Need a great boutique amp that’s going to pump out all the tone you could ever need... If you know anything about amps, you know that the Matchless line of boutique amps really deliver a mixture of modern high fidelity mixed with an old school sensibility and taste.  The Matchless Chieftain Boutique Amp is another in their line of powerful amps that provide top quality sound.  This amp is a Class A 1x12 combo amplifier, and it is completely hand built by the professionals at Matchless.

The Chieftain is one of the Matchless Celestion Signature Series.  It is a 30 watt amp that features point to point wiring and all tubes.  It is powered by four 12AX7’s and two EL34’s.  The back of the amp provides inputs for either 4 ohm, 8 ohm, or 16 ohm operation.  On the front, you can control the bass, middle, treble, brilliance, reverb, and volume, plus there’s a master control.   The presence on the Matchless Chieftain is actually similar to that you’d find on a top of the line British amp.  Below the controls is a Matchless logo that is backlit.

This is one of the top Matchless amps on the market today, and it’s sure to provide the sound and the power you need for any gig.  While it’s not cheap—a used one may cost upwards of $2,000 or more—it is certainly worth the money.
(more...)

One of the things Dr. Z is known for is creating very simple, traditional amps that do a lot more than what they first appear to do.  The Dr. Z Monza Boutique Amp follows this route.  With only three knobs, this amp does a lot.  This Monza has amazing gain and sustain.  It features 20 watts of power, and it can actually be a bit too loud for some home studios with thin walls.

The Dr. Z Monza amp uses two 12AX7s for preamp, two EL84 cathode biased tubes for output, and a 5AR4 tube as the rectifier.  While it’s only 20 watts, it can sound like it’s pumping 100 watts of power through it—it’s that powerful and amazing.  Crank up the volume and you’ll find the sound just gets bigger and bigger, while the drive and tone knobs give you control over your sound.  The speaker is a 10” Red Fang AlNico.  Overall, this powerful little amp only weighs 37 pounds, making it a great amp to take on the road.  If you want to score a Dr. Z Monza for your own, you’ll find them used for about $1,200. (more...)

The Tsunami is an 18 watt boutique amp by Category 5. It's a great amp for classic rock and blues. The 18 watts of power mean that this small, portable amp works great for small venues, especially blues clubs, and it also works great as a recording amp.  The Tsunami features two preamp channels, a global reverb circuit, variable recording line out, and a variac voltage control.

The first channel has a single gain stage that provides some nice tube overdrive.  The second channel is for versatility.  Here, you’ll find a full tone stack and the ability to really shape the tone to your liking.  This channel is great for scooped mids, treble, and bass, and with three cascaded gain stages, you’re able to get both more and less clean headroom than you can with the first channel.

The Tsunami is powered by two EL84 power tubes and four 12AX7 preamp tubes.  The first channel features tone and volume controls, while the second features volume, bass, middle, and treble controls.  The basic Tsunami 1x12 combo amp retails for $2579.
(more...)

The Dr. Z Stang Ray premiered in 2006, and within no time was already a good-to amp for a number of players.  One of the key features of the Stang Ray is it's ability to deliver a fat tone that is also still quite articulate.  It has a very full and defined sound with a nice, deep sustain.  The mids are very strong and aren’t pinched off at all, while the low end is rich warm and defined.

The Stang Ray (once named the Mantaray) is the result of Dr. Z collaborating with country superstar Brad Paisley.  The two had previously worked together on the Prescription Extra Strength, and they were eager to partner up again.  They set out to create an amp that provides a great pallet of great tonal possibilities and works along with the Prescription Extra Strength.  The output transformer was designed by Trainwreck’s Ken Fischer, who had worked with Dr. Z before on the Airbrake.  The amp gets at the classic British sound, but also has its own voice that is unique and different. (more...)

Matchless Amplifiers has created a number of great amps, including the Independence, the Clubman, the Nighthawk, and the Spitfire.  The Cobra is another favorite.  Building on this amp, Matchless created the King Cobra, a 30 watt single channel powerhouse with both tremolo and reverb. The Matchless King Cobra features controls for master tone, tremolo sound and depth, reverb, volume, cut, and master volume.

While it is based on the Cobra amp and includes many of the same features, the King Cobra uses two EL34 tubes instead of the four EL84 tubes the Cobra amp uses.  It also features a EF86, four 12AX7s, and a 5AR4/GZ34.  You’ll find a speaker phase selector and a high/low power switch on the amp as well.  The King Cobra delivers some great distorted tones, but it is also capable of producing amazing clean sounds as well.  The tremolo and reverb are top notch, and the amp overall is very high quality, exactly what one would expect from Matchless.  Of course, you will pay for quality.  Even used, expect to pay as much as $3,000 for a Matchless King Cobra amp. (more...)

The Matchless Phoenix 35 is somewhat similar to the DC-30 amp in that it features two contrasting preamps that give players some amazingly dynamic tonal options.  The preamp section uses two 12AX7s and an EF86.  The first channel uses a parallel-triode circuit.  The second works off the EF86 tube and a six position tone switch.  This allows for the high treble control to work with the master volume and the push/pull bypass feature to give a lot of tonal flexibility.  You'd be hard pressed to find a boutique amp that gives you quite as much dynamic control as the Matchless Phoenix 35.

In addition to these features, the Phoenix includes an effects loop, a speaker phase-reverse switch, an output impedance selector with 4, 8, and 16 ohms options, and two AC receptacles.  It makes use of two dissimilar Celestion speakers, a Greenback 25 and a G12H30.  The overall weight of the Matchless Phoenix 35 boutique amp is around 50 pounds, and the amp is small enough that it’s pretty easy to transport.  Of course, this is a Matchless product, and you know that means it’s not going to be cheap.  This quality amp will cost you right about $3,000 if you purchase it new. (more...)