Carlsbro Top 100 Head

Mine is 1973 amp, i buy it with a slave output added.
Bass, treble, middle, volume... no presence, gain, etc... only 4 controls but these adjust very well the TONE!

These carlsbro amps have partridge transformers...

To describe this amp in a few words, seems to be a marshall jtm100 but with EQ band suppression (with bass, treble and mid to zero there is no sound). This affect the tone a lot better and give more tone versatility and I never seen a vintage amp with this spec!

So the "only" four controls adjust very well the tone, when in a marshall, comparing, 8 controls does not have sense...

It sounds fantastic at any volume (marshall plexis tends to be poor at low volumes).

Perfect for play 70's rock as led zep, ac-dc, or everithing between.
Fantastic marshally crunch, sparkle cleans, very ballsy round low end (I must put the bass control to zero for have the same crunch of a marshall plexy)

Never need a support. Mine has original tubes, caps, etc and work perfectly.

Does it exist?

Never heard a vintage amp sounding better, made with good materials, so reliable and true rock sounding.
I consider it better than any british amp as marshall, hiwatt, orange or vox!

I consider that the reason of "low used-price" is cause carlsbro does not have "name" in the world except for UK...

In the future I will search also for a Carlsbro Combo to play out...

This is a follow-up to my last review...

In my initial review,I stated that this amp gets great "semi-clean tones...".Well,since I've switched over to using a 1987 3 pickup Gibson Les Paul Custom loaded with a Seymour-Duncan "JB" at the bridge,a SD P90 in the middle,and a SD "Jazz" in the neck position...I am now able to achieve thee most amazing clean tones I've ever experienced!!! The Gibson(compliments of Steve from the group "39 Stripes")was wired with a rotary pot that gives me 11 alternate pickup configurations.I was using a LP Standard loaded with a Duncan "Distortion" pickup.
This is the most amazing amplifier I have ever heard...it's that simple! Oh yes...I ended up selling the THD BiValve.It's a great amp-but its services are no longer needed.
Special thanks to Steve of "39 Stripes" (Check-out their latest cut "Mustard Seed").And also to Mark Cameron for his incredible technical prowess.This amp gets a solid 10+!

This is the same amp that was reviewed here by Mr.Danbury.It is a 1973 Mark Cameron modded Carlsbro Top 100 head.It features are straight forward...just plug n' play! It's fueled by 2 massive Partridge transformers(with no choke),4 Tesla EL34 power tubes,and 2 x 12AX7 preamp tubes.The chassis has 3 extra ports for adding more 12AX7 stages...complements of Carlsbro.Controls consist of bass,mids,treble,and volume...with presence,and MV added by Mark Cameron.It has Ohm select at 15,7.5,3.75 Ohms.Power feed select at 110,200,225,and 250 volts.This thing is true "British" all the way.It's been owned by several players,and I do believe it's the only Carlsbro amp Mark has ever modded.

I don't think there's too much the "Cameron" Carlsbro won't do.I'm nailing the hell out of Randy Rhoads "Diary" tones (with and added bit of low end that IMO though Randy's sound was lacking).Slash tones...forget about it! Angus Young...it's in there! Gary Moore...please byotch! Eddie Van Halen...I don't feel tardy? This amp sounds like the best sounding Marshall that was never made!
Back off the preamp,and your in early 70's "Rock" territory for sure...think Thin Lizzy "Black Rose" here.Back off a little more (with the FoxRox "TZF")..."House Burning Down"! With the mods 90% bypassed (via the MV) I'm just nailing Santana tones.To have this kind of definition,at the most unholy of gain levels is unbelievable...with no noise either! It take most builders 3 channels to cover this much ground.Once more-you can just back off of the guitars volume knob,and achieve nearly the same effect! In short...if I could f**k this amp...I would!
The harmonic overtones have to be listened to-to be believed.This truly is a one-of-a-kind amplifier.For my crystal clean tones I use a THD BiValve amp...so no worries there... Oh,don't get me wrong-with the Cameron mod bypassed(via the MV control),I can easily envoke some of the greatest semi-clean tones too...Zeppelin anyone?
One of the key tonal aspects of this amp is its musical low-end tonal response.Finding a high-gain amp with a musical low-end has been my #1 gripe since my high-gain tone quest started.Well...my tone quest is over!(Famous last words...?)
This is the LOUDEST amplifier I have ever played! The only amp I can think of that can push this kind of air is the early Hiwatt 100's with the Partridge transformers.From what I understand,the Carlsbro Top 50 was made as a "clone" to the original Marshall "JTM" amplifier.(The Top 100 circuit is identical to the Top 50...just double the wattage).With the Partridge xformers-most British players claim that Carlsbro ended up producing the better sounding amplifier.

