CeriaTone DC30

I also feel the need to add more to the review already submitted. I should say this is not a bogus review, i purchased my completed Amp Head from Nik a couple of months ago and the only contact i have had with him since is to order more amps. The main reason for this re-review (think that makes sense)is to explain i am not being critical of Ceriatone Amps but with but with anyone who expects more than what is offered.

I use a Les Paul reissue 59 and an ES335 and have played in countless bands since the early seventies, also have owned and operated a commercial recording studio - so although not a world authoritiy i know what sounds good. After experimenting with several speaker combinations the 2 x 12 vintage celestion combo works best for me. The valves shipped with my amp were quiet and sounded great(although to my ears slightly harsh), what i attempted to say in my first review was that to make these amps really buzz, i mean get that last 2% out of them, experiment with the valves or any of the components if technically able, surely thats the point here and apparently for very little extra cost Ceriatone will do mods/customizing for you, surely this is the best value ie $ per high quality Watt available to us guitarist to date.

same as previous review

again for the low cost of these amps it may not be effective to ship back to the factory for repairs but there are service agents listed in many countries so Ceriatone seem serious about after sales service. But the build quality suggests this would rarely needed.

My experience has been all good and based on that i'm looking forward to getting more amps.
Again, Thanks Nik

I feel I need to respond to some reviews below.

I contacted Ceriatone to ask them about these problems and they've never even heard of you guys or these faulty DC30 purchases and problems... no such DC30 has been offered to be returned.

LOL... Moose is Jim... do you know what profiling is?

The tubes issued with this amp are usually JJ tubes... have any of you guys ever thought that these tubes are rubbish? Further proof that we have some bogus reviews on this page. Moose/Jim didn't even bother to find this out... these tubes by the way sound quite good.

Features have been discussed enough in other reviews but gotta say its had to understand why anyone would buy any amp, knowing its features then rate it low in a review????

Have had the amp for more than 2 months and use it almost every day. This amp sounds excellent considering the price, but experimenting with different valves is a must(as mentioned by others)so having a good Tech guy is essential. You really can't expect these amps to be bench tested and have perfect valves considering the price so you can expect to wear any faulty components etc.
Out of the box the amp sounded slightly harsh, especially the highs but is absolutely useable as is. The correct speaker combination helps as with any amp, i found 2 x 12' vintage celestions in a combo works well.
I have ordered a TW expression,JTM45 and an Overtone from Nik but again,even after spending a little more on possible valve selection etc. when i get them, these amps are amazing value. My opinion -- if you expect primo after sales service, go to your local music store, pay 4 times the price and get a full after sales service, maybe.

Have had no problems so far and i know what to expect if i do, your choice

Customer interface is excellent,especially when purchasing, all i can say.
Thanks, Nik

Obviously these amps are well made with mostly excellent components, they do sound close to the origionals and can be made even better with a little tweaking, i have had many Marshalls that suffer the same problem. One thing is the resale on these amps in the future is unknown, maybe that needs to be figured into the purchase price???

Basicically o copy of a Matchless DC/HC30. Simple versitile amp with Ecc86 clean chanel and EF86 crunch.

I bought this as a complete chassis with a cabinet from Tube Town in Germany and fitted it with Celestion V30's

I'm using this with a Les Paul fitted with Lindy Fralin Humbukers and a mid 80's US strat with no mods.

The base sound is fantastic, but I've had to spend ??180 on valves!!! The stuff Nik fits is rubbish and it is obvious he doesn't test the units before they go out (other than perhaps functionally). When it arrived the entire chassis was microphonic. However, after a lot of effort on my part and some great support from a couple of 'Master' amp technicians (as well as some great support from Watford valves) the amp sounds great but VERY noisy (I suspect crap carbon resitors, but I'm sifting through to try and find the culprit[s])

One of the reasons this amp and the amp it is based on, sound so great is they drive the entire pre-amp to the limits, however, EF86 valves are a pain in preverbial, you hear stories of people going through 10 or 20 of them in order to find 1 with 'THAT' sound. They are notorious for going microphonic and often suffer from plate rattle, but we guitart players, mugs that we are, put up with this becuase when they're right boy oh boy are they right! This amp is no different, but the support from Nik is worse than useless. More on that later. So I give it a 10, but only after A LOT of work on my part. If your not an electronics engineer DONT BUY ONE OF THESE

Don't know, not gigged it, but I probably would now its got good valves.

