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

This amp was made in the last year 2004! It is now March of 2005.The amp has more than enough features for its three channels.I rarely use the reverb,except for the clean channel.Here is the rundown! All-Tube Signal Path
? Tri-Mode Rectifier: Tube - Class A or AB,
? Solid-State - Class AB
? Overdrive Channel: Gain 1 and Gain 2
? Each with Independent Master Volumes,
? 3-Band EQ, Assignable Contour Control
? Clean Channel: Master Volume, 3-Band
? EQ and Bright Switch
? Global Controls: Volume, Low-Res
? (Resonance) and Reverb
? Effects Loop with Level Controls
? (Footswitchable)
? Line Out with Level Control
? Selectable 4 / 8 / 16 Ohms
? External Speaker Jacks
? 4-Position Footswitch: Channel, Gain,
? Reverb and Effects Loop
? Ground Lift Switch
? Dimensions: 27" x 11" x 11"
? Weight: 53lbs
As far as the tubes go Count em >>4 6L6s power tubes (Electro Harmonix(sovtek), 7- 12 AX7 pre amp tubes(electro-harmonix) 1 5AR4 Rectifier tube. The effect loop is controlled by small potentiometers to raise,or lower your input,and output levels..nice! The contour is really nice,as is the LOW RES control, these alone can shape your sound,and Tone, tremendously! I play all styles, Heavy stuff(Metal) Hard Rock,Southern Rock,Clean country, Blues ,Clean Chords,etc.. Versatility is an understatement for this AMP! I always use the 'CLASS AB' mode ,for some reason all three channels sound MUCH better, Sweet, Tight,and Heavy, very MUSICAL! The class A mode is very nice for Blues,and single note lines. The solid state Rect. mode is very dry sounding,and quite crisp!! All along NEVER getting muddy. Three different ohm variations for different cabinets, I use Duncans,Dimarzios, and EMGs in my guitars.100 watts is plenty of power for me, I play in a heavy band,and we use Dynamics when we perform. That is a phrase(Dynamics) that a lot of these other bands must become familiar with .If you cannot hear this amp with the gain on 7,or 8,and the volume cranked at 8, then you have to kick the drummer,and the bassist in the head!DYNAMICS!!

This Amp sound F***ING AMAZING!! I still cannot believe the way it kicks you in the CHEST! Tight,super Lows, Smooth Highs,great midrange if you can't live with out it. Super 'quiet' when not playing. I mean,where has this company been. O.K., So they are an Pro Audio co. that wants to throw in their hat with the big boys. Be my Guest. I rather pay $600.00 for this quality,and tone than $2,000.00. The great thing about its versatility is the Gain channels,and the way you utilise it in your chain. You can have a great FENDER like clean,a really tight Crunch for chords,and an over the top 'sustain' for days LEAD work !! What really knocked me out was how it cleaned up by simply rolling back your guitars volume pot(500k CTS).You can do this on both Gain channels.I shit you not, from Stevie Ray, to James,and Kirk, from Robbin Ford, to Steve Howe. A.C.D.C. to Led Zeppelin. OZZY, to Pantera (RIP DIMEBAG)!!It is all in there. You will have to adjust you settings to acquire those different styles. Another great factor about this amp is that when I first plugged into it ,there was no tweaking! I had a great sound from the get go. A lot of Boogie,and Marshalls,all have to be tweaked to get the right balance.(of course those amps have more complicated features,and all the components are very interactive) I go for keeping it simple,the more features you have with an amp,the LESS you will have to futz with it to get a great sound. I use all types of guitars with this AMP. Custom Strats,Custom Teles, Jacksons, Music Man, Ibanez,Peaveys,and some Washburns. All equipped with Duncans,Dimarzios,EMGs,and the Peaveys are STOCK (What a Guitar company! late 80s,and early 90s)Here is what I have owned in the last twenty years. Marshalls, 800s, 900s, JMP-1 etc, Soldano SP77 II, All Mesa Boogies,Dc-5s, Tri Axis w/2:90, Dual,and Triple rec(MONSTER),Nomads, Studio pre- Dual Quads. All Peaveys.. 5150, combos ,and Heads. Lets face it I had many,many different TUBE AMPS. I can't mention them all. But the Triple Rectifier had the best DISTORTION channel Bar None. This B-52 is a LOT like that,but of course it cannot get as LOUD,100 watt,as opposed to 120, peak at 160 on the Triple Rec! Alas!! The triple,and the 5150 all had one great sound,BUT,and this is a BIG BUT, they did not offer the versatilty that the B-52 has.Try to find a clean channel on the 5150, or the Rectum Fires!! No way..

