Guytron GT100 Head

This is a 2 channel 3 stage amplifier.It's composed of a 20 watt(2xEL84)cathode bias/Class "A" power amp as its "preamp".The 20 watt amp is then attenuated via a resistive load,and then re-amplified through a 100 watt Class "AB/2" power amp.Of course the signal is filtered through a global set of tone controls prior to final amplification.
It's equipped with 2 effects loops.one "low-power" for pedals,and one "high-power" for rack style gear.The loops are a series/parallel grouping,with a "mix" control on the front panel of the amp.
The rear impedance can be set at 4/8/16 ohms.DO NOT MISMATCH THE IMPEDANCE BETWEEN THE HEAD AND CAB ON THE GUYTRON AMP...EVER!
The channels are switched via a front panel switch,or a standard "on-off" foot-switch.
There is a total of 13 tubes.7 x 12AX7 - 2 x EL84 - 4 x EL34.
There are 2 speaker outputs.
All pots,jacks,and tube sockets are PTP wired,and chassis mounted with "flying leads".
The preamp,and power-amp boards are the highest quality PCB's I've ever seen in any amplifier.
The pilot light is purple...very cool!
I'm giving this an 8,as I'd like to be able to assign the 2 effects to the individual channels.

I've said in other reviews: The Guytron amp nails Edward's tone to the T!".Yes,it will give you EVH's early tones with ease. But! DO NOT THINK THAT THIS AMP IS A ONE TRICK PONY...IT IS NOT! The Guytron GT100 FV model excels in what I call GTA - "Global Tone Acquisition".This however is not a critique of the FV model.The GT100 does not give you the options of "focus",and "voicing".The introduction of FV was the result of repeated requests by players who wanted to do various mods to their GT100 amplifier.I will post a review of the FV model,as soon as I get it back from the Guytron shop.It has a minor problem with at the preamp.
The GT100 has been in short "the amp of my dreams"! I've owned just about every "high-end" amplifier offered on the market,and have played them all quite extensively.TO inclue:Carr "Hammerhead",Bogner Ecstasy 101B,Soldano SLO,VHT Pitbull,Victoria,Cameron modded Carlsbro 100,68 Marshall "Plexi",Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+,Roccaforte,Fender "Pro-Sonic",Zinky "Mofo",Orange,and Diezel.All of these amps are wonderful amps to be sure...but there was always something either missing-or some tonal element that I wanted to remove from the sound of the amp? Sure,I could add an EQ,and shape tone to my personal satisfaction-but I wanted an amplifier the could quench my tonal thirst by just plugging directly into the amp.You cannot compare the Guytron GT100 to any other amp on the market...period.Its overdrive/distortion circuit is the smoothest,sexiest sounding gain possible in any amp I've played to date.The clean channel(A)is by far one of the greatest clean sounds I've ever had the pleasure of tasting.That's right...tasting! You don't just hear the GT100-you "become" the GT100.This amp has brought back all of the wonderful feelings I use to get in my youth of playing guitar.When I'm done working,I can't wait to get home and plug into my GT100! You actually learn how to play the GT100-just as you would any instrument.Every nuance of you picking,and fingering style comes through!
With the FV model,you can emulate the voicing characteristics of Fender,Marshall,Mesa/Boogie,and Dumble.The FV also has the stock GT100 setting...which is my personal favorite.If you're not playing 2,or 3 amps at a time-then the GT100 FV will be the last amp you will ever need.The GT100 alone will cover ANY musical style the seek-it's that simple! NOTE: It won't give you "Nu-Metal" sounds.You can't get a GT100 to sound "bad".There's no such thing as having to "dial-in a good tone" on the GT100 amplifier.You cannot get a GT100,or any Guytron amp to sound "bad".I would never purchase any amp that can! Guytron is now owed by Graydon Stuckey of GDS Amplification.I have never played any GDS amps...but I did get to hear a local player using one of Graydon's GDS 18 watt amps live.Sounded like a Dumble to me! Guy Hedrick obviously wasn't going to sell the Guytron line to just anyone... I'm sure there's going to be some magical things going on at GDS/Guytron.
My complete rig consists of my Guytron GT100,a GT100 FV,and a 2008 Bogner EL34 "Shiva".(I do like to use a Tube Screamer to cut my input low-end...not to boost my signal).
Once I get the GT100 FV back-the Bogner may be up for sale?

