Alessandro/Hound Dog Italian Greyhound Head

I am not sure about the year this was made as it was a demo model with reverb and the unit was used on the Cafe Benedetto (Video) gathering which I think was is 1999. This would be the Black one with a strap on top as there were two Alessanrdo's on the stage. I think this one was made with Jimmy Bruno's colaboration. I give it an 8 not because it has a lot of features but because the tonal spectrum is very detailed by the few controls that the unit has. It has a Volume, Treble, Mid & Bass on the front and Reverb knob & impedence select on the rear. The circuit design employs two 6550 power tubes and a total of three 6SL7 (Octals) for the preamp, phase inverter and reverb drive/recovery. It also has electronic upgrades of "Black Gate" filter caps, audiophile resistors and silver wire. This amp has plenty of power for Jazz solo and combo use.

This is a Jazz amp which I use with a McKerrihan "Monk" archtop with a single "Harmonic Design" neck humbucker in it. I play exclusively Jazz with this amp and it sounds awesome. The amp has a wonderful voice and response that I do not get with solid state Jazz guitar amps. It is dead quiet in terms of white noise or idle hum. It also has a great feel in the way it interacts with my guitars dynamics. The reverb is not real deep or intense but quite well tuned for the style that it is designed for. It just adds a nice touch of ambience. If you crank the amp with a solid body it will break up somewhat like an old Fender Deluxe but will be much louder. It is amazing how the controls interact with each other making a wide range of tonal variations available with only 3 knobs. This thing can nail any classic jazz tone from Wes Montgomery to Joe Pass. I also sometimes use it with a Fulltone SCF for more modern textures and it gets along well with that unit but overall to my ears sounds best just guitar to amp with nothing in between but a GeorgeL (Vintage Red) cable. (I have tried a bunch of different cables from Monster jazz 500, studio Pro 1000, Carver 3D, Linear Crystal wire, you name it, and the relatively inexpensive GeorgeL cables sound best with this amp hands down).

I have taken a look under the hood and replaced the 6550's with NOS Tungsol's and the 6SL7's with RCA "Red base" 5691"s and the thing is put together wondefully. It is a very simple amp using very high end components masterfully hand made, so I would expect this to be ultra reliable and am very confident of its longevity.

George has been a great guy to deal with on this. I think the warranty is like as long as George is around and I hope he is around a long time as he makes some great amps.

I have been playing for 30+ years and have had a lot of gear in that time. Currently I am down to this amp with my archtop for jazz, and a Diezel VH4 with a TC G-Force and PRS McCarty for R&B, Rock, Blues, Fusion etc. If it were lost or stolen I would have to get another one or at least a "Working Dog" as I am spoiled for life. I did not list the price as I got this one from George at a great deal since it was a demo unit with a strap on top (which he doesnt usually do) in a very plain black stained poplar cab and had been around a while. With all the upgrades it would have listed out at about 4K so it still wasn't cheap but it really makes my McKerrihan sound great, real vibey and full of life! Thanks George!