This is where I really cannot give an accurate evaluation because I've only had it for three months.But I do bring it to the studio,and only on five gigs. The amp itself is housed in a pretty strong Vinly/leather clad 13 ply-rock solid Baltic Birch Plywood!The amp chassis seems to be very solid, rolled steel,and punched by CNC machines, is it tough like a SOLDANO, I don't think so,but I don't think it will cause anyproblems. I f it falls off the tailgate,I think you'll be screwed! Soldano,or not.Other quibbles.. The tone shaping knobs are definitely not like Mesas! Mesas are of much better quality,and these on the B-52 look a little like the cheap slip on knobs.The face plate is anodized aluminum,and the Graphics,logo,and numerals, and such are applied by a laminate process(lettra-set)(Easy to scratch) I did not take the amp out of the enclosure to inspect the wiring,and the placement of the tubes,or the potentiometers. But I guess its anyones call as to determine how neat,and durable all the components are within.How about the wiring: Point to point?? No way,but neither are the Mesas! Circuit boards are here to stay! The pots have a very smooth and accurate taper as I adjusted bass, Treble, Gain, etc. The on /off,and standby toggles are very solid,and seem to be like a good switchcraft quality.The only Mod that I did was change the Jewel light from orange to a Blue. But to finalize this, I have to really emphasize to be careful when transporting,or carring..any tube amp.

Never had to contact them. I never heard of them until about 2002,or so!!

I reall DIG this AMP, Its all in the other categories. In Fact,I love this amp,and would definitely buy another one. Its funny though, how our egos work. Some people wouldn't get caught DEAD playing one of these,because of the egotistical bull shit one brings to the table. Forget about bringing it up in a discussion! B-52?? Wasn't that an 80s New Wave band?? But, you know what? The AMP sounds F***ing great... its very easy to use, it surpasses versatility...it is an economical breakthrough!! People jaws hit the ground in dis belief when thet hear that first POWER CHORD!! But still if it dosen't say Boogie, or Fender, or Marshall, who would want to hear it,not to mention PLAY it?? Some people are just fixed in their ways. Have an OPEN mind. I did, and am sure glad I tried it.Because now I am a B-52 AT-100 Tri-Mode Rectifier PLAYER...Yeah!!! Go ahead you'll be more than surprised. Jimbo Rocker

This is an update to the above that began with..."The gent above."

After many gigs, tons of rehearsals, and studio time, I have to revise my opinion. I am still a big fan of the clean because there is a diversity of tone available when the tubes are hot, depending on the levels. The distortion,however...With the gain at 10 there is tons of fuzz, especially with a directional mic up a cabinets a**. THis is important if you are using a mic to record or for live. I would recommend that you keep the gain below 10. The rec tube is also really loose if you are palm muting so the "ab" setting might be the better choice. I compared the head to my other rigs and I have to say that the overdrive is a little thin compared to the line 6 rec, mod, and insane.

Power light went out, but the channel lights are working. And, for some reason, my fender cab crapped out even though it handles more watts than the head puts out. I'm obviously not certain it had to do with the head, however.

Not a mesa. Clearly.

Note: This review and all subsequent rating values are inversely proportional to the price-tag, meaning if this amp were more expensive, the rating values would decrease. Being a relatively low-priced amp, the ratings may seem unrealistically generous.

Amp is brand new, probably made within the last year. Amp is versatile in that it has one clean and two flavors of overdrive (basically three channels). That, and the whole switchable rectifier thing (Class A rec tube; Class AB rec tube; and S/S rectifier). It has reverb, but I don't use it. I find that a small 800msec delay set with a small amount of feedback is sufficient to give the illusion of playing in a large room.