Mine is a Rev B 1996 GT100,that was owned by Mark Chatfeild of The Godz,Rosie,and The Silver Bullet Band.It's been used extensively on tour,and operates flawlessly!

I haven't had to send this in for repairs.I sent my FV in for repairs 3 weeks ago.Once I get the FV model back,I will post a customer service review...
For me,customer service is a defining factor as to whether I will keep an amp,or go to something else.I have a good feeling about Graydon,as he has been most helpful with all my inquiries.

I've been playing,and recording for over 26 years.
I've already put a hex on this amp-so to properly deal with any would-be "gear thieves".
A new GT100 FV runs $3,299.00 It'll be the best $3,299.00 you've ever spent...as long as the customer support is as great as the amplifier itself? I get good vibes!

everything I need

great

no problems

Well its been 10 years of Guytron reviews and the company just changed hands. I am original owner of an early one. I bought it for home use and good distortion at any volume was the main factor in my purchase. Sounds great by itself and even better in stereo with old Marshalls.

Incredible!

indestructible!

Graydon Stuckey of GDS Amplification has recently purchased Guytron.You won't find a finer engineer...period!

This is an "older" Guytron GT100, according to Guy Hedrick, that happens to have been on a Steely Dan tour with Jon Herrington ("Two Against Nature" tour, etc.). Jon has signed the chassis (I communicated with Jon about it, and he still raves about this amp). I think I got it at such a great price because the owner before me thought it was failing because the EL84's were worn out (Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe it was just a great deal.). Although there are lots of reviews here, I felt compelled to add another because I think this is such a great amplifier, which I'm comparing to the countless amps I've owned--from very high-end "boutique" to low-end production & everything in between. You can read about all the features in the other reviews, but, strangely enough, this "feels" like a pretty simple, straightforward amp. It's the first amp--though many have made the claim--I've heard that really does have the best sounds of about 10 or 15 other amps in it AT ANY VOLUME! It has the unusual design--which I don't pretend to really understand--that includes 2 EL84 OUTPUT (which Guy explained to me) tubes in the preamp; and four EL34 OUTPUT tubes in the main power section. This amp is as versatile as they come--it really can make the great sounds of everything from a perfect "bedroom" amp to a monster stage amplifier, and, again, everything in between! 2 channels that are footswitchable, effects loop (which I don't use). Plenty of power if needed. 100 watts output.

I know that tone is a matter of taste, and I'll spare you all the flowery superlatives in describing the sounds of this amplifier. I'll just say that the Guytron GT100 is the best-sounding amp I've ever played through, and that includes a lot of great amps from Allen to Carr to Matchless to Soldano to Zinky to Zwengel & HUNDREDS of others. The clean channel has the best clean & "tweedy" overdrive. The drive channel has the best-sounding & widest-range overdrive. All this at low volume, moderate volume, thundering volume--no matter what. It must be something about the design that others don't know about. -- I'm sure you don't care what guitars I own, but, as you'd expect, this amp sounds great with humbuckers or single coils. It's not particularly noisy. It can make so many sounds with lots of subtle shadings with the "double" EQ and master volume/gain controls that it's mind-boggling. Playing through this thing is such a religious experience that I almost feel like I'm playing different instruments than I was before. It would be nice if this head wasn't so BIG, but maybe it has to be; I don't know. I forget about the size and weight as soon as I hear the first notes. I haven't heard the newer "FV," but if it's better than this, it must be incredible---no, BEYOND incredible!

I haven't had it long enough to know, but, from the testimony of others, I expect it to be very reliable. This one has been around the world with Jon Herrington & Steely Dan as well as with other working musicians, and it still sounded great when I got it--even with the original EL34's that Guy put in it when he first built it.

Guy is great to deal with & very willing to share his knowledge w/re: problem-solving, voicing, history, repair, etc. Soon after I got this amp, Guy suggested I send it to him to fix a loose wire on one tube socket & to go over it in general. He added an "external resistor & a "high grade 12AXT to smooth the sound," which made it sound even better (I didn't know it didn't sound "smooth" to begin with!). Guy couldn't have been more responsive, helpful & pleasant to deal with.

