I would love to hear from those of you that have experience with these. I'm particularly interested in learning more about Dr Z, Victoria and Carr amps. Also any opinions about the Fender reissue amps would be helpful. In particular, the Fender Deluxe Reverb. i.e. do they really recapture the sound of the Fender glory days or would it be better to put $ toward an independent builder. I don't play out so something around the 20W range would be more than enough. Thanks!

Can you be more specific in what kind of tones you would like to create and what types of guitars you plan on using. Thanks.

I can tell you, with some mods, you can get the Fender Deluxe Reverb to sound decent. In my opinion, for a more accurate pre-CBS tone, you would be better off with a later silverface that has been black faced or an early silverface left alone. I prefer Jensens in the originals.

Carr, great amps.

Another amp worth looking at if you like Deluxe Reverbs are Fuchs ODS 30W. All point to point.

Jim

Not boutique, but silver panel Fender Deluxe Reverbs can sound great. I own two--an early 70's and a late 70's. Surprisingly, I tend to prefer the "newer" one (still about 30 years old). Both are basically stock except for Weber speakers and good tubes (Telefunken 12AX7's in the main preamp stage). There really is no substitute for trying amps out. I've played through a few Tone King amps (boutique from a few years ago). Great tone, but soooo bright. If I had bought one without trying it I would not have been happy. Deluxe Reverb reissues sound pretty good--the biggest difference, I think, is that they use printed circuit boards instead of point-to-point wiring like the older ones. For playing at home, also consider a Princeton Reverb. I put a Weber 10" with a slightly oversized magnet into mine, and it sounds wonderful and is more than enough for home, small jams, and even small gigs. Silver Princetons are not crazy expensive, and are much easier to schlep around than Deluxes.

I've done a lot of online research into boutique amps and I'm fascinated by this guy's stuff:

Siegmund Custom Amps

I have to admit that I've never played through any of his designs but they sure look interesting!

hakujin

quote:

Originally posted by BAR:
I would love to hear from those of you that have experience with these. I'm particularly interested in learning more about Dr Z, Victoria and Carr amps. Also any opinions about the Fender reissue amps would be helpful. In particular, the Fender Deluxe Reverb. i.e. do they really recapture the sound of the Fender glory days or would it be better to put $ toward an independent builder. I don't play out so something around the 20W range would be more than enough. Thanks!

Be sure to check out Pierson amps. I have one of his Fender Tweed Champ reproductions and love it. I understand he also makes an excellent Tweed Deluxe.

I played a lot of stuff out there before deciding upon a Carr. Carr has quite a few different amps in their line to choose from, all offering something different. I chose the Rambler, since it suited me perfectly, and I have never had a single issue with it over the past 4 years.

Thanks everyone for your feedback.... MikeD I've been curious about the Carr Rambler. What kind of music do you play? And what kind of guitar do you have? What fender amp would you say the Carr Rambler is most like. I have a Don Grosh tele. I play mostly blues, folk rock, old country, rockabilly type stuff. Would that amp be suited for this kind of playing? Thanks!

When I got bit by the electric bug a little while ago, I went on the amp adventure. I've tried many, bought a few nice ones, and if I were doing it again, I'd just have my Carr Mercury. The thing sounds great for all styles of music...switches from 8,2,1/2, 1/10th of a watt for the atenuator (sp?) for power...I use it on 2 or sometimes 8, then mic it for the PA if I have to. Sounds great in the studio.

And, it is super great quality...and the cowboy tooled tolex covering isn't bad either.

My 2 cents...I love it and it's now the only electric amp I use...got a few fenders that I may have to sell soon.....

Good Luck...

Kia Manuia,

Dale
www.daleinskeep.com

I have a Carr Rambler and a Dr Z Maz 18 Jr. and I love them both.

The Rambler is my favorite and it sits at home for my own enjoyment and recording. The Rambler takes pedals very well and you will need them to get distortion tones. I like being able to switch between power modes also. I love this amps clean tones.

The Dr Z is also great and I use it at church most of the time. It also takes pedals very well and unless you are driving it loud and hard you will need them for distortion. I don't think it is quite as smooth sounding as the Rambler but it might be a little more versatile. I use it with both single coils and humbuckers and all I really change is the cut knob or the treble. Sometimes this amp can sound a little ice-picky in the treble department.

You really can't go wrong with either amp.

I got the Rambler because I found no amp by anyone else that compared to it. Maybe the closest thing from Fender I saw was one of the tweed series amps, but I would not say it was really in the same league. I got the Rambler for reasons described above, and a few others... superdy-duper clean sound, wicked loud if it needs to be, takes a pedal better than anything else I've encountered, can switch between power modes for a different "sound", has the tremolo foot switch, tons of adjustability with the tone, gets that screaming raw edge when overdriven & the tubes get saturated, not that heavy to port around, plug is hard wired so it doesn't get left behind when going to a gig (like my Fishman at our last gig... D'oh), and it looks great. The two things I wish it had are a line out and a tilt back feature, but that is rectified with a SM or Beta 57 and a 45 degree amp stand. I play a Collings I-35 through it presently, as well as a CL (which I am planning on selling since the I-35 does everything the CL does at 1/2 the weight). I used to have a PRS, but that puppy went the way of ebay when the I-35 came home with me. I use the guitar and amp for a lot of rhythm playing and some lead stuff, and we typically play everything from Led Zeppelin to Sublime to Foo Fighters to Bob Marley to... I think you get the picture... the Rambler works for just about everything, with the exception of Mega-Death, Marilyn Manson or NIN I'm guessing. Sounds like it would work well for your choice in music as well, since we do a bit of country, folky rock and blues stuff also. (My second instrument in our band is the mandolin, if that tells you anything about our music selection in comparison to yours) Check out their whole line. There are sound files you can hear sampling all the amps with different settings at the Carr website. It will give you a good idea of what they have to offer. In terms of effects, I simply use a pod... cheaper than buying a dozen pedals, takes up less space when you're gigging and it is good enough for the bad covers we do of the various songs we play... and it has a built in Whaa for when we really feel like butchering something from the Hendrix. Hope that helps.

IMHO, here's the last word in boutique amps...

www.vintone.com

Everything mentioned here is good stuff and it's obvious folks get passionate about what they like. I've owned and sold several brands discussed, but for me, one word:

HEADSTRONG

Please give them a look. I use the Lil King model, an exact Princeton clone and I'm so done with amps. Check reviews anywhere - about 14-16 watts, light and I personally have never needed more power, if I did I'd put a 57 in front of it. Just my contribution, good luck.