I bought it for blues mostly, but wanted some ultra high gain for those moments where I want to just offend as many people in my neighborhood as I can. It has Contour tone shaping, but I find that less than useless. It make the amp sound artificial somehow. Plenty o'power - I've taken to removing the two outside 6L6's to cut power in half for jamming in my house. It's good to know that if I needed it, I'd have full power. I only wish it could take El34's without any fiddling. Also it's a bit too heavy (52 pounds).

I play mostly Strats, but I'm developing a taste for SG's, Pauls, etc. (particularly those with '57 Classic pickups). I also have a LP DC Faded with P-90 pickups. The amp is great for blues (with Strats) and is also great for classic rock and metal. I don't particulary like clean channels on any amps (even BF Fenders don't sound good to me unless they have a bit of overdrive modded into it). So I basically use only the two gain channels with Gain 1 set to minimal gain for a slightly overdriven sound. Gain 2 is set on puree. Both gain channels have about the same amount of gain but they are voiced differently. Gain 1 sounds more meaty (great for Strat-blues), but the gain increases exponentially when you pass about 1 o'clock, giving a great sounding drive in and of itself. Gain 2 has a more liquidy, smoother sounding drive and sounds awesome with humbuckers (even the Strat doesn't sound too muddy under high gain).

My only complaint really is that the amp is a bit too bright (even with the treble backed off completely). But at least it's not ice-pick in the ears bright or buzzy-bright or tinny bright. The tone is basically excellent. I think it's a good representation of the 6L6 sound. One could complement this amp by setting up this and a Marshall TSL100 in an A/B configuration. So far these are the two best-sounding amps I've owned.

As for the rectifier thing, I can barely tell the difference between the three settings, but Class A seems to sound the juiciest, could be psychological though.

Looks fairly rugged. I wouldn't gig with any amp without a backup, but if I had too, I think this one would do nicely.

No problems yet.

Great amp and highly recommended. Could do without the contour controls and I don't think the reverb really enhances the sound much. The tone is juicey enough to stand on its own without it. When shopping for it, I played through a Peavey JSX (too brittle sounding), Marshall DSL50 (not gainy enough), Marshall TSL100 (owned once, loved it and would like to get it back, but at $1750 - I'll keep checking eBay); Crate Blue Voodoo 120W (sounds great with humbuckers, Strat tone gets lost in the mush though). If money were no object, I would have bought the TSL, but at $700, I think this is a bargain.

Made in 2004.

I play rock/punk/blues- this amp is versatile; killer clean channel and all the gain one could need from the overdrive channel.

The selectable rectifier mode switch is great! Class A, Class A/B, or Solid-state rectifier. VERY cool feature. Too bad they mounted the switch on the back.

I use this amp for daily practise and I'm looking forward to gigging with it in the future.

Seems to be well-made, although I haven't disected it yet. I'm an eletronics technican by trade so I'll post another review once I take a peek inside.

Amp shipped with Electro-Harmonics preamp tubes and Sovtek power amp tubes.

All of my guitars have humbuckers but I'm certain it will kill with single-coils as well.

This amp is remarkably quiet for a tuber. No hum, even with a flourescent light 5 feet away.

This amp can pretty much do any tone imaginable with a little tweaking. The overdrive channel has tons of gain so finding the sweet spot took me a little while. I found that small adjustments make a big difference.

Reverb: To my ears, the reverb sounds tinny and cheap. Once it's through the infant mortality stage I'm gonna have to play with the reverb circuit or install a better tank.

This amp looks to be pretty solidly made. It's quite heavy. So far (3 months) no trouble. I would never gig without a back no matter what amp I'm using.

The controls feel really nice and the fit/finish is good.

I've emailed B-52 twice to try and obtain a schematic. No answer either time. Guess I'll have to call them...

5 year warrantee/ 90 days on tubes.

I've been playing for 15 years. My other amp is a Fender Pro Junior.

How do you "lose" an amp??? If stolen I would weep. Openly.

I compared this to the current Marshall tubers, Crate Blue Voodoo, and Mesa. Believe it or not, The B-52 won! I bought this head for half the price of most heads although price had ZERO bearing on my decision. If it looked, sounded, or felt cheap in any way I would have bailed. I was actually very suprised at the quality and tone. I hated the overdrive channel for the first couple days, as I've never had an amp with this much gain. Once I got a feel for it I'm hooked.

