Alessandro/Hound Dog Bloodhound

I bought this amp new from George in 1998. I'm into early Peter Green, Paul Kossoff: you know the sound - a Les Paul plugged into a Marshall. I'll give the amp a 9 here because it NAILS that sound.

This is it! That's why I still have the Bloodhound - I've sold ALL my other amps together with all my pedals!!! What can you say about an amp that doesn't let you put your guitar down? That's what it does to me. The wife is not so happy though, because this is one loud amp, rehearsing at home is out of the question, unless the wife and ALL your neighbours are out shopping! I'm not kidding. I've tried an attenuator, but let me tell you this, this amp needs room to breath - does the name Bloodhound tell you anything?

I've had it since '98 and so far all I had to do was change the output tubes. An interesting thing happened here. It came stock with Svetlanas, when I retubed it I installed Mesa's 6550's, and do you know? To my ears these tubes work much better. They break up sooner abd sound creamier. I did NOT buy this amp to play it clean anyway.

What can you say about a guy who insists on being a gentleman in the times we live in? This guy has a mission - deliver the tone for all of us guitar players. I bought the amp in '98 and last year when I thought there was something wrong with the amp (I just had to change the tubes - duh) he was polite enough to let me know that without calling me names. He deserves a 10 here, no doubt.

I'm 43 now, and I've been playing since I was 18. Although I'm not a pro I've always bought what I saw my idols playing. The Bloodhound was the first time I tried something that didn't have "Marshall" written on its faceplate. I am now living in an apartment and can only play the amp at a rehearsal room with my pals, but I'm not letting go of this amp. I will have to buy another amp from him, though. If I lost this amp for any reason I'd definetely buy another one - if you want quality, buy quality, and be ready to pay the price. This amp is extremely good value.

This amp is a few years old. I am told there have been some minor tweaks to it. The amp has 16,8,and 4 ohm switchable speaker outs. Other than that no real features. The knobs and switches seem a bit cheap for the price. The wood headshell is very sturdy and well constructed. No fx loop or anything like that. No labels or numbers on the volume and tone controls. Cheesy tin looking face plate standard.

Use it with Les paul classic and anderson cobra. The amp sounds like a a very good vintage marshall. Thick tone, very nice vibe for the guy that wants classic sounds. The amp can get very good high gain sounds but at the volumes required you will need a good power attenuator. The amp is made to be pushed loud and with use of a good 4x12 cab. Backing off the guitar volume does clean it up but don't expect it to satisfy your clean playing needs, it won't. If you want VH1 sounds at a reasonable price aprx. $1600 street , then this may be your ticket. 55W is plenty of powerful for most any situation. The amp doesn't have that annoying buzzy preamp distortion so many modern amps have, so that is a welcome thing. Overall, the amp has a pretty cool vibe to it... you get excellent marshall type sounds out of this amp and with a bit of delay, reverb, or phaser and good hands you will nail VH1. But this sucker needs volume to get you there (aprx. 1 o'clock on the volume knob)...get a attenuator. At lower volumes you will get decent cleans but nothing to write home about. The sound of this amp is big and thick. The low end of this amp will pummel anyone. String articulation and touch response is pretty good. I use it with a FD2 and it gives me a wide range of sounds from the 60's, 70's, up to and including the VH1 thru 1984. Also, it takes pedals really well. I put my Clyde Deluxe wah in front and played Voodo Child, and it felt like Hendrix was in the room...priceless! Only a 7 here b/c you need an attenuator for reasonable volume and the 60's 70's and early VH sounds are really not all that different, they came from marshall plexi's, in other words, the amp specializes in the plexi vibe, from the stock ones, hot rodded ones, and even a bit of the JCM800, so it gets a 10 for those sounds but a 7 in the catagory because the clean sound is not too cool and despite what others say about rolling off the guitar volume, it works, but it don't deliver the clean goods.

Seems reliable.

Excellent, you call and talk to george, he is very helpful and really believes in his products.

I bought it used so I saved $500 off the street price. I consider it a good value in that price range. This is for a guy that wants mostly dirt sounds , the clean is only okay. Rolling off the gtr volume does clean it up but not like some of the other reviewers would like you to believe. This amp has a very cool vintage vibe to it and takes pedals very well.

This is not a feature laden amp, nor is it meant to be.
It has one channel..Volume, treble middle and bass

This amp makes an electric guitar sound warm and musical.
It doesn't sound thin, hollow or lumpy.
I hope this doesn't sound crazy, but it sounds like a piece of good quality chocolate if your ears had a palate.
The greatest thing is you can hear the notes you're playing, even with a distortion pedal.......That makes my playing more articulate.
I've compared it to a lot of high quality amps, In this regard it's superb. It's really nice to be able to dial in some distorion and still hear usable musical tone. It never sounds artificial. Surprisingly quiet too. The one thing this amp CAN'T do is sound bad.