I've been playing for a very long time (as if you care). I also own a Roccaforte & Joe Naylor-modified Naylor SuperClub 38, and a John Martin (Martone) Spitfire right now. Nothing much else seems to satisfy me anymore. I've owned everything--just about--in the past, and this one comes out on top when A/Bing with any of them. Not only would I get another one if it were lost or stolen, I'm thinking about buying another now JUST IN CASE so I wouldn't have to wait for another. If you're one of us who drives himself or herself near-crazy going through amp after amp looking for a great sound, you owe it to yourself to try one of these Guytron GT100's. Whenever I see somebody selling one in any of the various net marketplaces (usually at much higher prices than I paid), I really can't understand why!

This amp is from 2003, serial number *408 the main features are told by the 22 other reviews.
I switch the 2 channels by the A/B function on my T-rex Bigfoot/mac1 system. I like the amp very much altough there are only 2 channels, the sounds are very usefull for what i do. I will buy some barber/menatone/fulltone pedals soon to get more sounds.

I use mainly a custom build Haar stratocaster with 2 Suhr lowpeaks and a Hausel humbucker (www.haarguitars.nl) these are very good guitars with lots of tone! (i am thinking of buying a tele soon)
The amp and guitar suits my style of music good thats why i bought it!
The A channel is good, the B channel is a bit noisy cause of the groundloop from my rack, i should work on that soon!
The amp is a real 60's stock amp sound like those old fenders and marshalls. I like it prety much!
The gain from channel B isnt as hi gain as a Uberschal but its okay for me!

I think (as said before) its build like a tank! realy well build and there is a very good case included!

No opinion yet!
But the dealer was very usefull (www.haarguitars.nl)

I play with lots of gear ( see http://groups.msn.com/ieme )
If it would be stolen i would get another one, maybe now because i have only 2 channels now and i prefer to have 4 from these!

My head was made in 1999. The features on this amp are all you need, period. Two speaker outs, two effects loops mixed via front knob, presence.

I play classic rock and this amp does everything. The balance between Channel A and B is perfect. For fine turning use your volume knob and a good overdrive pedal like a Blackbox Cobalt or Fulldrive 2.

Built like a tank and just as heavy. 1000 years from now they will have these things in a glass case at the Hard Rock Cafe on Mars.

The company is friendly, no issues here.

I have been playing 25 years. This is the only amp I have ever played that sounds great at both low and high volumes. I have several high end low wattage amps but they don't come close to the girth, low end, and huge round tones the Guytron produces. Trust me, this head is a 10 and you will sell all your other feeble amps after you get one. Plus, I just made $600 selling all my vintage pedals which I don't need anymore. This head is truly something special... pair it with a quality guitar like a PRS McCarty (my preference) and you can do anything.

100w Head, 2 channel footswitchable w/2 separate channel EQ's, gain, channel volumes; Separate channel controls feeds to the Master volume section w/adjustable EFX loop level, Bass/Mid/Treb EQ, Gain, Presence, Back of head has 2 EFX loops (for pedals and rack gear) can use both simultaneously; 2 speaker output jacks, Switchable speaker Ohms 4-8-16, Switchable power (US/UK); Channel LED's, rock solid chassis and excellent venting. Built like a tank, 65 lbs.. Combination all tube preamp, feeds to dual EL84 pre-output, cascading to EL34's power section (!) How big can you say woody..

Hamer Archtop (Duncan 59'ers/JB Neck p/up), Les Paul (Dimarzio SuperDistort/PAF), 70's reissue strat w/HS1's/HS3's; EXCELLENT EXCELLENT VERSATILE AMP TONES !! Great 3 dimensional tasty distortions, glassy cleans, just about every variation you can dial in between (PSSST: AND THEY ALL SOUND GREAT) You can't get a bad tone out of this amp. Honest. Violin sustain, AC30 crunch, glassy clean, ominous power chords, I even forgot I wasn't using any effects yet either..When I added them on it was better than (___) (fill in your choice here)..

Excellent pick attack texture, breakup, SUSTAIN for days if you want it, excellent glassy clean tones, (Check out the great guitar tones on .38 Special Live at Sturgis CD; All the songs, (especially Wild Eyed Southern Boys); THIS AMP SOUNDS EVEN BETTER THAN THESE LIVE!) I tried an EQ and a tubescreamer in front of the amp to hammer the input stages (it doesn't need it - trust me) and whoa ! created a monster (whew..)