Made in 2004. It's probably one of the most versatile amplifiers on the market. It has more than enough power for gigging and practicing.

I am using a Jackson Dinky with Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz pickups, and a Fender Ultra Strat made in the USA, with lace pickups. I play metal, rock, and blues. It perfectly suits all of these music styles. It is not noisy at all. I use a power conditioner so that it gets really clean power. The clean is amazing and is even better than the Line 6 head I was looking at. The distortion is comparable to a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier.

It is built like a brick house. It is a very road-worthy amp.

I have never dealth with the company for costumer support. The local Guitar Center was selling them. The warranty is for 5 years on the amp, 90 days on the tubes.

If this amp were stolen I would poke that person's eyes out and put salt in the eye sockets.

When I was buying it I was also looking at used Mesa's, a Peavey 5150, a Line 6, and a Crate Blue Voodoo. This one beats them all in versatility and value in my opinion. I like to think of this as a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier without the Mesa name on it and better looks.

I agree with whomever mentioned the countour knob and how there should be one for each channel. However, the knobs on this baby each serve their own purpose. I have been searching for an amp that is versatile (my search was so pathetic that I stuck to my piece of #*@( line 6 for a while), and this amp does it all. The clean channel is sparkly, with a bright switch (nice tweed sound), a low resonance control, and reverb, while the distorted channels have 3 band eq's, and a countour knob. This amp has a tri-mode rectifier, with three different styles of sounds. THIS is versatility. This is what I've needed for years.

I am using this amp with an Ibanez S470, Bill Lawrence pickup, and stocks. This amp does exactly what I need it to. I wanted a powerful, punchy metal sound, like that of a 5150 II, and this amp gives me that. What the 5150 can't do is create a good blues, fusion, and classic rock tone. With tweaking, this amp can do it. The sound of this amp is quite 3-D, even with scooped mids, it stands out in a mix. It is not very noisy at all, the clean channel stays crystal clear no matter how much you crank it, and the distortion can go from a buzzy, filtered overdrive to a raw, punchy overdrive. I compared this to my friend's old Marshall JMP, a wonderful amp, and this amp was at least as good, except it can do pretty much any style I want it to. It is also pedal friendly. I have just baught a fulltone Clyde wah, and the combination is beautiful.

I don't have much experience with this amp, only about a week, but I believe that it is a tough piece of equipment, and hopefully it will last for many a year.

I called the amp company in hopes of a way of getting a case for this amp, and the person who answered was quite kind. He told me that he would call me back, and within ten minutes, he told me of a guy, who own's a store Le's covers (lecover.com) who would give me a cover for a reasonable price. This is all that I have dealt with the company, but because of this experience, and the excellent price on this head, I give them a 10.

I have been playing for four years, and throughout this time of long hard searching, the only amp that compared to this for what I need is the Bogner Shiva and Bogner Extacy. These are both incredible amps, and are both over two or three thousand dollars. This amp has a better metal tone than the Shiva, sounds more 3-d than the Extacy, and it was $650. You do the math.

The gent above listed the features so I'll spare you. I will say, however, that I wished that there were two contour knobs for od1 and 2. I've had the head for 2 weeks and have gigged with it so I'm not an expert yet, but do have some experience. The contour knob makes or breaks the overdrive.

I play a Jackson soloist and Gibson SG, both all stock components. I play a style that demands both immaculate clean and gutteral OD. This head delivers on both. I will echo the point that the clean sounds beautiful when turned less than half way but the slighly distorted tone above half is very useful. The "A" setting is incredibly warm with a loose brutal OD while the "AB" and "solid state" tighten in up by a matter of degrees. The solid state clean is less impressive and, to disagree with the above poster, does sound solid state. I've heard that b-52 is absolute crap and often, when asked what I'm currently using, begin by saying, "don't laugh." Well, f that. This is a fine, fine, tube head with versatile distortion (tool and mod rock included). Is it a Mesa triple rec? Close. Just spend lots of time adjusting the knobs with the amp at giging levels so you can get a good feel for what it can do. Trust me on that one. I'd love to share my settings but hey, it doesn't matter unless you play the same guitars out of the same cabinets as me.

