Elmwood 3100 Head

I'll lay it out easy, 3 channel 100 watt pure tube amp. 4x EL34's, 8!! x 12 AX7's, pretty sure though one is used as a power amp drive tube or whatever it's called. Serial and parallell effects loop, the parallell has individuall sends on the rear panel and a master mix on the front. Channel 2 has a blues/modern mode switch on the front, adjusting the gain and response levels of that channel. All this is stuffed into a huge and beautifull red stained birch cabinet. Almost looks like a piece of furniture.

Each channel has a full set of individually controllable bass, mid, treble, bright and volume, the two gain-channels has a gain knob in addition. Believe me when I say the amp responds to different settings on the EQ! Only slight changes affects the sound. The master section also has global fat and edge knobs, which affects low and high end in the power amp section.

Also featured are a full/half and pentode/triode switch which let's you select power-options from 25 to 100 watts. There's a midi patch-bay, allows remote selection of the three channels.

The only thing I could see people would miss, is reverb. I however don't miss it, as this is a high end tube amp equipped with 2 effects loops, so I guess most users would add their favourite effect to go (but who am I anyway...). The only thing that I miss, and I don't understand why the Elmwood team didn't include this from the start, is a midi patch bay remote selection of the blues/modern mode switch. That would seriously expand the amps live usage even more. So, a 9 for that, but this amp has a good range of features, making it easy to use in a wast array of situations.

Used for the review is an Elwood Straight 2x12 with V30's and a Gibson Les Paul with hot SD's and a Suhr custom guitar.

Channel 1:
I think this is about the best EL34 clean I have ever heard, though I haven't heard them all. Anyway, I find the clean very clear and musical. I have pretty high standards regarding sound, and with a nice reverb and some delays, this clean keeps me playing through the night. Truly beautifull, and the EQ's lets me dial in either a dark, jazzy clean, or a more pristine clean for modern stuff (of course, I could change guitars to get more or less the same results). A nice bonus is that the Elmwood team designed this clean to never break up, and with my hot pickups, it's still clean at high volumes.

Channel 2:
Modern mode: In it's original form, I though this was a little lacking in gain. It sounded nice, aggressive and crunchy, good for rock'n'roll. However, I needed more... So, I had it modded, more gain and less treble. The gain now equals channel 3. This is now my main solo channel, but still cool for Zakk Wylde rhythm sounds. It sounds great, sings with fatness and clarity, though I guess string clarity would be better on a Soldano SLO100 (I couldn't care less..)

Blues mode: I like high gain, and always turn the gain up a couple of notches than the average Joe, so whenever I need overdrive, would usually just turn the modern mode gain down. However, I have found this blues mode quite enjoyable. It's more of a clean sounding channel to me, but distorts and overdrives nicely, especially when hitting hard or on more than one string at a time. I understand why they call this the blues mode, 'cause it sounds very bluesy to me.

Channel 3:
A really cool channel, a bit tighter than channel 2 modern, so I use it for rhythm mostly. The EQ is very effective (as it is on all channels), so I can dial in the amount of "aggressiveness" with the treble control. This channel is still very fat and meaty, though not as much as channel 2 modern mode. I call channel 2 for "singing", and channel 3 for "screaming". So I make a channel choice for whatever I'm looking for.

Master Section:
This amp, and the Modena, wouldn't be half the amp it is without the Fat control, which is really cool since it adds a decent amount of bottom end. It makes me go WOW!! Also, I'd like to mention that it sounds very good with the master at 0! Obviously, it's a bit compressed and unlively, but surprisingly musical. I'll also add that, in my opinion, this amp needs to be opened up a bit for it to fully use it's potential. But when it does, it smokes everything out there! Edge adds a presence to the high end, making it even more aggressive, if that's your thing. It also has a cool string responsiveness, like I'm plugged straight into the poweramp section. Noise is slight, but nothing compared to the amount of gain present.

Overall, I find the amp dark and fat sounding, which is to me a good thing. But it's possible to dial in almost anything with this monster!

I've had this amp for 6 months, and it's 5 years old. I have had no issues with it, and neither is there any record of it gone bad over the years.

I was looking for a new amp, ideally 3 channels, and tried the Marshall DSL and TSL models. I thought they sounded good, but was a bit frightened with the mass production thing they've got going on, and also their reliabillity issues. I chose Elmwood instead because of the sound quality, but also for the construction and design quality. As long as I only use this amp, I'm not worried about it breaking down on me (other than tubes).

Would I gig without a backup? No, don't think so, but I guess that depends on whats available. With new, tested tubes, I have all the faith in the world in this amp, but the tubes will go down eventually, so bringing a backup is a good idea.

The folks at Elmwood are super cool! They had no problems with my two visits, and also they were very helpfull when they modded my amp. Super cool and friendly guys. They totally stand behind their products.

Have played the last 7 years, and owned a couple of amps through the years. I have owned a Laney VH100R, Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker, Mk IIC+, Triaxis and 2:90. Also, I have played a bunch of other amps.

