Goodsell 5/17

Made Jan 2008 Limited Edition #6 of 25.Has 1940's Hammond Organ transformers.One channel 3 knobs Volume ,Tone, and Gain.5 watt or 17 watt power switch.It's in a Tweed deluxe style cabinet.I also asked Richard Goodsell to put in an extension speaker jack which he did..no charge.Nice
I bought this strictly off the reviews here and MP3 clips on superseventeen.com website.Kinda scary but it was meant to be.

Very simple plug and play.or load some pedals up front which it takes very nicely. Came loaded with a Celection G12H-30.I put a Weber Beam Blocker in to difuse the sound as the cabinet only measures like 19"L x 16"H x 9" D

I'm using a DiMarzio Strat,hand made in 1983 with stacked single coilsand a Floyd Rose.A Hamer Gold Top with P-90's and a Fender MIM Tele with Duncan Seth Lover PAF humbucker in neck and DiMarzio Twang King in bridge.
Because I need a lot of "different" sounds for covers,I run a Boss GT6 up front.There is no effects loop on this amp.
I usually run on the 17 watt setting for cleaner headroom.I set the volume at around 1/3,Tone at 1/2 and the gain at 1/4.This thing is quite loud and always brings questions and inquiries from other guitarists.

I've had tis amp for one and a half years now.I gig without backup(just spare tubes)I recently had a breakdown(crackling).Tried tubes, speaker,couldn't find problem.Contact Richard,lightning response, sent back amp chassis,two days later he's got it on it's way back to me.Loose wire.S*** happens.I have total faith in Richard and his work.

Richard Goodsell does it all.Will take time to discuss needs ,concerns,problems, or just stupid questions...with complete graciousness and promptness.If everyone handled business like this ,we wouldn't have any problems.Old school hand made product backed by the craftsman.if 11 or 12 was a choice in this category,I'd award it

been playing 40+ years had so many amps thu the years Fenders back in the 60's,Marshalls in the 70's, 3 different stages of Mesa in the 80's,retired in the 90's, back in the 2000's and the Goodsell I will keep.
If stolen I would get another Goodsell,I'm also waiting to get one of his new Black Dog heads to run thru my Marshall 1965A 4x10 cabinet.Old Plexi meets Black Face Fender.Sounds like my dream

2008 Limited Edition combo amp powered by two EL84s, a triode (5 watt) switch, 2 preamp tubes and a 5V4 Rectifier. Class A with transformers that are essentially the same trannies in a Hammond B-3. Richard's history comes from repairing and rebuilding Hammond Organs, and his amp designs are inspired by the great tones from that organ. No negative feedback loop for more gain at higher volumes, a single tone control placed between a gain and master volume. My amp is in a very portable solid pine cabinet much smaller than his standard Super 17 Single 12" Combo. A Celestion G12H30 came with my amp, but he'll put Greenbacks, Eminence or anything you ask him to put in. Currently, he has a speaker manufacturer out of Kentucky (not Eminence) building the GS1230 based on the exact specs of the Celestion G12H30. My amp also came with a tremolo, which I special ordered. Because the trem. is not a standard option on the 5/17 due to its condensed housing, Richard put the depth and speed knobs under the chassis, and provided a footswitch I can activate the trem. with.

My amp is as beautiful looking as it sounds. Coca tolex with a wheat grill, and a plush leather handle.

No effects loop or reverb...Just how I like it. Simple and to the point. Less is always better with me.

This is truly an amazing amp. I bought one on the spot when Richard came to Corner Music in Nashville to demo his amps. All of his amps sound good, and I've owned his stuff in the past, and this amp is no exception. With the portablility and ability to drop the power to 5 watts, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to have a great sounding amp I could use at home, in the studio or out at a gig.

What does it sound like? Well, the Chicago meets Liverpool and takes a gig in Nashville is somewhat accurate, but still rather vague. Most would tell you it's in the british vein with a happy mixture of an AC-15 and 18 watt 1974. My take is a smooth tweed mixed in with a bit of vox and marshall, but not too much. You can increase the gain to max to get a plexi-like crunch, but with the gain at lower settings, it's more touch sensitive like a vox, but still with a smoother tweed overdrive without the brittleness.

This amp cleans up exceptionally well without the sometimes annoying pronounced mids the 18 watt gives you. In fact, I sold my 65 London after getting this amp because I didn't care for that amp at lower volumes. The gain and master seem to be very interactive. You need one to use the other, if that makes any sense. The tone knob is very useful, and has a very wide range despite it's single control. This amp can be extremely bright, or you can really darken it up depending on where you set it. Rarely do I ever have the control straight up, and find a happy medium with humbuckers and single coils with the tone between 9 and 11 o'clock.

As clean as this amp can sound, you can still push the gain up to fatten the bottom end, and to add some crunch if you dig in. Play lightly for clean, sparkly overtones, and play aggressively for some really cool sounding old-school rock and roll. According to Richard, the post phase inverter master volume enables the master to work in conjunction with the output tubes instead of the preamp tubes giving the breakup characteristics of an overdriven power section instead of the smooth, mushy distortion of a pre phase inverter master. This amp can get very loud, but also sounds great at low volumes.

The 5 watt setting is simply a triode switch that cuts the output tubes in half. Naturally the tone darkens up quite a bit, the mids are a bit more pronounced, but sweeter, and the bottom isn't as tight, and the highs are smoother. It's still loud, but if diming the master and ensuring the distortion you hear is strictly output tube distortion, than this mode can get you there quicker and quieter. Plus, the order of harmonics are changed a bit, and you essentially get a different amp in one.