No problems but will let you know as I gig and travel regularly.

N/A

I've been playing since the age of 10...so 19 years in total. I own Fender (for the clean), line 6 Flex head(which I keep as a backup) and several effects, processors, etc. I have a Marshall 4x12 and Fender 4x12 but don't feel like looking at the model numbers. It sounds better out of the fender, bigger at least. The sound might be a 10 but I just got it and have to postpone judgment a while. You know how it is.

I almost bought a Mesa dual rec but hesitated long enough to check out other options. I'm glad. This, in my opinion, does approach its tone. Now that I own it, I will say that I would have paid a few hundred more. It is a rediculously low price for the tone so I kind of think they are dumping these on the market to get a better rep and maybe even undercut mesa. Yes, I'd buy it again.

Brand New 2004 the new bigger and better version of the ST-100 Stealth Head. Ir has 4 Russian 6l6's which are Sovetek 5881's, 6
Electro Harmonix 12ax7 preamp tubes, 1x 12AT7 reverb tube, and 1x5AR4 Rectifier tube.

-Overdrive channel with Gain1, Gain2, and a Contour control
-Contour knob also includes a button to access or unaccess it
-Clean channel with bright switch, and 3 band EQ
-Master volume, reverb, and Low-Resonance control
- Rugged footswitch for Channel Select, Gain select, Reverb on/off, and effects loop on/off
-Effects send and return with level controls
-Lineout with level control
-Two speaker output jack-selector switch for 4, 8, or 16 ohms
-Ground lift switch
-Rectifier select switch for: Tube A, Tube AB1, and solid-state
-27" x 11" x 11" (W x H x D)
-52lbs.

it has two gain channels, one clean, the clean channel is amzing, great sound, gain 1 and gain 2 are very similar, and are very versatile, this is an amp with more power than u need, wheter u are practicing at home, jammin, playin a club, or an arena, this head is perfect.

I play a Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epiphone LP Extreme Limited Edition, and a PRS Tremonti, this amp is great for any style, it has no boundries. Lemme talk about the the Recto slelect switch.

Tube A: The warmest sounding one, has the sound for classic rock, very warm, and great for leads, although it is aimed for a classic rock tone,I play Modern Metal, and This is my choice.

Tube AB1: Not as warm sounding, but is still nice and warm sounding
;-), this is much tighter sounding, most verstatile of the three,lies between tight and loose sounding, so if u arent sure wheter u want Tube A or Solid-State , then use this one for the time being.

Solid-State: Is not solid state!!! don't let that fool u, all the tubes are active in this mode. The tightest sounding low end of the hree, the Nu-Metal mode, tight and Powerful low end. It has that raw modern tone.

Clean- It's clean alright, and much louder than the other channels, but thanks to channel and master volumes it can be adjusted. if the channel volume is cranked u get a nice crunch, if under 12 o'clock, u get a beautiful sparklin' clean tone, or nice and warm clean if bright switch isn't pushed. Great channel

Gain 1- Beautiful, very smooth and warm, very similar to gain 2 , great for rythm or lead, goes from nice crunch to full blown distortion

Gain 2- Barely more gain than Gain 1, which isn't a bad thing, because the is too much gain anyway, great sounding, for modern metal, hit the contour switch and scoop it down, for great lead tones, do not activate the contour, and crank the mids

Always have spare fuses and tubes, cuz no matter what the quality anything can blow.

I've been playin for three years, and have traded in my Line 6 HD147 for it, don't buy a modeling amp, they fool u with tone, the more u own it, the more u dislike it, what i love about this amp is it's balls, the only time i've witness balls like these were when i played through a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and Dual, by the way it u have enough buy the Mesa, besides that i love this amp, no better amp out there for rock n roll, except a Mesa recto. FOr the price it can't get any better, if u do want better, it'll cost u twice the amount.

Top 10 Rock n Roll/ Metal amps
1. Mesa Triple Rectifier
2. Mesa Dual Rectifier
3. B-52 AT-100 Tri-mode Rectifier
4. Saldano Avenger
5. Marshall TSL
6. Marshall JCM800
7. Bogner Uberschall
8. Deziel heads
9.Crate Blue Voodoo
10. Marshall Mode Four

#3, not bad