NON-EXISTENT!!!!

Nik writes, answers email, is very nice, but HE HASNT GOT A CLUE! he deflects, asks innane questions over and over again, probably in the hope that at some point you'll change your mind and answer differently and when you ask for a refund he disapears off the face of the earth.

He doesn't seem to understand the design, he definatley doesn't understand the first principles of valve circuitry and he can't or won't answer a direct question.

Just so you know, I've worked in electronics for 30 years, I run design teams who develop proffesional audio equipment for broadcasters, I also have a great deal of experience in CRT's (which are fundementally valves) and have 30+ years of servicing and building valve amps for guitars as a hobby. I don't claim to be the worlds leading authority but I do know what I am talking about.

The reason for going to Nik was I have an amp my company has designed, built. CeriaTone will NOT be considered. My advise is DONT TOUCH THEM.

i've been playing for near 40 years, I've played proffesionally for a couple and then semi-pro for the rest. I play mainly late 60's early 70 blues based rock and more jazz based blues. I also still play in a function band (how boring????)

If this amp were lost or stolen I'd buy the real thing

I love the tone, I actually love the amp, I even like Nik at Ceriatone, but if I gave the customer support Nik gives I'd be out of business.

THIS IS NOT A CHEAP OPTION, it has cost me around the same price as a second hand Mesa.

I bought the amp having read all the good things about Ceriatone and specifcally about Nik, as I've already said I wanted someone to take charge of building an amp design we have. I also wanted a EF86 based Matchless/Vox amp....NEVER AGAIN from Ceriatone

Clone (not wannabe) of the Matchless C-30 series in a head (HC30). Made in 2007 and gigged a few times and have done some studio session with it. Identical in every way to a Matchless - exept in kit form. Mine was built by Ceriaton and shipped in head cab, not assembled by me.

The features have mostly been mentioned. 2 non switchable channels. When switching between the two channel (with ABY) if the EF86 side is cranking it will be way louder than the first channel - unless you crank it. That means they're both drive hard and not clean. Anyway, that was a Matchless design. I use great overdrive pedals anyway and can get around this easily.

The bypassable Master works well I think. Some have bagged it but on 10 when switched in and out the sound doesn't change. So that's a good feature - at low levels, yes, you lose a little chime.

It's a true 30w... meaning very loud. If you play stadiums with a loud band you will either need good monitoring or get a louder amp.

I'm not real sure about the fx loop... doesn't do much for me. Everything else is great though. The half power switch works well unlike some other amp makers.

LOL @ the guy who didn't like this amp. Did you really buy one...come on...did you?

Have a look at the Matchless reviews... it's pretty much the same amp. Even if it's only 90% as good it's worth the savings. I have A/B tested this head with the STAR amps and it is on Par!!! Not as high gain but the sound quality is the same. No cheap/crappy parts here. I read that one guys swapped out the OT with a Mercury OT and said there was no difference in sound. It really sounds great.

The cleans on this amp are where it's at.

The first channel is a nice big round chimey clean sound. Push it hard and you have some great low gain overdrive. It takes overdrive pedals okay but they sound a little fuzzy to me unless the power amp is being pushed hard. Interactive eq. You can adjust the mids by altering the bass or treble...this takes a little getting used to.

You can crank the EF86 channel through a Marshall quad and get a decent sound, if that's all you want, but why bother. I have a lot of high end overdrive pedals that sound amazing throught the ef86 channel - especially when the channel is about 1 or 2... not quite overdriving but still clean. This channel, to me, sounds best clean. That's when it chimes nicely, even better than the first channel. There's not quite as much bottom end as the first channel though and it's a little toppy for my liking. That's what the cut is for I suppose.

