Alessandro/Hound Dog Redbone Coonhound

This amp has all the features that are necessary to a player!!!

I have numerous guitars; ES 355, Tele, Strat, Epiphone Broadway, Washburn Eagle, etc. The amp brings out the most in any and all of the above guitars mentioned. As far as tones are concerned, jazz, rock, blues, country are very well covered. I love the "sparkly" Class A tone that turns into the creamy grungy moanin' tone with a simple roll of the volume control on the guitar. Hell, who needs channel switching!

It is too premature to say that I would use it without a backup; however, all bets are covered being as I am utilizing a 15" E130 Lansing that is in a '51 Fender Pro along with a cabbed 12" EV. Get the picture? So far, a 10 in dependability.

Being as I bought mine used, I don't have any warranty on this product; however, I have both telephoned and e-mailed the company and probably have talked to George himself for data. Everything was 100% positive. I already have no doubt that Alessandro is 110% behind his fine product.

I've been playing professionally since 1959. Other gear -- '51 Fender Vibrolux, '51 Fender Pro, 2 Roland JC 120's, etc. etc. I mentioned some of my guitars earlier. I loved the comment someone made on an earlier review that the amp would expose the so-called artist in a heartbeat. Ha, ha -- how true!! Yes, I would definitely replace the amp if, God forbid, that became necessary.

Here's another review from me inspired by a guitarist that said his Boogie Blue Angel has better tone. We're both are entilted to our opinions.
VOLUME, TREBLE, MIDDLE & BASS. Just the basics.
Housed in a beautiful basic black cabinet with very large/sturdy feet.
SRV once wanted an amp with just a volume knob. God, he could play. His musical soul could be beautifully painted with the biggest piece of crap. Given a quality piece of equipment, he was the best.
This leads me to my opinion of the Redbone.
Features on this one may stiffle or expose a player.
Not to be mean, but the use of the word "Artist" is so overused and may sometimes be a boutique word for the flavor of the day layman. I'm not saying this because I'm delusional and think I'm the worlds best looking and finest player. I've been playing for 30+ years and still need to learn many things.
When I'm not on top of my playing, the Redbone shows me that I'm not so hot. At those times, I need a bit of "colorization" for help. When I'm feeling my oats, I just sing through it.
Maybe this amp should be called "THE EXPOSER".

Having corresponded with another Redbone Coonhound owner,who sold his amp only to have the buyer return it because it sucked, I find that hearing, like tastes in food, is very subjective. If you absolutely love and live off a MacDonald's Quarter Pounder, you'll never appreciate the tastes of quality. Same with amps and guitars.
The Alessandro Redbone Coonhound just exposes or projects a guitarist's soul. If you need to have an overdriven sound with this amp, just turn it up and hope that your speakers and ears can handle the headroom. A good quality OD/Distortion pedal is the way to go IMO.
I use either a Matchless Hot Box, early Bixonic Expandora or a Maxon OD808 with the Redbone.
I'm still amazed by the voice like definition and warm clear tones of this amp. Another guitar player recently played through my Redbone and was floored by it's quality. He said that his chords sounded more musical and heard every nuance.
The Redbone has bare bones basic controls: Volume, Treble, Middle and Bass. This may be enough for some and not enough for others.
There's no instant "colorization" of you and your guitar. It's your musical knowledge, phrasing skills and strength as a musician that you're hearing with the Redbone. The personality of this amp is portrayed by your playing ability.
This is a top notch tone amp.

Still works.

George listens.

My Redbone has a pair of 6550 power tubes. If you have to have the overdriven sounds of 6V6's, EL84's, 5881's or EL35's, then don't expect the same results with the Redbone.
I'm fortunate to own more than my share of amps and guitars and the Alessandro Redbone Coonhound is just so much better than most.

The Redbone Coonhound has very little features. Single input, Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Standby Switch, Green "On" Light and On/Off Switch are on the front and Power Cord Input, 3 Amp SloBlow Fuse, 2 Speaker Outs and a Ohmage Selector Switch ( 4-8-16 ) on the back. I have an ebony stained Redbone with a very convenient handle on top. Like all the Alessandro's I've seen, it has 4 large blue feet on the bottom. It's sort of R2D2 like in it's cuteness and all business in the tone department.
Basic features, maybe not all the bells and whistles that attract many but everything functions superbly.

In a word, outstanding. There's a joy in hearing great tone shaped when turning knobs. Every guitar I've used through the Redbone sounds top notch. It can border on Plexi or Fender like tones. But to compare the Redbone to Plexi and Fender may be a limitation. What I used to consider a sound rating of 9, has now changed to a 5 after hearing the Redbone.

I'm no technician. I've been told that top rated components have been used to make every Alessandro.
Should be as reliable as my 335 that I bought new in 1969.

I traded for my used Redbone.
George answered all my questions to the fullest. He even asked if I'd send him the amp and have it checked out.
George stands behind all of his products.

