Carr Amplifiers Rambler 112 Combo

This amp has all the features it needs. Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Verb, Tremolo, Half power switch.

I use Reverend guitars. I have single coils, P-90s, and Humbuckers. All my guitars sound glorious threough this amp, period.
I play mainly roots rock/alt country, and this amp is the PERFECT amp for me. No overdrive on this amp, but that's rather the point. If I wanted an amp (which I don't) with big overdrive, I'd waste my money on a Mesa.
I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 with this amp, and it sounds glorius. I play some fairly large venues, and tend to use this amp in half-power mode, with the volume about two thirds the way up.
I get the feeling that some of the folks who've reviewed this amp don't know the first thing about class A amplifiers. If you want an amp that has a billion bells and whistles, go get a Line 6, or buy some assembly line junk like Crate or Peavey.

Built like a tank, and as reliable as any tube amp I've ever owned. That said, I always have an extra set of tubes on hand, as you never know when one might give up the ghost.

Steve Carr is not only one of the nicest guys I've ever dealt with, he's also EXTREMELY concerned with the happiness of his customers. I mean, his NAME is emblazoned on the front of his amps, so his whole world is on the line when it comes to customer service. If it breaks, he'll fix it. It doesn't get much better than that

I've owned (and still own) several boutique amps. Matchless, Bad Cat, Bogner, Naylor, Victoria, Dr. Z, and some older Fenders. Thius is my favorite of the lot of them. Period. Hands down.
It's not only the best sounding amp I've ever owned, it's the best sounding amp I've ever heard. Well worth every penny I paid.

This is an update to an earlier review. I owned the rambler for two weeks. After a long gig, I noticed some sort of piercing high end in the extreme top range of the speaker, that I could not get rid of. I spent the whole day in a guitar shop, trying their ramlers, and all showed signs of this unpleasant high end. To put it into perspective, everyone has his own taste, and no one else was bothered by it, but it was enough for me to consider other options. I called, emailed, and even had my store call Steve Carr, and have yet to get a response, not the service I expect for a $2200 amplifier. Furthermore, while I was trying to figure out what to do, I used the amp again, and found the reverb had gone dead. I promptly returned the amp. I am not bashing carr, I wish they'd responded to me, but whatever. They make a great amp, just not the one for me. Mainly, I want to urge readers to thoroughly try something before buying. I spent a couple hours with the rambler, but didn't take my own gear in to the store, something I will never do again. Luckily my shop has a 30 day grace period, a rarity nowadays. I hope this helps some people out, this is a very bright amp, like some fenders, and ultimately it was buzzy with overdrives, at least for me. I'm after a robben ford inspired tone, and oddly I found it with my hermida zendrive into a boogie mark 3 head and openback 1x12. I'm not some metalhead going around bashing anything that won't distort, I love cleans, and I've been doing this for almost half my life. I just want to put things into perspective.

I've heard from everyone else that these guys are great, I wish I'd seen that.

Well documented here, all the features you need, none you don't need,

I have owned too many amps to list here over the past 10 years, and I was tired of my mesa lonestar's muddiness. I also didn't need an overdrive channel, I have a few select pedals that do that for me. i wanted an amp that was simple, but tonefull. I tried all the high end amps I could, and decided that the carr stuff was the best for me, clean, and musical, without any outrageous features and gain, just tone. I saved my money for a good year, sold my boogie, and bought this. If it's any indication of the sound of the rambler, everyone in the store gathered around when I walked out of the amp room with it.
I use telecasters, with fralin pickups, and high quality cables. This amp also allowed me to get rid of my fulldrive, ts808, and AC booster, it really let me downsize my rig. Now my signal chain is, vht valvulator, ernie ball volume, vox wah with TB mod, xotic RC booster, hermida zendrive, and visual sound H2O. I had double the number of pedals before I got the rambler, an eq, to trim the low mids of my boogie, a smooth and slim to try and do the same, and the three drive pedals, just to get a sound I could tollerate. Myzendrive through the rambler nails the most convincing robben ford tone I've heard to date, without spending 3 K on a dumble clone, and minus the brilliant playing that is Robben. The RC gives me some more meat behind the sound, and gives a nice solo boost.
This amp is light as well, a huge plus over the boogie and most blackface fenders I've tried. Also, the clean headroom is amazing. I had serious wories about that, but played an outdoor show for upwards of 600 people, and had the amp on 5, and cut through with no problem. That's about where the amp starts to go into a sort of fender inspired breakup, that's very musical. I also tried the amp cranked in triode mode, and got an amazing cranked deluxe or princeton sound, which reminded me of early larry carlton when I pushed it with the RC booxter.
I hear none of the flappy bass others have mentioned, just don't turn the bass all the way up and you're find. People have to realize, with such a small cabinet, it won't resonate in the low bass frequencies as much as a big box, so keep the bass below 5 and it's fine.
Sorry to ramble, pun not intended, but I love this amp,