It gets 10 for great clean sounds, and the ability to do metal, and all things in-between... with the right pedal. No amp is an all-rounder and perfect at it so that's why I rate it 10.

Excellent!!! That's why I can't understand Jim's comments - unless Jim works at Matchless - then I can understand what he's trying to do...lol

If Jim is for real...I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experiance. Get real anyway - this is a KIT amp. Tinker with it. oops, on second thoughts, you sound like you don't have a clue... Just buy a Marshall - they always breakdown but at least that's expected (I like Marshalls by the way)

All Ceriatone amps are Point To Point... making repairs very very easy. Not much could possibly go wrong, I just don't see how. Transformers are behaving very well so far.

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Even got in touch with me recently to ask how it was going.

10, because it's fantastic value. You will not be able to buy a second-hand matchless for just a little more - GET REAL!

Like I mentioned previously, I compared it to a couple of STAR amps and it just sounded like another model in the range..it's right up there!

I bought the amp direct from Nik at Ceriatone Feb 2008. I play Jazz, R&B, Blues, Gospel. The DC 30 has two channels, a triode 12ax7 and pentode EF86 with a passive FX loop on both channels. It comes with one tube rectifier with the option of running two and is driven by a quad of EL84's.

I had a few boutique hand wired amps and I have to say the workmanship in this amp is truly beautiful, it is a work of art.

I'm amazed how many beautiful usable tones it produces. I wanted an amp that sounded good without pedals, this is it. I've tried it through two Celestion V30' and then two old G12-65, It works well with both but excells with the G12-65's. The triode channel sounds like a blend between a Vox AC30 and a Bassman. The treble and bass interact with one another and some really interesting but nice things happen. Single coil strats sound like strats should, the tops sparkle, twirl and chime. The mids a scooped a little and the bottoms a big full and clear. I also use a Alder Tel with a Seymour Duncan Mini Humbucker in the neck and Jerry Donahue in the Bridge for jazz gospel and country. I use an ABY box to switch channels, when in the pentode channel a nice round singy lead tone with either singles or the mini humbucker emerges, it has more gain than the triode and a six way tone switch. The channels also combine well to give extra boost and another tonal palate. I've had this for a month or so and I'm still discovering the tonal variety.

The connection between fretboard and speaker is very responsive. It sounds good down low and when using the Master Volume give some nice distortion and didn't suck tone. I sold my Xotic RC, AC & BB pedals as I just don't need them. The only effect I use is a Delay. Turning it up full you get wonderful harmonic feedback, rich warm and lush.

The preamps are so senstitive I had to rasie my action on all guitars a wisker because I could hear the faintest fret buzz something I couldn't hear through my expensive boutique amps.

I haven't had it long enough to tell but it is really build well. I play it every day for a couple of hours it is real quite and no glitches. Something I didn't have with other Boutique Amps I've owned.

Nik and his team are the best. Right from the word go they have answered all my questions immediately. They are very polite, again I've never had this kind of customer service. They promised the amp in three weeks and it arrived at my door in twenty days. They actually talk to you and deliver what they promise. I haven't had this kind of service ever from anyone.

I've been playing 43 yrs. I've had Fenders of all types, Black Face reverbs, Super Reverbs and Moded Bassmans, Boogies, Dr Z's, and Ampegs. I'm so satified with this amp I just sold all my moded and boutique amps. I have ordered a Ceriatone Overtone Special and between the two all my toal needs will be met (with no bloody pedals!!. I would certainly get another DC 30 if it were stolen.

This is just a bloody good amp and that it was only $1087 delivered to my door is simply amazing.

Matchless H-30 wanna be, bought the complete amp BRAND NEW assembled by Nik, less cabinet .

Needs help with different tubes and transformers, the ones supplied are JUNK!

Better off spending a little for the REAL thing used!

NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS SINCE I RECEIVED IT.

