Collins Amplification 18112 112 Combo

year 2006
Versatility-Perfect for Christian Modern worship music / very versitile with a collection of pedals
One Channel/W a high and low input section
Features-This is a simple amp with few features
I use this amp at Church to lead worship/More than enough power since I mic the amp, But it would deffinitly rock the room if I needed it to.

This amp is known for good classic rock crunch tones but I like the clean tones very well also. When I got the amp Craig Colllins said he sent it with the dirtiest set up it can have; that being two 12ax7's. I felt it was too dirty because it went from zero to total distortion instantly. I changed out one 12ax7 to a 12ay7 and now it is perfect for me. I get plenty of clean headroom and my pedals do the rest. The natural crunch with two 12ax7's is great but I needed more versatility. I have an extensive pedal board with high quality pedals; don't underestimate how good pedals can sound, and this amp loves them all. I play with tow G&L's one S-500 and one ASAT special. Thay sound great through this amp. This amp can be a little noisy but this may just be the electrical source in the church. There are times it is very quite so it probably isn't all the amps fault.

I have been playing live sets and practices for three months straight and never had one problem with this amp. Basically I have played this amp every day for three to six ours a day for three months straight. Built very well. Great attention to build quality.

Craig was very attentive during the build process and I assume would be very helpful if I needed service. I have never needed service, amp is solid.Craig is very easy to deal with and very friendly.

I have been leading worship at my church for 5 years. Playing much longer. My gear is a Vox AC30, and a Epipone Vavle junior. A Martin D-18 Vintage. Pedals are Boss TU-2 tuner, Cry baby wah, Keeley four knob compressor,Keeley modded Blues driver and keeley modded TS-9, Fulltone distortion pro, Elecro Harmonix wiggler,boss CE-5 chorus, Line6 Dl4 delay. If it were lost or stolen I would get another because everyone needs a tweed deluxe in their posession. Ilove the tone,tone ,tone of this amp, and how light it is. Nothing I hate about this amp, it's a simple amp.

Just a follow up on my amp. Had it for about a year now and put some good miles on it. Love it more than I did at first. Its simplicity makes it wonderful, just pure rock tone. With my strat loaded with custom shop 54's, this thing rules. Changed the tubes to all JJ and put and 12ay7 in the first slot. this tightened the bass up a bit, gave me more headroom, and gave a bit more british quality to the saturation. I get compliments on my tone all the time. ALL the guitars for our new album were recorded on this thing. I don't think I will ever need another amp....I've found it. Maybe I'll need another just cas I love it that much. If your thinking about it, buy it. The build quality is great and the tone is wonderful. Also just by changing the tube compliment you can get all sorts of different voices. Craig will help you like he did me. I play professionally and tour without a backup. I don't baby it, but I take care of it. I don't worry about it breaking, its a rock. I just carry backup tubes. thats it. As I mentioned in my first review, I play modern indie rock. This is known as a blues amp, but I'm hear to say that it is much more.

Everyone reading this knows about tweed deluxes. 6V's andTwo volumes and a tone pot. Four inputs, two for the normal channel and two for the bright channel. Easy enough for a child to understand, but can take a lifetime to figure out all the tones of the interactive circuit. I didn't give it a rating cas while it doesn't have many features, it also doesn't need them!