I spoke extensively to Eddie Berman of indoor storm about reliability and he assured me that he's used a rambler for years without problems, and the lifetime warantee makes me feel that much better about it. I know Steve Carr will honor this amp if anything happens. Everyone I've talked to says Steve is a great guy, who loves his work, and that's enough for me,

I guess I sort of covered this above,

I just want to say, try this out, if you're going to spend the money, I think it's more of an amp than just about anything in it's price range. It's like the best old fender, but new, and with more power, better components, and frankly, better tone, it has none of the harshness of a lot of fenders I've played. I am amazed by the consistancy of these amps. I've tried around 10 of them, and they all sound fantastic, and very similar. This tells me the carr team is really trying to put out the best product they can, and is doing a great job. I know I sound like an endorcer or something, but this amp just exciees me. I had been going through a period where looking at my gear made me not want to play, I knew I'd be frustrated and would spend my practice time twirling knobs trying to achieve some tone I couldn't have. Now, I just plug straight in to the amp, and play for hours, without even thinking about anything. I know it's a lot of cash, but this amp is completely worth it, in my humble opinion. If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me.
Kurt

I feel compelled to submit this review because of the one given below by "Anonymous." I always question a review that trashes a good product by someone who doesn't have the balls to attach his name to it.
I've had my Rambler about 2 years. It is a single channel class A 6l6 powered 1-12 combo with reverb and tremolo. 28 watts pentode, 14 triode. An external speaker input jack would be nice, but I've used a Y adaptor as Steve Carr recommends to power another single 12 cab and there doesn't seem to be any impedence mismatch thing going on.

OK lets start here with the previous review.
1) Yes it's 28 watts pentode - a SMALL club amp in the vein of a Deluxe Reverb, Dr Z Z-28, Bad Cat 30, etc. What exactly is "average stage volume?" I own several amps of different wattage. The size of the room, the type of gig and number of players, the guitar I'm using, and other factors determine which amp I use at a particular venue. My Rambler sounds wonderful live. I get compliments on my tone all the time when I play it out.

2) Nice full bottom for a single 12". Of course there is no OD in this amp! That's what pedals are for. This reviewer should have looked into a Carr Slant6 or some other amp with channel switching.

3) "The top end is a result of the speaker." What in the world is he talking about? The Kingpin 60 is basically an Eminence V30, a pretty good speaker. I've tried a few other speakers in it. There's an Eminence Red Fang in there now, and it sounds really good. It gives it a little of that British chime and sparkle without losing that 6L6 Fendery thing.

3 (again) One of the best reverbs I've ever heard. Full and lush. I use a slap delay quite a bit, and many reverb units don't work that well with a short delay. I set it at about 9 o'clock and the sound is clear and defined with the delay on, without being muddy.

4) The tremolo seems more similar to me to a Fender tweed or an old Gibson amp than a blackface. Plenty of depth, but I think the speed rate could be a little faster at max. But it sure sounds good.

I mostly play Teles with the occasional Strat, Lindy Fralin Blues Specials. The amp is very quiet.