Nik replied to my emails, but when I got tired of dealing with issues, I requested a refund only to find out that ALL $180 worth of shipping I'd have to eat, even though the amp was problem plagued!

He did reply to every email.

If you're trying to save money with Ceriatone, DON'T!

As I mentioned previously, spend a little more for the real thing used unless you know you can build it yourself with quality tubes and transformers for real cheap!

I built this as a partial kit from Nik, Bought the chassis and a few parts, but put most of the rest together out of spares stuff I had around to save on shipping. I've put together many amps before, and really like someone else making the chassis. Gawd, that's the worst job to do!! And the layout was awesome. I used to have an original in the mid nineties and that thing was a mess under the hood. Sounded a lot better than mine right out of the box, though. But the price difference is extraordinary. I've tweeked mine a bit, and niks component values are just fine the way they are. I've upgraded the iron to new units(not westlab salvage) and still have a few issues. I put it into a combo cab with a heritage g12h30 and an old greenback 25watter I had lying around. It didn't really wake up until I used those speakers and put in some good old tubes, can you say mullard? Now, I would put it up against the real thing with out a worry. It gets a nine just because of the basic design, not the quality.

I use it with a tele, les paul custom, strat, and it really likes all of them. My music style is good 'ol fashioned rock-n-roll, nothing fancy. An this monster delivers on all. I used to have an old ac30, that I sold when I was getting worried about the electrolytic smell coming out of it(saved the tubes of-course!), and missed the top-boost shimmer, this covers it on the clean channel. In fact the clean channel is addictive. I rarely use the lead channel any more. Plus you can really dirty it up like an old ac30, real crunchy,when you want it to be. And the lead can go right into la grange zztop without a hitch. This amp has a real tonal pallette. Lots of good tone hidden in there, just like the real dc-30. And I hate using the word tone! This covers everything I need right now. Looking to build a Supro 1624t next, and maybe try making a slo clone. Don't know if I really need all that distortion?

I built it, so it must last a lifetime! Still need to fix some grounding issues, but that's my creative urges in lead dress taking over any common sense.

I'm very helpful/friendly, just kidding. Nik was easy to deal with, and the quality was better than most, if not all. All those chumps out there saying, "what should I upgrade?", "should I get better transformers?", blah, blah, blah. He sends the right stuff to begin with, period.

The best kit out there, period. And, one of the most complex builds, something you can really sin your teeth into.

Matchless HC-30 with the head cabinet and a 2x12" close back speaker with Celestion V30s.

The HC-30 come with 2 channels.
Channel 1 - Tone boost - 12AX7 with vol, bass, treble
Channel 2 - EF86 - creamy and with vol, 6 tone selection knob for fatter tone.
Master Volume for both channel. But the MV suck out the tone from both the channel. I prefer playing loud without the MV on.
2 input for both channel, but I only use the 1st pair of input with a Morley A/B/Y switch.

Effect loops for each channel separately. I tried hooking up the Holy Grail reverb to this channel but the tone kind of thin out in the loop. The effect loop is not very usable to me.

I ordered mine from NIK wired/setup and ready to rock.
Comes with:
3 x JJ 12AX7 - which I replace it with Tung sol 12AX7s. These give a more musical, clearer sound and noiseless.
4 x JJ EL84 - kept it the same.
Electro Harmonic EF86 - Repalced with Mullard initially, but it does not work well for me in this amp. Too creamy and sound brighter only at high volume. Was thinking of Telefunken but it's too expensive. I settled with the Sovtek EF86 with C-wing. The sovtek is quite as compare to Mullard and a nice clear and balance tone for all volume(lo/hi).
1xJJ GZ34 - Replaced it with 2 Sovtek 5v4. This change is a must for all matchless C-30 owner IMHO and a very much dicussed topic. It removed the nasal high and I can roll back the CUT knob now.

Comes with 2 Ceriaton T-shirts. 1 for HC-30 and 1 for the Speaker Cabinet.

