CeriaTone DC30

I bought this on sale as a fully preassembled head unit. See other reviews for features. Ie. this amp was fully done by Nik and his team, so there is no room for me to mess anything up with my amateurish skills.

I find it quite snooty for previous reviewers who gave this a '1' to say : 'just listen to a REAL matchless' or a 'real BADCAT'. This amp, regardless of price gives a pristine tone and is on a much higher level than anything close to its price. I regularly play through my Badcat18 and my vintage AC30 and this amp more than holds its own:

Great when driven ->effects loop (delay and reverb).
Cleans are super expressive whether it's aggressive pick attack or subtle finger picking.
Amazing for blues with just a tubescreamer in front.
Mastervolume is suprisingly usable.

(caveat I mainly use channel one, as I haven't figured out the rotary knob yet on channel two )

Time will tell, but so far no issues. Remarkably little noise when not used. Haven't opened it up but i assume lead-dress and soldering were spot on.

Nik is great and responds right away. He has been very helpful.

A '10' rating in this category is supposed to mean 'Fantastic Value'-- that is exactly what this DC30 is. Pure value. Love playing through this. I would absolutely go with another one of these. Maybe in the future get a preassembled Dumble clone.

I own three other Ceriatones, an Overtone, an Express & a 20 watt TMB Marshall, and the DC30's attention to detail & build quality is exceptional as with all products in the Ceriatone range. When you consider the value for money & build quality- these amps are off the scale in terms of allowing mere mortals like myself to own and enjoy 'boutique' quality amps & tone at reasonable cost. The DC30 is the most recent addition to my Ceriatone collection- and is fast becoming my choice for clean & crunch tones - the Overtone I use for it's amazing lead tones. Two channels, one voiced essentially as a Top Boost Vox AC30, the other has an EF86 as a pre-amp tube and has much more gain & midrange... think 'Keef Richards/Start Me Up' tone- and your close- it will do nice legato sustain with a little help from a tubescreamer or such. EL84's power the output section- and there's an extremely useful half power switch to around 17 watts- although I found this is still extremely loud! I easily kept up with my drummer's usual heavy handed assault- in fact he asked me to turn down (yeah right) - this is one LOUD amp!

I use it with the usual gamut of Fenders & Gibsons- all sound amazing through this amp- I play Classic Rock with a sprinkling of 60's psychedelia - a wide range of styles and tones are needed; plus the day job is lecturing in Music Technology at College, where I regularly record studio tracks with my students who are learning studio engineering etc. This amp sounds fabulous recorded too- forget all that lifeless 'modelling' crap- this is the real deal, with some quality mics this amp records so well and with minimal post production tweaking- awesome. I was really amazed at the clean tones of this amp- hooked up with a pair of Celestion alnico Gold's it sounded a million $$$'s- no really! Bell tones from a Strat took on almost a 3D quality- ludicrous amounts of dynamic range & headroom. You really have to sharpen up your technique with this amp- no fluffing notes here guys- all notes are reproduced with alarming clarity, and this really improves your playing- if you can stand the embarrassment of having you mistakes so clearly reproduced!

Looking inside the amp- it really is a work of art- all soldering and wiring harness are executed to almost military spec- all hand wired- how Nik does this level of work and makes these amps available to mortals is beyond me... I had it checked over by the electronics professor at College, and he said he couldn't match the quality of soldering and execution on display here- 'nuff said! I've docked one point for the rather cheap pilot light holder which broke immediately when I had to replace the bulb! Easily remedied though, and hey- there had to be some cost cutting somewhere!

Nik is now super-legendary in his approach customer support- in fact I've just emailed him to buy some more stuff & ask some rather mundane questions and he responded almost instantly. It was only after I finished our conversation that I realized it was 3am in Malaysia!!!! Does he ever sleep I wonder!? Not much point shipping amps back to him really due to cost - but these amps are made so that any amp tech worth his salt should repair these babies in no time- Nik will also send larger components like transformers very quickly should you need 'em...

I've been playing professionally & making a living as a music teacher for over 30 years- I've also worked as a sound engineer & guitar tech to some famous names and feel I really know my stuff... whilst I understand some of the sour grapes on forums here & on Harmony with regard to Nik's work- you have to understand that ALL amps are essentially clones of others- most can be traced to Leo Fender's original designs, and he got the basic circuits from military tube designs from the WWII !!! - Ceriatone make classic amps available to mere mortals like me without huge bank balances... besides- you pay your money & make your choice- 'nuff said.....