This amp has put back all the enjoyment AND BREATHED NEW LIFE in every guitar I own; I'm 45, have played about every amp on the planet as a performer and a partner in a major full line music store. I've been playing clubs regularly since 1977, I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT THIS AMP YEARS AGO (argh); I waited 5 years from reading the Guitar Player 1998 excellent review of this amp to keeping tabs on it and finally spent the money getting my hands on one in 2003; IT WAS ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT. NO DISAPPOINTMENTS. Only that I tried everything else and waited until now to get one! The Guytron amp is super responsive to your volume roll off, attack, and playing nuances (Maybe that why John Herington in Steely Dan uses one..) I'm saving my $ for a 2nd one for backup.

Guy Hedrick was nice enough for a nominal fee to work my new amp in for a drop ship and rebiased the EL84/EL34 cascading power stages to my preference, and DEMO'D THE SETTINGS OVER THE PHONE AS HE TWEAKED THEM ! (Hey when's the last time you had a company president take the time to listen to how you wanted your car tuned up ? etc.) The amp's built like a tank and I have never yet met someone so genuinely interested in the thrill factor and satisfaction of their customer. Period.

See above comments. Besides answering his own phone It's a nice surprise to have someone (the President no less) take the time to LISTEN to the customer's view, questions, etc.

Anything else said would be redundant. Opens up a new world of playing. Excellent versatile great sounding amp. Period. I'd even pay more (if I had to).

Mine's about 5 years old. I requier an extremely clear clean sound for the majority of my songs and on the occasion when I do a solo I generally want it FAT and Full and Lush. Once I traded out the 12ax7 in V2 to a 12at7 the ultra clean at high volume went from 90 % there to 99 % there, it'll still overdrive slightly but so little I can live with it. It is a superior beast this amp. Makes the rivera I was using before seem like just an okay practice amp, but it would never do for shows now that I've used this guytron exclusively for the past 6 months.

The guitars I play are Gretsch with TV Jones filtertron pickups. I built my own Cabinet with 2 JBL E120's. I fingerpick many of my songs, sort of an older slightly sloppy country color I guess, hence the need for clean. In other songs I suppose a good example would be sort of neil young thickness. The amp pulls it all very well, so well that it gets much praise at the drunk end of a night. I should also add that I've used it to play a couple of acoustic things and it's wonderful, as good as any strickly acoustic amp I've tried, and I've tried 'em boy. Channel 'A' is not noisy at all. Channel 'B' is a bit noisy but it is the 'Stoner' channel so once a band is up and running and you switch over for a lead part you certainly wouldn't notice. The other guitar player in my band plays through a deluxe or an AC-30, both of which are pretty hissy when idle. The guytron compaired is wonderful in my view, he likes his and I like mine, it works. A channel can get pretty loud before it starts any sort of breaking up. 'B' starts off breaking up and gets downright thick as mud, very cool oozing sort of distortion - think of the slightly late compressing goo that Neil young gets, it's like that in my ears. Brutal, but I say good.

I've only owned it for just over half a year but the guy I bought it from played the hell out of it since new and I use it out a lot. I feel very confident in it reliability. The guys who builds them seems to have done his job extremely well, better than the whole lot of top dollar retro looking class A things the kids are so crazy about at the moment

Can't say!

I've been playing music for many years. I'm only interested in equipment for how it'll do what I need it to do. I would get another one of these if mine were lost, that is once I could afford another one, they are very expensive amps for your avarage working musician. I compaired it through a many long years of having this or that amp. This is the best amp I've ever owned hands down for what I do. I wish it had a beer holder on the side because if you spill anything on the top of it, it's going into the works of the thing and that can't be good.
To end I'll add this: I normally wouldn't leave a review, but I thought, 'Ya know, this product desirves high praise. Guy runs a small company and I hope he has lots and lots of success. He's building such a nice amp, the most favorable amp I've used both on stage and for recording. If you're reading this because you're thinking about trying one for yourself, I highly recommend that you do because it's a great piece of quality equipment, far and above the corporate music gear nameplates and better thought out than the many jump on the ol' band wagon class A boutique, trend of the moment type company products.