However what it does not come with the following:
USer Manual - too me sometime figuring out on the matchlesss website till I found my own setting and brought a A/B/Y switch.
Power cord plug/head and speaker cable for the cabinet I ordered. Was kind of excited unwrapping the delivered boxes and disapppointed when I realised I can't hook it up to try the amp on the same day.
I sent NIK an email and he send me the power cord with the 3 pin plug (singapore and Malaysia uses the same) and the speaker cable right after. I guess the power cord without the plug if for online order and customer who does not uses the same plug. Anyway, it doesn't really bother me. I got the plug and OFC 7mm thick speaker cables from local DIY shop all before I recieve them from NIK.
In between, I did tried hooking up the Amp head to the speaker cabinet with guitar cables, but there are noise and it really effects the tone. The OFC cables + 1/4 phone jack, soldier it in 30 mins, hook it up and it's very clear noiseless. The V30s are really articulted with it.

I play blues, jazz, rock. Got a few Ibanez (JEM7VSBL, SA2020FMVV, RGA121VLF), Strat(DIY Prject strat with Kinmans, MIJ), Gibson les paul studio and a Yamaha Pacifica. All these sound great with the HC-30. Had been playing for 17 years and own a Laney VC15 before the HC-30. The Laney VC15 is a good amp but the C-30 is even better.

I like the sound of both channel 1 & 2. They are very different and very veratile with the A/B/Y. Blues, Jazz, Rock.. all sound nice and I'm blown off actually by how good it sound through the speaker cabinet with the VC30. Clean or distorted or overdrived. I all sound real good no matter what I try. I do however really like the EF86 channel when overdrived or with a distortion pedal and of course the 6 diff tone selection. Using the Master Volume is really No! for me. MV suck out the tone, but without the MV the 2 channels are loud. Esp the EF86 channel which is really loud even at 1/2 power 15 watt. It's actaully good for me as the Celestion V30 sound really good loud. The louder it is, the better it sound. It's almost seems like the C-30 and the V30 speakers are constantly asking for more volume. Anyway, I'm getting an attenutor soon before I got complaint from the neighbours.

I'm really please with the HC-30 and the 2x12" speaker cabinet from ceriatone. It's rock/tone heaven everytime I hook it up and play on it. It's unreally. I never dreamt of owning such a fine amp that gave me such quality sound at that kind of price. I still cannot believe it.

I uses Lin6 PODxt to record my guitar playing on the computer. Reason for that is that the line6 have the best effect sound and especially for distortion for recording. But they sound unreal(lack of the response and dynamic), every guitar sound the same thru it and totally sucks at clean sound for blues/Jazz.


I throw in a Keeley Mod Boss MT2, Boss digital delay, Holy Grail Reverb and the A/B/Y switch. These gave me the similar setup on my favourite setting in Line6. Guess what it's not only it. On the EF86 channel, tune the volume up and ... Wow!!... It's even better than the Line6. Vai, petrucci or satarani .. no problem! This sound is the sound I dream of since as a teenage listen to all my Guitar idols. Can't imagne I own something that would like like it.

The HC-30 is very versatile and I still have not fully explored the possibilities of the sound yet.

No reason to go back and play my Laney VC15 anymore.

I would like to say NIK does make a good speaker cabinet too.
I was looking for celestion V30/G12H0 or V20/Greenback for more bass initially. But NIK only have the Vintage30s. But the closeback cabinet are solid(I mean really solid 4.5 CM thick wood cabinet)which works very well with the VC30s. Very clear tone, articulated sound and very tight bass. Versatile and balance sound too. The speaker cabinet can as a suprise. It a steal on how goodd it sound even though my initial impression of ceriatone is really on cloning amps only. Never know ceriatone can does have some quality speaker cabinet too.

Wiring on the amp are great. The HC-30 with it's cabinet seem to be able to last for a long time. Just at the right edge of the cabinet where I find the vinyl not tightly glue to the wood. But this is eassy for me to fix it myself. Everything else is perfect.