My Ceriatone is about 18 months old. It was ordered as a built amp in a head box. Features are the same as others have mentioned.

Don't believe what some dingbats have said about the quality of the parts. The DC30 kit features transformers by Promitheus Audio, good quality resistors, caps, switches, pots. All of the techs that have had a look inside this thing have comment on the build quality and and the quality of the parts!!!

I work full time as a muso/producer. I had previously heard a few other ceriatone amps and was impressed. I just had to know what the hype was about with the DC30 - I'm somewhat happy...especially with the cleans this thing can produce. Most expensive production amps can't even compare with it when it comes to how alive and 3D the clean sounds are.

I had JJ valves in it but have since changed the ef86 for nos Valvo, the other preamp valves are TungSol. Mullard made it a bit bright for my liking. I'm using the two GZ32/5V4 rectifier valves which sounds noticeably smoother sounding.


I use mainly tele, strat, and common guitars with single and double coil pups. The most useful thing I could mention here is that I have the ongoing opportunity to compare this amp with other amps... you name it - it holds up and compares very well too.

The best thing about this amp is the cleans. They are very three dimensional and alive sounding amps. The normal ch, IMO, doesn't take drive pedals as well as the EF86 ch... the EF86 sounds AMAZING with dirt pedals but it's a bit thinner. So, I mix the two ch together with an ABY box. The first ch I eq for fattness and the EF86 is chimey - this sound has sound engineers coming up to me after gigs wanting to check out what I'm using and tell how well I cut through the mix - say no more!

It's mainly a clean amp with a little grit if you need it. It's a bit fizzy when driven hard but if you experiment with valves and speaker combinations you'll find something that will work for you. If you pick the wrong speakers it can sound very toppy and horrid - but if you have half and idea of what you are doing you'll find that most speaker combinations will work.

The best rock sound I had straight from the amp was into G12-65... at the moment I'm using a THD cab with the longhorn and vintage - with my pedal board and the right guitar I can doing literally and gig you through at me.

If this amp is only 80 percent as good as the original for only 20 percent of the price then I'm really happy - if you want the real thing don't complain if a 'kit amp' doesn't sound the same. However, if you want to have a go at this amp understanding it is a kit then you won't be sorry.

Ain't nothin gonna happen to this thing. It's solid!!!

I'd say that the transformers might go but they're made by Promitheus Audio so I trust them. All other parts are of good quality, build is good...etc etc.

I've left it on for hours and hours during gigs and recording sessions and it just keeps on going.

Communication is good. I had an issue with another kit/model but it was cheaper to get it fixed in my country rather than send it back to Malaysia... in that situation Nik wanted to know how it went - kinda the opposite of what some dudes were saying.

If you're going to buy a Ceriatone don't expect perfection - they make kits for goodness sake. Having said that I don't believe you can go wrong. Pick what you want, kit or built, and just go with it.

If stolen I'd replace with the Overtone - just for something different, but I'd still go with Ceriatone, and then after a few months I'd be pining for 'that sound' again and would order another DC30.

It definitely does everything my son needs it to do. It's straight-forward with not a lot of bells and whistles (superfluous ones you'll find on other amps) but everything it does it does well and the half power switch in the back makes this perfect for home studio use (believe me, it's plenty loud).

Top marks for the sound quality...we've had others verify it in addition to our ears. It sounds clean when he wants it to and sounds dirty when he's reaching for that sound.

Built solid as a tank - we've only had it for about a week but so far no problems and I seriously doubt we'll have any in the future.

Nik is, without a doubt, one of the best on the WWW when it comes to customer service. He answers questions quickly and always does so kindly. He's been of great help as we were deciding about purchasing an amp and answered all of questions with insightful remarks.

We'd purchase from him again in a heartbeat!

My son also has a Fender Twin '65 reverb sitting alongside this new Ceriatone and I have to say the Ceriatone is more than likely going to be the one he'll have forever. My son played his Les Paul Goldtop, his Explorer and his Strat and all sounded great through the DC-30. We went for a mix of Celestions: Vintage 30 and G12H30 in the cabinet we had custom built. Actually had a head cabinet and a speaker cabinet built.

This DC-30 is the head only model. It???s features appear to be the same features offered in the Matchless C-30 amps. It is about 9 months old.