I've had the amp since new in the fall of 1999 so I've had plenty of experience with it.
Here are some of the details others haven't mentioned:
It has two channels but they are completely seperate unlike most amps. Meaning that it uses different pre amp tubes (12ax7s) for the two channels. The advantage of this is that Guy didn't have to compromise at all when voicing the individual channels. Also you can suff different 12ax7s in the two channels. I use the Sovtek Lp for the clean channel and the 12ax7EH for the Gain channel. JJs sound (overall) best for the EL84s.
Also this amp is all tube unlike Boogie for example who use LDRs (solid state) for switching. Guytron uses relays that don't swell, pop, or delay when switching channels. The EL84s are hybrid biased (both (adjustable) fixed and cathode biased) while the EL34s are (adjustable) fixed biased. Guy has conveniently put one ohm cathode resistors so you can easily measure the cathode current in the power tubes. For me this is a great convenience cause power tubes (bias) do drift (cold) and being able to adjust them to keep max tone is a must and yes you can hear when they drift cold. This is just one of the reasons Mesas non adjustable fiixed bias scheme is so bogus. I could write a white paper on how much bs is in Randy's "White paper on Biasing" -what a joke. Also this amp sounds harsh with the master near zero. On reviewer noticed this. This is easily fixed by simply running (EL34) the bias a bit hotter. Guy sets it at 28 -32ma but 35-40 will sound better at lower volumes. The 45 -50 ma setting of the EL84 (yes 50 ma) that Guy sets em to seems to be perfect. If you let the EL84s drift below 40ma and they will you should hear the sound degrade. This is why being able to adjust the bias on a tube amp is in my opinion important.
Also to note: Some people have mistakenly said that Guy uses New Sensor trannies. So I asked him about this while on the phone. Guy said that he has an "old army guy" custom wind em for him. This makes sense because the one for the EL84s has two secondary taps. One for a 7.5 ohm resistive load (to dissipate signal) and one for the signal to contunue on through to the effects loop. So without a doubt that trannie would have to be custom ordered.

The early configurations of this his amp generate some compression ala an AC30. Some people like it some don't. I didn't. (See customer support)
But the one produced in the last few years don't due to customer feedback. There is an "X-mod" avaliable to address this and a few other issues (again see customer support).
But how does it sound?
The cleans are the best I've ever heard and I've extensively A/B this amp with some nice amps (Kingsley, B-faced Deluxe, and a Tonemaster). I'm not kidding!
The gain stuff is tone city too. I extensively compared the Tron with a TSL (at gig volume) and the Guytron sounded more like a classic Marshall than the TSL did. The Tron has a darker and warmer brown sound while the TSL has the brighter and harsher browns to it. While the Tron has lotsa gain if you want it Id look else where if you just want the NewMetal tones. The Tron is better at the stuff from Glassy cleans up to VanHalen gain. Maybe it's cause the it's hard to get a harsh tone out of it. Seriously!

I use mine almost every day anywhere from 20minutes to 3 hours I've haven't had a hint of a problem yet and don't anticipate anything in the near future. I've had this amp apart a number of times (usually to adjust or check the bias). So I can tell you that the workmanship is what you would expect in an amp of this price to be.

This amp came to me without the X-mod. After I had the amp for about a year Guy told me he had developed an X-mod for it. So I asked him if he could send me the details so I could perform it.
Guy sent me a shematic with the changed parts highlighted, included the parts, wrote a letter explaining the details and gave me phone support on a Saturday! Needless to say the X-mod was an outstanding success! I can't say enough about Guy's customer support!
Here are the details about what the X-mod does and some of how it's done:
The EL84s were being driven hard and this caused the AC30 type compression so we lowered the signal to em from the phase inverter/ driver. To compensate for this the phase inverter is slammed a bit harder from the pre-amps. Apparently some users wanted more "focus" (I thought it was just fine as is) on the gain channel. So Guy added just a touch of mids to it and I mean just a touch. I used this oppurtunity to play with the new, old and inbetween resistor values to see what I liked and the difference was only subtle to me. The non X-modded version get's a bit grainy when you crank the clean channel's gain so a preamp cathode bypass cap was changed to eliminate this. I didn't detect any compromise in the tone by changing the cap.
All new Trons are now X-modded. If you get an older one and it sounds too compressed for you. I'd seriously look into getting it X-modded you won't be dissapointed!

I've been playing for about 20 years, have a good knowledge of tube electronics (specifically tube guitar amp electronics) and work as a tech. If this amp was lost or stolen I would research the market like I did when I got this amp but I'd be very supprised if I didn't get another Guytron. Simply put this amp sounds incredible from Glassy cleans all the way to Van Halen from near bedroom volumes up to stadium levels.
If your cleans don't sound incredible with this amp most likely look at your pickps.

2 channel head with a rather unique architecture: there are EL84's before the EL34 power section. This means you can pre-saturate before you drive a cab.
2 effects loops, 100 watts, yada yada.

