George Dennis Blue Beetle MkII Head

I stumbled upon my Blue Beetle while surfing the web for an amp that was something different. I have many other amps by various manufacturers including some very pricey point to point handwired tone makers. I wanted a head that was small, light weight and had a drive channel that I could use. I definitely found what I was looking for. I prefer a warm overdrive tone versus the distortion tone and that's what I get with the Blue Beetle's drive channel. The reverb is excellent and it has all the bells and whistles you would not expect on a small rig (effects loop, etc.). I having been gigging for some time now with a Dr. Z and I use a TS 808 for lead so you'll have an idea the type tone I prefer. The Blue Beetle stacks up very nicely and while I don't mind toting the much heavier and more cumbersome Dr. Z to the ocassional gig, it gets pretty tiresome to load and unload for all the rehearsals and jam sessions. The Blue Beetle head and a small 1x12 cabinet are very portable and easy on the back and never fails to impress.

I have been playing for many years and own many tube amps by several major manufacturers. The Blue Beetle generatess the type of tone I prefer. A very nice, sparkly clean channel and the drive channel is very bluesy with a warm overdrive tone. Only 15 watts but plenty of head room to gig any club. The only pedal I use is the stock footswitch. My current band plays a variety of music, classic rock, contemporary and classic country and blues. The Blue Beetle covers the spectrum well. I use a variety of guitars including a 1987 Gibson Les Paul, a Rickenbacker 330, various Strats and Teles and several custom jobs. They all sound great through his amp.

I have had my Blue Beetle for about a year with no issues. It's no a testament to the amp but I always carry a back up.

I haven't had to deal with the company, but the dealer was great. Very helpful, truthful and responsive.

All of the amps I own are tube amps. I have a Marshall DSL 401 combo, a Marshall DSL 50 head, a Fender '59 reissue bassman, a Fender Blues Jr., a Randall Bluesman, an Ampeg J12T, a couple of vintage Univox heads, two pignoses, and a Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr. The only two I routinely use are the Blue Beetle and The Dr. Z. Before I found the Blue Beeltle and purchased a Koch Studiotone head. It was very portable like the Blue Beetle but arrived with a non-functioning reverb tank and the drive channel sounded very thin and brash. I sent it back. The Blue Beetle was less that half the price and blows the Koch away when it comes to tone. Not only would I buy another one if it were stolen, I'm thinking of getting another one anyway.

2 channels, 15 W class A/B, common EQ section for both channels, FX loop, footswitch included, spring reverb, hand made.
I bought this amp last year at Musikmesse in Frankfurt Germany with a Celestion G12-based cabinet.
I'd read a review in the german Gitarre & Bass magazine before and wasn't impressed much. But after playing into this amp... OK, let's go step by step. I'd been looking for an amp for some while, tried many of them, including very famous ones like VHT, Brunetti, Koch, Carvin and Soldano. Many of them were great - for hard rock or metal, but a little (or much) harsh for me as I play jazz/jazzrock/fusion mostly. So I was looking for something similar to the sound of Scott Henderson and Shawn Lane. This amp was exactly what I was looking for.
And the last, but not the least - it was a lot cheaper than all those amps I mentioned. I payed the money the factory releases the amps to the dealers for - 650 EUR with a 1x12 cabinet - NEW! If you buy this amp from retail, it costs around 1000 EUR in Germany + 350 for the cab, which is anyway worth the money.
One more great point - it's only 11 kg so I can easily take it anywhere with me so I don't worry about the sound when playing on new stages - my tone is always with me.

My guitar is a custom made 7 string guitar, made by German luthier Siggi Braun. Mahogany body with a maple top, laminated neck, ebony fretboard, 2 custom made humbuckers (can be used as singlecoils too), very strong output.
There are 2 channels on this amp - clean and distorted. For the "real" clean tone I use the single coils, in those cases it doesn't get compressed/overdriven much. This is really perfect for two-handed tapping (that I do much) or playing picked technique for jazz (neck pickup) or blues (bridge pickup). But as I turn to a humbucker, it sounds more compressed and if you hit the strings really tough can even get crunchy so I don't use humbuckers for the clean tone. Actually the clean tone was not the feature I bought this amp for - there are several amps I could be happy with the clean tones of.
What really "killed" me was the overdrive. There was a Gibson LP at their stand for demonstration. As I plugged it to this little beast, I had a feeling the sound is liquid and is just flowing out of the speaker. It's so smooth, creamy, solid - no buzzing, hissing of any kind, just pure tone. And the more you crank it up the more tone you have. Normally I use 1/4 to 1/2 of the gain - no more, it gets a little less defined then, although never muddy. The point is I don't like such gainy sound, but I think it's great for some metal-freaks out there so it's really versatile.
There were some reviews on this amp saying it's not good for shredding. My fingers and ears tell me just the contrary. Even in a metal band it cuts through perfectly, even if you play very fast.
Picked/muted/hammer-on/pull-off/tapping - no matter what technique you use - all the notes are heard perfectly. Concerning the dynamics - I've seen amps with better dynamics, but not way above this one. Anyway it's dynamic puts enough high demands on the players hands, on turn providing with a great responce.
This amp is loud, despite its "15" watts. I can hardly turn it to the quarter of its power at rehearsals and the third, maximum half - in clubs, playing for 150-200 people.
The reverb is great too. I don't use much of it, just for giving a bit of that "volume" in small rooms, for example at home.
As I said I bought this amp with a G12-based cabinet, but I tried it with different ones afterwards, 4x12 and 2x12 with V30 and even some with nameless speakers.

Have it for 7 month now, no problems yet. It looks rock-solid, as it seems only quality construction element are used so I guess it will last. The footswitch is robust too - metal housing, solid metal buttons - one can jump on it, no chance to destroy.

The amp was purchased directly from George Burgerstein - the owner of the company. He was very friendly and showed and described everything in detail, even though I didn't really need any explanation after hearing. :)

I simply see no lacks or drawbacks of any kind in this amp so I give it 10 of 10.