Burman Pro 2000 Head

Made in 1978. Bought new from Chappells in Bond Street, London. Returned for repair twice under warranty. Amp would fail when the speaker was unplugged. Once fixed properly it has worked perfectly for 24 years with one exception: I replaced a pair of the KT77 valves a few years back as one of the original valves failed.

It has two channels - one basic and one with three gain controls. Also has pre-amp out and power amp input which can be used as an FX loop. Has a DI output. Voltage selector and speaker impedance selector. There are 4 EQ boost frequencies. There are switches on each channel which attenuate high frequencies.

The three gain controls can be used to get an incredible variety of sounds - something like a Mesa Boogie. You get a standard Boogie type of sound with the gain controls set at 7,7,4. But if you use something like 3,9,9, you get an incredible and unique sound - something like Neil Young's solo in "Hurricane" - the reverb spring gets incredibly sensitive at that setting, so if you give the amp a thump in the middle of a solo, the reverb spring produces some amazing sounds.

Power output is more than I will ever need. Something like 140 watts RMS. I reckon it could power several 4x12 cabs. I use a 2x15 cab with two 12 inch Fane speakers. The three gain controls mean you can get the sound you want at any volume.

Really, this amp is so versatile. Maybe it was a bit too complex for the average musician when it was brought out but they are collector's items now.

Drawbacks: It is really heavy. Even though it is only an amp head it had two carry handles and is best carried by two people. I don't do a lot of gigs, and if I did, I would get something lighter to gig with.

I play a Gibson RD Artist, Guild S60D, Casio MIDI guitar and ShoBud pedal steel. It is great for beefing up the single coil Di-Marzio pickups on the S60D. With the Gibson it is possible to get a George Benson or even a Santana sound. I could go on and on... It will give you almost any sound, from clean and warm to very distorted. It has bags of power, so you can get very loud and still keep the sound clean.

The quality of the distortion can be varied a lot because of the 3 gain controls. You can get quite smooth sounding distortion or more broken distortion, depending on how the controls are set.

Four channel EQ gives more sound shaping possibilities.

The downside of all this flexibility is that it can overwhelm you. The chances of ending up with a not so good sound are increased - which makes it less of a good choice for gigging with. However, if you are into experimentation it is a one of a kind amplifier.

This amp is built like a tank. Has been incredibly reliable for 25 years, apart from previously mentioned problem which was, I believe, a now remedied design fault (and a burnt out valve).

I only ever had it repaired when it was under warranty 24 years ago. It did go wrong twice in the first year but has been fine ever since apart from a burnt out valve. The guy I bought the replacement valves from (as I replaced a balanced pair), at Watford Valves, told me that the point to point wiring of the amp makes it practically unique nowadays - it is just not economic to make stuff like that now. However, the extra performance makes it worthwhile for the connoisseur to seek out amps like this.

If this amp should go wrong in future, I'm sure there will be no problem in finding a valve amp repairman who would love to fix it.

I couldn't bear to part with this amp. I have to admit that I also use a Johnson J-Station for recording - which provides a lot of flexibility and FX. However, I need the Burman for gigging and jamming and it is like a part of me now, having owned it for more than half my life.