B-52 Pro Audio AT-100 Tri-mode Rectifier Head

I got this in 2004, no it is not versatile enough for me, also very quiet. My friend's 120w ss amp literally engulfed this thing with a 2x12! Sounds like a marshall, I hate marshalls. Use the contour control.

I play b c rich and ibanez guitars with emgs and duncan distortions. NOW, everyone loves this amp, but this is MY take on this thing. I cannot get a good metal tone out of it no matter what I do. It sounds so warm and steriotypically tubey. I play viking, black, death, symphonic, power, battle, hethan metals. I also play classical. Soloing and sweeps are my thing. I love music theory, it gives you so much control over your sound. Anyway, I bought this thing because it was cheap, I thought the gain was ok and I could change the tubes in it to get a tone more to my liking anyway right? No, with almost any tube you try, it is so AC/DC sounding.
To me it sounds like overdrive crunch, not distortion. Very clear though. I can get alot of great crunch tones and blues with the 5ar4 rectifier(extremely warm, pretty) the ss rec sounds a little better. The basic tone of this amp is HUGE FUCKING BASS, mid, and high mid. Be it a good thing or not. The clean is like you are playing through a bass amp, again be it good or bad. Also the two gain channels sound almost exactly alike, one has less gain. I can't play without the contour on because without it, the amp is just a midrange horn! WUUAAAAAAAA!

Mine broke down once, the reverb is gone, the bias pot exploded! This thing is so cheap. The parts in it are some of the lowest quality I've seen. Otherwise after all the work done, and thghtening of things it has proven to hold up okay.
You get what you pay for!

The company has a wonderful attitude and they always helped me with problems. They emailed me a schematic the next day after I asked. They seem like they care about the customer, which is why I wonder why they made the at100!!!

I have ben playing for five years, I have a little korg pandora for at home/road/whatever and it sounds way better and is more versitile than the b52!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If it was stolen or lost, I hope the person likes classic rock! Seriously though, if you are poor like me(and you probably are if you bought this thing) and you want some good/versitle hi gain tone and a dourable tube amp for cheap, get a peavey tripple xxx! It has extremely vessitle features/tone and even with gain maxed, it's still clear.

It has a tri rectifier. You can choose between solid state, and save those tubes, class a, or class ab. 100 watts.

I have played tons of amps. Including all the marshall jcm's. This amp owns them all. A couple of the only other amps I can think of that sound as good or a little better in my opinion is a mesa retifier or a bogner. Much pricier amps.

Played for 10 years so far. Like I said, played through lots of amps. This one kills.

Plenty of features for the price. I would have preferred a separate EQ for Gain 2 but oh well. You can sort of achieve this witht he contour knob.

I have a couple of RGT42s with Dimarzio Evolutions, an LTD MH201 with a Duncan Distortion, a RG770, and a yamaha strat style guitar. All of these guitars sound pretty good through the amp but surprisingly the MH201 sounds the best...well maybe it's not such a big surprise with the DD pickup. But normally my ibanez guitars tended to sound better through my old amp. It amazes me how tube amps can really bring out the character in a guitar. Well, the clean on this amp is really nothing special. Much warmer than solid state but not much different from any other tube amp that I've played. I wish I could get a little bit of overdrive out of this channel but that's just not possible. It stays crystal no matter how loud you go with it. Definitely meets my needs though. Gain 1 and Gain 2 are very similar in the amount of gain you can get but just voiced slightly different. I haven't found much use for the contour knob yet. It sounds cool when you're messing around with it but on stage I prefer a very middy sound that cuts through the mix and that's not what you get with the contour. It appears to scoop them. There's not any sound you can't get from this thing with the right cabinet. I'm using it with a Fender 4X12 and it sounds amazing. The voicing (IMO) is similar to marshall with the rectifier set to Class A or A/B and the Gain dialed back between 6 and 8. Set the rectifier to Solid State and turn the gain to 10 and it sounds very similar to a Mesa, yet still, it has it's own voicing. Very nice. I don't believe these things will continue to be this cheap. Mine has none of the tolex problems mentioned in other reviews and the reverb has hasn't had any problems although I don't really use the amp's reverb. It appears that quality control has been listening to the complaints and improved the product.

All and all, I love the sound of this amp. I, like everyone else am on a tone quest. This amp gets me really close. I believe I am only an pedal or 2 away now. I won't be replacing it any time soon. Also, the louder you turn this thing up, the better it sounds. I'm talking milky smooth distortion with liquid sustain. I know it sounds kind of silly but the only thing that I don't love about this amp is the name. It just sounds gay to me. I guess it's just all of the branding that we go through. Certain names mean quality to us and everything else seems fishy. Well I suppose my perception of B52 is changing....and the sooner the better I guess (you want to "feel" good about the amp you're using on stage right?)LOL

Have no idea at this point. I'll follow up if I have any problems.