No problems so far...

I hear Carlsbro has thee best customer support in the biz.I would more likely have it looked at locally...but there's the "Cameron" mod issue to think about.I don't want to display the circuit(out of respect for Mark)...so I would contact Mark prior to any local repairs.

I have already cast an ancient Galic "death-spell" on this amp.This should take care of any would-be "hooligan" that would steal it from me...so beware!
A Cameron mod doesn't come cheap...$950.00 on average! Plus,with his new amp line...I don't even know if he's modding amps anymore? Also,finding another Carlsbro Top 100 is nearly impossible hear in the USA.
I have owned nearly all of the high-end/high-gain "boutique" amplifiers out there.I feel confident that this amp will CRUSH any amplifier made! That's an arrogant statement...I know.But my opinion stands nonetheless...

this one was made in 1975. it is a single channel, completely handwired valve amp, except the power supply is on a printed circuit board (pcb). the tone stack is on the control pots. it is the simplest 100 watt circuit i have seen in my 45 years of playing guitars through valve amps. it has massive partridge transformers. the valve are 1-12ax7 (ecc83) preamp tube, 1-12ax7 (ecc83)phase inverter, and 4 eL34 output tubes. no frills, no effects loop for cheating. the circuit is so clear and clean You hear every mistake You make. if You are not a solid guitar player that plays accurately, You will not like this perfect circuit. the reason i give it a 10 on versatility is because it will do anything You want it to do for a single channel amp. the eq is the most interactive i have ever experienced. when You turn the midrange down, it sweeps down like we always expected but never got. loud is not a strong enough word when describing this heads power. it is chest pumping trouser flapping loud. this is a perfect eq circuit for any tone i could dream up. except maybe the super thin super clean fender sound that i despise. it might do it, but it would be almost abominable for me to try on such a great piece of work. i use this for jamming with the buddies, church worship, and praise and worship concerts. thank You JESUS!!!

i have been a marshall man my whole professional playing life. about a year ago i bought a sound city pa120 that had partridge transformers in it. i was blown away at the fidelity. it made me play accurately but still had the warm smoothness that a marshall had, but just a little cleaner and much more articulate. i thought my search was over until i got this carlsbro. i could not be happier. because of the interactive eq i am now converted forever, unless something beats this, which i can't seem to find anywhere. after going through all the marshalls i've had, from the 60's models through the 90s models, and after an engl powerball, and after all the ampegs, gibsons, nesa boogies, metro amps, You name it, i am done for mt search for tone. i love fat cleans that make Your heart melt like butter. this amp does that better than anything i have ever heard. i also like super saturation, this amp does that better than anything i have ever heard, when the right pedal is used. it's not a master volume head, there is only one volume control. when You dime it, it sounds like most british amps do. with just a little less gain than a marshall. but boy when i put my pedal into it, and i go for the saturation, it is tone heaven. anything from satriani to extreme scooped metal. i almost soil my drawers it's so good. and i have never been able to get there before. even after spending thousands of dollars through the years, i never could find the perfect tone. i have now, and it cost me $600. as far as noise? it is dead quiet. i am so impressed and converted, i will build a duplicate of this head, and use it till i either die, or JESUS takes me home. thank You JESUS for such a great amplifier! for You alone will i use it!

using a handwired british valve amp powered through a variac, reliability is not an issue.

i asked online, and they answered within 30 minutes.

