Ceriatone - Worth the hype?

designerseye88

I got lost down the rabbit hole of clone amps the other day and came across Ceriaton. I specifically liked the TW close series which to my ear sounded pretty good, especially with a Les Paul. I've seen there have been a few bought and sold here so wanted to gauge opinion. I Did email Nik at Ceriaton who has been great. 
I wondered if anyone has specific knowledge or experience of the TW closes and the difference between the Express and the C wreck? 


Thanks 

grappagreen

I’ve played a few and current own a HRM Bluesmaster. For me hands down the best value for money amp I’ve played.. top drawer at very reasonable prices..

Dan_Halen

Leon Todd has a couple of Ceriatones I think and gets some pretty sweet tones out of them on his YouTube videos. They're a bit more on the metal side of things rather than Trainwreck type tones but sounded massive. My point being that, even though they're different style amps, the ones he played sounded so good that it definitely made me interested in other amps they do.

Could possibly start to get expensive though once you add on shipping then import taxes.

Ossyrocks

I've had a few.

Dumble 50 clone, three 50w plexis and a Trainwreck Express. 

They were all very good. The Dumble clone was as good as my Fuchs ODS, the plexis were very close to the real ones I've had and the Trainwreck was great although I've never played a real one. The TW did smoke it's output tranny after about 6 months heavy use, but Nik sent me a replacement right away and after that it was all good. I had a custom replica cab built for the TW just like the real ones and had a hand tooled front panel made out of cedar to match, it looked the business.

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

Rob

exocet

They are really good. I've got 2 Dumble styled 50 watters  (first one bought in 2009) and recently let my Yeti (Hot Rod Marshall style) go to someone on this forum. 

gordiji

I've had a 50w Yeti for 5 yrs or so. Great sounding problem free amp doing exactly what the Ceriatone site says it'll do. First class service from Nik. Know what you want. first.

Branshen

Had an OTS mini, which I ordered direct through Nik. Service was great, Amp was good, but it got traded away when I went digital. Their work is very tidy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137947485@N03/sets/72157659820295764
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137947485@N03/albums/72157671753347556

Roland

I think @hywelg has a Ceriatone

designerseye88

Ossyrocks said:

I've had a few.

Dumble 50 clone, three 50w plexis and a Trainwreck Express. 

They were all very good. The Dumble clone was as good as my Fuchs ODS, the plexis were very close to the real ones I've had and the Trainwreck was great although I've never played a real one. The TW did smoke it's output tranny after about 6 months heavy use, but Nik sent me a replacement right away and after that it was all good. I had a custom replica cab built for the TW just like the real ones and had a hand tooled front panel made out of cedar to match, it looked the business.

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

Rob

Thanks Rob, What sort of guitar do you use through the Trainwreck Express? Im going to be mainly using a humbucker 

Ossyrocks

designerseye88 said:

Ossyrocks said:

I've had a few.

Dumble 50 clone, three 50w plexis and a Trainwreck Express. 

They were all very good. The Dumble clone was as good as my Fuchs ODS, the plexis were very close to the real ones I've had and the Trainwreck was great although I've never played a real one. The TW did smoke it's output tranny after about 6 months heavy use, but Nik sent me a replacement right away and after that it was all good. I had a custom replica cab built for the TW just like the real ones and had a hand tooled front panel made out of cedar to match, it looked the business.

Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to get another.

Rob

Thanks Rob, What sort of guitar do you use through the Trainwreck Express? Im going to be mainly using a humbucker 

Les Pauls and 335's. Amazing amps, but quite loud. It did the classic rock thing very well and cleaned up beautifully from the volume pot. No pedals required.

hywelg

I have three. An OTS 50 (built in 2008) , a 1987 (50w Marshall plexi, built in 2010) and  DZ-30 (2009).  Would only consider parting with the DZ-30 as the other two get played pretty regularly.  Even my Carr Rambler takes a back seat to the OTS in the pedal platform stakes (plus I wouldn't be happy leaving it at our rehearsal room)

I think @ToneControl has had more than one too.

I really want to get and build some more but other hobbies(brewing) are taking most of my free time.

ToneControl

hywelg said:

I have three. An OTS 50 (built in 2008) , a 1987 (50w Marshall plexi, built in 2010) and  DZ-30 (2009).  Would only consider parting with the DZ-30 as the other two get played pretty regularly.  Even my Carr Rambler takes a back seat to the OTS in the pedal platform stakes (plus I wouldn't be happy leaving it at our rehearsal room)

I think @ToneControl has had more than one too.

