Hey folks,
I usually don't post things like this, but I was on a session last night and the guitar player had one of these amps, and I just had to share it with you. Perhaps your guitar players (or if you also play guitar, then you personally) would benefit from seeing this.
I am also a guitar player (classical mostly, but also electric & steel-string acoustic), and I've plenty of experience with boutique tube amps, if nothing else than just from being around studios. One of my favorites right now is Zinky, made by this guy Bruce Zinky (who also owns the revitalized "Supro" brand, and used to work for the Fender—he designed the new Bassman bass amps, the Vibro-King/Tone Master, the Hot Rod series of guitar amps, and the Rumble series as well). They are worth checking out.
Anyway, the reason I started this thread is to tell you about ValveTech amps. They are made by this guy, Rob Pierce, in Indiana. Apparently, his goal for the company is to make boutique-quality tube amps with custom, 1-man-shop service and options, but for a fair, working-musician price. The combos start at about $900 and go up to $1500 or so, depending on options. I could have sworn this was a $2-3k amp when I heard it; I am very impressed by the tone. I'm a bit of a tube freak when it comes to guitar amps; I used to have an excellent collection of old '30s to '50s Mullards, Tung-Sols, Telefunkens, etc, but I sold them when I switched from guitar to bass about 5 years ago. Even though I rarely record on guitar anymore, I might have to get one of these amps. The guitarist who owned it said the deposit is only $150 and the build time is about 3 months. The fact that these amps are relatively inexpensive is icing on the cake; you guys have to hear these amps to believe it.
I'm a big fan of "cooperative tone," and I always try to keep up with what the other musicians I'm playing with are using and how they're getting their sounds—I just think that when the other musicians sound their best, not only do we all sound better as a whole, but it makes me personally sound better, too, and I'm not just talking about stepping on each other's "frequential toes," so to speak. Tone is a cooperative effort and it's very important to me, even as a bassist, that there is an excellent tube guitar amp in use in the mix, LOL.
Anyway, if your guitar player is looking for a great tube amp, I can tell you that the tone of the one I heard was incredible.
The website is
http://www.valvetechamps.com. Just to be perfectly clear, I have absolutely no affiliation with the company, Rob Pierce personally, or his amps; I've never even talked to the guy, and of course I'm not receiving anything at all for posting this. I just wanted to share the good news about a fantastic guitar amp, and even better, at a price you rarely see in the boutique amp market. Enjoy.
Regards,
Dave
