B-52 Pro Audio AT-212 212 Combo

This AMP is really good, I purchased mine in S??o Paulo / Brasil in Jan/2009 and I've been using it at home studio and some live gigs at small clubs. The versatility is the good point, I use it with my Les Paul Traditional with Classic '57 pickups and it sounds great. My other guitars (Fender, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc) are all equipped with either Seymour Duncan or Gibson PAF pickups (all humbuckings) and they all sound very pnchy, nice feedback, nice tone. Volume is not a problem, like al tube amps, the louder you play, the better they sound.

Sound created by the proper combination of tone/gain controls with the type of guitar you are using is the key point. If you change guitars you better readjust some controls, like the Contour, Overdrive Gain and bass/mid/treble otherwise it will sound strange.

Here is the weakest point. My amp failed within two weeks after purchasing, it simply stopped sounding, altough all controls were "on" there was no sound coming off the amp. I sent it to the shop here in S??o Paulo/Brazil and in two weeks it was back, no big issues, they said it was just a matter of doing an "overall revision" and, thanks God, so far it is working properly.

The folks at B-52 from California were very responsive to my questions, humbs up for them...

I know everybody has a different opinion, but, let's be fair: if you cannot afford to buy a 2,000 bucks fancy Marshall TSL or Mesa Boogie Rectifier, this amp is very adequate and does the work. It has 12 valves and, besides what some guys have posted, Chinese made valves have been presenting a very good reliability and quality in the last years, they simply perfected the "production process" and they're not behing other manufacturers.

I think it was made in 2007

I mainly got this guitar for the clean tones, but since im playing with my piece of **** ibanez and Jackson guitars ha ha lol, i don't really get the tones i was with the clean channel. But then when i switch to the gain, man its really nice for shredding.

There is 3 channels, Clean, Low gain and high gain. dunno about effects loop ha ha i like line 6 effects on there amps way better, but not sound ha ha. Headphone jack i think is in the back dunno lol IDC i don't use them.

The special effects from line 6 amps, but i just put in a pod or pedal w.e and works fine. I wish it weighed less to ha ha !
I practically use everything on it

I use this is my studio at my house, yes it is loud enough. ha ha at level 2 with the clean tone i get enough sound.

This is a tube amp, its ****ing heavy as ****, good for giging and keeping up with the drummer.

I use a jackson dinky with 2 dimarzio humbuckers, and a Ibanez somthing lol has 1 single coil and 2 humbuckers.

I like to do indie to metal to w.e lol. This amp suits it well, with all its clean tones. :P

Probably just the high gain channel, anywhere.

It makes a variety of sounds, heck i dunno.

No not really, just ****ing loud. Unless you turn gain up all the way also ha ha.

Its ****ing brutal

**** yeah man, this **** hits the crowd hard, yep.
This amp is really durable, and dependable.

No not yet, just fuzzy tubes but that's **** easy to fix ha ha.

Nope not yet, just got the amp to.

Nope just tubes, nope.

Nope

I dident get one, which sucks for me.

I have been playing for about a year ha ha, I own other line 6 and fender amps nothing really else

Because of the weight but of the tones, i probably might or not buy it again. Wont because of the **** weight but the tones maybe.

I love everything about it, i just ****ing hate the weight of it.

Haven't really compared it yet, but **** its a great amp anyways IDC.

More effects like my line 6 amps, but its all good that's why Line 6 made those pods and **** ha ha.

best amp out there for the money ... ive had alot of different amps in the past (ie mesa boogie, fender, marshall, peavy) and alot of them have been good amps. but this one outshines everything ive had and i bought on clearance for 400 dollars. this amp isnt just good because of the price though.... i would put it up with most that cost 1200 to 2000. it has 3 channels crunch channel... you can get a good metal sound and a great hard rock (ac/dc) kind of tone. i feel that soloing on this channel will suffice also but if you desire a little more cream. switch to the high gain second channel. fender amps are known for their clean tone. this thing is cleaner than a fender even when turning up loud... and this amp is LOUD it still remains sparkling. this amp should cover anyones needs no matter what style of music you play ....rock/hard rock/ punk/ metal/ blues/ country/ jazz whatever