There's an endless discussion wether amps either sounds like a mesa or a marshall, and due to the EL34's, if I have to, I'd place this in the marshall category, though it really should go in the Elmwood category. The distortions are smooth and aggressive at the same time, I sold my IIC+ for this amp, and I do not regret it. This amp is insanely loud if you want it to.. But you need to open it up in order to make it sound the best, at low volumes it sounds a bit harsh, but weird enough, this harshness disappears with the master at 0, go figure..

Lost or stolen, I would not hesitate to get the same amp again, though it's currently out of production, so I'd have to settle for a M60 Modena, which also is a great amp.

For other guy's looking for a new amp, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Elmwood, but I think they all should decide wether they like EL34's or 6L6's first. If they really want 6L6, I'm not so sure the Elmwood is the best way to go, but still it sounds freakin' awesome!

The only thing I'm missing is the above mentioned patch bay remote switch for the blues/modern mode. That's about it, there's nothing I dislike about this head, it's just the Ultimate!

This fits my music like a glove though it doesn??t look heavy metal!

Unbelievably good! This amp gives marketleaders like Engl a run for its money! I have never experienced such cleanliness and tightness before.
Since I play heavy metal on a 7-string ESP I have my preferences regarding distortion clearly set out and the Elmwood delivers big time.
One can almost believe that there??s some kind of gate-effect integrated.
Simply awesome.

Sturdy and built like a tank. It hasn??t given up on me yet and I doubt it ever will. This thing just ooze quality craftmanship.

Have had no contact with them.

I??ve been playing since the mid-80??s and have owned around twenty guitars and amps/combos. None of them have felt as irreplaceable as this. It??s like I??ve finally found home. :)
If my Elmwood was stolen I would go through Hell and back to get a new one. Simple as that!

WOW!!! What can I say but that it sure is one hell of an amp!!!
It has three channels, all with its own control panel. Then you've got a master control panel with master volume, fat, edge and effects.
Channel 2 is also splitted...you can chose between Modern and Blues.
Effects loops, yeah...
This amp has more power than needed...it can be huge! you can also split the tubes and make it a 50w and even a 25w head.
I run for 100w...and I say WOW!
WONDERFUL TUBES!!! WONDERFUL SOUND!!!

I believe it when people tell me all Elmwood amps sounds perfect because they are all 100% handbuild. Even the grill in front of it..the holes were made by hand.

I am a guitarist who're into as much different as possible...playing pop, rock, funk, jazz, fusion, RnB, HipHop, Bigband, experimental and about everything... To have THE perfect amp is a must, and I must say that this Elmwood amp is as close as I can get...if not perfect!!!!
You can throw a Soldano, Custom Audio Electronics, Mesa Boogie, Bogner as well as the best of Marshall and Fender up in the air, and what's falling down is even better......an Elmwood.

No matter if I play in the studio or live, it is awesome.
It's probably one of the best sounding amps when playing low too.

Playing through the Elmwood 4 Angels 4x12" cabinet with 30Vs...do I need to say more?

It stay cool... I bring it with me wherever I play...never any problems with it...
I trust it like I trust my mom.

Oh yeah. This is a SMALL company and they are building everything with their own hands. It's actually only ONE person building the amp itself.
You can email or call him and he always takes time to talk with you and discuss amps... VERY customer friendly people!
Yes, rating 10! Honestly. You don't find people like these everywhere.

I have been playing for 10+ years now. I have been playing tons of amps, but this one is the best I have ever played so far.
I use PRS, Valley Arts, MusicMan, Tom Anderson and Ibanez guitars..and I try to skip as much effects as possible when playing. I prefer a TC Electronic G-Force...into the effects loops...to not ruin the sound. And I keep as few stomp boxes as possibel to keep the good sound and gain. I have a Line6 DL4, Boss CS2 and a Crybaby.
If it got lost, I'd save up and buy a new one...without question.
Believe it or not, but I love everything about this amp...except for the handles...I changed mine out with a Matchless leather handle.

I bought this Swedish made three channel all tube amp a year ago . I work as a studiomusician and get to play all different kinds of music styles , And I have to say this amp really does the work for me . It has a clean channel with a very sweet tone . The crunch channel have two modes , blues and modern . The blues mode goes from semiclean to crunch and the modern mode is more high gain crunch . The lead channel is endless sustain if you want to or more responsive to your play when backing off the gain . The one thing I about this amp is that it keeps its sound quality throughout all three (four) channels .It also have two loops , one parallell and one serial . With the parallell loop there are three send levels , one for each channel , and a mix knob on the front . There's also patchbay channel switching , fat and edge knobs , full / half , triode / pentode modes . Full EQ section on each channel . And it is the coolest amp I've ever seen in its dark red stained birch cabinet .

I use it both singlecoils and humbuckers . I can go from countrytwang to pantera hard and heavy with this amp .

I've had it for a year and there's been no problem .

Since the amp is working just fine I never had to contact them . There's a three year warranty .

I've been playing for more than 20 years and owned a lot of different amps but none of those get close to what this amp sounds like .