45 years of playing. everything from beatles to extreme metal scooped hard core guitar work. we have several marshalls, one sound city, one hiwatt, several modelers and pedals, just about most that is out there we have at the studio. we sold the engl powerball. nasty preamp tube distortion. but for this carlsbro top 100, i would have paid $50,000 for it if i had it. i love everything about it, and hate nothing about it.

This is a vintage 1973 Carlsbro Top 100, a single channel, 100-watt, 4 x EL34 powered, 2 x 12AX7/ECC83 preamp amplifier head with two inputs (low and high gain), Treble, Bass, Middle and Volume/Gain.

It is a plug and play amp and does not have any other features stock, that's why I had it modified with a (PPIMV) master volume and presence control. There was a desire to install an effects loop or insert but I was told it couldn't be done due to the amp's circuitry design. The tech who performed the mods is Mark Cameron, who's quite a legend in amp mods and tweaking. He is also a shredding player!

I use this amp for rehearsal and live work since it has the master volume, it can be tamed volume-wise! Before the master was installed, this thing was terribly loud. Mark also did some tone tweaking with the amp circuitry alomng with the master volume and it is now totally sweet! Since I'm using an array of overdrives and fuzz pedals, I don't need to dime the gain control.

I use this amp with a '60 RI Mexi-built sunburst strat that is the best axe I have ever played in 35 years of playing. The strat has Kinmann noiseless p/us in the neck and middle and a Duncan Hot Rails with Series/Parallel push-pull switch to almost get a single coil sound without any hum.

I have been through a bunch of styles from 70s and 80s rock, to metal to alternative to post punk and nu-metal/whiny-ass stuff. During this journey I have used a zillion amps from Fenders to Marshalls to solid state/modeling to high gain ala: VHT; Soldano X99; Mesa MKIII/MKIV; CAE 3+SE; you get the drift. After all this, I feel I am coming back around to preferring a single channel amp, analog pedals and the 'low tech' approach to getting my sound.

The amp is very quiet unless you dime the gain which I don't. I set the gain on around 10:00 or so, dial-in the EQ knobs and presence control, turn up the master volume just a bit (not very much, this is a very loud 100 watt amp) to get a fat, chunky almost JTM45 clean tone and use the pedals for pushed clean, crunch and high gain. It's a lot of fun to rediscover how cool pedals are again!

I can nail country-compressed twangy leads and double-stops to Voxish pushed clean up to plexi crunch tones to JCM 800 grind up to VHT UltraLead slam and punishment. All with combining the pedals in different ways and using the guitar's volume pot.

Since this is a 100 watt amp head and not a high gain-type by design, the clean tones of the amp shine through and are awesome. I would describe it as a JTM45 100 watter with EL34s. Glassy, a bit compressed, killer highs w/o being shrill and NO low end flub like I have heard on the real JTM45s. And clean tones with just a touch of breakup and chunk! Perfect for the way I need it to be for the pedals.

With the pedals, I can go from a glassy, pick scratchy clean to over the top mayhem in one button. It takes some getting used to after having MIDI this and processor that and amps with three or four channels on them!

This has been a reliable amp, in fact it has had the same Tesla not JJ!!) power tubes for ages and still sounds killer. While I'm always careful and baby the amp, it's vintage and since something could go wrong (but probable won't) I always have a spare amp head.

Even a blown power tube that's not the amp's fault can take out a head like now and destroy an output trannie. Then you're dead live. Or, you have to have a modeling amp/simulator pedal board and sound like shit right into the PA!

Carlsbro was very helpful when I e-mailed them. They gave me the date of manufacture from the serial #, sent me a wiring schematic that I gave to Mark Cameron when he modded the amp and were generally very nice to a guy that had questions about a 32 year old amp!

As I stated above, I have been playing for around 35 years and I'm 49 going on 50. I still can wail and surprise a lot of folks when I tell them how old I am!

I would try to snag another one if it were lost or stolen. I now like it that much.

I like it because it's old and funky and sort of ugly and then it blows the doors off when I play live!

I bought it on a lark, had it modded, sold it on eBay (???!!!) and bought it back form the guy I sold it to!

If it had reverb it'd be cool, but hey!