NAD: Gartone

guitarpolo

So I finally made the trip up to Bolton to pick up this Gartone Bluesman 18. The build was completed quite a while ago but for various reasons I couldn't get it before now. Well it's certainly been worth the wait - it sounds absolutely stunning! It's been a while since I had a tweed deluxe and this is everything I could want from one. It's fitted with a celestion blue and nos tubes throughout.....I settled on GE JAN 6V6GT for the power section for a bit more headroom after trying a couple of different types.

Martin also spent 5-6 hours with me servicing and revoicing the Stageman 45 I bought on here a while ago. That's now got a celestion alnico cream in it and a full set of new tubes. It sounded very good before, but now is a perfect blackface with a great od channel and lots of tonal options. The cream needed some serious breaking in, so we put the cranked Bluesman through it for an hour, which made a huge difference - it'll only get better of course as it clocks up more hours. 

Builders like Gartone mostly rely on word of mouth and I can highly recommend Martin to anyone who wants a top quality amp built by someone who cares about making it sound its very best. 

IvisonGuitars

Wow indeed! I know first hand that these amps are awesome! Alas i've not owned one....yet. Congratulations Martin builds incredible tweed amps.

pmg

Last time I spoke to Martin he had a substantial waiting list so word of mouth must being going great.  Good choice of amp there sir

gordiji

Great website too. The stageman sounds tempting, are there any soundclips anywhere ?

guitarpolo

I don't think there are any sound clips of the stageman. There are sound clips of some amps on the website, but not all. The stageman is great for blackface cleans, and with the "vibe" control, fixed/cathode bias and master volume you can get a whole variety of tones. The only drawback for me is that it's pretty heavy!

hotpickups

Martin has been very helpful when I've asked him the most inane questions Great amp choice by the way. I was so torn about ordering one myself but think I'm looking another direction really. Love to hear some sound files for it other than the one on his website

pmg

guitarpolo said:

The only drawback for me is that it's pretty heavy!

Many great amps are ;-) 

thomasross20

Is this martin of mjw fame?

guitarpolo

thomasross20 said:

Is this martin of mjw fame?

No, Martin Garton!

thomasross20

Seems a popular name for amp builders