Haven't had it long enough to say for sure......
Don't expect any problem at all....
See next category.....

Lifetime transferable warranty.........I think that is a testament to it's reliability and quality. I took it in for biasing and check out since I bought it used. I met George and it's readily apparent that he's a perfectionist.......He was nice, friendly didn't charge me a dime.......Biased it for EL's too. Best customer support you could want.

I've been playing for over 30 years.
It it were stolen or lost, I would buy another.
I love the way it sounds.
Sure it could have more features, but I'll take quality over features any day of the week.
I mean, they have amps out now that make your guitar sound like a spaceship. That's not my bag. This amp actually improves my playing because of it clarity. It always sounds musical , not artificial.

My Bloodhound was made in 2001. It is a single channel amp with the following standard features -
Chicken head knobs- Vol, Bass, Treble, Mid -- that's it for knobs
Standby and On/Off switches
3 12AX7's and 2 6550's conservatively rated at 55 watts (AB)
4, 8, 16 ohm selector
2 speaker outs, one instrument input
And these upagrades--
Black gate filter capacitors
Functionally perfect silver wire
Gold plated copper chassis
Birdseye maple cab in natural finish
This is a really cool, unique looking amp. I wouldn't add anything.

So far I have played Strats and Les Pauls through this amp. I use an open back 2x12 with Celestion G12H100s. There is a little hiss when the amp is turned up but it is not a noisy amp. Clean tones are very clean and chimey. The Bloodhound is very touch sensitive and captures the nuances and dynamics of your playing very well. The tone knobs really shape the sound. Overdrive starts to happen when the volume is around 12 o'clock. This is where this amp really kicks ass. The overdrive and distortion can be tweaked with incredible precision. Rich, colorful, and loud when you push it. Seems to especially like Les Pauls.
The sweet spot between clean and overdrive is nice. Your guitar's volume knob has more effect on overall sound on this amp than with others. This amp can go from mellow and subdued jazz tones to Van Halen very quickly, but it's a lot more fun to tweak the amp slowly.
I don't use effects with it much. It seems to be at its best when it is guitar straight into amp. This is a great sounding amp!

Had it 8 months. No problems yet. Build quality is outstanding.

Great customer support. Never needed repairs, but if I do I am confident it will be easy. I get the impression this company is more serious about what it does than a lot of the other boutique amp companies out there.
When I was ordering this amp I got a lot of help with wood selection and speaker selection - this setup looks great and sounds great.

Been playing ten years. Own a 63 Bassman, 60's Supro Thunderbolt, THD Univalve, 62 Strat, 58 RI Les Paul among others. This amp has a voice all its own. I love the simplicity of the design. I like the amp without reverb, tremolo, gain, knobs etc. Great tone.

Once in a while you run across an amp that has a strong original personality. This one has some traits of several that come to mind but after playing a good bit you realize it's a new flavor altogether.
My amp appears to be a '97 model. I don't know where that relates to the Guitar Player review but if it's before that I don't know what those guys were thinking saying that the amp wasn't built well. I could think of several 'boutique' makers that could learn from George.
This is a one channel, single input amp. No fx loop, no master volume, or any extras. Just volume, treble, mid, and bass from left to
right across the front. If you get a chance to play one go for it because it's truly a treat to play through an amp this simple with such complex tones.
The only option on this amp was a tube upgrade. Svetlana 6550's(2),
two Telefunken 12ax7's, and an Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7 in the 1st pre
stage. I'd like to satisfy my curiosity and try some different tubes but I have to admit the 6550's sound a lot smoother in this amp than in any Marshall I've ever heard. I may just leave well enough alone; they sound that good. I think I read somewhere that Stevie Ray said he wanted an amp with just one knob. This is the closest I have seen to that in an amp strong enough to gig with. You could call that
a limitation if you think you need 7 channels (and midi mapping or wash/rinse/dry) but the touch dictates what comes out. For some players this is a disadvantage and I won't knock what works for anyone
but the person with touch and finesse can clean house with this one.
I'll give it a 3 for someone who is used to a feature-packed amp. For
the rest less is more.