i use a gibson les paul custom with duncans... also two sg's with duncans. i play in a punk rock and roll band. i typically try to get sort of an ac/dc kind of sound but maybe just a tad dirtier. ac/dc's tone is really clean actually. i mainly use the crunch channel. even for soloing it sounds great. it seems like its a one stop tone that suites all of my needs. for players that desire the brutal gain for a metal sound or want more cream in their solos ... you can switch to channel 2. i dont really need the clean sound however it sounds really good. ive actually considered also taking a pedal and putting it through the clean channel just to see how that sounds... the clean has a ton of headroom and i bet would rock by throwing on a tube screamer or something. im not a big fan of the scooped metal sound but this amp can do that very well. has alot of low end punch but people throw in some mid range thats where tone is at .. the guitar is a mid range instrument... put it out there and shine

this is where things arent quite so great but with a few minor adjustments you can change this . the amp runs really hot. and i had some issues in the beginning ... but it was under warranty. i had some resistors that burned out due to a one of the resistors not being soldered properly. this caused a aweful noise problem that was intermitten. also b52 later up graded this amp by installing a fan to help the heat problem. so i took it in got the repairs done and the fan installed. now i think it is top notch. the construction is good. 13 ply birch. unheard of spending 400 bucks and getting this quality of wood. another issue though. ITS HEAVY really heavy. so lift properly or youll throw your back out

i had the issues in the beginning. but the company was very supportive and sent me in the direction of getting my issues resolved. communication was awesome

there were those little issues but i feel like i still wanna give this a 10 being that i got my issues resolved. the company was very supportive and i feel that i got an amp that stands up to amps that cost 4 to 5 times what i paid for this ..

Ok, this is a RE-RE-REVIEW. From my post just before this I had explained how I was sending this amp into Torres Engingeering in San Mateo California to get fixed.

Since getting the amp back I am VERY PLEASED. I removed the Celestion V30's (too much break up) and replaced the original B-52 speakers. Camereon, the amp tech who worked on this, did an excellent job. The amp no longer overheats and the tone is pretty damn cool. The distortion is MUCH more clear; way more dynamics. I can actually hear the stings being plucked instead of just mud.

The tone is HUGE; this thing sounds like a high gain boutique amp now. The clean channel is still a bit noisy; I think that's just how this amp was built.

I was going to sell this thing but since getting it modded by Torres Engineering I am going to keep it and use it as my main workhorse.

If you are having issues with your B-52 AT-100 or 212 I highly recommend checking out this mod.

Plenty of features

Muddy, unclear distortion. The clean channel is too noisy. I have since replaced the stock speakers with Celestion V30's; a good choice.

This is a re-review (see my first review by hoodoo_operator in 2006). PLEASE READ AND BE WARNED BEFORE PURCHASING THIS AMP!

This is a project amp. What I mean by that is you buy it and about a year later you're already dumping money into it to fix things.

I've had this amp for almost 3 years and started noticing problems after about 8 months. First, (and this has been covered A LOT) the amp gets REALLY hot. It turns out the biasing is set WAY too high from the factory and just cooks the tubes. After doing some research I discovered that this amps circuitry is not set up right from the manufacturer to be biased correctly, so that is part of the reason for the muddy distortion and overheating.

Second, the reverb stopped working after about 1.5 years of use. After some investigating I found that one of the springs had broken off the unit. I haven't replaced the unit because I don't use the built in reverb anyhow, instead I use effects pedals.

Third, the construction of the amp is a bit unstable and brittle. Part of the amp box broke when I took the back grill off to replace the tubes. Partly my fault, but that particular part of the amp looked like it was constructed from particle board.

Finally, I am paying about $300 to send this thing in to get it fixed (that's parts, labor and shipping/handling). There is a place in San Mateo, California that specializes is correcting the issues with this amp and revitalizing the tone, making the amp sound and perform as it should. Here is the company website for those interested: http://www.torresengineering.com/bampbire.html

Read the article; it's very informative.

Some of you may be thinking "why doesn't he just sell the amp? Get rid of it?". Frankly, I would not want to put this machine into the hands of anyone in it's current state. If I did, that person (if they had enough sense) would not give me more than $200 for the POS. I would rather put the money into now since the amp has been bought and paid for for almost 3 years and try to salvage it.

