Star Nova Boutique Amp

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.

The Star Amp is powered by a 6V6 power tube and contains two 12AX7s for driving the two cascading gains. The amp has both a low and a high gain input, interactive treble and bass controls, a headphone jack, and a ten inch Jensen alnico speaker. In addition to using the amp with the speaker, you can also unplug the speaker and use the amp as a preamp or headphone amp thanks to the internal load circuits.

Are you looking to purchase a Star Nova boutique amp? If you buy it new from the Star website at www.staramps.com, it will cost you around $1665. However, you can often find used Star Amps for anywhere from $1,000 to $1,250 if you do a little searching.