This amp has given me back two guitars which I haven't used in long time - an ancient Gibson ES300N and a Strat with a set of EMG SV's - because they sound terrible and thin through my Bradshaw rig. My Tele's and Strats sound amazing, and my Danno's sound silly as well.
Grounded correctly, it is clean and quiet even on high gain settings.
The topology of the amp makes it a pleasure to wank on at any volume.

As a matter of fact, I find myself leaving Channel A (basically the "clean" channel) on the same setting, and using the guitar's knob to clean it up completely. This amp can even do what I have never heard another amp do: get the sound my Super Champ made through a big tube power amp for the three weeks before it blew up. Like Stevie on steroids.
The distortion is not brutal - it's beautiful.

The cab is a 212 of Guy's design, with a 30 and a 75 watt Celestion in side.

No idea as to reliablility, as I just got it, but it seems to be made like a Mac truck. Military grade parts throughout.

I've never spoken to Guy, but we have exchanged emails a few times. A truly nice and talented fellow, from what I can tell.

I've been playing for years, and I am a working session guy. My other rig is based around a Bradshaw 3+SE pre and an old Mesa Triaxis, with a TC Gforce and a DP4+ as effects (among other pedals and such rot), routing through one of Bob Bradshaw's switching systems to a 2:90 power amp. I have five cabs to choose from.
If this thing were lost or stolen I would definitely replace it. In fact, I am thinking about getting another one and running them with my Bradshaw amp switcher into the same cab (four Guytron channels!).

Let me just say that I might have to write an article in Guitar Player next year saying "Guy Hedrick saved my life" or something. I have not cared about playing guitar in a number of years, even though I continue to play on a number of records, because I haven't had a sound that I liked. I had no problem getting tones that people liked in the studio, but they never spoke to me.

Now, I feel like I was 22 again! I just want to play loud angry notes! This amp is both spanky and spungy at the same time, and gives you a nice fat transient to float when you strike the string. It is an absolute joy to play this thing, and it has given me new vigor - literally. I no longer feel old (and I'm not old, that's the thing...I've just felt it for a long time)!

Go to guytron.com and check these things out - then order one.

The features are all clearly noted in previous reviews. Mine is a used GT-100. I went to the local music store looking at a Soldano to potentially replace my Bogner Ecstacy 101b. As I was leaving, unsatisfied, one of the guys said, "have you ever played a Guytron?" No. I look at this simple amp and think, this is going to suck. WRONG. I could not believe the sound quality and tonal range of this amp. It is the anti-Bogner. While the Bogner has more little switches and dials than you could EVER figure out (it took me days after I bought my Ecstacy to find decent tones on each channel), the Guytron simply rocks on either channel when you turn it on. It doesn't need a bunch of features. It just sounds great.

I mostly play a Tom Anderson Cobra S, but also have an older Ibanez with a Duncan in the bridge and guitar that I put together from a BC Rich body, ESP neck and an EMG-81. The Guytron sounds good with each guitar, but is especially impressive with the Anderson. Simply changing pickups on the Anderson yields a totally new and exciting sound from the Guytron.

My biggest complaint about the Bogner was the weak clean channel. For over 3 grand, you should get a world class clean sound. The Guytron has a beautiful clean that has the warmth and deepth of any Fender I've played. The distortion is fantastic. It doesn't try to get grungy with a harsh static sound. Instead it has real harmonic range and clarity, better than Bogner, better than Soldano, better than Boogie. What has impressed me more than anything is the unbelievable sustain when playing leads. I've never heard an uneffected amp hold notes better, especially at low volumes. The other telling factor is how easily you can pop an artificial harmonic anywhere on the guitar at any volume. Simply amazing.

I've only had it for a week, but was moved to write this review (my first on harmonycentral) because the amp is so damned nice. I bought it used and it seems to be in great shape.

Have not dealt with the company (Guy).

I've been playing for about 15 years. I started off with something that was like a speaker from Sears, then a Peavey Bandit, then Fender, then Rivera, then Boogie, then Bogner, now Guytron. Each amp was a step forward toward finding a great amp that delivers both clean and dirty sounds that I love. I think the Guytron is it. I can't imagine finding a better amp. I always felt like the other amps were missing something, even the night I brought my Bogner home, I thought that it wasn't quite as wonderful as I wanted it to be (all those damned dials and switches!) and it never got there.

If I lost this amp somehow, I would certainly buy another. I have the matching 2X12 cab and I couldn't be happier. I highly recommend this amp to anyone. Check one out. It will be well worth your time.

