Clark Amplification Kanee Reverb

2005 model Kanee Reverb, Black Tolex, custom build with 12" speaker and larger transformers.

This is the ultimate Princeton Reverb Clone, built by one of the best boutique builders out there. This amp starts with the vaunted AA1164 Princeton Reverb circuit. Michael Clark added a couple of modifications that are very popular with owners of vintage Black Face PRs that involve upgrading the phase inverter and blueprinting to provide more clean headroom and increase the output power.

This particular amp also includes transformers that push the power up a notch higher and the 12" speaker addition (stock Kanees and PRs are 10") serves to increase the low end and add a touch of headroom.

Another addition not found in the vintage PRs is a bias circuit and bias adjustment control. This helps vastly when replacing tubes and keeps the amp operating at top efficiency.

With the mods, this amp fills that highly desired niche between the 12 watt Princeton and the 22 watt Deluxe reverb with a very useful 18 - 20 watt output.

It's a single channel, two-input (high/low) replica of the PR with controls for Volume, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Speed (Tremolo), and Intensity (Tremolo). Another upgrade over the stock PR is the use of a Standby Switch. The Kanee makes use of the PR's stock ground switch for this purpose.

The reverb is as good as you have ever heard, it's very rich and lush and warm. The tremolo is just like the stock PR using the Bias Vary method to produce deep throbbing trem that never gets overdone and can be tweaked in so subtle you're not sure it's really there.

The speaker used in this particular one is a Weber Ferromax Ceramic speaker and, once broken in, it sounds pretty phenomenal. However I do plan to try out several other speakers to see what nice hues I can add to this already astounding amp.

This is essentially a BlackFace fender amp tone, however as anyone who has played a Princeton Reverb can atest to, it's slightly different with the PR than other models in the Blackface line. It's still capable of those greatest of clean tones that the BF Fenders are famous for, but the AA1164 can also do the near-tweed-like growl and overdriven tones when pushed a little.

The Kanee stays nice and clean to about volume setting 5 with humbuckers and 6-7 with single coils. Past that the sweet, singing, sustaining 6V6 saturation comes on pretty quickly. This makes for great gigging quality, where you can set the amp volume to about 8-9 and control your clarity and clean headroom from the guitar volume knob.

I use mainly strats, but with bridge humbuckers. I run the amp as stated, with my strat volume on about 6 and set to one of the single coils for all the clean work... chicken pickin', clean rhythm, finger picking, etc... when I need a touch more hair/dirt, I turn the guitar up to about 8-9 for Single Coil rhythm work. Think Classic Rock rhythm tone and SRV-like blues stuff.

When it's time to do a lead, 10 on the guitar volume, flip to the Humbucker and wail. No pedals necessary.

On the topic of pedals, I do use pedals occaisionally for very small venues to get overdriven tones at low volumes... this amp likes pedals alot. It's not the absolute best pedal amp I have ever tried, but it's in the top 3.

The amp is virtually noise free except for the occaisional microphonic tube that gets swapped out asap. THe build quality of Clark's amps is top of the line, so there is little likelihood of hisses pops and noises from that perspective.

Can't say too much, as I have only had the amp for a few months. Every other Clark amp I have owned or that friends have owned have been super-reliable. (as reliable as a vintage tube circuit CAN be!)

These amps are built to standards that meet or exceed what went into pre-CBS fender amps that are still playing after 40+ years, so I am confident that it will take whatever will happen.

No Idea! Never used Clark for problem issues, however lots of questions and research prior to getting this amp and all inquiries were quickly addressed and very courteous and professional.

I seriously doubt there would ever be an issues here, Michael is a craftsman and loves his work and his products. He would do whatever possible (within businessman's reasoning) to make sure his amps always perform at their best.

I have played now for over 25 years. I am somewhat a gear-head and have owned or currently owned a good deal of high-end equipment. I have owned or currently own a mix of vintage amps, reissue factory amps, current model amps and boutique amps. This is my favorite of all of them. It's the perfect melding of a great vintage circuit, with the enhanced quality and reliability of being NEW, AND the mods that are most often added to the vintage models to make optimize them for the gigging musician.

The Kanee is priced a bit on the high side ($1700 - 1800 depending on upgrades), but it's in line with the prices of vintage Princeton Reverbs. I could not acquire a real PR, change the baffle and speaker to 12", add newer, heftier transformers, modify the circuit as mentioned above and bring the rest of the circuit up to date with filter caps, etc... for the price. From that perspective, it's a bargain. The added bonus is that I am now gigging with a new, warranteed amp instead of a 42 year old vintage amp that could have an issue at an inopportune time.

I imagine that you could get something cheaper and get fairly close to the same general tone, so I will give it a 9 for that reason. For my tastes and desires, it's priced fairly.