Well unlike most who get this amp for its blues tone, I play indie based music inspired from Death Cab for Cutie, Sigur-Ros, Radiohead, etc. I'm not gonna lie, I was really nervous buying an amp that I hadn't played through. I had read enough reviews though and done enough homework to know that I was getting into something good. I play exclusively through Yamaha aex 502's. They are a semihollow with P90's. A cheap and amazing guitar! Anyways, as I started to mess with the amp I found that the cranked overdrive tone wasn't really for me. A lot of blues guys love it, but I wasn't a fan at all, It just didn't have that "it" factor. Some use the adjective "farty." I agree I heard lots of flatulance. With that being said, I can tell you that I didn't buy the amp for that reason. I was looking for an amp with great mildly overdriven tone. I read another review that said that the great tone in this amp really lives on the cleaner side. I would agree with that. While there really wasn't much clean head room with my guitar turned all the way up(started overdriving at 2!!), as I turned down those hot p90's I really started to settle into the amp's personality. It gave me just enough crunch when I hit it hard but cleaned up beautifully when I wanted it to. The responsiveness of this amp is truly incredible. It really does talk back to ya. Also when you jump the two channels you can get some truly amazing stuff as well. Even into Marshall land when doing this. And man this thing is loud. Definately not an apartment amp like some think, at least not how I'm running it. As I said earlier, wasn't a big fan of the dimed sound at all, luckily I own some great overdrive pedals. I have a Keeley mod Tubescreamer(TS 808 mod). Now this is that thick od tone I was looking for. It really was a true marriage of the two. They were made for each other!
Ultimately, tone is in the eye of the player. I'm confident, if you don't need lots of clean tone, you'll be able to get what you want out of this amp, and more. But not without a little work! Don't be fooled by my 9 here, I give it this only because of my personal heavy od tastes. And because it won't go out on a date with me. The tone that I have now is nothing short of inspiring, But it doesnt do everything, which should be known.

The craftsmanship is beautiful, Built like a tank, and clean all the way around. Haven't seen anything like really. Pretty sure I'm not going to have problems with it, but if something happens Craig has made it very clear that he will do everything short of walking on water to fix it. Craig even boosted my ego by putting my name on the label inside. Everyone gets this, But its a nice touch.

Here's where I'm going to go off a little bit. To all the boutique makers that think they are kings and shouldn't pay attention to their customers unless they are rockstars I say this, Doc, and Mrs. Victoria, I'm glad I didn't buy your amps. I got a better amp at a better price and learned some stuff about amps while going through with it. Craig answered all of my questions within the day and sometimes within the hour. While patiently, and politely educting me on what the product will do and sound like. A + here.

I just got signed recently with my band and I can't wait to get in the studio and on the road. The boys in the band love it and it doesn't rip their ears off. Love this thing. Would love to buy another amp from Craig, but I kind of have the tone I want, I wouldn't know what else to buy. Maybe....I could use a kt66 amp but its not on my wish list this year.

The 18112 is a tweed deluxe clone (1 x12 combo). It has all the features a tweed deluxe is supposed to have, two bright inputs, two normal inputs, bright volume, normal volume, tone and standby.

I own a Victoria 5F1 (Champ 1x12) and wanted something with a little more power. I played a friends Victoria 20112, fell in love with it, and was ready to cough up $1,900. Fortunately, Mike at KCANOS tubes told me about Craig Collins. I use the 18112 almost exclusively with a Suhr strat and it is a blues machine. I have found it to be richer and fatter than the Victoria especially once the fabulous Weber 12A150B speaker broke in. Lots of meat on the bone.

It incredible at resolving preamp and rectifier tube changes, If you want clean or just slightly overdriven tones at low and medium volume, use a 12AT7 and 5V4 rectifier tube. If you want the baddest classic tweed overdrive, go with the traditional 12AX7 and a 5Y3 rectifier.

I play exclusively with fingers and it is extremely sensitive and resolving to string dynamics, again superior to the Victoria 20112.

It's dead quiet, it doesn't chirp or burp.

Parts and build quality or "the best" throughout.

Mercury Magnetic transformers, Sprague atom & 715 orange drop and CDE Silver mica capacitors with 2 & 5 watt metal film resistors on a tan G10 garolite eyelet board, cloth wire throughout including 50's cloth covered 16ga speaker wire, Ceramic sockets, Alpha Pots, and a 25 watt Weber VST 12A150-B.

Craig went way above the call of duty with me. I wanted some "non-traditional" mods to the amp which he politely advised might not be a good idea but still gave me exactly what I requested. When I first received the amp, it was easy to conclude he was correct. He took the amp back to his original recommended configuration free of charge and got it back to me within a week.

He has been way too patient explaining my technical questions in laymans terms. He stayed in touch throughout the build process and even sent progress photos.

I've owned alot of amps that I've loved....and sold:

Most recently, a couple of David Allens, two THDs', an Emery Sound Lab, a Victoria, Carr Rambler.

I truly believe this is one I will never sell. Not only would I replace it if it was lost, I've already ordered another amp from Craig, a 15 watt model powered by EL84's.