Blues Pearl Copperhead

I think the previous review did a good job of detailing the relevant features.

Simply one of the best sounding amps I've ever played.For an incredibly warm, smooth overdriven tone with tons of dynamics this thing is amazing! Sounds great with every guitar I've plugged into it, sinle coils or humbuckers. Sounds great with or without effects. It sounds sooo good, I rarely use effects anymore- just plug and play! I love it.

I've owned it a year and no problems yet. Knock on wood.

Blues Pearl is no longer in business.

I've owned and played, live and in the studio, just about every high end amp out there, from vintage Plexi Marshalls (and all the current breed of "copycats"- some of which are quite good) to the new Bogners, CAE, Trainwreck (and the "copycats"- Allesandro, Callaham...) Dumble (and all the "clones"), Naylor, Vox, and all the new boutique amps etc. etc. etc. I rate this amp among the best of the best. If it were lost or stolen, I'd have a heck of a time finding another one. They don't make 'em anymore. I paid a ton of dough for this amp, but I consider myself extremely lucky to own it. It's now my main amp for live and studio.

Very simple and straight-forward amp. 100 watts, all tube with 4 EL34?s. Just one channel.
Front controls are left to right: (high input) (low input) (pre-amp) (bass) (mid) (master) (Presence).
Rear panel has (on/off) (standby) and two speaker outs.

I like simple amps so this works very well for me. The tone controls work great and give you a good deal of flexibility with your sound. The best ?features? of this amp are the huge transformers and point to point hand wiring.

This amp has two basic sounds and they are both incredible! There are more versatile amps out there, but this amp is just an amazing TONE MACHINE.

Using the low gain input you get a very very warm and dynamic tube overdrive. It?s HUGE sounding! Sounds very close to my 1968 plexi Marshall, but with a character and sound all it?s own. And it?s far better than any of the new plexi wannabe?s that I?ve played. This channel allows you to really crank the amp and get that awesome power tube overdrive that has that natural organic tone and feel of a great plexi Marshall. Of course you have to play it loud to get the power tubes to glow but when you do it?s awesome. Notes just drip from your fingers. I love this channel. Blues Pearl makes great vintage Fender-ish amps (perhaps the best along with Victoria) and this is just what you?d expect from them. The amp cleans up well by just using the volume control on your guitar. I?m going to try using a good attenuator like a THD hotplate to get this tone at lower volumes.

The high gain input was a complete surprise to me. I bought the amp for the full-on plexi thing but I didn?t expect to like this channel so much. It really sounds like a great old plexi with a really good mod to give it a bit more boost. Still very natural and tube sounding but harmonics just leap from the stings, but not overly compressed like most newer amps. You can easily do those cool harmonics things that Satriani does so effortlessly with his amps. Sustains forever but very natural sounding. The notes just seem to swell and get bigger when you hold them and morph into a great controllable feedback the longer you hold onto the note, if you want it to. Probably the best tones at lower volumes of any amp I?ve heard. Even at low volumes it?s still very full sounding with plenty of low end. It does not turn into a tin can at lower volumes. I don?t know what amp out there I can compare this ?channel? to. Maybe a Soldano but much more natural and sweeter sounding. More organic sounding than a Bogner.

Built like a Sherman tank and I?ve never had even the slightest problem. I gig with it without a backup all the time. I just bring along some extra tubes in case I need them, but I?d bring along extra tubes and strings no matter what amp I was using.

Never had any problems so I?ve never had need to call them.

These amps aren?t made any more and mine is one of only 50 ever made. Which is a shame because they are incredibly great amps. All Copperheads have a pseudo snakeskin cover, which normally isn?t my thing, but it?s well done and actually quite cool looking. It fits well with the Copperhead name and matches the amp?s unique quality and character.

This amp is just the coolest and I will NEVER EVER sell it. For the longest time I didn?t even want to post a review of this amp because the more people know about it, the less are my chances of finding one for sale. Why invite competition? Every time I play live someone comes up to me and goes, ?OH MY GOD?WHAT KIND OF AMP ARE YOU PLAYING!???? Happens every time. I get offers to buy it constantly. I thought about taking the Blues Pearl logo off and telling people it?s a stock Marshall JCM800 but I can?t do that to this amp.

Since only 50 were made I don?t think I?d ever be able to find another if it were stolen. But if I could find one I?d replace it with another, of course. I?d love to buy a second one but I can?t find one. I did talk to one guy who owns one and offered to buy it from him and he just said, ?Yeah, Right! I was just going to ask you the same thing.?