No need yet.

Overall this amp is simply a great value. It has it's own voicing but can get just about any tone you're looking for. The footswitch works smoothly and quietly so it's great for live shows(No delays or dropouts in switching channels or effects loop). The distortion can be as smooth or as brutal as you want it, you just have to dial it up. I have been very impressed with this amp so far. Check it out, I think you will be too.

Im sure you know the features by now so im not going to bother.

Well im using a ibanez rg-320dx with stock pickups (not for long though, i messed up the neck pickup on my gitar royally tonight). The cab i am Using is a cheap crate cab, a G412 to be exact... Probably not the best cab to achieve this amps best sound. I play a variety of music, mostly metalcore stuff with a dash of southern flavor. A blend of music i like with music i was raised on. Anyways, this amp doesn't quite hit the mark... BUT, i really dont think i've heard the full potential of this beast yet, seeing as in how im using that crappy crate cab. The Clean channel on this amp is heavenly, very Fenderish. The clean channel will not break up at high volumes, my crappy speakers in my cab break up before the amp does. Also, i haven't gotten many problems from the reverb on the clean channel, as a matter of fact i think it adds too the cleans. However, the reverb on gain channels sounds terrible. Considering the cab im playing through, and considering the amps i've played with before, i will tell you this amp is a GEM. Great thick distortion, very ballsy. Whenever someone asks me "what does it sound like" i simply tell them it sounds like i have a 4x12 cab full of deamons. Lol, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but still close. The only bad thing i can say about this head is, it appears to be poorly constructed. The other guitarist in my band bought one at the same time i did, and the same blemishes on mine he had on his. When i say blemishes im not talking about scratches and such, but minor inconsistencies such as: Bubbles in tolex (like two) and semi-crooked face plate, to get this sound for only 700 dollars, i'll take a couple bubbles.

havent had much time to check this. but ill besure to update this if something happens.

haven't worked with them.

Well, im 20 and ive been playing for 8 years. Yea, i've been playing for 8 but i've only been getting a good paycheck for a year. So i haven't owned a great deal of pricey equiptment. However, i have played with some good equiptment (duel rec, 5150, jcm 800). I will tell you this amp is quite possibly the best deal you will find on a new tube amp at this price range. Beautiful tube tone, endless variations on sound, gain for miles. uh, just a great all around amp. Im am not giving this amp a 10 because, it's the best and it blows all other amps out of the water. I'm giving it a 10 because right beside of 10 it says "fantastic value" and thats exactly what this amp is. so in conclusion. if you want a Mesa, and have money for a Mesa... then buy a Mesa. The same goes for any other kind of amp that people are comparing to these. But if your looking for a killer amp at a Great great great price, b-52 all the way.

PS
My band is going to take these into the studio sometime in the next week or so. If anyone wants a sound clip of these in action email me at Baileyseth at hotmail.com

Everyone knows the features so.

I bought the AT-100 head and the matching AT-412 cab. I've had a few days to play with it. Prior to purchasing this amp I was very skeptical as I've seen tons of good reviews and tons of reviews indicating various problems with this amp, mainly the reverb tank. The reverb tank can get up and walk out of my amp and I won't care cause I use my GT-8 for reverb but so far I've had no problems with the reverb whatsoever and I have tried it on several occasions. Apparently B-52 has said all the current market AT-100's have the reverb problem fixed.