Great communication and extremely helpful.
You can email NIK anytime and he'll normally reply within an hour. Even pass midnight or on public holiday. It was on a holiday(Hari Raja Puasa) where I email him and complaint about the missing 3 pin plug and speaker cable.

The delivery was fast as well. NIK say 3-4 week of waitng time. But mine was delivered after 2 weeks.

Before the ceriatone HC-30, I love the Laney VC15 and am proud of the sound I get from it. Was actually looking for a speaker cabinet as the 10" Jensen speaker in the laney combo, kind of lacking in bass. That's where I found Ceriatone and noticed the Matchless C-30 clone via the youtube demo..not only that, NIK build speaker cabinets with celestion speakers. The best is Ceriatone is in Malaysia and I'm in SG. I ordered from NIK right after 2 email exchange. I wise I know about Ceriatone early and had order the amp before. If the HC-30 is lost/stolen, I'll order from NIK again. Maybe togather with the 18 watt plexi this round.

This amp was made in 2007, Nik shipped it to Australia.
Its a very simple yet versatile amp with 2 channels...basically a clean channel with 2 inputs and an overdive channel with the same.
It has a ring tip and sleeve effects send return on the back and an impendence switch.
I patch the clean and overdriven channel together and this works really well for me in fact it is capable of producing more tones than a modeling amp.
Its really loud, I bought the Ultimate Attenuator to get control over this, this attenuator is reputed to be the best...that is it does not change the tone and does not burn out valves and trannies as some (or most do over time)
Its an all tube amp with 3 x 12AX7, EF86, 4 x EL84, 1 x GZ34 ...I exchanged the 3 pre amp tubes for Tung Sols and the main pre amp tube for a Mullard ef86.
At the time of buying thjis amp, Nik has been moving into doing total amps as well as his kits...so I got more or less the complete amp in cabinet..minus speakers, but he is doing those as well now.
All I had to do was put the valves in wire up the cabinet and I was ready to go!!

Well this is where this amp shines...you want tone, this amp has got it in bucketloads.
I recently was using a Vox valvetronix which is a great modeling amp that really has a nice valve tone and worked quite nicely in the studio...and previous to that I have owned Mesa Boogies, Fender twins and many others including a Line 6 Flextone 3 as well (a rubbish and sterile sounding amp that is not even close to a good valve amp)
Anyway on to the DC30...I can tell you that the it's true, nothing sounds and plays like a really good tube amp, no solid state amp, valve state, modeling or whatever you care to name sounds like the real thing, and thats because its not the real thing.
The clear sound is beautiful...clear!! ...warm!! and luscious!! with lots of natural compression...AMAZING!! I just love it, this is class A at its best, like an early vox amp, just fantastic.
Wind in the distortion and that is great too, its not quite in heavy metal territory...but it gets pretty close if you use the right guitar.
It also delivers a beautiful crunch...fat, warm and very soulful and has character...unlike most pedals.
It absoluely shines with a Les Paul on distortion and the crunch and clear is incredible with a Strat...for everything from vintage surf instrumentals..to Led Zeppelin and beyond, this amp delivers and for such a simple amp this is quite an achievement.

Its built like a tank!! Point to point and Niks slodering is clean, clean clean!!
So it should last a long time...longer than me anyway LOL!!

Nik is a great guy, very helpful and upbeat, he's very easy to deal with and answers all emails promptly.
I am also buying a 5E3 off him as well.
The only suggestion is, that as he moves more into selling completely finished amps...a little owners manual would be good..(even if its just a basic text printout)
People that havent used these amps before can benefit with a simple owners manual, and a diagram of what valves go where.
But hey...when an amp sounds this good and the price is sooo good then this is a very minor issue!!

I have been playing forever, I have a fair few guitars and have owned lots more at one time or another.
Loads of amps too...early Fenders, a couple of early Mesa's, played thru vintage Marshalls live and so on.
I love everything about this amp...I dont hate anything about it.
Its a basic amp with a killer tone and great overdrive...what more could you possibly want?