This amp has the basic two channel features. The rhythm and lead channels each have a tone, gain and volume control to shape each channels tone and grit. Those two channels are wired class 'A' accross two EL84 tubes at a smokin' plate voltage. This is where the amp gets its 'SOUL', then those two channels share an EL34 power tube section that is wired class AB. This is guitar amp wisdom at its best. You can now further shape the tone to the characteristics of the room or recording studio. The EL34 power section has the same tone and volume accompaniment as most other amps (volume, treble, middle, bass, presence, and effects loop volume. By the way the Guytron has two independent effects loops, one high and the other low to tailor your sound according to the type of effects you use.

I have been playing guitar for thirty years. I have mostly played Marshall but have also used Mesa Boogie, Fender, Budda, etc..I am a tube amp man because I have yet to find an amp that can do what a tube amp can with transisters or digital modeling. The Guytron is by far the best of the lot...I know that opinions are subjective and each person has to tailor there gear to their playing style...if you are looking for an amp that can get a Vox AC 30 chime or a nice smooth Matchless DC30 sound (that you can dial in just the right amount of compression) in the 'clean' channel and anywhere from a very good Marshall plexi or JCM 800 to a Boogie dual rectifier (yes I was able to dial in the scooped recto sound and I have the recordings to prove it) then this is your amp... but what this amp does best is nail the Eric Johnson 'brown' Marshall sound. I put Mullard EL34s in the power section, Sovtek EL84s in the class 'A' section and the 12AX7s are all Mullards except the driver and effects loop tubes which are Valco. The cost of the custom tubes alone in my Guytron are about $600 but it makes a huge difference with reliability, quiet operation and above all SOUND!. I use an early 70s Marshall bottom 4X12 basketweave that I loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s on the top and Celestion 75 watters on the bottom. This is the arrangement that Guytron uses in their cabs and works beautifully for me. I play professionally many gigs and recording situations per month...at least once a week and usually more...in EVERY situation that I play I get compliments from people (especially guitar players) about my tone and sound. Guitar players look at my guitars (Fender Custom shop strat and Gibson Custom shop birdseye Les Paul) and ask about the pick-ups and what kind of strings I use etc...I point over to the Guytron and tell them that the amp is the key to my 'sound' and 'tone' (apart from my hands and soul) not my guitars or rack gear (echo, reverb, slight chorus)...this is truly the 'Holy Grail' of tube amp guitar warmth and taste. Unless you are a knuckleheaded kid that thinks that a Line 6 POD sounds professional or someone that prides themself in buying a $200 portable peice o' #%#@ do yourself a favor and at least check out the Guytron...if you have any taste at all you will not be dissapointed.

I bought this amp used off of ebay and have gigged with it steady for 9 mos. I have had no problems. I opened the chassis up and checked out the wiring and soldering joints for potential problems...the amp is absolutly top notch. I called Guy to talk to him about the tube replacements that I had planned and his opinion..he was very cordial and helpful, he didn't try to brush me off the phone..he waited for me to end the phone conversation...this is impressive seeing that he must be very busy yet not too busy to discuss with someone (that bought his amp second hand no less) the details and operation of his amp. He even returned a call I left on his answering machine.

See above

If my Guytron died or got stolen I would replace it with another as soon as I could. Keep in mind that if you have been playing for a while and you have some quality coming out of your hands most of the top end tube amps will suffice ie: Bogner, Boogie, Budda, Soldano SLO, some Marshalls etc...in my opinion the Guytron is the best of the best.

After reading all these reviews, all I can think of is a collective "WAH!!!". The GT100 rocks. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. Anyone with half an ounce of sense should be able to figure out in the first 30 seconds of playing whether it is the amp for them. And as far as bugging Guy about "tweaking the tone", that's what THE KNOBS are for! Remember, EVERY SINGLE TUBE AMPLIFIER made is an organic beast - if you run them hard and fast with regular gigging, you'll see differences in tones. If you can't handle that, then go ahead and be a puss and buy a transistor amp. The tone is in the amp - but the playing comes out of the player. I got my Guytron about two years ago, after trying them at the two previous LA NAMM shows. C'mon - any amp that will give you controlled feedback at any fret is freaking amazing! I play in a loud, obnoxious rock band, so OBVIOUSLY I needed something along these lines. I stay on channel B, and NO, I don't have the gain turned up all the way. I play loud, the way ya should. If I want a clean sound, I turn my volume knob down. Just to be fair, I used channel A for an entire gig - and it rocked as well, with less chaos; but chaos is what I crave, so channel B is for me. The guytron has an effects loop, but I don't use it at present. No sense in running effects through an amp like this. Loud rock is unadorned and RAW. The GT100 doesn't need any features - it does exactly what it's supposed to do. I cart this amp, with no roadcase, all over the freakin' southeast and play fraternity parties. It gets hammered every weekend, and beer sprayed on it. Yet, it still works, golly could it be that IT IS A GREAT AMP?!!?