To be honest, I am very eager and excited to get the amp back from the shop to hear it as it should be. If I decide I don't like the overall tone after the repairs I will consider selling it once it has been fixed.

I don't even deal with them anymore. When I did call over a year ago they were of little help to me.

-Bad setup (bias) from the factory
-Overheats
-Faulty reverb unit
-Sub par construction
-After almost 3 years of use am already dumping close to $300 for parts and repairs.

I've had this amp for over a year and have been regretting it the whole time. The distortion on this thing is very fake and unpleasing. All you can hear is MUD. No articulation or dynamics. The speakers are crap. It came with poor tubes so I replaced those with JJ tubes.... that was a waste of money. This amp gets so hot it raises the room temperature by at least 10 degrees, no joke. You could cook eggs on this abomination. And this amp is very unreliable. it has broken down on me 3 times. This amp should be taken out back and shot with a 12 gauge. If you are considering buying this amp do your self a favor and save up a little more cash and get a quality amp.

no such thing with this

WHAT A HUNK OF JUNK

Not sure what year this amp was made in. I got both of mine (later explained) in 2006 I believe. I play a wide range of music. I enjoy playing everything from John Mayer, Eric Clapton, and Journey to Dream Theater, Paul Gilbert, CKY, Megadeth and Children of Bodom. It really can suit all of those I think, with some gain adjustments and a few EQ tweaks. The amp itself as 2 gain channels and 1 clean channel. The first gain channel has a darker kind of sound. The second gain channel has a brighter, more gain boost type of sound. It does have an effects loop, but sounds like absolute crap when used. It came with a channel switcher, it works pretty well. Its 100 watts so its plenty loud for any occasion. Its got tube class A, class A/B and solid state modes. I wish the reverb was a little stronger, but I dont use much of it, but I do have to turn it to about 8 to get it to be hardly noticable. Has a few nice features, a contour setting for adjusting mids, 2 separate gain knobs and contour knobs for each of the channels. Independent volumes for all channels and a master volume.

I use a few guitars with it. I use an American Strat and a couple Ibanez's. My main Ibanez a high gain Dimarzio pickup and it works well with it, but all my guitars work well this amp. It suits my style well, the gain is heavy and you get can a great sound from it. Its pretty noisy if you run high gain and loud volumes without a noise gate. The clean channel sounds great. Very crisp, with a bright button you can engage to get a nicer sound in my opinion. Beware if you use the effects loop, when you click on the effects loop button on the footswitch, get ready for the WORST tone ever. It literally sucks ALL treble from your sound. I just run everything in front of the amp now. Its too crappy sounding to do it any other way.

This is where this amp BLOWS. About 6 months after I bought the amp I had to have it replaced because at high volumes, a giant THUD sound came from the amp. Well then it worked for a few months, and then it crapped out again. It just stopped turning on completely. I had it fixed, which it was NOT a tube problem, and then 20 minutes later it blew up again. I am scared to death to use it now during a show and I am buying something else. The tolex absolutely SUCKS. Rips very easily. After taking it apart to look around on the inside, this thing is put together VERY poorly. Numerous screw holes were stripped out. I would never recommend this amp to anybody ever again.

Customer support is alright. I told them the amp had broken down numerous times and that it was currently in the shop. They said if I shipped it to them they would fix it for free. Well they told me this twice after I told them it was already in the shop. I dont know if they just cant read, or dont read through all of their emails they recieve. Im sure they receive a lot of complaints.

I really hate that this amp is totally made cheaply and completely unreliable. It has a great sound and had a ton of potential to be one of the top companies in the business. I love its tone, its features.. almost everything about it besides the fact that it breaks down without warning. I've not had a problem with the reverb like I've seen many people have. I guess I lucked out there. If it were stolen, I guess I wouldnt be that upset. It would probably break down taking it down the driveway to their car. I would definitely buy something else, and I am very soon. I dont normally suggest things to people, and I never review anything, but please, listen to me - DO NOT BUY THIS AMP. It's cheap than most tube amps for a reason. It does NOT hold up, and it is completely unreliable. Get any other brand besides this. Last I heard, this amp isnt even made anymore. I wonder why.