I received the amp head in a box that was starting to fall apart. Granted though the head is quite heavy. It has 4 6L6 Sovtek tubes in the power stage, 4 12AX7's (simply marked China) in the preamp, 1 12AX7 as a phase inverted (marked China), a 12AX7 in the effects loop (marked China) and a 12AT7 for the reverb (marked China) as well as a 5AR4 tube for the rectifier (don't know what it's marked). Initially I had been using a Marshall AVT20 with a Metal Zone distortion. I know it's small and meek but I've had full stacks in my time but since I had taken a hiatus from guitar into electronic music I decided on something small when I started moving back into guitar. Since getting the AT-100 I've ditched using the Metal Zone as the distortion in the AT-100 is far superior. I use Gain 1 but don't really hear any real difference between the two gain channels when A/B'ing them. The amp has a low-res knob which increases the bass on a scale more around 50-60hz or so which increases low end punch even further. The amp also has a "Contour" switch which acts basically like a sweepable mid EQ. It gives a more compressed yet aggressive kind of sound. I'm going to be short on the features section cause if you'd like to know you can easily go to the manufacturer's site or look it up anywhere else online to find all the specific features. The clean channel is awesome as it's exactly that... clean. It's also loud as hell. The bright switch is odd in a sense cause not only does it boost the highs around 10khz but it also appears to scoop out some mids. As a result I choose not to use the bright switch but rather just raise the treble a little which works much better for my tastes. The amp also has two input jacks, a Low and a High. At first I plugged into the High figuring "Hi-Z" but the sound was odd. There was an odd breakup to the sound that really had me neverous as when I tried the amp in the stores I loved the sound and this was odd. Eventually I moved over to the Low input and bingo! Great sound with no odd breakup. So if you try this amp out I suggest trying each input as they surely do make a noticeable impact on the sound. I've played with it for days now and I haven't personally come across any of the problems I've read from others online. Someone online made a great point... they've probably sold a thousand of these amps and comparitively the number of complaints are relatively small. You can read of others having problems online cause whenever someone has a problem they compain about it vocally whereas someone that is happy with their amp usually doesn't take the time to say it. Again though, if any problems crop up I'll surely post ALL of them in this thread. The cabinet is quite nice, sturdy design and to me sounds great. Unfortunately I don't have any other cabs to try out and compare though. The 4 button footswitch that comes with the amp functions perfectly with no switching noises at all. The effects loop I have to say is perfect. It has two level controls (send and return) and at first I dreaded having to set additional level controls. But I found after connecting my effect unit that the levels are line level when turned up all the way! So it was great, I just turned up both levels and had perfect level between having the effects loop in or out. The effects loops is full pass through (the entire sounds goes through like an insert rather than an effects send) so you can use any type of effect through the loop. Granted this is probably how most amp effect loops are. I've mic'd the amp and have had the best results I've ever had micing an amp even though I spent little time trying different mic positions. Anyhow, overall I really love this amp! I got the head and cab, free shipping, for a total of $999 from MF as I apparently had a $100 off electronic coupon I wasn't even aware of. I have some replacement JJ preamp tubes coming within the week and will later change out the Sovtek's with JJ's when I have time to have the amp rebiased.

Seems to be built strong but I haven't gigged with it so who knows. I won't be banging it around carelessly anyway.

Once again, I really love this amp. I, so far, haven't encoutered any problems with it. It sounds probably closest to a Mesa and for the price it's a steal. It has such a vicious growl to it. I play a Schecter Blackjack C-7 seven string tuned down to A and it's awesome for this task. I don't agree that this amp is bassy as another reviewer said and that you can't get a Marshall sound out of it. Sure you can! It's only as bassy as much as you set the EQ and Low Res. For a Marshall type sound, though there's no reason I'd want a Marshall sound out of it, just lower the gain a little, take off the contour switch and raise the mids if needed and bingo.

Just updating- one of the AT-100's original designers joined the ranks at our forum. We opened up some tone forums to swap idea back and forth with other users. And there's a user-to-user support where you can ask us any questions you have about the amp. Check it out.

http://s13.invisionfree.com/B_52_AT_100_Forum/index.php?act=idx

I play a lot of 80's hair band rock as well as 60's and 70's rock and roll. This amp is quite versatile in that it has multi channles including a clean channel with it's own 3EQ settings and 2 gain channeles with a footswitch. I gig with an 80's tribute band and this amp does everything I could want. There is a knob on the back to adjust the tri-rectifier from all tube to tube and solid state, to all solid state. Lots of options in that alone, but there is also separate volumes for each channel and effects loop with input and output levels.

I have a modded strat with a Seymour Duncan and use an Epiphone Les Paul. I also tried the B-52 AT cab, but went with the Marshall 1960 because it had a little more bark to it. Clean channels is like crystal in that it is very crisp at high levels, and the gain channels are very flexable in their abilities to offer a wide array of tones. I have played with this amp volume up to 9 and the hairs on my arms were standing up. You got to play it to beleive it for yourself.

Definatly I would, and I am, depending on it. I traded in a Marhsall AVT half stack to move up to this caliber of amp.

The head is built like a tank weighing at over 50 lbs. Now is the time to find that buddy of yours who wants to be the "roadie"

Didn;t deal with them, but there web site is extremely informative.

I have been playing over 20 years, and I am generally a Marshall person, but when I started looking into the B-52s and decided to try them out right next to the Marshalls, I was hard pressed to look any other way. And the cost is literally half if not more than what the other brands out there are costing with the same features.