The Channel one preamp sections has two 12AX7's and Channel Two has one EF86. The two 12AX7's in Channel 1 create a parallel-triode circuit with interactive bass and treble. The one EF86 in Channel 2 consists of a high-gain pentode coupled to a six-position tone switch. This six-position tone switch allows for quick dial-in of new tones and an easy return to settings. Has a "high treble" cut control, master volume with a bypass feature that offers flexible control of the power amp section.

The power amp has one 12AX7 phase inverter which drives four EL84 power tubes. The rectifier circuit used one 5AR4 for a quick attack or the use of two 5V4's for a smooth round response.

This DC-30 also has an tip-ring effects loop, a half power-mode switch (a conservative 30 watts switching to 15 watts), output impedance selector (4, 8, 16 ohms) and a speaker phase-reverse switch. Don???t be fooled by the speaker phase-reverse switch; this can add tone, too!

First, let me tell you what I was looking for, tonewise. I was looking for that lavish, musical, blooming, 3D tone that I had heard in some of the Matchless amps I played. I don???t think I have ever heard it in another brand. I equated this sound with the EF86 tube channel. And what I mean by saying that this tone was in ???some of the Matchless amps I played???, it that this tone wasn't in all of them. This could be due to the age or brand of preamp tubes or the condition of the power amp tubes or the age or condition of some of the caps or because the builder wasn't as careful on some days as he was on other days. There are lots of reasons why the same brand and model of amp may not sound the same as the next one on the assembly line, but for me it was about the tone in my head, the sounds I had heard, and what I was looking to get.

My first choice was a used Matchless to save some money, but even used Matchless amps are not cheap, and if I buy a used one, I could be buying some else???s problems and end up sinking even more into it to get it to sound the way I wanted it to sound. And then there is the problem of hearing used amps. Since there are not many Matchless amps around, at least not in relation to other brands, actually finding one to play and test is not always an easy chore, either.

So I did lots of research and learned about various amp builders that offered clones of famous amps in kit form or ready to play form. This way I could get a new tube amp, not one that was 10 or 15 years old and needed to have the caps replaced. I play amps, but I am not a builder so this narrowed the field even more. I researched what was available in the ready to play clones and only found a handful that had a reputation of supposedly recreating the tone I was looking for, and one of them was Ceriatone. After some communication with Ceriatone and some Ceriatone owners on some of the guitar forums and knowing my own money limits, I decided to look for a used Ceriatone DC-30, which other owners claimed was capable of producing the tones I was looking for.

I looked for quite a while until I found one for sale that was not very old, and had the features I wanted, plus, it came with a stock Ceriatone cabinet. Ceriatone will customize amps for folks and add or subtract features so you need to know what you want in an amp and if the amp you are considering has these same features before you buy.

I bought this amp, and while I probably paid a hundred or so more dollars than I should have, after it arrived and I plugged it in, I didn???t have any doubts that it was the one.

The used Ceriatone DC-30 I bought has the elusive, lavish, musical, blooming, 3D tone that I had heard in some of the Matchless amps I played and I couldn???t be more pleased with the way it sounds or responds to my playing. And this is the tone of the second channel, the EF86 cannel, but the tones out of Channel One are not bad either!

I have played it extensively, taken it apart, and put it back together, and can say that this amp is well built. The wiring is exceptional, the components are top class, and it comes together like it was all meant to come together. I expect this amp to last as long or longer than any of the Mesa or Fender or Peavey or other amps I have owned and played.

I play an ESP Esquire with Seymour Duncan 59 pickups. No pedals. Just guitar to amp.

I am experimenting with an A/B pedal and jumpering the channels as this is the way some users claim that they maximize the sounds from these DC-30 amps, but I have not learned enough to share.

And don???t forget that the other part to the magic of the Matchless tone is often attributed to the fact that Matchless puts two mismatched Celestion/Matchless speakers in the same cabinet and then wires them as 4 ohms. For example one cab they used to offer was a Matchless 2 x 12 that had one Greenback and one G12h30 wired at 4 ohms. Lots of cab sounds great with the DC-30 though; it

This amp is built to last. Great cabinet, top drawer components, and made by a careful, meticulous builder. EL84 tubes in Class A amps run hot and burn up tubes regularly, so I plan to add a fan later to see if this will help increase tube life.

Nik is very prompt in answering emails and always answers every question. He often answers the same day. Ceriatone has best customer service I have ever seen. A few months back I emailed Matchless and I still haven???t heard back from them.

Nothing else like this amp in its price range. It even sounds better than some of the more expensive boutique amps that we have been able to compare it to since I got it. Very well done all the way around. If you know what you want, see if Ceriatone has it; this amp is simply great.