Never a problem. It even crashed off an airport conveyor belt in it's roadcase without so much as cracking a tube. Very well built, as an amp that costs this much should be.

I haven't had any need to contact Steve Carr, but I've heard from other Carr amp owners that he's pleasant and very accomodating.

I've been playing for 45 years, 40 professionally. I'm down to the Rambler, a Dr Z Maz 38 Sr 2 X 12, a '66 Pro Reverb, a '64 Twin, and an old AC30. At some point or another I've owned nearly every blackface Fender made, several tweeds, Marshalls, a Measa Boogie, Ampegs, old Gibsons, and several I'm sure I've forgotten. I've gigged with Bogners, Bad Cats, Victorias, and God knows what else. This is my practice(triode mode)/small room (pentode)amp. The thing I really love about this amp is the Middle control. At low mid settings, the amp sounds very blackface. Crank up the mids and it gets very tweed-like. Very cool! I purchased this over several other boutique amps I tried - all single 12s, around 30 watts. A great little 28 watt amp! You just need to know what this amp is all about and not expect something it isn't.

I'd love to know which "great amps" the previous reviewer owns. I bet there's a few solid staters in there!

You know what its got... no sense going through it agian.

Wow, this is an overated amp if I have ever heard one. I own lots and this is a nice amp. But for the money, there are many better options out there.

Ok lets start here.
1) Its 14/28 watts. Well the amp cannot keep up at your average stage volume. I dont play loud and this thing just cannot put out a good tone to get over a drummer and fill the room. it may record well but it does not perform live very well at all.

2) The Bottom is weak, it lacks character and there is no OD in this amp. Nothing, nada, what the hell is the point of having a tube amp you cannot push to sound like a tube amp. The amp is built this way its the intended purpose of the design to keep the amp from going into OD but man, give me some kinda dirt to dig into.

3) The Top end is a result of the speaker. that stock speaker is not doing the amp justice. I used a few others and they did offer more organic tones and textures. That eminence in there is pretty toneless. With all the options on the market, even some other good ones from emenience why would you put a crapy speaker in a 2k amp.

3) Reverb. Ya that too is not very good. It lacks the depth and refinement of a good fender. Its not bad, its just not 2k great.

4) Tremelo is there but its pretty weak. Not much depth and the swell is not very good. It does not give you the sweep you need to cover several styles. I think Carr uses the Powertubes to create the effect. I am not sure really, but its not Fenderesque and that my not be a bad thing. Its just not a very good tremelo

This amp is built like a tank. It should run for years and years without an issue. No Faults here

Not very good, wrote a couple of emails looking for some help with parts and specs. Got no reply.

Pretty poor! For VERY small rooms the amp holds up ok, but for a really good blues tone and fat fill the room presence look some where else. This amp just does not have it going on. I took it on trade and knew I would sell it, but I sold it less than a month later. There was nothing there for me to keep and I traded a lesser value amp for it because the other owner felt the same way. I compaired this to 2 other ramblers and they all did sound just about the same. My 5e3 clone has much more mojo and about the same apparent volume as the Rambler. I dont know how this could get such high regards. I have a lot of great amps, and this is not one of them. I sold it as fast as I could. For 800.00 this is a nice amp to have, but any more then that and there are many more options for you play.

This is a simple to use no nonsense 1-12 amp. Nice sounding reverb. One channel. So I suppose it isn't chock full of stuff that you don't really need anyway

This amp is just the best. I have played it for Jazz and Blues, loud and soft and it just always sounds good. It can be a bit bright for solo guitar jazz stuff, but it has tone controls. I also own a Carr Mercury which I use for recoring and quiet jazz stuff. The Rambler is particularly good in a small club. I have never had any trouble being heard, even when playing loud blues. It can hold it's own with most 50 watt amps. Also the tone stays pretty and clean even loud, the amp just sings more rather than sounding farty like a Deluxe would

The reverb broke and Steve Carr sent a new tank at no charge. I guess the new reverb tanks aren't as sturdy as they were 30 years ago, not Carr's fault. Other than that one problem it has worked great for the 2 years I've had it. I always use it without a backup

Steve Carr responded to my email quickly and acted to get my reverb fixed. He was very friendly and helpful

I have played guitar for 36 years and owned a dump truck load of amps. I am very happy with my Carrs. Great sound, great company.
Highly recommended!!!

