Electrosonic Amplifiers Fireball Head

Follow-up to a post one year ago. The reliability of the amp has been great. Not a pre-amp tube has gone microphonic, none of the power tubes has failed or the phase inverter tube, have not needed to replace the rectifier tube and the fuse has not burnt once. The amp is used almost daily in a metal/punk band, and it drives two sets of speakers cabs; a cab with two Weber 12F150s and a cab with two Weber 12" Silver Bells. The signal path to the amp includes active pick ups, compressor, two distortion pedals, wah/volume, VanAmps sole-mate reverb, chorus and deeelay; and no problem at all with the sound out of the amp. Great product that can handle effects at the front and produce great sound to the speakers.

This amp was bought for my 14 year old son. Amp was made in December 2007 (date is written inside the amp in pencil) and signed by the builder. This is the standard Fireball Head model. It is an all tube amp at 40w (Class AB) with a high gain preamp section using two 12AX7 tubes. There is a switch to change the preamp from high gain to normal gain. The phase inverter is an octal tube (6SL7), which is larger than the more common 12AT7 tube that is often used in other amps. It uses a 5U4G tube for the rectifier rather than a solid state rectifier so that the player can get some "sag" from the amp at high power draws (some players like that and some don't). The power amp uses two KT66 tubes. The amp is cathode biased rather than fixed bias, so changing worn out tubes is very easy. You can have a custom Fireball amp built with different preamps (including EF86 tubes), solid state rectifiers and any number of power amp tubes. This is the set-up for the standard Fireball which is great, because that was exactly the set-up we wanted in an amp. If you wanted to change the power tubes at a later date it is possible but I would check with the amp manufacturer on this modification. This model is designed around the KT66 tube with the plate voltage set at 400v. The amp comes with huge transformers and a 4, 8 and 16 ohm output selector. The aluminium chassis is .80 gauge which is just strong enough for the size of the transformers. They are modern transformers and will not compress like vintage transformers. You can ask the builder to use vintage style transformers in a custom model. The standard amp is a single channel amp with no master volume, reverb, effects loop or anything else in the signal path. He uses this amp for practising (which is possible in the house because the gain pot works like a gain pots should) and also uses it in the metal bands that he is in. The 40w is plenty loud. Rated 7 on features as other players may want lots more features on their amps. We wanted an amp with simple controls and a clean signal path.

Using the amp volume control, the FAT switch (cuts out some of the treble), Treble, Mid, Bass, Gain control and Hi/Normal Gain switch, you can get four distinct sounds from this amp (clean, crunch, overdrive and heavy metal). The amp is very responsive to the guitar volume controls. Again this is what we wanted; an amp with simple controls and a clean signal path. This amp is high gain however, so there is less headroom in the preamp tubes. If a custom model is desired, then you can get a preamp with more headroom than the standard Fireball. The distortion can get pretty brutal on this amp, not death metal distortion but certainly heavy metal. My son uses his Jackson RR5 (two Seymour Duncan JB4 humbuckers) for metal sounds and his Godin Freeway Floyd (two extra wound 'hot' Godin humbuckers and one single coil) guitar for 1970s sounds. Depending on the guitar, this amp can do most any style of music, especially metal due to its high gain preamp. As for noise, this is one thing we noticed first off about the amp. The standard Fireball head is very quite. Of course once the high gain switch is on and the gain pot is rolled up to five o'clock, then that is a different environment in which to evaluate noise from an amp. No more noise than other amps when set in high gain modes.

Can not really say as the amp has only been used for one month. Tubes are new so not worried about them yet, but a good idea to bring extra fuses and watch for deterioration of tube performance and then have spares. Builder sent a free rectifier tube with amp as there have been some quality issues recently with a particular 5U4G tube manufacturer. Other brands are available. It is a hand wired, turret board constructed amp so not that worried about amp crapping out anytime soon. Must remember however that these are tube amps with over size transformers, and can not be thrown around like video consoles. Tubes should be warmed up before playing and allowed to cool before moving. The pine cabinet is covered with red Durabak which is used on truck boxes and ship decks. Due to great construction, I am confident that it will earn a high reliability value.

Josh at Electrosonic amps is very helpful. Must have contacted him eight times over a period of six months with different questions before deciding to buy his amp. The amp has a one year warranty. Since there are no PCBs and ribbon cables used to construct the amp, repairs should be fairly easy for a qualified technician.

He has been playing steady now for three years. During that time he had to use crappy equipment as we were not going to spend a lot of money if he was going to quit. Other amps he had were solid state; but it is a fact that solid state amps just do not sound like tube amps - even the modeling amps (which he had). He uses the amp with his Jackson and Godin guitars and the following stomp boxes; a Stigtronics compressor, Morley wah, ProTone Body Rot II distortion, HBE chorus, Catalinbread Super Chili Picoso boost and Van Amps Sole-Mate spring reverb. He plays into a Mojo 2 x 12 extension cab with Weber 12f150 speakers (25w, 8ohm) wired in parallel.
Would buy it again, or perhaps a Komet amp if we had the money - which we do not. Love the large tube window on the front of the amp. Compaired the amp to the Line 6 Spider that he used to own, the Marshall, Fender and Mesa heads in the local music stores and a Traynor head that we rented for a period of time. Chose this amp because it had a high gain preamp section and was designed just for the great KT66 tube. Those of us who are old enough will remember amps and music that used these tubes and when all amps we used were tube amps and sounded not half bad. With his distortion pedal, this amp moves from heavy metal sound to death metal. This was the amp my son chose from a number of good quality amps that are out there currently being built, and importantly he loves it. The price is fantastic for a hand built amp. Of course he needed some help from adults in making his choice, but there is so much out there that it is difficult for kids who use MP3 players to know what might sound good.

