Stramp 2100a Head

This amp was made in 1971, It is a beautiful sounding amplifier, it is very much like a Marshall Plexi. One of my Stramps has had a master volume installed and I have also pulled two of the power tubes and rebiased it. This amp has two channels ( bass , treble, middle and presence {it also has an effects loop which I never use}) It also has more than enough power with its massive transformers.

As I have mentioned before it sounds exactly like a Marshall Plexi

As far as reliability goes my stramps are terrible,as mine are prototypes they have a printed circuit board that becomes brittle when heated from the tubes, I could never safely gig without a back-up. These days I just use my stramp at home and for recording. When I met Rory Gallagher's bass player (Gerry Mcavoy) he was puzzled when I asked him if his stramps were reliable (I guess and Rory's were production models)

The company is now out of business as the founder Peter Struven has passed away but in the 70's when i wrote to them they sent me some schematics and a nice Stramp logo free of charge.

I have been playing guitar since 1973 after being influenced by Rory Gallagher. I have used many guitars with this amp - old Strats/Teles/Airline/Dan Armstrongs even a 12 string Stella with a pick-up( they all sound fantastic) If it was lost or stolen I would definetly try to find another one even though they are extremely rare.
I had stopped using my Stramp for many years and recently re-tubed it and started to use it again .I was amazed at the sound-must be something about these old amps that the new ones can't re-create.
I have owned two Stramp 2100A amps, both were bought at We Buy Guitars in New York city in 1977, I first came into contact with Stramp when I saw Rory Gallagher at a gig in 1973, even though I wanted an amplifier like his I had to settle for a head instead of a combo. Both my amplifiers were owned by Leslie West and they were prototypes. I tried out the amplifier in We Buy Guitars on West 48 street, the owner when he found out I had come all the way from Canada told me crank it up, my grandmother was with me and she told me later that she had never heard anything that loud in her life. Later in 1983 I had the opportunity to do a show with Rory Galllagher in Montreal and he literally ran across the stage to look at my Stramps when he saw them.

Great to see a review of this product. It's is a basic marshall lead 100W type amplifier, 4 inputs, 4 EL34's. and it's LOUD

I like it best with my Fender strat, less with my les paul type guitar.

Being old as it is ( mid '70s?) , and still functioning very nicely, it has proven to be a very reliable amplifier I think...

Incredible: watch this !.. so I bought the amp in 1994.. I know I am al least the the 4th+ owner (was used by dutch group The Golden Earings on their tour in Germany mid 70's .. so they say..).... I look for Stramp on the internet, email them to ask them if I can put a extra gain stage in for some extra highgain sounds.... next day I get a email saying : 'no problem, here's a schematic I draw for you that I reccomnd' .. complete with hand drawn boost channel schematic! Isn't that just great! So now it has 4 12ax7 preamp tubes, instead of 3 and I have my high gain sound.

This kind of service is offcourse out of this world!!

This amp is a real working horse, no frills, lot's of power, reliable and mods are easely done.

I collect European "rock" amplifiers. I went to a Rory Gallagher concert in the early '70's, and noticed a red Stramp stack, and some other Stramp P.A. gear on stage. Anyone may now see glimpses of this gear on the "Irish Tour '74" DVD that is available. Rory was playing through his usual tweed Fender Bassman, so I'm not entirely sure who was using the Stramp. Stramp made all kinds of stuff, even a guitar synth called the "Synthchanger 2". Eventually, I found a Stramp in Los Angeles. This one was exactly like a Marshall European Superlead 100: Shared cathode on V1, JTM (Bassman) tone circuit values, etc. However, the 2100-A "Leslie West" head was slightly different in that it had a regular master volume (like a JCM 800), monstrously huge transformers (which Marshall also did at the time), and wooden skids underneath (ala Orange),instead of rubber feet. It was just a good, basic Marshall-type amp of which there were many copies being made in Europe at the time. Stramp was higher quality than many of the others, however.

With good (real) guitars, it always works well. Strat, Les Paul, Flying "V", all sound good. This style of preamp wiring seems to sound good straight-in, or with pedals. Later '70's Marshalls with the split cathode on V1 tend to be too trebly on channel one, and too bassy on channel two. For good, basic blues-rock, from Clapton in The Bluesbreakers to Cream, Led Zep, Mountain, Stones, you name it, you can do it with this amp. You must keep in mind, however, that the guitar, amp, and speaker cabinet must all "match-up" properly, then the playing is nearly effortless. This seems to be a lost art these days. New amps offered for sale are the same in name only. The 2100-A is an extension of your guitar--indeed an instrument in it's own right.

