Clara Amps Deluxe 112 Combo

I took delivery fall of 2006. This is a reproduction, built by Keith McNeil, of Fender's Tweed Deluxe with their 5E3 circuit; 6V6 power tubes; two normal and two bright inputs; one volume switch, one tone, and a standby. I had mine built with a 12-inch Jensen P12N speaker. In the neighbourhood of 17 watts. The tweed covering was done carefully and varnished nicely, the grill cloth aligned and taut as a trampoline. In general, fine workmanship that resulted in a nice vintage-style amp.

I am a relative novice, entertaining myself playing blues and class rock, but I do have two other beautiful sounding amps with which to compare the Deluxe: a Tweed Champ reproduction with an eight-inch Jensen and a Traynor YCV 40WR sporting a Celestion Vintage 30 and retubed with JJs. I play a semi-hollow Godin Montreal and a Godin LG Signature; both are mahogany and equipped with humbuckers. The best way to describe the Deluxe's sound is beautifully woody, fat, fat, and fat in the best possible way. It has depth, presence, and so much sustain that you may find that you have to adjust your playing style a little because notes just keep ringing. I wonder if this is because a compact, solid pine cabinet resonates more than a heavier plywood cab. A subtle and harmonically rich grind that appears even at low (household) volumes is reminiscent of old blues and rock and roll records. Cranked and with the tone turned up, you move into Neil Young territory, and you can hear the cab taking part in the action. I play at home, but if you need loud, it does loud.

I play at home and have not had the amp long enough, but the careful workmanship and sturdiness of the build, along with a five-year warranty leave me unconcerned.

Keith has provided me with timely, detailed, and thoughtful responses, by e-mail and telephone, to all of my questions throughout the construction phase and after receiving delivery of the amp. No problem here.

There are many excellent American builders of tweed reproductions. I chose one of our few Canadian builders, however, because I've noticed that a lot of musical gear in Canada sells at par with the US, and I could avoid the hefty customs charges. I took a chance, and I am pleased with the result. There is no question that I will always own a Tweed Deluxe.

This amp was made in May-June 2005. It doesn't have a lot of features, but I didn't want an amp that was complicated to use. It has 2 volume controls (1 for the Normal channel & 1 for the Bright channel), 1 Tone control, 2 Normal inputs & 2 Bright inputs, Power switch & Standby switch. It has enough versatility for me. I don't need or want an amp with tons of volume & distortion as my gigging days are behind me now & I mostly play at home. I mostly play blues and rock. I don't need an amp with multiple, foot-switchable channels. Almost all of the multi-channel amps I've had in the past exhibited some hesitation when foot-switching. There would be a short pause before the sound switched from 1 channel to the next, so I've developed an aversion to foot-switching. My Mesa Boogie Rectoverb combo probably switched the cleanest of all the amps I've had, but I ended up selling it because I didn't like the speaker it came with. If I wanted a choice of sounds, I would just use an effect pedal, as I have found that these switch in & out instantly without missing a beat althoug they do tend to add some noise in the line (even in most Effects loops). I can't think of any features that I would like to add to this amp. It has all the basic features I want & I use them all. The amp is rated at 18 watts, plenty enough power for my needs. The tube complement is: 2 x 6V6's in the power section, 2 x 12AX7's in the pre-amp and 1 x 5Y3 rectifier. I originally asked for a Weber Alnico speaker, but these were on back-order at the time I placed my order. I would have been willing to wait a little, but Keith Mcneil wanted to make sure I would get my amp without any unnecessary delays, so he offered me his advice on alternatives. I ended up choosing a Jensen Alnico & it has worked out well.

I am using an Ernie Ball Musicman Axis Supersport with single coils with this amp and play mostly blues & rock. The amp has a decent clean sound at low volume settings and it distorts to a mild, fuzzy break-up at higher volume/tone settings, which is just the sound I was looking for. It won't make heavy metal or hard rock distortion and it is not crystal clean at high volume, but I was not looking for those sounds. The amp does make some humming noises when volume and/or tone control(s) are dimed, but back down a little on one or the other (or both) and you get very little hum with very useable volume & break-up.

I've only had it for a few months, but I think it is a dependable amp. There was one occasion when I plugged into the Bright input & no sound came out, even though there was sound through the Normal input. This situation seemed to correct itself, but then later, the opposite thing happened. There was sound through the Bright channel, but not through the Normal. I e-mailed Keith about it & he offered to pay to have the amp shipped back so he could check it out. I declined as the amp seemed to be working fine at the time. Later though, I was fooling about & pulled out the power tubes, inadvertently breaking off the guide pin on 1 of them without realizing. When I put the tube back it was out of alignment & it ended up damaging the output transformer (although I was unaware of what the problem was at the time). Totally my fault, but when I e-mailed Keith that the amp was not working, he offered to pay for the shipping to have it sent back. He found the problem and although I had to pay for new power tubes & an output transformer, Keith graciously paid for the shipping both ways & threw in his labour for free.

Keith has been very helpful & friendly, as evidenced by his advice on the speaker & on fixing my misadventure with the tubes. He stands behind his amps & although I don't intend to fool about with my amp anymore, if any problem did come up, I feel confident that I could e-mail Keith & he would make sure that I was satisfied with his product/service.

I've been playing for about 17 years now. I've owned & played Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Peavey, Traynor, Crate, Vox. I wanted to go with an independent builder because I wanted a small, low power amp to use at home that would provide superior tone and I couldn't find anything like that in the music stores where I live, which stock only the big name manufacturers. If it were stolen or lost I think I would buy another Deluxe from Keith, or maybe 1 of his other models. I love that it is a light, easy to use amp with great tone. The only thing I would say that I don't like is that I could't walk down to my local guitar shop & try one out, buy it on the spot & take it home that day. I compared it to many products of other companies like Dr.Z, Bad Cat, Kendrick, Vintone, Penn, Groove Tubes, Emery, etc. & I chose Clara for a number of reasons: Their Deluxe was comparable in features & price to similar products of other companies. I live in Canada, so dealing with a Canadian company is easier. Financially, I didn't have to worry about paying the exchange for US dollars. For delivery I didn't have to pay customs & duty charges & it was relatively quick. Keith replied to my initial e-mail promptly. I had sent e-mails to several of the companies listed above & I did not get a reply from any of the ones I e-mailed. Maybe they would have responded more promptly to a phone call.