Standard features for a vintage style amp - full EQ plus reverb, tremolo and pentode/triode switch. The key to the Ramblers features is the wide ranging midrange knob and the pentode/triode switch. Using these two allows the tone and response to go from more blackface to more tweed. I say "more" because in my opinion there is always a sort of blend between tweed and blackface tones going on. I like to turn the mids up and use triode mode for tweedier tones, and keep the mids to 12:00 and under in pentode mode for more blackface tones.

The tones the amp produces sound like a lovely mix of old low powered tweeds and brighter and tighter blackface tones. The reverb is second only to Bruno and /13. The bass control is wide ranging and can be uncontrolled at high volumes when using high bass settings and high output pickups and or heavy picking. There is a lot of bass even with the knob at 9:00.

I've used Strats and Les Pauls with the Rambler with great results. There are some truly stunning tones with a nice Strat. The amp takes pedals very well, I find the best "pedal tones" in triode mode with the EQ knobs set mostly at 12:00 though I will push the mids higher depending on the guitar and pedal. I've used all the Xotic pedals (RC/AC/BB), the MI Audio blueboy and tube zone, The Menatone 6 knob KOB, Cornish G2, Stampede SOV, and the Hermida Zendrive with the Rambler, all with very good results. The KOB into the Rambler with a Les Paul does some very nice Marshall flavored tones. The Blue Boy and the Rambler do some of the nicest smooth and singing tones I've ever heard with a pedal/amp combination, and to get any better I think you would need to buy a two-rock (I've owned mulitple two-rocks and have played 4 different Dumble ODS) The response of the amp is very comfortable - not sure how Steve managed to get the sponginess of a tube rectifier into this amp, but it feels and responds great. While I am not a big fan of power tube overdrive, the Rambler in triode mode gets some very smooth overdriven tones when turned up.

I personally think a strat is the best match with this amp - they just work together so well for chimey clean tones, or thicker, smoother cleans. With a Strat and a nice pedal like the Blue Boy, you can cover a variety of clean and overdriven tones in a small, very well made package. There is a very good reason the Rambler is one of Steve's best sellers after more than 5 years with little or no evolution of the circuit - he got it extraordinarily right the first time. The only 2 amps I've played that can compete with the Rambler in terms of clean tone were a Bruno 45 watt Cowtipper and a Two-Rock Custom Reverb. After a few months of owning my Rambler I noticed a vibrating/fuzzy sound that I incorrectly thought was the speaker (turned out to be a power tube) - I was happy with the Kingpin but thought that I would try something else and put a Cannabis Rex in the amp - made the amp thicker, with more controlled bass and a smoother high end - the high end actually reminded me of my Bruno Cowtipper which has a very sweet and never piercing high end. The Cannabis Rex is also tighter on the low end, but doesn't totally eliminate the knocking or flapping sound you might get when using the bass heavy settings I described above.

I haven't had any problems with my amp after 5 months of heavy use - 1-2 hours a day.

I emailed Steve about my buzzing problem and a tech called me and spent a half hour on the phone going through various things I should test/check. Very happy with the service.

This is not a multifeatured amp, which is an advatage for me in that I just plug in a guitar and get outstanding tones. Reverb is simply the best I have ever heard, not to mention the lovely sounding tremelo. Triode switch is also very cool in that it is a little more tweed sounding, while in pentode mode there is plenty of clear , punchy, blackface style tones. Although there is no master volume, in a live situation I am able to achieve awesome clean to overdriven sounds just by manipulating the pentode/triode controls along with volume and tone controls. Isn't this how a great amp is supposed to work anyway?