- All Tube (4x 6L6GC Power Tubes, 4x 12AX7 preamp tubes, 12AX7 driven Effects Loop and Phase Inverter, 12AT7 driven Reverb, and 5AR4 Rectifier Tube)
- 3-Mode Rectifier switch (Tube A, Tube AB, and Solid-State)
- Clean Channel
- 2 Overdrives
- Reverb
- Effects Loop
- Seperate High and Low Inputs
- Cool little thing called a Contour Knob

So pretty much this thing has more stuff than most people will find useful. I gave it a 9 because I would have liked the Overdrive EQ's to be separate.

My setup is one of two guitars: either a Epiphone Les Paul Standard with a Tom Anderson HN3+ in the bridge, and a DiMarzio Super 2 in the neck, or a Fender HSS American Series Strat, straight into the amp. No effects, really.

Now let me just say that this is one of the most versatile amplifiers EVER. I play any sort of classic or hard rock, some blues, some thrash and heavy metal, NWOBHM, and sometimes I groove out to some modern rock or punk. However, I think people give this thing a little too much credit. Indeed, you can coax almost any tone you want out of this thing... but it is EXTREMELY difficult, if even possible, to get that Marshall type crunch out of it. The amp is very dark and bassy in character. Think Mesa bassy at times. However, this amp has NO PRESENCE KNOB. Instead it has a Low-Res knob, which is very good if you want.... more bass... you won't be getting any "Mama Kin" tones out of this amp. Trust me. I've tried.

That being said, this amp RULES FOR METAL!!!! I hear people saying "This thing isn't a high gain amp! Wtf are you tlaking about?" all the time, and the problem with them is that they're sitting in guitar center on Overdrive 2 with the gain maxed out, and both the master and channel volumes at about 3. This type of EQ-ing doesn't do shit. If you want gain, the you must crank this amp! And not just the pre-amp volume, I mean both of them. I can get Metallica's "Blackened" tone out of this thing with the volumes each set to about 7 or 8, and the gain set to about 5, through the Low Input. And that was with the damn Strat! This thing is a beast.... use it wisely.

Clean channel sells alot of people, too. It's not the best, in my opinion... but it is good... think of JC-120 meets Fender Twin. And I mean this in both a positive and negative way. It has the sound of a Fender amp... but also has the sterility of a transistor amp. No breakup at all.

Reverb sucks, simply put. Seems to short out on people alot, too. I had mine stop switching via the footswitch, but that may be a problem with the footswitch, itself. I won't know until I get it fixed.

But all in all, OUTSTANDING AMP!!!!

No problems at all, save for the reverb.

BUY IT!!!

2006 THIS AMP HAS ALL THE FEATURES A REAL GUITAR PLAYER WILL EVER NEED. IT REMINDS ME OF THE OLD MARSHALLS AND THE OLD MESAS WHEN AMPS WERE AMPS. VERY EASY TO DIAL IN. B52 WAS THINKING OF THE GUITAR PLAYER WHEN THEY BUILT THIS I BELIEVE.VERY UP FRONT

I PLAY A 51 NOCASTER CUSTOM BUILT BY MYSELF. AND A MID 80S AMERICAN STRAT.A DIGITECH GNX4. CUSTOM BUILT CABINET WITH 212S C12K AND ANOTHER 212 CABINET SLANT BACK 212 CELESTION CLASSIC 80 AND A VINTAGE 30. SO I HAVE WHAT I WANT FOR EAR CANDY,LISTEN UP AN AMP IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE SPEAKERS YOUR HOOKED UP WITH.ITS NOT NOISY VERY NICE. CLEAN IS CLEAN. I HOOK UP TO MY C12K CAB AND ITS CLEAN TIGHT BLUES AND JAZZ.IF I WANT 70S 80S ROCK I HOOK UP THE CELESTIONS POOF ITS THERE.THE AMP PRODUCES THE SOUNDS THAT I ENJOY. IF YOUR HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE SOUND YOUR LOOKING FOR, TRY OUT SOME CABINETS AND YOULL BE AMAZED.AS FAR AS THE REVERB TANK GOES HELLO A REVERB TANK IS NOTHING BUT SPRINGS AND VERY LIGHT SPRINGS AT THAT. ITS MOUNTED JUST ABOVE ALL THE TUBES . HEAT RISES.THINK ABOUT IT. A FRICKIN THERMOSTAT IS A SPRING.USE YOUR BRAINS B52.THICKIN THAT AMP CAB AND MOUNT THE REVERB TANK ON THE BOTTOM DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AS FAR AS THE AMP GOES ITS A GREAT DEAL AND YOU WONT FIND A BETTER TUBE AMP FOR THE MONEY, AND LETS FACE IT 699 BUCKS IS A STILL A FAIR AMOUNT OF MONEY,FOR ANY AMP MADE.

