Allen Encore Head

Most Allen amps are loosely based on corresponding Fender blackface amps, although David Allen will build some specific tweed clones as well. This amp is a 2003 Encore head with the 40 watt option and 4x10" open back cab. Also ordered was a 1x15" open back cab that I installed a Weber Ceramic California with paper cap in. I originally ordered the 4x10" cab with Weber Signature Series AlNiCo's (S.S.A.'s)but decided (maybe somewhat hastily) that since I play relatively clean with little or no overdrive I wanted a little more headroom and low end. So I ordered two Weber 30 watt 10A125's (P10Q's) and two Weber 25 watt 10F150's (C10N's). After installing them, I realized just how good the S.S.A.'s were. There was a definite improvement in headroom and bottom end, however, the difference wasn't as big as you might expect. For $50. a pop those S.S.A.'s are a darn good speaker and would work just fine for lower volume, higher gain/overdrive styles.
That said, the head layout is very similar to a blackface Fender with a couple of twists; this is a single channel amp and in addition to the usual, volume, treble bass, mid, there is a raw control whose function is to gradually dial the tone circuit out which increases overall gain/overdrive. Other innovations are not just a reverb control but a reverb tone control which affects the wet reverb signal only. The sound of this reverb unit is very Fender "tank-like". Another very useable feature is the tube vibrato which is actually more reminiscent of a brownface Fender vs a blackface. There are high and low inputs, a bright switch, and an extremely good master volume. The back of the head has the usual main and extension speaker outs and a 4/8 ohm switch. The amp comes with a footswitch and jacks on the back for the reverb and vibrato. One really nice feature is the adjustable bias pot just inside the chassis. It makes adjusting tube bias easy for anyone with a multimeter (even a novice like me). The only thing missing for features is a dwell control for the reverb. That would make the reverb a full fledged 3 control unit like on the Old Flame and other Allen models. Perhaps the raw control could be placed on the back to make room for a reverb dwell. This is a bit nitpicky but I'll give a "9" for features although the adjustable bias almost makes up for the absence of the reverb dwell. This amp is about as versatile as you can get and could be used for any playing style except those calling for industrial strength distortion. Even then, the right pedal would still get you there.

I'm primarily a blues and jazz guitarist and I use very light to no overdrive. For guitars I use 2 USA Custom Guitars Strats (a hardtail with Lollar P-90 in the bridge and a traditional 50's style trem Strat), a USA Custom Guitars Tele, an Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe (with 3 Lollar P-90's), and a Gibson L5CES jazz archtop. The Fender style guitars are used with the 4x10" cab while the 1x15" cab is primarily reserved for the jazz archtops. This amp sounds so sweet and harmonically juicy with either cab or any guitar I use. I'm particularly a fan of the Strat middle pu Anson Funderburgh tone, which for me is the definitive, purest, sweetest, most beautiful, Strat tone in existence. And this amp nails it, and then some. The "and then some" is the raw control. I use it very conservatively to add body (fat) to the selected tone, although it could also be used to increase gain/overdrive. You can also increase overdrive by increasing the volume and decreasing the master volume. This amp has a very pretty and harmonically rich overdrive and distortion, although as I said before I tend to play fairly clean. I would like to say this amp is the definitive blues amp but it just does so many things so doggone well which makes this one of the most versatile I've played through. It does the Fender country clean thing perfectly. Just plug your Tele in and twang away. Plenty of headroom for clean jazz. And an equal amount of gain for about any style of rock except those calling for heavy distortion. You can also dial in all the highs, mids, or lows you could possibly use. This amp doesn't seem to favor humbuckers or single coils although I use it mostly with single coils. For me, the sweetness of the tonal spectrum, especially when using single coils, lives in the high frequencies. And that is where this amp really, really, shines. It has very strong lows and mids, but the harmonically laden highs this amp produces are the icing on the cake. It even brings out the best in the PAF humbuckers on my Gibson L5CES, especially with the 1x15" Weber "Cali" speaker. Rich, rich, tone. And the gorgeous cream tolex with oxblood grill and cream knobs, beautiful. No question about it...ten.

This amp is built at least as good as any vintage Fender with the huge difference being this amp is brand new...no recapping, no retubing, no blackfacing, no reconing. Finger jointed pine cabs, VERY easily serviceable. I would and have gigged with this amp and no backup. It's first gig was with Anson Funderburgh. I was asked to bring a guitar and amp, so I brought the Encore and a brand new Mary Kay USACG Strat with 3 Lollar Blond single coil pu's. Tone heaven. Lots of compliments on tone from Anson and musicians in the crowd. I haven't had the amp long enough to objectively judge reliability, but with the way it's built I would anticipate very high reliability. And there is nobody easier to deal with than David Allen. We spent an hour on the phone talking about different tube and speaker combinations for the amp. It was supposed to take about a week to receive the amp after shipping and it arrived about 3 days after he shipped it. Once again...ten.

I pretty much covered this topic under "Reliability" above. David will bend over backwards today or a year from today to see that you're taken care of.

I've been playing guitar going on 43 years and have owned amps made by Sears, Fender, Vox, Sunn, Lab Series, Mesa Boogie, Matchless, Dr.Z, Victoria, and now Allen. The last 3 listed I still own and are my all time favorites. I can honestly say I have no desire whatsoever to own ANYTHING else. This Allen is as good an amp as any I've ever played through in 43 years and better than 99+%. VERY highly recommended.