Chicago Blues Box Kingston 18 Watt 112 Combo

Controls:Volume, Bass, Treble, Verb, Bright & Harmonic Boost switches - cool pearl capped knobs.
In/Out: A High and Low input; extension speaker and slave outputs.
Tone Tubby Ceramic Hempcone 12spkr.
18 very robust watts and it sounds like twice that. 4 - 12 AX7's and 2-6l6's stock but can use any octal tube in any combonation via dual internal bias adjustments.
That's it and for this amp about all you'll need.

Add a Mid control and it's a 10

This IS a blues box and not in name only! This amp is meant to be pushed and give up very portly blues tones and very club-usable levels. The amp stays clean in a very nice black-face Fender sort of way to about 10 - 12 on the volume control (depending on tubes - more later) and then starts to break up and sound a lot like a Bassman. Really, this 1X12 gets a very big fat Bassman tone once you start to get it cooking. When you do, there is the typical tweed mid emphasis, henc my desire for a mid control. The bright switch keeps it in blackface country a biy longer and is actually quite useful with humbuckers unlike the bright switched and a lot of old Fenders. The Harmonic Boost is just what is says. Kicked in, it adds gain and seems to layer up high frequency harmonic content without realy changing the basic amp tonality. Sounds like about a 4 db jump in volume too. The biasing scheme is great (if you know what your doing inside an amp and you have a bias probe or meter!). It will take 6v6's, 6l6's, EL34's, KT66's, 5881's or any octal tube in any combination, you want to throw at it. Gigging in a larger room? Slap in some 7581's or EL34l's. Small venue? 6v6's. Very cool. I use a variety of guitars (Grosh retro Classic, Gibson ES345 & LP Custom, Suhr & Fender Teles, PRS McCarty). This is the first amp I've owned in 30 years, and over 30 amps, that really does the guitar/cord/amp-and-that's-all blues thing. It's got this juicy breakup thats totally controllable with your guitar volume. It takes pedals well (I'd keep away from the Tube Screamer type - too much mids) but in any reasonably sized room, you won't need them. I could see doing a lower volume jazz gig with this or recording just about any style, but it's clearly designed for blues and it delivers the goods in big hot heaping servings. The verb is excellent too. Not to splashy and sounds quite lush.

Too new to tell but It's built very, very well.

Yeah, they are fanatics about what they do and will talk you ear off about tone if you let them. I soke to Dan before I bought the amp and he was very helpful in a gregarious sort of way.

I've been playing around 3 decades (OY!) and like I mentioned have, and have gone through, a great deal of gear including amps by Two Rock, Carr, Fender, VHT, Tech 21, Dr.Z, Vox, Gibson, THD and on, and on. Lots of nice amps and great for all kinds of different reasons. But if you play old school blues, west coast jump, Chicago or any blues style really, except perhaps the heavy Brit and SRV tones, this amp is 'da bomb.

This amp is all about simple, straightforward tone. Not a lot of bells and whistles except the bright switch and harmonic boost. Read the 30 watt reviews. They pretty much apply to the 18 W as well.

I play mostly at church and at home and was using a Rivera R55-12. I am not happy with the tone, maybe need to get some of the GT mullard re-issues (12AX7M) to see if I can rejuvenate it. But I wanted something that I could push a little harder without ticking off the church ladies!! The Rivera Channel One was of no use to me because the amp needs to be cranked to get any tube distortion and for my use, that is too loud. I was hoping 18W would do the trick.

However, you are talking one channel. Some other handmade amps in this price range may give you a second voicing that one can find useful if flexibility is needed. Compared to a Tone King 30W Meteor 2, the CBB is a similar in volume despite the difference in wattage. However, for a few hundred more $$, you get the second voicing on the TK.

I have an Am. Std. Strat and a PRS CE24. These go into various effects. My current favorite rig is Dunlop 535Q Cry baby, Keeley Compressor, Barber LTD, Keeley Modded TS-9, Boss DD-5, Retrosonic Chorus Ensemble into the amp. I am a pedal dork and am getting quite a collection. So far they are all good with the amp.

Not quite as bright as the Tone King but plenty bright. I found the the TK can be painfully bright, even with humbuckers, and I preferred a little less upper end. I found this so despite the fact that I have lost most of the upper frequencies in one of my ears (not music related). The bass player made me turn the bright switch off when using my Am. Std. Strat, so I know that it can cut through, even at moderate volume levels. What I liked was the focused sound that cut through in our barn of a building (we use the multipurpose room for the more cutting edge service). This is the true value to me. I did not get lost in the room even though I tend to play at moderate volume levels and was not rolled over by a keyboard, bass, drum and 8 singers. I actually demoed the 30 W as well and could not turn the volume past less that 1, so for me, 18 W is plenty loud and sounds great! I talked to Butler Sound about a half-power switch but he says it would compromise sound and will not hear of it. Good for him, since he believes in his product and doesn't want to compromise his beliefs.