ITS A TUBE AMP. NO I WOULD NOT GIG WITHOUT A BACK UP. WITH THAT SAID IT IS BUILT LIKE A TANK. TIME WILL TELL.

NEVER HAD TO CALL

ALL IN ALL ITS A FAIR DEAL. INFACT ITS THE BEST DEAL OUT THERE SO FAR THAT I HAVE FOUND. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR OVER 20 YEARS, IVE HAD MARSHALS, MESAS, AND MANY FENDER TUBE AMPS.THIS AMP SOUNDS VERY GOOD, I WILL GET A FENDER REVERB TANK FROM A TWIN. MAKE A BOX FOR IT. SHOULD SOUND GOOD. I DO LIKE REVERB AND LOTS OF IT

100 watt all tube 3 channels, triple rectifier switch for your choice of tube a, tube a/b, and solid state rectifier tube. It comes with a footswitch with long cords for any size stage placement. It has a low-resonance knob and a contour that both give tons of mid and bass versatility. It has reverb, but sounds kinda weird. Has effects loop and ohm switching and ground/lift switch.

I play through this amp with an Ibanez S series Custom. I've been playing for 16 years so I think I'm an ok judge of amp character. Well, here we go folks. This freakin amp is amazing. It sounds like I have four vicious pissed off pitbulls stuffed into my 4x12. I love it, so far, more than any amp I've owned. I've owned a 5150, a hot rodded Marshall JCM 800 (which was wicked), a stock Marshall JCM 900, an Ampeg 100 watt tube head (early 90s model), and a Line 6 Flextone III (which I still own, but needed my tubes back), and several other solid state practice amps. This amp, as far as gain, harmonics, balls, bite, and value, takes all those amps and rolls em up into one fat you know what, and SMOKES their ass. This amp is for some serious metal. The balls and crunch on this thing are brutal. I call it "The Bowel Loosener." If I'm constipated, all I have to do is crank this thing up and chuck a few drop Ds or Cs and I'm running for the bathroom. But the thing about it is that metal is not all this amp can do. It is very musical. You could play country or blues with this thing. That gain knob goes from 1 to 10 so you're not limited just metal, and the e.q. is very effective. The clean is really nice too. It will not break up even turned up loud, so if you need that, just set up one of the gain channels with the gain dialed out. Reverb, kinda crappy, but have heard worse, and I rarely use it except for a little on the clean channel. One thing though, try this thing out through other cabinets besides the B-52 cabs. B-52 cabs don't sound bad, but I hooked mine up through a Marshall cab at the store, because that's what I have, and it sounded way better.

Well, I bought this at Gtr Center. I told them I wanted the new one in the box, but they said they had to order it and that I could take the floor model home and use it until it got there in 2 weeks. Well, I read about how the reverb goes out on these things, and sure enough, it did a week into jamming on it. It was wierd because the next practice, it worked again. So anyway, I read on the B-52 forum that B-52 had fixed this problem in the newest models made just recently. Well, I got my new one in yesterday, so far so good. We'll see. Other than that, this thing seems very well made. You just have to baby any tube amp. Always put on standby at least a minute or two before turning it off. And always let cool as long as possible (5 minutes or so) before yanking it up and moving it because the components in the tubes are really soft when they are hot. I would bring my line 6 to run through my 4x12 as a gig back up, just in case, but I don't suspect I'll have to use it. Seems as well made, if not better, than a lot of other amps.

5 year warranty and I've read from many other that they are very helpful and courteous. I've read if it tears up, you just take it back to gtr center and they'll give you a new one, No Qs Asked.

Been playing 16 years or so. I love this amp, and if it were stolen, I would definitely get another one. I hate the B-52 logo. Looks to beaver cleaver to me. I'm thinkin about taking it off and putting something else on there, like a metal spider or a skull or something. This amp is alive and has personality. I wouldn't say it's the greatest amp in the world, but for the money, man, you can't beat it. I a/b'd with a Marshall Dual Lead 2000 and I liked the B-52 better, but was using the Marshall's cab. The only amp I've heard that I liked better was my friend's Mesa triple rectifier hooked up to 4-4x12 cabinets, a wall of death, playing a Jackson/Rhoads USA V with invader pickups. But, besides that one experience, I cannot think of an amp that gets a any closer.