Frenzel Champ Super Sportster

I have a FRENZEL FM-5E1SS "Champ Super Sportster" amp head, made in 2008. It has dual preamps with two 12AX7 tubes (JJ came with my amp), one powering each circuit. There are seperate inputs for each, one labelled "F" (Fender) and one "M" (Marshall). You can use either preamp seperately or blend both with an ABY switch (which I haven't done yet). You can substitute other 12AX7-type of tubes such as 12AT7 or 5751 for different gain/ sounds. The amp came with a EH EL34 power tube and Sovtek 5Y3GT rectifier. These amps are custom built and I could have added more sockets for multiple power tubes, but the one was quite enough for me. Like the preamp tubes you can substitute similar tubes such as 6L6, etc for power or 5U4, etc. for rectifier. The amp is rated at about 10 watts but I've had other 10 watt tube amps that don't sound as loud as this one.
The front controls include two preamp gain knobs ("F" and "M"), bass, mid, and treble tone knobs, a master/ power amp knob and a presence control with pull out for "Edge". The off/on dial includes standby, which I like a lot.
The rear controls include a 4, 8, 16 ohm impedence selection, a line out level knob, and a send level for the serial effects loop that I opted for as extra ($50). Ins/outs on rear include speaker out, line out, and the send and return for the effects loop. The line out you can use for headphones, adjusting volume with the line out level control.
The look is no frills really, which is actually my preference. Controls all seem to be solid and are well secured to the chasis. This amp has everything I want in terms of features. I rate it a ten due to the number of useful features while not being gimmicky.

I've been using a Gibson Les Paul Special (P-90 PUs) and a modified Epiphone Dot (semi-hollow) with Gibson '57 Classic PUs through this amp. I have the amp connected to a 1x12 Lopo closed back cabinet with a Weber 1225 speaker (think vintage Celestion Greenback). The stock tubes sounded good, but I substituted NOS Phillips and Sylvania tubes across the board, also swapping out the EL34 for a 6L6, which I had planned to do all along. Although the tube swap improved the sound some, it doesn't change the character of the amp and the description below can be applied to either tube set.
The amp is low in excessive noise, which is good because I plan to record with it. When turned up it makes more noise as all amps will, but when playing this is a non-issue.
The sound quality is outstanding and took me by surprise. Of the two preamp circuits I like the Fender a bit more than the Marshall. I am able to get really crisp cleans with good bottom end. This amp brings out the true tone of my guitars, which is what an amplifier should do. I've been using a Mr. Springgy reverb (bad name, good pedal) in front of the amp and the clean sounds are especially impressive.
The Fender preamp distortion ranges from a thickening crunch to a more compressed overdriven chunk with nice harmonics. This really sounds like a good quality Fender amp, but still has its own character too.
The Marshall preamp distortion offers more note definition in the upper-mids and is more of a soaring type sound (OK- it's hard to describe sounds with words so give me a break!). I'm not really sure if it sounds like a Marshall, but it will be useful.
Turning up the Master/ power amp is like puting the chunks in a blender (nice visual, huh). The sound kind of flows together and pours out of the cabinet. I've put a Sparkle Drive and a fuzz pedal in front of the amp, and it takes the pedals well- but the pure tube overdrive this amp produces alone is probably preferable. In other words, unless I was trying for more over the top distortion, why even mess with a OD, fuzz or distortion pedal?
The presence control adds only a subtle change to my ears until it is pulled, at which time the top really expands. The tone stack is a nice feature, but I pretty much like using the tone controls on my guitar and keep the amp knobs at 12:00.

I use this amp in my home studio and feel no need for a backup- although maybe down the line I would buy another Frenzel amp, maybe the Vox style one. No problems with the amp yet (got it less than a week ago).

Jim Frenzel seems to be professional, and also good guy judging from his emails. I like buying from smaller companies located in the USA. I had asked for the serial effects loop to be added on after my initial order and this proved to be no problem.

I got my first guitar when I was about 10 years old I'm 38 now. I also play bass guitar, and to a lesser degree drums and piano/ keyboard. I won't bore you with the other gear I own- typical home studio stuff. If this amp were stolen I would find the prick and go medieval on him, recapture the amp, and make him buy me another one for good measure.
Overall this amp exceeds my expectations, and I'm picky about my gear. I didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a "boutique" guitar amp because I have a mortgage to pay, etc. However, I think I ended up with "boutique" quality anyway at a very reasonable price. This amp comes with my highest recommendation.