THE AMP WAS MADE IN 2005, IT WAS A NICE AMP WHEN IT WAS WORKING EXCEPT IT HAD A SMELL LIKE THE BABOONS AT THE ST.LOUIS ZOO!!! THE CABINET IS VERY TOUGH AND APPEARS TO BE MADE WELL.IT DOES HAVE ENOUGH POWER WHEN IT WORKS!!!IT SAYS ON A STICKER MADE IN THE USA IT SHOULD HAVE SAID ASSEMBLED PARTIALLY IN THE USA WITH ALOT OF FOREIGN PARTS.I WANTED AN AMERICAN MADE AMP I SHOULD HAVE PURCHACED A MESA WHICH I AM PLANNING ON DOING.

I USE LES PAUL STUDIO GUITARS WITH HUMBUCKING PICKUPS,THE CLEAN CHANNEL IS VERY NICE FOR BLUES,JAZZ AND GENERAL PLAYING. THE TWO GAIN CHANNELS ARE VERY HARD TO CONTROL THE SOUND.I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR OVER 40 YEARS PLUS SO I AM QUALIFIED TO MAKE THAT STATEMENT!

THE AMP IS THE HOTTEST RUNNING AMP I HAVE EVER USED.I WAS AFRAID TO WALK AWAY FROM IT FOR EVEN A MINUTE,FEARING MY HOUSE WOULD BURN DOWN!!! THE AMP DOES NOT WORK NOW,THE GAIN CHANNELS ARE GONE,THE CLEAN CHANNEL STILL WORKS.THE AMP WAS KEPT FREE OF DUST AND WAS TREATED VERY WELL,IT DID NOT RETURN THE FAVOR.

AT B-52 THE LADY THAT ANSWERS THE PHONE MUST HAVE CAME FROM MARS,I LEFT NUMEROUS VOICE MAILS NO ONE WOULD RETURN MY CALLS.I TALKED TO ONE OF THE BEST AMP GUYS IN MY AREA THAT USED TO WORK FOR ST.LOUIS MUSIC AND NOW WORKS AT ANOTHER PLACE THAT I WILL NOT NAME,I WILL TAKE IT TO HIM TO REPAIR,HE REPAIRED MY SONS MESA BOOGIE DUAL RECTIFIER AND DID AN EXCELLENT JOB I WILL NOT DEAL WITH B-52 ANYMORE NOR WILL I EVER BUY THERE PRODUCTS!

AGAIN I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR OVER 40 YEARS,IF I HAD A AT-212 FOURTY YEARS AGO I PROBABALLY WOULD HAVE NOT KEEP PLAYING FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS FROM AGGRAVATION WITH THAT AMP!THE ONLY OTHER THING THAT THE AMP COULD USE IS A ROTISSERIE FOR COOKING CHICKENS!

Seems like a recent build. I play mostly metal and have a pension for blues, so the three different channels is great (in theory--more on that later) and gives a lot of berth for tone exploration. The master and independent volumes really help unify the three channels and helps create dramatic or seamless changes between tones, depending on what you want. The contour thing is...interesting. For me, it's sort of worthless since I like my mids (favorite tones are early Sabbath and, these days, the Sword), but if you're into that solid state stuff, I guess this option would prove worthwhile. Bright switch is great, I never turn it off on the clean. Reverb is decent, nothing compared to my buddy's Fender combo, but it's nothing awful. "Low Resonance" control knob: I don't understand what this is for really. I can make the amp shake the walls more or less. Maybe it's to better adjust if a bassist is present? Don't know...certainly not hurting anything. Two inputs (High/Low) can be fun with a friend (or a loop station). I'm very curious about clamping a Y-adapter on the end of my final-input cable for the same guitar and into both channels at once to see what happens.