I really want to get and build some more but other hobbies(brewing) are taking most of my free time.

I've had loads, they were all very good 
Trainwreck - excellent, sold to the guitarist from Acoustic Alchemy
DZ30 - bought a Matchless DC30 so no longer needed
5E3 - subsequently bought loads of tweaked Wienbrock 5E3 variations with less mids
36w EF86 - very good, does vox chime and Marshall sounds
JTM45 - very very special I think, Jeff Beck's main amp design
OTS - the plain one did not suit me as much as the HRM ones

and I still have 2 Dumble clones:
HRM Bluesmaster 50
HRM 100

Given the fact I've sold 3 Victoria amps, Matchless, Bad Cat, Vox amps, Fuchs, Wienbrock amps but still have the 2 Ceriatones should tell you something. I have enough cash to buy the Tworocks versions, but I seriously think it would not improve on these, I've tried them, they are just another good clone for more cash

The Trainwreck Express is more prone to show any mistakes made in the build (apparently)
Personally I thought the early gain stages were too much, and used lower gain valves to calm the amp down
It was almost immediately into Van Halen tones, I prefer a more gradual break up


Remember the VAT and duty, about 25% on top of price (incl postage)

If you are patient, they do come up for sale at cheap prices, except the high-demand ones (i.e. the Dumble clones)

matone

Always excellent service and comms from Nik.

designerseye88

@ToneControl which Trainwreck did you go for? I've heard the TW's can have a bit too much gain too. But i love the sound of the guitar in this video. This one is the newish C Wreck apparently 

ToneControl

designerseye88 said:

@ToneControl which Trainwreck did you go for? I've heard the TW's can have a bit too much gain too. But i love the sound of the guitar in this video. This one is the newish C Wreck apparently 

Nik is great btw

I had an Express

The old story with TWs is that if you play with no pedals, straight into the amp, and turn down it gets to acoustic-y low-gain sounds, with hardly any noise. Search on youtube for demos on original models. As you turn up it gets lots of OD

this video looks like that, but less fizzy than the Express

The amp has a use, but it's a niche product. I would not recommend if you use pedals

I think if this was a design that was right for lots of people, there'd be many clones on sale
Personally, I think the best approach is a cleanish amp that suits you as a platform, plus some of the amazing OD pedals invented over the last 10-15 years

roberty

I had a 2204, it was beautifully made and sounded amazing. Only sold it cos I'm using a Selmer Treble & Bass in my current project and it was gathering dust

ToneControl

roberty said:

I had a 2204, it was beautifully made and sounded amazing. Only sold it cos I'm using a Selmer Treble & Bass in my current project and it was gathering dust

wow I had a Selmer T+B head in the 80s/90s, brushed aluminium front. 
Sadly at the time, everyone wanted multi channel cascading amps, so I disregarded it. Bought it for £50, sold it for not much more I think

looked like this:

PhilKing

I have two Ceriatones, one is the original OTS and the other is a custom build with the 18w TMB EF86 front end and a JTM45 power amp stage.  It sounds awesome and has both chime and crunch.  I use it jumpered, which allows me to blend the two pre-amps.  I use it a lot more than my original Silver Jubilee combo.

Modulus_Amps

What hype?

Nik has been building amps for years and years and has built up the business in time, there is a lot of history behind Ceriatone now.

The C wreck and the Express are quite different amps, I have not owned the ceriatone amps , but I have built loads of TW style amps myself.

For cranking glorious sounds the express is amazing, super sensitive and loads of fun, but not my choice for home use or as a big clean platform unless it has some mods - like fast slow switches like the Komet version etc

The C-Wreck is is like a hot rodded vox top boost circuit, does lovely cleans and breaks up really nicely too, works well with pedals, I see he offers it with a master as standard which would be useful for home use.

ToneControl

Modulus_Amps said:

What hype?

Nik has been building amps for years and years and has built up the business in time, there is a lot of history behind Ceriatone now.

agreed

Ceriatone is effectively the largest custom shop hand-wired valve amp maker in the world AFAIK

roberty

ToneControl said:

roberty said:

I had a 2204, it was beautifully made and sounded amazing. Only sold it cos I'm using a Selmer Treble & Bass in my current project and it was gathering dust

wow I had a Selmer T+B head in the 80s/90s, brushed aluminium front. 
Sadly at the time, everyone wanted multi channel cascading amps, so I disregarded it. Bought it for £50, sold it for not much more I think

looked like this:

That's the one mate. Love it so much I ended up with two. Sounds positively apocalyptic with fuzz pedals and eminence governors