Withdrawn - Which boutique amp head?

Castro

 I'm in the nice position of being able to purchase an amp head and cabinet up to about £3,000. It will be my last amp purchase - just turned 56 so it's a birthday pre-retirement investment.

I have 3 on my shopping list and would love some opinions and feedback.

I play mainly clean with pedals for dirt. I play in small pubs in a 3 piece with a bass player and a drummer....we're not loud and play all Original stuff in different genres but no metal.

Currently have a Two Rock Crystal 40w combo that does great cleans but it's heavy thus the move to lighter items.

I like the Two Rock Studio Pro 35 head which I tried at Coda. The Swart ST45 is an alternative and also Morgan RCA35.

Thoughts?

mal1971

For me it would be a Lazy J80 as head and cab or a combo if you want reverb built in but that's heAvy.  You could go the j40 with a 2x12 cab.

Kalimna

Speak to Cliff Brown at 633 Engineering - boutique in the proper sense of the word, beautiful amps and customisable to your own requirements. Plus it keeps the purchase in UK.

Adam

Castro

Thanks Adam.

Kebabkid

Hamstead 20.

A lower wattage Morgan - do you need the 35 for what you're doing?

Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 - did you have one of these?

Redplate

Teetonetal

If I was you I would get a Brunetti singleman 50 and save £1500.

ToneControl

studio pro 50 sounds a lot better than the 35, I tried both in Coda

Matchless HC30 would be my choice every time

timmysoft

Katana or helix 

hotpickups

Kebabkid said:

Hamstead 20.

A lower wattage Morgan - do you need the 35 for what you're doing?

Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 - did you have one of these?

Redplate

I must admit I tried a Hampstead recently and could t see what all the fuss is about. Maybe I needed to crank it a bit to let it show its colours

peteri

How about something from Carr? I have a Skylark - not enough wattage for you, but the bigger ones are stellar 

Coda can definitely help there

koss59

I found the Two Rocks I had quite disappointing live, they were both 35's.
Ive had a Carr Rambler for a while now which I consider to be the ultimate grab and go clean platform amp.
Ideal in most venues but I've also used it on bigger gigs too.

ChuckManual

timmysoft said:

Katana or helix 

Katana and Helix...

stickyfiddle

I'm going to say Bad Cat. The answer is always Bad Cat

StuartMac290

Me too. Or 3rd Power. 

Castro

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I now have a few hours surfing/research to do .

Kalimna

One other suggestion is a Thornton amp. He does a single amp that is extremely versatile - 2 channel with blendable voicing. Very personable chap who builds them, and can come in combo or head + cab. Very little about them online unfortunately, but profoundly better value (and you communicate with the chap who designed and builds them) than the American boutique brands.

Adam

Castro

Thanks Adam that's a maker I've not heard of.

revsorg

A ground-up Cornell custom build

jellybelly

Are Zs out of vogue? I've always found them to be great live (the couple I've owned anyway)

vasselmeyer

Go and talk to @RiftAmps ;

Pretty much any variation of amp and customisable to significant levels. 

Kalimna

Castro - DrBob of this forum has a Thornton so may chime in - and i am waiting to pick mine up (in fact i ended up not buying DrBobs Budda and ordered a Thornton after hearing his). If you dont mind waiting, and are ever up in Scotland you are welcome to try mine out.
Cornell is a good shout to. Along with Rift, Flynn, Gartone, Gryphin, Rosewell and several other UK builders i have probably forgotten.

Adam