CeriaTone Overtone Special 100

The Overtone Special 100 (Head chassis only) was purchased as a kit and assembled by myself in April of 2009. I elected to build the kit for the learning experience rather than saving the small amount Ceriatone charge for assembly. The amplifier is well laid out, all valve (except for the FET input), solid state rectified, point to point wired with a pre-amp volume, passive tone stack - Treb, mid and bass with three additional switches for Rock/Jazz, Deep and Bright (which further shape the tone), controls for the Overdrive section - Ratio and Level, and finally the Master Volume and Presence controls. The amplifier has a passive effects loop (which can be augmented with the Ceriatone Klein-ulator solid state buffered effect loop) and an output impedance selector for 4, 8 or 16 ohnm loads. There is a main and an extension extension speaker jack. There is a footswitch supplied which allows remote switching of the Pre-Amp boost (green Led), which basically bypasses the passive tone controls, and Overdrive (red led) modes. The inputs are Standard and FET. I think the FET input is for accoustic type pickups (I dont use it). All controls on this amplifier are very usable and have a notable effect on the tone. A built in tube buffered effects loop would have been a welcomed option. I chose the 100 watt model for the headroom it supplies rather than the volume it is capable of delivering.

I have only been using the OTS 100 for a short while and am enjoying it immensly. I (try to) play Blues and Blues/rock and find this amplifier is perfect for the tones I want. I read the positive reviews here on HC for the Ceriatone's and watched many YouTube videos prior to ordering my kit and I must say, the amplifier lived up to my expectations. I have been able to reproduce the tones I heard on many of the YouTube submissions for the Ceriatone OTS models.

Sound is a very subjective thing, and one's impressions are usually bound by your original expectations. I was after an amplifier which would deliver a violin type smooth, creamy overdrive tone with plenty of harmonic content, whilst still retaining clarity on individual note definition, mid and high detail with little or no harshness.
Well I certainly got what I wanted. By using the pre-amp volume coupled with the Ratio and Level controls in the Overdrive section, I can achieve a multitude of overdrive tones including "the sound" I was after. The great part about this is after I dial in "my tone" I can make it louder by turning up the Master Volume control, which seems to just add volume whilst retaining the same dynamics and timbre of the original tone rather than progressively fatten and compress the sound. I have not turned the amp right up yet however, it is capable of very high volume levels. The overdrive can be further adjusted with an internal trim pot which can add a significant amount of drive (gain). Not sure if its in metal territory but its extremely versatile for Rock and Blues, going from a slight crunch to sustaining violin type creamy overdrive.

A pleasant surprise for me was the amazing clean tones this amp delivers. Most reviews/video demo's concentrate on the great overdrive tone (which is certainly worth spending time on) but the clean tones deserve just as much airplay in my opinion. I have a few CS Gibsons (Les Paul's - with Humbuckers and P-90's, and an ES-335LC), some custom shop strats and a number of Suhr guitars, all sound great through this amp, clean and overdriven. The actual guitar tone shines through. The clean tone is very detailed, relatively well balanced across the strings ( the various frequencies) and not at all harsh, with that wonderful "chime" very apparent. The tone can be augmented by the tone shaping switches and the passive tone controls. My favourite setting is with the PAB on (tone controls bypassed) and the Deep (actually mids) and bright switches on, and the Rock/Jazz in the Rock position (a little more drive and slightly fatter tone than the Jazz setting).

The amp is very responsive to pick attack, both in clean and overdrive modes, and responds well with the guitars volume control.

With 100 Watts of power the amp has the headroom to make the clean sounds very loud without changing the fundemantal structure of the note. Interestingly, when benchtesting my amp, using a 1 khz input signal into a static 8ohm load (resistor/inductor) the amp appeared to achieve 120 watts before clipping. The output waveforms both clean and clipped were symmetrical. This amplifier can achieve a multitude of tones and each control on the front panel has a noticeable impact on the sound, basically very versatile. I am using the OTS100 with two (2) Mesa 1 x 12 Oversize 3/4 backed cabs each equipped with a Celestion C90 speaker, and the setup sounds perfect for my taste in music. I have also tried the OTS100 with my Bogner oversised 2 x 12 cabs with equally satisfying results.

Another thing worth mentioning is how relatively quite this amplifier is at idle, given the obvious output it is capable of.

I have not used the Amplifier enough to ascertain a rating here. I can say however, the components used throughout the amp: resistors, capacitors, transformers and even the hookup wire are all top quality and thus I expect the amplifier will prove reliable.

A very convenient feature of this amplifier is the Valve bias test points and adjusting pot being accessible from the top of the chassis(where the valves mount), potentially negating the need to remove the chassis to bias new tubes (not to mention the obvious safety aspect).

I have not built an amplifer prior to this, just some pedals and other small things, and was a bit apprenhensive, however, I found the build was straight forward enough, and Nik from Ceriatone was very responsive, and extremely helpful when I had questions. I found customer support to be excellent.

I am not a working musician, just an enthusiast (well, actually a middle aged rocker wannabe :-)) who gets together with friends every now and again to jam.

I have been playing off and on for years, and have owned quite a few very nice boutique valve amps.

I currently own a Bogner Shiva (EL-34) and a Suhr Badger (EL-84), both outstanding amplifiers, and I must say the OTS100 certainly fits well in this illustrious company. I am very impressed with the overall performance of the OTS100, and I think its terrific a company can offer an amplifier of this pedigree, at a such an affordable pricepoint. Well done Ceriatone, the OTS100 is fantastic.

If something happened to the OTS I would certainly build another.