The tremolo is a must mention too. It's based on the early Gibson amps, and unlike the faster photoresistor trems sported by the blackface fenders and marshall amps, this is much more lush and organic. Until I experienced the Goodsell trem, the only onboard tremolo I cared for was the brownfaced fender trem and the vox tremolo. The Goodsell trem is powered by 1/2 of the 12ax7 in the preamp. The other half of the dual triode runs the preamp. Cool isn't it? I don't have reverb on this amp, but I've played his Super 17 enough to know it sounds very good too.

This amp takes pedals extremely well, but they're not necessary. No effects loop, but a good delay in front of the amp might be all you need for a set.

Richard Goodsell is one of those guys who, like many great amp builders, kind of stumbled onto his design by accident. In that process, everything came from the ground up. Not to copy, but to create great tone. As a builder and repairman of other electrical instruments, I have the utmost confidence in the reliability of this amp.

I will mention, that unlike his larger Super 17 and 33, where the housing is much bigger and the top vent is longer, the 5/17 has the same power section going onto a smaller chassis in a tighter cabinet. As you probably already know, Class A amps (EL84s in particular) run pretty hot already. This coupled with the afore mentioned and a relatively small vent grill, mounted directly under the leather handle, pushes quite a bit of hot air out. I've noticed the underside of the handle can really get hot, and I don't question the reliability, but I'm thinking perhaps some of the components inside the chassis and possibly the tube life might be shortened. On the flip side, everything is first rate on the amp, and high quality products are used for every application, so I'll take an experienced professionals opinion over mine, and if Richard didn't think this amp would last, I'm sure he would not have built it.

With the heat being so intense, I'll refrain from rating this a 10. His other amps seem to ventilate just fine though.

Like Sammy Smith of Smith Custom Amps, Richard is very hands on. These amps are his baby. He's the only guy building them, working on them and selling them...Meaning, he has dealers, but he appears in person, demos the amps, and shoots the breeze in a genuine and enjoyable manner. He explains why he does what he does, and is just a good person. His integrity is high, and I think he'll continue to be the go to guy as his amps increase in popularity and he hires more people to help produce them.

Just send him an email or call him. You'll see what I'm talking about.

I've played some great amps. I've played some really expensive amps. While it's true you get what you pay for, I feel there are dimenishing returns as there are with many electric guitar builders. Lots of high-end-extremely high-priced instruments and amps, but un-available to many due to the cost involved, and the re-sale is terrible. Yet, when you see something of high value, expensive, but affordable enough to save money and buy, with a relatively good resale value, you have a winner. Sure these amps aren't cheap, but compaired to some manufacturers that even make buying them used on ebay difficult, these are a steal. A Marshall 20 watt head is nearly $1,900.00 alone. The cabinet will cost you almost another $1,000.00 You can get a hand-wired Super 17 head and closed back cabinet for about $1,900.00. And in my opinion, these Goodsells smoke either of the smaller powered hand wired Marshalls and either of the newer Vox AC-15s...regardless of the custom classic circuit board or the hand wired edition with the ef86 and triode settings. Don't get me wrong. Those amps sound very good, but this amp sounds great. Don't just take my word for it. Call Todd Austin at Corner Music in Nashville, TN, and he'll verify that. Heck, call other dealers around the country who carry those lines, and they'll tell you the same thing.

I'm truly happy with my Goodsell. I have other great amps from guys like Richard, who are modest in their pricing, but not in the way they build their amps. I've also noticed the people I buy my amps from are all accessible by phone and email, and I can deal with them directly. That gives me a great degree in confidence about their quality control and build integrity. Plus you can learn a hell of a lot just by talking to them. Look around, they are all over the place. You just have to do a little research, and if you're lucky, some of them appear in stores where you can try them out.

I love this amp, and it fills a perfect niche between my higher powered Route 66 and Tweed Super clone, and compliments my Allen Hot Fudge with Nuts and Smith Custom CS-10 perfectly.

Of all the amps, I'd have to give the nod to the Goodsell. Plenty loud in the 17 watt setting, responsive and touch-sensitive with glorious overtones whether you're playing clean or crunchy, and perfect for recording in the 5 watt mode. It likes pedals, and it likes any guitar you plug into it. What more could you ask for?

Just got my Goodsell 5/17 last night. Only has 4 knobs - Gain, Toe, Master, Reverb, but man, that's all you need. This things sounds superb. The 5 watt triode mode enables you to get great tone in your bedroom, no need to crank it up, which I think is an invaluable feature. When you put it into 17 watt mode, it can be loud. Honestly, I don't need any more features than this, I'd rate it as a 10 for my needs, but some people might want a bunch more knobs....

Extremely quiet for a class A tube amp. Breaks up nice, real vintage sound, extremely responsive to pedals. I play mostly Fenders and Gretsch, and I'd have to say the 5/17 sounds like a Blackface with some Vox thrown in. It's got less bloom than my Swart AST, but that could be because I need to break it in. Pretty good bottom end, and it just makes all my guitars sound amazing. Makes you want to keep playing.

Brand new so who knows?

Traded emails with Richard Goodsell before my purchase and he was super helpful and articulate. Obviously cares about his customer. This is what I want when I buy a boutique amp.

This thing looks gorgeous in Blue Tolex, almost like a piece of high end furniture. It sounds incredible, and makes me want to play. Honestly, this is dream amp for me, the fact that it has a 5 watt mode is the icing on the cake. It even has a detachable power cord so I can use one by Monster or PS Audio for better performance. At 2 grand, it isn't cheap, but if you like a vintage sound, with superb clean & broken up tone, with superb build quality, look nowhere else. I will absolutely buy other Goodsell products, thats how much I love my 5/17.