Fab Amp Meltalhead 5 Head

OK, I've had some time to play around with the amp, so here's the report. This is a 2-channel class A EL84 head. I chose the 5 watt power amp, although he has power amps running all the way up to 100 watts.
Cosmetically, the head looks similar to a Marshall although it is somewhat taller and not quite as wide across. I got a tweed finish on the sides with a real vintage cloth front. Rob has a number of different original vintage cloths to choose from on his site. It has black metal cornering and a black handle. The faceplate is gold painted with chicken-head type knobs.
The first channel is the Splexi, which is voiced like the old Marshall Plexi non-master heads. Nice creamy Fenderish clean sound that can go up to some mild vintage overdrive. Has the standard Marshall tone stack Bass, Treble, Middle and Gain. Very nice.
Channel 2 is voiced like a Marshall Super Lead 100 or JCM800. Again Marshall tone-stack but with an additional gain stage, plus a footswitchable, boost which essentially adds another gain stage. Boost off it delivers those 80 Marshall crunch sounds. Pretty much sounds identical to the JCM800 I had years ago. With the boost activated it gets into smooth creamy tube distortion. Perfect for soloing. It doesn't have that gritty artificial distortion pedal sound and is very responsive to picking volume and touch.
The amp also has a master volume, which works on both channels, a high frequency cutoff control, and a triode/pentode switch.
Since I don't have high gain pickups in my guitar, I found my best results came from using a MXR Microamp in front of the amp to boost the gain a bit. Someone with hotter pickups probably doesn't need to use this pedal. I also experimented with a DOD Mystic Blues pedal but found I was unhappy with the results. I put that down to the pedal's shortcomings and not the amp's.
Rob handpicked the tubes for me, and it came with an assortment of NOS British, NOS North American, and new EH tubes.
I'm really happy with this amp. Rob really came through with what I was looking for. I have 2 channels of classic Marshall sounds at bedroom volume. Perfect for home recording. For life use, I?m going to attenuate the output to line level, run through stereo effects and drive 2 Avatar 2x12 cabs with a 200 watt ADA power amp.

I currently own a customized strat built around a Carvin neck, Carvin swamp ash body, 2 Lace Sensor single-coil pickups and a Seymour Duncan 59 humbucker handwound by Seymour Duncan himself. My other main guitar is a guitar built around Line 6 Variax electronics housed in a swamp ash strat body built by CST Custom Guitars and a Carvin neck. I bought this amp primarily for recording at home in my studio. I record mostly jazz-fusion material although I do occassional rock sessions. I was looking for a Plexi type clean to mild overdrive sound and a Marshall JCM 800 distorted sound. This amp delivers both. The distortion is not brutal, but can nail classic 70's rock sounds and with the boost engaged does 80's metal type crunch.

I don't do a lot of live gigging anymore but I would have no hesistation using this amp without a backup.

Rob always answered the phone when I called during the build proces and promptly answered e-mails. The warranty is 2 years on the amp and 90 days on the tubes. I don't expect to have any issues with this amp, but I'm sure Rob would be easy to deal with if any arose.

I've been playing for 30 years. 15 of those years were as a full-time touring musician. I am currently working on my own CD and do occasional session work. I've owned and/or used just about everything over the years, from Marshalls, Fenders, Traynors, and Boogies to solid state amps like Pearce, Johnson and Rocktron. Rob has several different preamp models to choose from and a host of options available on his site. During the build process he updated me almost daily with reports on his progress and pics of the amp. Very cool! He has also followed up with me afterwards to ensure I'm happy with my purchase.
Price notwithstanding, I highly recommend Fab amps. If you take into account his prices, it's a no-brainer. Check them out!