I'm with an earlier reviewer on this number: the tone is HORRIBLE. I use high-end Epiphones with their stock Gibson-made humbuckers running through a Dunlop Crybaby w/Fasel inductor and True Bypass circuit and Monster cables--and that's IT; I am completely confident that it's NOT the instrument/pedal/cable (not) making the noise belching forth from these speakers. Okay, to be fair, it's only the dirty channels that are wretched. The clean is really, really nice. Trouble is, I don't use it very often! The first distorted channel actually seems listenable for blues, possibly classic rock, though I wouldn't get my hopes up. Then there's the second, "lead" channel. It can barely handle a two-note powerchord without going to mud. The low end is definitely there, but the highs, not so much. It's very much like thunder sans lightning: a lot of rumble with no flash. I used to use a Digitech Metal Master (which I absolutely adore, by the by) in my pre-AT-212 set-up, but I can't on this amp. Too much hiss, and unfortunately the pedal only corrects my complaints (sloppy harmonics, non-existent highs) at the expense of the lumbering "whomp" and thick mids I so longed for in my first tube amp.

I'll give this thing a higher rating here because it hasn't broken down in 6 months and it arrived beaten the hell up from shipping. HEAVY though!

No opinion.

I, like the guy earlier, had read a bunch of good reviews for the AT-212 as a discount powerhouse. I was wrong. SAVE YOUR MONEY and get a hand-wired Orange or Laney or Engl instead. It's worth it! The B-52 AT-212 cost a little less than $750--for $900, you can get a Laney Lionheart on Musicians Friend, a REAL classic metal's friend. It's cheap, and you get exactly what you pay for.

All said before .This thing does everything .I have a MESA dual rectifier and the cleans espesially kick its ass ,,,espesially the sustain!
With this thing you dont need footpedals ,all the sounds you need are already in the box. 3 channels of everything you could ever need . The cleanest cleans to the most stupid Metal.
Weighs a ton !

If you spend a couple of minutes on it you can get any sound you want . The thing is noisy especially on the lead channel.The blues tones from the first overdrive is really well suited to a vintage strat .Great sustain ( Way better than my MESA ) . The lead channel can get waaaaay too saturated .I have mine set to the 12 o clock position . You have a feature ( for the metal heads , of which I am NOT! ) to scoop the mids to give you that modern Soldano Metal sound .
The reverb on this thing is subtle and could be more rich , but i find playing over a live band,you wouldnt need it more "wet" as the effectiveness to cut through the mix would somewhat diminish .
The footpedal is extremely solidano robust,NOT like tose LINE 6 "Toys" along with the construction of the cabinet (13 ply Birch); which is part of the reason this thing is BULLSHIT heavy . (Still way lighter than my recto). I bought this thing cos it was so cheap .Actaully I went in the shop to get a set of strings and heard this sound from the corner of the shop . I sat and watched for half an hour thinking this this was a boutique amp ,as I hadnever heard of them before . I ended up buying it for the same price as the LINE 6 twin valve thing next to it . Side by side there is no comparison ,especially for the price . Good thing is I'll get good money for the MESA thankful to the Brand whores ( which I am one !!) out there.
Any one who can't get a great sound out of this thing ,really needs to NOT blame the AMP !!It really does it all. I am concerned about the excesive noise on the lead channel though, I may change the valves if it pisses me off further!

I have been told the reverbs are dodgy !And the heat issues ,but I have been witness to none if this.I have the newer ones with the fan installed,( Which is annoyingly loud ). The valves are quality Electro Harmonix for most part. I dont know why they use Crappy chinese valves for the others . I think all the preamp valves are E-H valves.
I have also been told the internals are also a composite of chinese parts which i am a bit worried about !! At the minute.....all is well ,,,fingers crossed

Been playing since .....er 1985....Sheesh thats showing my age !and play mostly 80's Van Halen ,Malmsteen,Stevie Ray Vaughn,and most things in between , bar Death metal .I have a MESA Dual Rectifier ,That does some great things ,but not this versatile . I believe the build quality to be inferior to the MESA ,not externally ,but in the internal componantry of the amp. I hope it lasts and give same the trouble free nature of the MESA.Time will tell . The cleans crap on my MESA and the blues tone are on par if not better !I hate new age metal so apparently thats what this thing does better than a Boogie, But I couldnt tell you . I believe if your gain is so cranked that if you have a Les Paul or a mandolin pluged in and you cant tell the diff.....WTF !!I need to hear the srtings , the wood and most importantly my expression , and thats what this thing does .