I wrote a review a while back about my Matchless Clubman 35. After almost five years of hard use that amp has sort of become my reference point that I judge amps by. Not just tone but other things too.
As far as what style I play I'll just say blues/rock and leave it at that. The '35 has carried me well but I'd have to say it's not perfect in all fairness. I think when I wrote my review on it I should have been more impartial. I'll try to be as fair and subjective as I can on this amp.
As far as a starting point for tone on this amp the closest I've heard to it was an early JTM-45 Marshall. The Bloodhound is similar in some ways but add more bottom, take away the Marshall noise, and add some more complexity to the low mids and highs. The Bloodhound is an AB amp but sounds at times very Class-A. More Matchless than Vox but still chimes well. There are even some following overtones on some notes. Being an AB I expect the tube life to be longer than my Matchless. I haven't had the 'Hound long enough to really go deep into that but it's still on the tubes it was shipped new with.
The clean sound is dictated pretty much by guitar volume. I have only used a PRS Custom 24(vintage n, HFS b) and my rag Tele(baby HB n,
stock sc b). The amp seems to like humbuckers better but is still nice
with single coils and in single coil positions on the PRS. Think more
Vox/Hiwatt than BF Twin. As you turn up (this amp starts breaking up at @ 10 o'clock) the natural overdive becomes more pronounced. Notes
start to compress more and grow as you drive more. BTW, I was using a
tube screamer at first but it sounded better without it. The TS seemed to erode the harmonics and cut the true tone of the amp. Your results
may vary.
As you wind up the amp, to my ears it single note phrases than chords. I play through Celestion Vintage 30's so a beefier speaker may
change that. If you are a slide player think live version of the Allmans' "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'". I can attest that this amp lends itself to slide as well as anything I've ever tried. Still the more
you win the amp up, the less note definition in chords. Decreasing the bass helps but the low end this amp has can be addictive; you hate to turn it down. I'll finish by saying this is the closest I've seen an amp come to producing the elusive "my amp's about to blow up" tone with total control and consistency. I give it a 10 for the lead tone
and deduct one for chord note separation at higher volumes.

I haven't had any trouble so far. I don't expect to judging by the workmanship. I probably wouldn't go far without a road case because of the cabinet. I plan to get the optional gig bag soon too - a neat idea. As with any tube amp I'd carry spare tubes and fuses.

The one time I talked to Mr. Alessandro on the phone he was cool.
I got the distinct feeling there was a good bit of care/love/sweat put into this amp as well as the other ones(Alessandro) I have seen. Corporate=compromise. I think the people who want an amp like this
realize a robot can't build with artistry and craftsmanship. Lifetime warranty - 'nuff said.

As far as likes and dislikes on the amp:
Likes-
cabinet fit&finish (mine's oak, other woods are optional)
touch sensitivity/all-around tone especially full-on lead
rubber feet - They really isolate vibration well even though they look kinda funny at first.
workmanship
size (think a Marshall 100w head cut in half)

Dislikes -
no top handle - The side handles don't work well with a road case.
no master volume - Your band will hate you but you will be able to
slay them and anyone on the front row with no problem.
no markings on faceplate (i.e., on/off, standby) - I'm ok with it
but someone who sits in may have trouble.....
Like a Matchless great to look at but the cabinet finish is not roadworthy. I'd suggest a tolex-covered cab but I think the wood finish is part of George's vision. An amp this good needs
a road case or the optional gig bag anyway.

Observations:
I tend to play louder with this amp than with some of the others I
own; it sounds better as you get louder and is not ear-fatiguing (a point G.A. makes in a letter that was sent with the amp.)
It isn't the kind of amp a novice player could expect to sound great with. However a good player could hold hold his/her own with it. Not
for people who like knob-twiddling or parameter editing. It is as pure
an amp as it gets. I guess the bottom line is that Alessandro made a
no-compromise amp that does what it does well enough that it outweighs
the sacrifices. I got a good deal on mine (thanks Will!) but it is a
lot of cash for an amp if you had to go new on one. I think my Matchless is maybe a better all-around amp but as far as true overdrive tone for leads this is the best I've heard in 13+ years
of playing. I won't make that statement lightly and to be true to the review I'll call it an 9 in this category going on strengths and weaknesses.

this is a 55-watt tube head.front controls include,volume,treble,mid and bass.two speaker outputs-4,8 or 16ohm selector,fuse and removable power cord.the tube compliment consists of 3-12ax7's, 2-6550's and a solid state rectifier.chassis is stainless steel.the amp is enclosed in a black stained poplar box.the only upgrade i had done was to the resistors.this is one of the less expensive options and seemed silly not to do it.i ordered the amp from george alessandro in feb '99 and received it june '99.this thing looks amazing. i did get the custom gig bag.very cool.