I've been playing for over 30 years and have accumulated some nice gear. The Alessandro Redbone Coonhound is visually deceiving but a tone monster. It's loud without loosing tone definition and it's pedal friendly. My Fulltone 69 pedal sounds warm and creamy, Supra-Trem pulses clearly and Prescription Vibe Unit swishes lushly through this amp.
My favorite Redbone speaker combinations are with a Mesa Boogie 2x12 Recto cabinet or with a white Marshall 1960 4x12 25 watt Celestion cabinet.
Expensive, but worth it.

Purchased new in April, 2000. Just the basics: single channel, volume, treble, middle & bass. No master volume or effects loop. It has two speaker outs, with a choice of 4, 8 or 16 ohms. Plenty of features for me.

I have played a reissue Tele (Japenese- made),Gretsch Country Gentleman (1967) and a new PRS Hollowbody II with the Alessandro into a variety of speaker configurations. I was doing a session with a tweed Pro. I took along the Redbone Coonhound for a backup. We got a sound using my reissue Telecaster. (It has a bridge pickup from a 1957 Esquire) The engineer said it sounded good. I asked for a couple of minutes. I pulled out the speaker wire from the Pro, and connected it to the Alessandro. I fired it back up, and the sound was noticably better. In fact the engineer used no EQ. Gorgeous clean tones, and heavenly overdrive. With 55 watts, it is plenty loud. If you favor the "small amp sweat", this is not your amp. Of course, Gearge has other models. I have never heard a "10", but this is the BEST I have encountered, and I've heard everything you can name except Vero.

A little tinkly high-end noise from the octal tube, but nothing I couldn't eliminate with a little creativity. The bottom of the amp has BIG BLUE FEET, which really help dampen vibration. It hasn't failed me.

George Alessandro responds to e-mail promptly, and he also answered the phone when I called!

Been playing professionally for over 30 years. I compared this amp to some of the best out there. I won't name names. Tone is subjective, and largely dependent upon your ABILITY TO PLAY. Not only would I replace it in the event of it being stolen, I am considering another lower wattage Alessandro, so I can rock out at living room levels. George is an artist. His amps are not inexpensive, but if you want to take your game to the next level, the line starts here.

Vol, Treb, Mid, Bass. What else do you need ? I think this amp has el34's instead of 6550's

Great! I usually play jazz w/ an L5 thru this amp. Although it really is not intended for playing jazz, It sounds great. I'm typically playing jobbing dates or casuals or shows and play a pretty wide variety of stuff including rock, blues, jazz, standards, funk etc. It took me a few spkr cabs to figure out what worked best for my application. For portability, I found a single 12" in a close back cab sounded best. I did buy an open back cab from george but not enough bottom end for jazz playing. (Natural wood cab Beautiful!!) I get alot of people coming up to look at the amp because of the way george builds them all solid hard woods hand made.. pretty. ( Ok .. A 4x12 would sound the best but I do a lot of quick in and out type gigs and I'm not going to rent a truck to move equipment) Obviously, a strat or any solid boby guitar sounds wonderful thru this amp but a hollow body guitar jazz box is a different thing altogether! I use a tube screamer for a bit of overdrive and when a slight bit of verb is needed, a digital reverb pedal since the amp doesnt have it. Realizing this is bastardizing the "pure tube tone" this works for me.

I've had the amp for two years and have not had any problems. If I did, I know george would take care of it. He's exactly what everyone else has said in other reviews. Very professional, knowlegdeable and service oriented. A great guy to deal with!

See above

Been playing a long time and have owned many different amps including boogies, old fenders, marshalls, rolands, vht, rack pre-amps, multiple effects etc. Other than maybe a boogie (if your lucky) and an old fender, you won't find anything else that sounds like this. I once talked to Ken Fischer and I was going to get him to build me a Train wreck and never did it. Oh well... my loss. But this is the next best thing!! I know that giving all 10's is a bit far fetched, but it all true!

This is a single channel tube amp with volume, treble, midrange, and bass controls. It has 2 speaker outputs. The cabinet is natural finished oak. I don't like amps with all the whistles and bells, so this is right up my alley.

This amp sounds great with any guitar. Humbuckers, single coils, Danelectros, they all sound great. My favorite is using my PRS Custom. With the volume on the amp at 1 o'clock, and the guitar volume on 10, you can rock as hard as you want to. Roll the volume on the guitar to 5, and you get the best clean sound you will hear. Leave the volume at 5 and switch to the neck pickup, and you get Joe Pass tone guitar. All of this with one guitar and one amp.

I have had this amp for almost 2 years, and it has been flawless.

George Alessandro is a first class individual. George has given me an enormous amount of information and advice on tubes, amplifiers, etc. He is always willing to help you whenever you call him. I have also sent him a Marshall head for repair, and he turned it around faster than I expected.

This amp sounds great. Period. If I lost it, I would be on the phone ordering another one immediately. In fact, I plan on buying another amp from George within the year. Ever since I have had this amp, the Marshall I was using previously has almost been retired. Both distorted and clean sounds from this amp are superb, and you control it all from your guitar.