Aiken Amplification Sabre Head

Two channels footswitchable with separate effects loops. El-34 powered 50 watt hand wired turret board constuction. No effects, but a bright switch and boost that can also be footswitched. Impedance selector and external bias jacks and controls.

I play a multitude of guitars including a 335, A Les Paul standard, PRS soapbar, Strat and others.
The clean channel can be set anywhere from chicken pickin clean to thick and a little hair. Superb
The drive channel goes from purr to a growl. Hit the boost and you hsve mega thunder. Great sustain. Awesome
This is as good as it gets. The sound thru both channels is exceptional. I have had many amps over the 40 years that I have been playing and none come close to this one.

Seems very well built but it's still very new. I'll come back some day and put a rating when I've had it a few years.

5 year warranty. E-mailed the company and they responded quickly. Randall Aiken then personally followed up.

I have owned many amps and this is the best I have ever had. It's the most versatile in that it will give me any sound I want. I would definately replace it if stolen.

New amp, two distinct channels each voiced perfectly, each with their own serial loop [TRS]. This amp is hand-wired, turret board construction monster with a SS rectifier. Fifty watt output via two EL34's, biasing jacks on the rear panel, parallel speaker jacks with ohm switch, and a rear-mounted jack for channel switching with the included footswitch. Both channels are super flexible depending on gain, EQ, and master volume settings. Each channel has gain and master volume knobs, while the OD channel has a boost switch sending the heavy player into tonal heaven. For fifty watts, it pushes a lot of air. As good as the dirty channel is, I find myself on the clean channel most often because its such a beautiful thing. Think Blackface Super Reverb, warm, perfect overtones, but adding a little pure tube preamp glass. Total heaven! The effect loops are perfect, and sending the signal into a good processor will yield beautiful results. This amp is easily the best hand-made 50 watt channel switcher I've ever seen. But hearing it in person is where it counts. I don't see how they do it at this price point. I was lucky to get #0003. I'll never sell it.

I'm using a vintage ES335, Yamaha guitars, and an assortment of various HSH, SSH, SSS guitars. Currently using a TC G Major on the lead channel, and either a Boss VF-1 or a TC M-One on the clean channel. All my pedals sound fantastic through this amp, so much better than any other amp I've used. The Nashville lead tone is in the clean channel. Just switch to the bridge PU, a little compression, and the Sabre pretty much does the rest. Its so easy to dial in great tones. All those happening clean, semi-clean, and chimey tones are there. You want vintage honkin Super Reverb, turn the gain all the way over, turn off the bright, set the EQ to taste. I use a Marshall repro 1960TV with Greenbacks, or a Custom Audio Amplifiers 2X12 with V30's. With either of these cabinets, the clean channel shines. For pop music where a sound might require a Xotic RC Boost sound [kind of chimey] this amp nails it, but without the pedal, just adjusting the controls. THe lead channel is a total monster. It has such a great high end compression. Harmonic laden leads, pinch harmonics at the slightest touch, and a tone Billy Gibbons would call his own. Again adjusting the EQ a little by dipping the mids, and it turns into a full blown metal machine, yet wiithout all that annoying high end treble. Think warm, defined, slightly compressed if needed. But adjusting the presence up a little and this thing takes on a Dumble/Marshall vibe. Step on the gass and the EL34's start to blend the overall tones to a point where the more juice, the better the sound. I'm totally floored by this amp. Without a shadow of a doubt, this amp does that special thing for me. I'm selling everything including the vintage fender stuff. This amp covers those tones in a much more controlled way, and with the loops, its no wonder why these will be very hard to find in the future.

Since its a hand-wired, turret board amp, I don't expect any problems that can't be easily fixed, but they do offer a 5-year warranty. At least I won't have to worry about PCB related problems in the future, and thats a big weight off my shoulders. New company, so no real track record, but the product is made the right way, overbuilt!

THey let me pickup the amp at their shop which was nice since they don't sell direct. I just don't trust the shipping companies! I must have at least 30 emails from Aiken and Valvehead [the dealer]. They were very helpful. Total pros. There is nothing they could offer to better the service I received. I plan on picking up their 2x12 soon!

This amp is so deep. Its' going to be my main amp for many, many years to come. I wouldn't change a thing!