The Carr Viceroy Boutique Amp, previously called the Vincent amp, is one of Carr’s classic American amps.  To take care of one concern right away: if you have a Vincent amp, you don’t need to run out and buy a new one—the Viceroy is a change in name only.  Everything else is still exactly the same.   Just like the Vincent, the Viceroy is a 33/7 watt amp that features a number of great options.  You’ll find controls for the volume, midrange, bass, treble, reverb, drive, and a switch to move between 33 watts and 7 watts.  The treble and midrange controls give you many different tone possibilities, making this amp quite versatile. (more...)

As with all of the great Barber Electronics products, the Barber Direct Drive Overdrive pedal is an original design that can’t be found anywhere else.  The Direct Drive Overdrive Pedal features some amazing clarity and a great dynamic response.  It’s unrivalled as far as harmonic response and string separation goes.  This pedal can provide some great blues overdrive to some flat out amazing Marshall type gain—it’s everything you could ever want as far as both vintage and modern tones go. (more...)

Matchless has made a number of amps over the years, and while they may not be “matchless,” they are still top quality boutique amps.  The Matchless Chieftain CH-212 Boutique Amp is one of their top amps and the most powerful amp in the Chieftain line (the others are the CH-40, CH-112, and CH-210).  The Chieftain CH-212 is also the most expensive Chieftain amp.  A new one will cost $3,285 if ordered directly from Matchless, while a used amp will run around $2,400 or more. (more...)

Barber creates a number of great pedals, and one of their more popular models is the Barber Direct LG Overdrive Pedal.  This pedal was actually inspired by a pedal created by the Barber Custom Shop for one particular client.  The shop was so impressed by the custom pedal that they decided to use its design to create this low gain version of their Direct Drive pedal.  Both the high gain Direct Drive and the Direct Drive LG share a number of features, but the low gain version has more response and dynamics.  The Barber Direct Drive LG focuses more on tone, especially accurate, dynamic tones, and less on crunch and volume. (more...)

The Star Nova boutique amp was designed by Mark Sampson.  He previously worked for Matchless and Bad Cat, but decided to strike out on his own.  The Star Nova amp is a five watt amp designed to deliver high gain at a low volume.  Don't let this bad boy go to waste and only use it as a practice amp, as it's a killer in the studio.  Many have described the Star Nova amp as a more powerful version of the Fender Champ amp, partly because it is based on the Vox circuit.  This amp, while not as versatile (not a bad thing) as some other low watt amps, delivers great no-nonsense tube overdrive. (more...)

The Barber Custom Cool Overdrive Pedal brings several new features to the Barber Custom line.  It’s a part of the B-Custom brand name, the name given to all pedals created by the Barber custom shop under the direction of Ronni Santmyer.  Unlike the standard Barber pedals, the B-Custom line features limited editions or one-time custom creations designed to meet players’ requests for pedals that could capture every nuance, detail, and sound.  The B-Custom pedals deliver everything a serious player could want while not costing a huge amount of money. (more...)