If Rory Gallaher used Stramp gear, it HAD to be rugged. I've never had any problem with my Stramps because of the fine build quality, but I also know how to service them when necessary. I routinely use them without fear, although I always take a spare head anyway, in case something happens, but it never has.

I have not dealt with Stramp as regards servicing, only when buying transformers from Peter Strueven to use in my own amp building. As Peter has sadly passed on, and it had been a few years since I've spoken with him, I'm not aware of Stramp still being in existence. Another posting about Stramp amps mentioned AVICOM, which I've definitely heard of, but I've never tried to contact. In any case, anyone familiar with tube guitar amps, and especially original Marshall amps, could service a Stramp very comfortably.

I've been playing since the late '60's. If this amp were stolen or lost, I know that I would probably never find another one, but I could make one that would be incredibly close. Let's hope I don't lose this one, though. Many old amps I own have cool, distinct personalities, smells, and ideosyncracies that no man could clone. I love the simplicity of this type of amp. These amps, when coupled with classic guitars of the era, recording gear and techniques, and playing styles, constituted the "art-form", or maybe the way that rock "was done".

This amp was made around 1970 by Peter Struven from Germany. Hence Stramp (Struven Amplifier) It's a 100 watt head. Internally it resembles a Marshall JTM45 a lot. I actually have been told that the Stramp amps were the 'better quality' Marshall amps. Like the Mexican and American Fender thing. It nearly feels the same, but there is a big difference in quality.
Peter Struven has also made custom amps for Rory Gallagher and Leslie West (Mountain) and some others. And that are one of the most sought after tones. On the Rockpalast video you can actually see Rory play one.

It's a 2 channel 4 input. Channel 1 is the bright channel, Channel 2 is the normal channel. Shared tone controls, and 2 volume knobs. No Master Volume and that crap, just crank for the best sound you can get. But that brings it's biggest problem. This baby is so terribly loud!

I'm using several guitars on this one, active and passive pickups. Using an EMG81 you almost get that first metallica album sound. But I prefer playing my 70'Fender Strat on this one. It makes my guitar sing! This natural feeling compression seems to last forever! Though it's already quite loud at that time. It starts to break up at around 4 on the bright channel. The normal channel only breaks up at around 8 when using EMG81, stays clean otherwise.
But the most nice thing about it, is it's 'drive'. I don't really know how to explain. Turning the bass knob affects the bass, turning the presence, affects the presence, but no mather what knob you use, it has got this 'drive' in it. And with this drive also comes an extraodinary detail in your sound. This baby will let you hear every slight movement you make with you fingers. No mather how subtle, it gets through. That's what I love about it. Playing guitar is all about playing what you feel, it's a way to express yourself. This amp begs you to do so, and helps you doing so.
In no way comparable to those muddy sounding "70's cranked amp" simulating digital devices.

It's never broken down, but playing high volume implies paying high dollar bills on tubes. Especially since I use NOS Telefunken tubes, which tend to get a little pricey nowadays.

Unfortunately Peter Struven has died a couple of years ago, but for questions you can contact a company called AVICOM in Germany. This guy has all the schematics and that kind of stuff. He seems to have been the bussiness partner of Peter Struven for some years.

I've been around for quite some time and I usually play on my SLP, Vox Ac50 and the more recent JCM2000 DSL-100, but this Stramp let's your brain go thinking of selling them.
If you see one on Ebay, get it! You can always sell it if you don't like it. But if you want this perfectly balanced tone and gain like a tuned JTM45, just give it a shot.

If it were stolen, I think I'd go crazy. These amps are rare. And when I say rare, I mean RARE! I really would build one myself, though it would never sound the same. Or I had to find someone who knows how to make these supersized transformers exactly the same as this amp has. For those who don't believe transformers DO matter, try a Mercury Magnetics OT in your Marshall amp. I bet you'd think you had bought a new amp.

Best thing about it is that it does just what it was build for: Make you want to play guitar, and amplify your sound. However most important, it amplifies your 'style'.