I noticed quite a bit of sparkle in the un-effected sound, similar to a having the chorus on. This surprised me, but was nice and added a certain sizzle to the sound without losing tone through an effect.

I think this blows the doors off my R55-12. I suppose since it is significantly more $ that the Rivera, it should bust its chops. My past amps have been solid state and master volume tubes. But it doesn't have a master volume and I will have to get used to this.

The amp is a little noisy, especially with the distortion boosts on, but no more so than the Rivera. Since I am primarily a chord player and mostly play accoustic (trying to do more electric work), I cannot judge this versus other tube amps.

Only played it for two weeks, but this thing is built to last. Not only is it well built, but there are few enough moving parts that I suspect not much can go wrong. I can always bail to accoustic, so I don't take a back-up.

Dan Butler is a heck of a nice guy. He will talk to you for hours about his product and try to help you understand all the technical stuff. With a couple of electronics classes in engineering school, I can understand half of what he says, but I can tell he knows and thats all that matters to me. Since his other company is an electronics repair business, I would bet you he would fix any problem you have ASAP. I doubt that there will be much of a problem due to the quality of the workmanship and the beautiful simplicity of the thing.

I am not an amp freak and didn't play a Dr. Z, Carr or other options that I thought of. But I put this up against a Tone King (not a-b, but on different days) and found it to be in the same class, although with only the single channel. I am sure that anyone would be happy with the sound and the people running the company are so nice I feel real good about my decision. This isn't a JCM800, however. We are talking a small 1-12 for those of us who want to hear into our 80's. Chicago Blues Box makes a 50W head if you need the juice. I heard it played and it was awesome too. But for me, this does the trick. I give it a nine because it is a little pricey versus 2-channel amps for a few hundred $ more, but if you have the money, you can do a lot worse and I am not sure I would miss the second voicing anyway. My pedals take care of that.

This amp is new purchased from Juniors in Clinto CT Saturday 1/29/05. If you've never been to this place you've got to check it out, on-line is o.k. but you've got to go there to appreciate the wide variety of quality gear. Nuf said about Juniors. This amp is 18 watts of clean powerhouse fun. It has a Tone Tubby speaker adn it costs about 1695.00 and for a hand made amp with a chassis that could withstand a Nuclear (not bushleague NU-Cu-Lar) blast. The controls are simple. Volume, Treble, Bass, and Reverb. There is a Bright Switch and a Harmonic balance switch both of which give you a wide array of tonal variety. I've tried a number of So-Called boutique amps costing well into the 2000.00 range and they sound nice and have more bells and whistles, but if it's pure tone you want in a solid package, then this is the amp. I played my Fender Strat with Fralin hot's in it and the sound to my ear is exquisite. I own a Super Reverb which I love but 40 watts is much too much for me. This 18 Watt Wonder Machine will be with me until I leave the Planet. I have not used any pedals yet, havn't needed to. I like the sound too much to mess with it. The reverb is interesting because it is less in-your-face, but has a pleasant presence in the mix. Definitely not surf city, but you can get there with the bright switch on. I'd highly reconmmend this amp to anyone looking for a tone monster that you can carry without the need of a forklift and without the need for concrete earplugs. Whoever makes these amps, keep up the good work!!!!

The amp is quiet, and ther are two output jacks for external speakers if you need/want more sound moving through the air. Very clean presence and nice breakup when needed. It may be called a Blues Box but I play rock and roll and it suits my music exceedingly well. I do not think it would meet a metal head's expectations as a stand alone combo. You have got to hear it, PERIOD.

Unknown just bought it. Hope it holds up as well as it appears to be built.

Unknown, I think it's a small company.

Excellent amp for the value when you consider it is hand made in the USA point to point wiring. I'd buy more if I had the money, as I had to finance this one.There's no comparison to the other preassembled pressboard, chipboard electronic toasters out there. Most of the hand made stuff out there is extremely reputable and the folks stand behind their products. I have no problem buying Made in The USA products and paying more for them when they're made well. After all that is the backbone of the american economy, or at least what I'd liek it to be. When they start making their amps over in Indonesia or Figi they can forget about my bucks!!