All you need, 2 channel with simple control

same as previous reviewer, it sound horrible. This is a good sounding amp for the price, but you woN,t get the Matchless tone and vibe witht hat thing

Parts are the cheapest you can find, don't expect much in term of reliability, both transformer look like a joke

Very good customer support before youa ctually buy the amp, whole other story when your order have been placed.

I've been playing for the last 34 years, and that thing is ok if you haven't heard a Matchless yet, but once you will take a listen to the real thing, you will understand that your ceriatone is bothing like it.

Good, just like a Matchless DC-30, same control ans switch, very basic layout

Guitar: 59 Les Paul Reissue, 58 Les Paul reissue, 57 Strat reissue and custom shop Strat
No effect, very basic setup ; guitar / monster cable / amp / Bad Cat 2x12 Cab with V30

How does it sound ? I bought it as a backup for my '94 Matchless DC-30 (sampson era)

That things doesn't sound anything like a real DC30 ! :(

Nice breakup ? Gone
Nice Gain ? Gone
Nice Chimey Clean tone ? Gone

That things soung horrible ! I've tried everything to like that amp, but it's been a big 8 months of pain, finally sold it and bought a Bad Cat Black Cat 30 non-reverb... The Black Cat is so great that it even replace my matchless as my primary amp...

The Ceriatone was totally useless, doesn,t sound anything like the real thing... Why ?

Bad Tranny, first
correct layout, but not true point-to-point like a read DC30 (turret board instead), no Teflon coating, cheapers parts and way too much wire going from A to Z !!!

Can't, had no problem, but the tranny looks very very very cheap, almost Radio-Shack Quality :(

Can,t say anything about it

This is a piece of junk, if you wan't the DC30 sound, buy a Matchless or a Bad Cat, I know it will cost much more (2000$-3000$) but you will get what yu pay for !

This is the same thing with tht amp, you gat what you pay for, in other words you won't get much !!! Even the 150$ Blackheart amp sound much better !

If you,re looking for that Matchless DC30 sound, you will need to look elsewher, no doubt about it !

My DC 30 was made in mid to late Jan. 2008,was delivered to my door in Ketchikan Alaska on Feb.3 2008. I opted for the completed chassis with tubes, (I believe Nik calls this configuration option four)as I am an experienced woodworker and would greatly enjoy building my own head style cabinet.
As I had read all of the reviews on Harmony Central of this amp,I ordered it with no modifications so I knew what I was getting and was very pleased with it . In my humble opinion,one doesn't buy an amp like this for bells and whistles that mostly don't get used anyway.Or,if they do,are usually in the way. With a Morley AB switching box,it's easy to access either preamp channel or combine the two for very versatile results.

I use this amp with a custom made Strat with active (Reflex)pu's,as my main working guitar,a custom Tele with GFS Blade style humbuckers,an Ibanez semi hollow body Les Paul style guitar with stock humbuckers as well as several other Tele's and Gibson style (scale length)configurations that I build myself.
As the amp arrived two days before I was to begin my vacation, I took it with me as I would be visiting my brother who is also a very acomplished Guitarist and woodworker and it would be a fun project to build the amp cabinet as well as a coupla speaker cabs assuming I could find some suitable raw speakers to load them with. Longer story short,I found a pair of used alnico speakers in a local music store,Finished the cabinets, plugged it in , fired it up in my brothers shop,(flourescent lighting exclusively)Plugged in one of my custom Tele's,hit the standby switch,with the controls set at 12 o'clock on the clean channel, strummed an open E chord and nearly pee'd down my leg for the joyous sound I was hearing. After comping through a bunch of big fat four note chords (Duke Ellington,Hoagey Charmichael, Bob Wills etc.), I plugged into the EF86 channel and ran through the "Fatman Routine" (Leslie West,Eric Clapton,ZZ Top etc.). I was very pleasantly amazed with the way every pickup combination spoke with a very distinct and individual voice,clean or distorted. As is stated in other reviews, the attack dynamics of this amp are extremely responsive. Also this amp is incredibly quiet,even in the presence of the afore mentioned flourescent lighting (on the same leg of 120 as the amp).It goes from nothing to exreme roar in the most astonishing way.
I have since played all of my different Guitars through this amp and I have to say, that I haven't been able to find a combination that doesn't work very to extremely well for any style I would be inclined to play. It does not do "Mosquito Metal" without a pedal in front of it,but , that's what pedals are for right? I wish I could give it a 15. This is the first amp I've ever owned that I can honestly say "it dosen't have reverb but it sounds so good without it that I don't even miss it...It truly sounds that good...