Brand new 2006 model. I ordered it with all the features I could fit: medium gain preamp (run in parallel!), 3-band tone, slope control, fat switch, master volume, impedance selector, EL34 output, tube rectifier, and adjustable cathode bias! It has everything you'd ever need out of a single-channel amp!

Sound quality would be a 50 out of 10 if I could enter it. This amp is exactly what I've been looking for over the past 15 years. It handles pedals better than my Dr. Z; it sounds better than a Marshall, Fender, Crate, Dr. Z, Mesa, you name it! With the EL's, it's got a real British voice, but with all the spank you'd expect from an amp wil 6L6 outs. It is SUPER responsive to picking and has a (modestly rated) 40 watt output (it's as loud as my 80-watt 5F8A reproduction). The amp overdrives in a very unique, smooth way. It has the tone you'd expect (plus some if you play with the slope control and preamp gain) with a little extra attack and sag. It's like getting smacked with a board without the pain... I gues I'm trying to say that the tone has IMPACT and then gracefully sags for oodles of sustain. I tried it with a Custom Shop Tele, a standard American Tele, an SRV Strat, a Yamaha SBG-200, and an ES-335. Being all hand-wired and point-to-point, it reacts to each guitar uniquely, so the true tone of the guitar comeds through. And through it all, it remains quieter than any amp I've used, regardless of the gain setting. Definitely a sign of true quality workmanship.

I've only had it for a short time, but I can say this about the company: they build the finest amp out there. This thing is the best I've ever played, and it comes with a one-year warranty. I bought a reproduction amp from this company almost 2 years ago, and the only problem I had with it was a rectifier that got damaged in shipping. And I played that amp almost nightly. Not bad for reliability in my book!

Josh is one of the most friendly and helpful people out there. There are a couple of boutique pedal manufacturers who show customer care this well, but Josh is the only amp builder who's shown me this level of service. He speedily answers email, answers unrelated questions, gives advice, offers help, and is super friendly. He deserves a 50 out of 10 here too. When I had some amp noise from my last amp, he walked me through everything to help me find a loose tube - on the phone! While there are no "authorized" Electrosonic service centers, an amp of this quality and being point-to-point, and reputable amp repair facility would be able to handle it fine. Not to mention, Josh offers to have it shipped to him for repair or maintenance (like Dr. Z). Plus, a one full year warranty is unheard of with tube amps! Great all around here!

Not going to wate your time with my playing style and experience. I'll just say that I've been around, was pro for a while back in the '80s, and know the difference between good gear and junk. This is the REAL deal. If it were lost or stolen, I'd order another immediately. I've compared it to decades of amplifiers as well as a room full of boutique amplifiers at my house. It's hands down the BEST! TRUST ME!

2004. single channel/40w. Treble, Mid, Bass controls, single volume. Very straightforward. I selected the 12AX7 preamp, tube rectifier (GZ34), and the 6L6 output section. This was the suggestion in response to my request for a configureation for the most versatile setup. I also chose the Impedance selector so that I can use it with any cab. I got the Turquoise stain with a satin finish on pine. Very nice. Love the tube window
Since I selected the options I wanted, I'd say it has exactly the right amount of features

Using a composite Tele guitar with a humbucker/single coil configureation, The sound is just excellent. The Fireball is a fantastic amp because it retains that 'small amp' and 'Class A' tonality, yet delivers the goods as far as power goes. I liked Matchless because many of their amps seemed to be in this vein. Harmonic complexity and musicallity is where its at, and this amp has it in spades, and at a power level that is very useable- at the studio and live.

I play a lot of different styles. Hence my disire for a versatile amp. I haven't really found a genre that this amplifier does not perform well in. Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock, and heavier stuff.

Not really noisy, and I've been using it in the studio almost exclusively.

The amp gets a decent amount of clean before overdriving. At full tilt, the amp is pretty heavy sounding. I'd say that the level of overdrive is somewhere in the neighborhood of '70s hard rock'. I like that the amp never looses the picking dynamics even at max.

Not had any problems, been in heavy use for a month.

Extremely friendly and helpful. answered all questions very quickly. Guiding me to options that made the amp sound exactly like I wanted. 1 year warranty.

Playing for 15 years. I have used a lot of stuff. I've consolodated a lot of equipment and am using this amp nearly excluxsively now. I love to just plug directly into it. Occasionally live, I use a clean boost.
I've gone through a lot of amps, and usually my delimma would revolve around 'too big' or 'too small'. I liked the depth of big amps, but didn't like the shrillness or volume. I liked the harmonic complexity of the small amps, but didn't like the lack of bass and boxiness. This amp has a 'just right' feeling, and a merger of those two qualities. I also think selecting the options and features is a fantastic idea.
I wil probably buy a matching 2x12 in the future for my home, using my ragged road warrior cab(2x Weber Silver bells) for live events.
An excellent price considering what you are getting. An entirely hand constructed amp, built to your specs and options. There is a bit of a wait time, but its not excessive like Rickenbacker guitars or Fender custom shop.