Obviously this amp prefers single coils, but place a good od pedal(keeley ts-9) between the Rambler and a Les Paul and you get some of the most beautiful overdriven sounds you will ever hear; Sounds that are clear, smooth, and rich. With a Tele you can get a great blues tone straight into the amp, even at low volumes. I love how you can actually hear the amp morph into natural distortion as you turn up. I am not talking major gain here, but just a loud gritty tone that is perfect for blues and blues based rock. Another sound I like is turning up the amp to around 9 oclock in triode mode along with a Fat Boost. You get all the sustain and grit you need while retaining that "straight into the amp sound". The Rambler is also the most quiet amp I have heard.

I have had no problems yet, and considering the exceptional build quality, I do not foresee any major problems.

n/a

I have been playing for about twelve years and have played Dr Z, Matchless, Vox, Fender,Orange, Boogie, and Marshall amps. This amp is hands down the best musical investment I have ever made(along with a 112 tone tubby cab). This is the kind of amp that inspires you and makes you smile every time you play it. Expensive yes, but to me is worth every penny. This is the amp of a lifetime. Thanks Steve Carr for an amazing product.

2004 Carr
Needs a master volume. Quite loud, sounds better at volum ethat exceeds stage volume for smaller gigs.

Gibson ES-175, Tele, Strats...
full bodied, a room filler, sound is accurate and dictated by the guitar...good for jazz..actaully reminds me of OR80 Orange amps, not any character,though. Quite dull with too subtle of a vibrato. Not a rockin' amp, very midrangey, no squeeze. Boring...returned it. Admittedly, it is the right amp for some styles, but not chord based rock/pop...Incredibly quiet!

Probably pretty tough...

Boring, not a pice of design art, either...a good bone tone player will be rewarded by it. My stle of music uses amplifiers to shape and add to the sound in a musical way...I think it is overpriced for the features and lack of versatility.

I play blues, blues-rock, jazz. My pro playing days are behind me. However, I have a recording studio at home and play extensively.

Has all the features a vintage-style amp should have -- volume, bass, treble, reverb and tremolo. Additionally, there's a switch for pentode/triode operation. No need for channel switching, effects loops, headphone jacks. Self-biasing if you want to switch the tubes. Not a feature I intend to use but nice to have the option.

I play 90% with Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissues and 10% with a Strat. The Les Pauls are equipped with boutique PAF replacement pickups (Timbuckers, Rolphs, Crossroads). I'm all about vintage tone. The Rambler is perfect for my style of playing. I play with mild overdrive. It's important that the character of the guitars, amps and, most of all, my playing come through. The Rambler is an outstanding, transparent, clean amp. Dimed, it has a sweet, singing sustain. At lower volumes it also sings but requires an overdrive/boost pedal to achieve the same sound. I use a Fulltone FullDrive2 with an 18w converter which works great with the Rambler. The pentode mode (28 watts) sounds very tight and punchy but I generally prefer the triode mode (half power - 14 watts) which I find warmer, richer and more "vintage" sounding.

Build like a tank. Point-to-point wiring. No PCB anywhere. Only had the amp for a month but looks very rugged.

Steve Carr is exceptionally friendly and helpful. I had a concern regrading the tremolo and he addressed my concern promptly and was very informative. The amp comes with a lifetime warranty.

I've been playing 40 years. I played professionally for 12 of them. I own a Carr Mercury which is also a superb amp but with a very different character. I have the four above-mentioned Historic Reissue Les Pauls and a Strat. I mike the Rambler with an Shure SM57 into a Yamaha 2816AW hard-disk recorder and burn straight to CD. The Rambler has a sweet, warm, thick, creamy, vintage tone that perfectly expresses the sounds I hear in my head. I checked out a Low Power Fender Tweed Twin, a Gibson GA-5, Fender Tweed Champ and THD Univalve before buying this amp. I sold my Marshall TSL 602 and TSL 601 amps after buying the Rambler and the Mercury. I would replace them in a heartbeat. Expensive? Sure, but worth every penny.
I've owned several vintage plexi Marshalls and black-face Fender amps over the years and the Carr Rambler sounds better than all of them.