NAD - Honeyboy 5F1 Champ

Fuengi

Have been on search for a small amp that I could use for home noodling as well as a grab and go for jams. I looked at various 5f1 clones from Victoria and fender, but I decided I really wanted to buy British, especially at the moment.

From the website it looked like Chris at Rift was focussing more on his own designs rather than the vintage Feder copies he has been building (not sure if that is completely correct or not @RiftAmps I’m sure will clarify). I had a look around at other British builders and came across Honeyboy with some alternative coverings and cabinet construction, plus a host of great reviews.

A deep dive found that Andy at Honeyboy builds a few designs, most popular is his 10” 5F2a Princeton style build. This was physically a bit bigger than what I was after but I was so impressed with the designs and online reviews and sound clips I thought I’d message him to see if he could do a smaller version or possibly an 8” 5F1 circuit.

He responded straight away and was happy to do either. He costed out a hand built 5f1 with an 8” speaker as it was not listed on his website and we agreed to go that route.

Andy builds the cabs himself from Sapele and used my size specifications so it would fit in the space I had. He sent photos through out the build process with progress reports and options for me to choose for finishes and details. He even sent through a sample selection for the tolex and grille cloth for me to chose from, Green Gator very nearly got the nod, but I ended up with Croc Choc and a Gold Grille.

What I really like was that it felt like a collaborative process, Andy was great at raising things he had options for and working to the right solution for me. Top bloke.

So it arrived today, perfectly packed. The detailing is superb. Mrs F and I spent a good 15 minutes just admiring it before even thinking about plugging it in.

Eventually grabbed my Tele and tried it out, it’s everything a 5F1 Champ should be. Sweet, raspy, responsive, dynamic and lively. The noise floor is exactly zero until you get to about 9 out of 12 on the dial, then you can just start to hear it’s on. The response is fabulous, and it fills the room despite its diminutive size. Decent bass from the 8” Jenson alnico vintage series speaker. Andy kindly broke this in for me and recorded a demo –

Overall, just delighted with it. To get a hand built, bespoke design amp from a from a British builder at the moment is real treat.

RiftAmps

Nice one @Fuengi

Andy is a top bloke and I've got nothing but praise for him.

From the website it looked like Chris at Rift was focusing more on his own designs rather than the vintage Fender copies he has been building (not sure if that is completely correct or not @RiftAmps I’m sure will clarify)

We stopped offering these a while back. As I'm a) VAT registered, b) have a full-time employee and c) have a reasonably sized business premises that needs to be paid for I could no longer offer these for <£1300 - which is too expensive in my book.

Kalimna

That looks like a wee cracker of an amp

Fuengi

RiftAmps said:

Nice one @Fuengi

Andy is a top bloke and I've got nothing but praise for him.

From the website it looked like Chris at Rift was focusing more on his own designs rather than the vintage Fender copies he has been building (not sure if that is completely correct or not @RiftAmps I’m sure will clarify)

We stopped offering these a while back. As I'm a) VAT registered, b) have a full-time employee and c) have a reasonably sized business premises that needs to be paid for I could no longer offer these for <£1300 - which is too expensive in my book.

Cheers Chris. I thought you'd stopped doing them. 

HAL9000

Looks fantastic!

DrCornelius

Beautiful looking thing

JezWynd

Fabulous! I love the croc style covering in the dark brown. If it sounds as good as it looks you must be very happy. Congrats!

Fuengi

JezWynd said:

Fabulous! I love the croc style covering in the dark brown. If it sounds as good as it looks you must be very happy. Congrats!

Just having another little play with a few pedals. It is unbelievably responsive. I love the way can I play the most delicate little run on the treble side then, dig in on the bass side and it just blooms. Amazing dynamic range. 

barneyd

That is Stunning!

RandallFlagg

That poor crocodile

longjaw

Love it!

Alex2678

RandallFlagg said:

That poor crocodile

The chocolate crocodile no less, a rare beast indeed

Alex2678

Stunning amp, congratulations 

HAL9000

Some really nice stuff on the Honeyboy website (sneakily checks credit card limit...)

Modulus_Amps

Nice amp, great attention to detial, Andy is a top bloke, Thanks for buying British!

Fuengi

Modulus_Amps said:

Nice amp, great attention to detial, Andy is a top bloke, Thanks for buying British!

When we are this good it's easy! 

brooom

awesome, I was going to build myself another princeton reverb, but thanks to your post I've just gone and bought myself a champ kit from @Modulus_Amps ;

I'm going back to basics with a champ + telecaster combo.

smfacer

They look amazing, I've just pulled the trigger on a 5e3 inspired tweed amp but I think I know where I'll be going for the next one... Once I've saved up enough

Fuengi

smfacer said:

They look amazing, I've just pulled the trigger on a 5e3 inspired tweed amp but I think I know where I'll be going for the next one... Once I've saved up enough

Honeyboy do a 5e3 build which is very tempting. I think it might be too loud for home use though! 

HAL9000

I don't think I’ll be wearing a Honeyboy tee shirt on my next trip to Brighton or San Francisco...

TINMAN82

That’s very cool. Prompted a look at his website. Very tempting.