let me start by saying that this amp is a little different than other bloodhounds.i spoke to george at length about what i wanted. he nailed it.i wanted a tough hard rock amp-simple as that.tight low end at any volume,lots of crunch and a nice clean sound when i back off the volume on my PRS's. when i received the amp i immediatly knew i got exactly what i wanted. this thing is unreal!!! i have never had an amp with this much detail in all registers.highs are "extended"(now i know what that means!),mids range from scooped to saturated with every color you can imagine in between and the bass response is so large it is almost overwhelming.detail!detail!detail!there is nothing sweet about this amp and that is by design. the overdrive is tough and mean,not subtle in the least.george called to confirm the voicing of the amp. "are you sure this is right,sam. this is one mean SOB!".there is a rawness in the amp like i have never heard, yet detailed with even the most complex chords. please do not confuse this amp with those "extra gain-stage" two channel,swiss army knife wonders. no creamy,saturated lead tones(buy a pedal!)here.this amp is snotty as hell but does get creamier past 1 o'clock. i recently played a gig with it through a marshall 4x12 w/greenbacks. audienece comments afterwards were of the "i thought your rig was gonna explode!!!cool!!" vein. this amp is noisy-i asked george to leave it that way.this is how the amp differs from other bloodhounds.less negative feed back. he loves it,i love it and all my guitar buddies want one. i wanted a simple amp that i could alter my tone from my guitar with.i wanted mean super crunchy overdrive.i got it and more.look folks, i have played and owned way to many amps. it's tough to buy a crappy amp these days but i still had not found exactly what i was looking for 'till now. this is it for me.i have NEVER said that before.

what the hell was GP magazine thinking back in '97? this thing is over-built.words fail at the level of craftsmanship.this thing is practically a work of art for god's sake.my matchless(which i still have and use )looks like a birds nest inside. lifetime warranty> i would bring extra tubes and a fuse. that's just common sense.

george will take care of you. the rectifier diode went out and the amp was turned around in about 6 working days. this was not george's fault! it's one of the few parts that don't have his name on it. this guy's going to be around for a long time.he's so helpful i was shocked.he sent one of his branded guitar cables with amp after the repair.the thing's worth fifty bucks.very,very cool.

i'm in my 17th year of playing.ouch,that hurt.it's nice to be completely satisfied with an amp purchase. i'm not a collector; i'm a player. my PRS's have the wear and tear to prove it.i will be playing this amp for the rest of my life( i hope). one more thing, i am working with george on speaker choices for the amp. i want one of his cabinets with speakers that suit me best.i'm sure it will be as rewarding as the amp is.

Hello Folks. This is a follow up to my earlier Blood Hound review. (I think that is under Hound Dog Amps). I've had a bunch of people write me and ask about the amp. So I thought I'd save you the trouble of writing me.
If you read the earlier review you know that the amp had a noisy resistor that needed repair. I thought it was fixed but one day the noise came back. At this point I threw up my hands and sent it back to George Allessandro. He was TOTALLY COOL with me having someone else work on the amp. He updated the circuit to his 6550 output (used to be EL34) FOR FREE. NO voided warranties, no lecture, you get the idea. He is a totally cool individual. He said that this is the only Blood Hound that has needed repair.

So how does the new circuit sound? Better in my opinion. More chime and not as splatty on the clean tones. Mucho depth to the clean sound. The distortion sounds are about the same with more clean attack on the front of the note. More note definition in chords. It works with my 2x12 celestion 80 cab now. (At the time of the first review it didn't sound that great with that cab). The amp is way more versatile now. It seems to be more refined of a sound but still does the hard rock thing great. Still has great singing distortion.

No Probs yet. Now I really don't expect any since George went over this one with a fine comb.

Unbelivable! George desevers a 20 in this catagory.....really!

My amp it was made after the G.P.Mag. review came out. It is a more updated and even better amp. Very simple VOL/TRE/MID/BASS. This amp can go from a early Van Halen to a Country twang, is a cross between a Marshall and a Bassman. ALL TUBE and HANDWIRED. You can use 6550's for best allaround sound, EL34 for a early Van Halen or the KT66 for that 50's Tweed sound. My amps features do not apply to all the others, actually maybe the only one made with this options. Takes 3 preamp tubes that sound smoother and more quite than the Octals. Also cheaper I know because I own a Redbone Special.

