve guitar amps than you can by selling just a few huge valve monsters.

eyeballkid · #17 09-04-2010, 01:24 PM

So I recently picked up one of these... sort of..
I got the Orange AD200B that Electric Amps Rebuilt as a turret board point to point amp.
Its the one that was featured on planetoftheamps.com.

Ive been playing it a good bit next to a stock Orange AD200B.
I think Ill do a review/comparison soon on here.

KramerBassFan · #18 09-04-2010, 08:56 PM

Cool!

And on the talk of Electric stealing Oranges designs... how many tube amp companys REALLY do anything that RCA and countless others haven't done before them in the 1950's?

will33 · #19 09-04-2010, 09:11 PM

So, anybody know what they sound like with a bass?????????

eyeballkid · #20 09-04-2010, 09:29 PM

I do.. .. at least the rebuilt Orange one...
it is... how do you say?... SUHWEET!