As the amp is realitively new, I really can't say how reliable it is yet,however, I can say that when I opened the box,removed the bubble wrap and checked out the wiring,I didn't know if I was looking at a toss up between an extremely meticulously layed out and assembled amplifier or what I would liken to a high end jewelry store showcase. It is that well made.The guys at Ceriatone have absolutely got it right...

As this amp is a straight ahead class A hand wired,point to point design and built like a tank, I don't anticipate any problems other than the usual change of tubes and re bias, and any bench man can do that , I can even do it myself.
Dealing with the company is effortless as they always get back to you in a very timely fashion. They are inordinately eager to be helpful and to answer any and all questions Before and AFTER you buy their product in a very friendly and respectful way.

I've been playing Guitar since 1959. I've owned Fender, Gibson, Vox, Marshall, Laney, Lab Series,Trace Elliot, Crate and probably a few that I can't even remember any more.
I have a large PA system Peavey SP1's And 18 inch subs. 1400 rms.mains 800 rms. monitors.
I use various Fender and Gibson scale guitars.
I've played professonally most of my adult life (Duke Ellington and Hank Williams Sr.to Sniffy Dog Poop) and pretty much every thing in between.
If this amp was lost or stolen, I would be on the internet talking to Nik ordering up a new one the next day. In fact, I'll be ordering one of his Fender Super amps as soon as my check book recovers from all the fun I had on my vacation.
I chose to buy this amp over the competition originally because of the price but after dealing with Nik and the guys at Ceriatone I think I'll Probably always look there first for the best buying experience I've had in many many years.
The amp is truly magical,every setting useable, Love it, love it, love it!!!

Firstly I just wanted to make it clear I have no idea who Jum is!

I thought I'd answer some of the stuff Nik himself posted (yes I understand profiling)

Basically the design is good (its a Matchless copy after all) the sound is good (as you'd expect from a matchless design) the build quality is good, but the components used are cheap imitations of the real thing and thats a real shame as it could be SUCH a good amp.

The next thing is THIS IS NOT CHEAP. The base amp is $700, shipping and duties $200, Cabinet $300 and speakers $200, thats $1500 NOT CHEAP, not expensive I agree BUT DEFINATLEY NOT CHEAP

As I've said, so long as you can put up with a noisey amp, the basic underlying sound is excellant. Its just the howling EF86 it was sent with and the very poor quality ECC88's

With a change to a RFT the howling stops, changing to a Dario Miniwatt makes the sound even better, but still a bit of microphony.

But its the clickjs, bangs and fuzzes from the rest of the components thats the real annoyance.

Its well built

As I've said below, absolutley non-existent. Nic needs to hire an engineer to give genuine technical support. Sorry Nic, nice guy that you are, and indeed it is true you answer emails at all times day and night, but you patently don't understand valve amops and specifically this design. You need someone who can give solid engineering based suggestions, my 14 year old son can already talk more sensibly about amp design than you can.

I really don't want to be rude, you are obviously a nice guy and you quite clearly want to support people, but telling them to go buy a NOS Mullard (at about $150) to replace something you've supposedly tested is ridiculous, not to mention telling someone it was their own fault that the tubes you supplied are microphonic becuase they fitted the amp into a combo! ever thought of telling them that BEFORE they buy?

as stated below

I built this amp from the Ceriatone Kit in September of 2007.
I have 4 amps now and I feel that this one is my most versatile. I had a Traynor YGL-3a from before, and have built 2 more Ceriatone's since this one (JCM800 2204 and a BF VibroChamp). I love all my amps, but this would be the one if I could only have one. I play mostly rock, with some hard rock, punk, and blues. It isn't my go-to amp for punk, but it can pull it off (which surprised me). I play in church every week as well, and if I'm not using this amp myself, someone else always is.

I really like the EF86 channel the most (it also has a strictly 12ax7 channel too).

It has an effects loop for each channel which I use for my reverb (EH Holy Grail) pedal and delay pedal. It really eliminated the hum that the reverb pedal seemed to add if put between the guitar and amp.
The 6 way tone selector for the EF86 channel is a unique option that makes it really easy to go quickly to any of the usable tones and find them again easily.