I use Les Paul's or Tele or Strat's. It sounds great with any of this guitar but you must use either a 2X12 or a 4X12 for best sound. You can get from early ZZtop to Eddie's or even great clean headroom for clean sounds. This amp is very close to a Marshall, Vox sound or with KT66 to a tweed. All the FX sound great thru the input and you have more than you need: Treble, mids or bass. The mids and bass knobs work as master volume also. If the best quality is your thing is hard to beat this amps. George one the best craftman.

Unlike Matchless, you must rebias, but that also it pays off. Is more reliable and not likely to burn a tube when at a gig. Is all handwired Class A/AB and is built like a tank.

G.Alessandro is just one the nicest and helpfull amp builders today and is amps carry a Lifetime warranty even when used unlike Matchless.

The Bloodhound where built to play and stand alot of abuse and after all they are design after the amps made by King of Amp builders Ken Fisher Mr Trainwreck him self. If never had the chance to play one of this amps they are in another league I mean not many amps can sound like this Alessandros.

My amp it was made after the guitar player mag.review came out, so guys the small things talked by G.P. they are no longer apply to mine George A. as done a terrific job. This a no brainer Volume, treble, mids and bass. The amp can go from Eddie's V.H.sound to Country twang or jazz.The amp as more than enough power, a cross from a Clubman 35 to a 100 Marshall. ALL TUBE. You can use 6550's for the best overall sound, EL34's for that early Van Halen sound and KT66 power tubes if a 50's tweed sound is your thing. I like to inform you that my amp features do not apply for all others. My amp is probably if not the only one with this featues. Takes 3 preamp 12Ax7 tubes that sound smother and more quite than the octal and you can easly change your sound to gainy to more clean headroom depending on the type you use. Also they are cheaper and I no that because I own a Redbone Special with Octals.

I have used Les Paul and Strats with Antiquities and this is very versatily for an amp that it was design after Eddie's Plexi. The best Marshall sound, but if use a pair of B.dogs and the 6550's it gets very voxy and becomes a great blues amp with alot of headroom. You have alot of everything: I mean Bass, mids and treble! You can have a variety of settings with very diferente sounds but the Bass and Mids knob work as a master switch. The so talked about hum that amps can produce, is easly solved in this amp if want no hum you must have and use a outlet with 3way I mean that as ground on it or you think that's the amp, just try it guys! This not a studio amp unless you use a attenuator which also sounds incredible. All the FX in the front sound incredible and you can get a great tone out of it.

Never a problem unlike my Matchless. You must rebias and just play it. The more you play the best it sound. Its all handbuilt and the tubes run AB and the tubes last a very long time if you use the better ones made today.

George is just a 1st class guy and he gives you a Lifetime warranty even if you get it used. Guys where can you get better than that.

It's built to play and you have plenty off volume. All you need his a 2x12 or a 4x12 and let me tell you, no Bass player will be able to over power you when you just trying to do your best solo. I have onwed more than one of Alessandro's amps and this is one is of the great ones. If you like the Redbone, but need more gain this amp will do what the Redbone does and even more. Like Sammy Hagar said looks like a "Small Shoe box" and easy and ligh weigth.

This amp is a one trick pony as far as I'm concerned. But if you need instant Van Halen 1 tone, well here it is. It doesn't have a super refined type of distortion but does the hard rock distortion great. No master volume, just volume, treble, mid and bass. It is way louder than most of my gigs call for but once it reaches its distortion it stays pretty compressed so it does'nt get much louder after that.

I use the amp with a 2x12 Marshall cab with 80 watt celestions....hmmm......I would'nt mind trying something else speaker wise. Maybe some Vox blues but I fear this amp would overpower just 2 of them. If you had a 4x12 with Vox blues that might work great. But I'm not gona carry it around town for ya! The blues might soften the high end a bit and make the amp sound "prettier". The amp goes to extreme distortion, it is a nice sound. Very smooth in high gain settings, a singing sound.

Ahh, well when I got the amp it had a noisy resistor. I live on the west coast so i just did'nt send it back. My amp tech said it was one of the most solidly built amps he had ever seen, and he has seen alot! The resistor got replaced and the amp has worked fine ever since. I do wonder about it though......this amp is a hot rod and as such needs a hot rods care. So far so good though........18 months.

George Alessandro is very free with advice and time. I talked with him about an hour before ordering. He was great. I have no doubt he would do all he could to make a customer happy.

Like I said.....instant Van Halen 1......really! Get the album out and listen to that tone. That is what you get with this amp. I wo'nt compare it to other amps because that is your job. If you want a super refined lead tone ala Eric Johnson or Dan Huff, I do not think this amp is for you. Maybe it could be modded or tube changes or something like that to move it in that direction. I'd like to hear from someone who tries these things out.