It has a half power switch. I only ever use on 15 watts though because this amp is so loud already. This is a good option to have, but 30 watts isn't much louder than 15 watts. To double the volume of a 15 watt amp, you need to go closer to 150 watts. So, my problem is that while 30 watts is really really loud, the half power is still too loud for most of the playing that I get to do. So, anyways, I keep it on half power and I yanked the extra 2 EL84s and keep them in a safe place for when the first 2 go.
The Master Volume is a good feature adding to the versatility as well. However, I rarely ever use it because it sounds so much better running those output tubes hot like they are meant to be. (This then always gives me the problem of the amp being so loud). But ya, it is a push/pull knob that you pull to engage. I wish it wasn't so touch sensitive though (like the channel volume knobs as well). Everything you want is mostly in the first quarter turn. I may look into seeing if their is some pots with a very specially made taper to suit my needs.

The Cut Control is a great feature too. It isn't nearly as sensitive as the volume controls. I plan to change a capacitor next week that will make the cut knob more dramatic in it's control.

So ya, it's great for features, it has all the features I could want or thought I wanted.

I have a John 5 Telecaster (Telecaster neck pick-up and Fender Enforcer Bridge Humbucker), and an Eric Johnson Strat (single coils). I like that on my Tele, I can go from smooth and clean on the single coil, to a nice distortion by just using my pickup selector.

The cleans are beautiful and chimey when I want them to be and the distortion is gorgeous, making it quite a heavy sounding when you need to be. Again, I need to say that it is my one amp that I would take if I could only take one for all kinds of music. In order to keep the volume manageable indoors (without having to use the Master Volume), I'll often use my Tonebone pedal to add saturation/distortion. I'd always prefer to use the amp's distortion if I'm allowed to turn up loud enough (despite how great the tonebone sounds).

Lately (this last week), I've been into The Edge's tone, and I am having no trouble getting this amp to ring like his AC30s.

I should mention that I got my retired father to build a cabinet (2x12 open-backed combo) for this and I have a Celestion Alnico blue and a Celestion G12H together (currently in Series) to get my fabulous tones. It is built like a tank (and as heavy as one too). It's beautiful with a nicely finished Purple-Heart wood front valence. This cabinet helps to produce a great amount of bass as well. However, this causes my biggest issue with this amp; it is now not very portable. I do use it the most but, it is friggin' heavy. My recommendation is that if you plan to move it much, just make (or buy) a head cabinet for it and a separate speaker cabinet. Your back will thank you and it makes it even more versatile.

It gets used several hours a week and I still have had no issues. I think the jewel light on the front is kind of cheap so I sometimes have trouble getting it secure. Sometimes the light goes out and I need to try to tighten it to get it on again. Don't worry; I have sprung the 3 dollars to replace those parts now. They should arrive next week as well. I wouldn't have a problem gigging with this amp without a backup. If it's an important gig in another city, I would bring a back up, or at least my replacement tubes, like you would with any other amp that you really trust.

Nik has always been great and a perfect gentleman. He was helpful before and after I bought it. On a different order of amps, a wrong transformer was sent, and he quickly sent the right parts with no charge and told me to keep the other transformer. So, now it turns out that I have a spare output transformer that looks like it fits my DC30. But ya, Talk about service; what other manufacturer will help you fix your own amp online if you screw something up yourself? You email him and he seems to always respond within a couple hours day or night. I don't know if this guy even sleeps.

I've been playing electric Guitar for only about a year but it quickly became my obsession and I do it all the time now as part of my job.I've played Bass guitar for about 8 years and acoustic guitar for about 6. I mentioned before that I own a Mid-70s vintage Traynor, and 2 other Ceriatones. I think the Ceriatones are great value for top-quality amps. I have made some for friends too and hope to build more. They are so much fun to make as well. The DC30 is my most versatile amp. It has legendary tone. The only downfalls to my choice is perhaps the size. This is why, I recommend that you first make sure that 15 watts might not be enough power for you and save some weight. Or, at least make it a separate head cabinet. If it got lost or stolen, I probably wouldn't duplicate it exactly. I would either replace it with another DC30 from Ceriatone in just a head cab, or look into getting a strictly 15 watt EF86 channel only version in the Lightening chassis or something. You'd have to ask Nik about those sorts of ideas. I heard that someone on youtube did that though.
I should mention that although the kit only costs $609 with the tubes, shipping was another $100 or so to Canada and then I bought speakers and cabinet materials, so I probably spent around $1200 for the whole thing.