I build my own guitars out of warmoth parts, basically EVH Musicman clones. I get whatever American made pickups I can find used in Nashville - Dimarzios, Gibsons, Seymour Duncans, whatever. If you're looking for that brown sound, you can waste your time with a modded Marshall that's been rebuilt 17 times, or some vanity amp with 8 bazillion knobs, OR you can just buy the GT100 and be smart about it. If you want bonzo over the top Metallica thwomp, then go buy a boogie. If you want your guitar playing to be expressive, then buy the GT100.

In regular circumstances, the GT100 is rock solid. I am the exception. Remember, I travel all over the southeast, tossing the GT100 in the band van with all the other equipment banging around on it. I don't have a roadcase. After about six months of this torture, I sent it back to guy after it started switching channels on it's own - but this WASN'T a design flaw - it was a handling flaw on my part. So Guy fixed it all up, did an X-mod on it, and sent it back, whereupon I immediately proceeded to spill my Jack and Coke through the top at the next gig. It started getting fuzzy, so I turned it off, plugged into another fellow's amp, waited til the next set, turned it back on, and it was just fine. The heat had evaporated the liquid. I suspect that there is still some Jack and Coke goo down in there somewhere, but that just adds character.

Guy is the best. I never asked him how to turn a knob. I never asked him what kind of tubes to put in it. We just talked for hours about WHY he did what he did when he designed it - and that's all that counts. Guess what - if you call just about ANY of the major amp manufacturers, you are NOT going to get the PRESIDENT of the company on the phone. Oh golly, Guy still answers the phone. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Yeah, it's a 10. Hey, if any of you morons out there want to get rid of yours, feel free to contact me. You're more than welcome to check out the sounds at www.mp3.com/theboodogs

This amazing two channel all valve amp (13 tubes!) was made in 1999, I believe, completed just a few days before I obtained it according to the Maker. The amp is not trying to be a end-all be-all. What it is trying to do is have the basic features for easy access, and each feature is thought out and refined to perfection. For 90% of the playing I do (everything from classical to blues to jazz to rock), this amp has all the versatility I need. There isn't a single feature I don't use.

I love the dual effects loops (low and high level). They're placed at the last stage before the power amp (not all are like this) and I've got great results recording direct out from the effects send and mixing this with a mic on the cabinet.

The CabI got is the Guytron cab with dissimilar 12" celestions. I tried the open back and closed back versions, and preferred the open, so that's what I bought. I thought about adding a 4x12 cab, but is has so much bass and volume now that it's not needed.

I play mostly for my own enjoyment, and don't gig much. Most of the time it lives in a pretty large room with my other gear, and it's certainly loud enough. In fact, the place it stands out is how amazing it sounds when it's turned DOWN, which for me was a huge selling point. This is because there are power tubes in the preamp section, which Guytron has a patent on, I believe.

I've played dozens of guitars through this amp, and they all sound great. Mostly I play Blues and Rock with an American Fender Tele, Brian Moore iGuitar, Gibson ES335, Dano Baritone, and some strat-style guitars I've made myself.

This amp is offered in two configs, based on the ideal tones of the designer (Guy). He told me that the Vox AC30 and and old Marshall (can't remember which model) were his two favorites-of-old, so the A channel outdoes the Vox, and the B channel outdoes the Marshall. The other config is the 'X mod' which slightly moves the A channel's tone in the Fender black face direction, and the B channel in the Mesa Boogie direction. I auditioned both, and preferred the X mod.

I've had many amps come through my room, and when you head-to-head them with the Guytron as I've done, nothing comes close (at least yet) to the level of joy that washes over you when you hear the amazing sound. I don't have the bucks to own an array of Bogner, Rivera, Hughes and Kettner, Matchless and other boutique amps, but I've played lots of them, and when I come home to the Guytron I'm impressed all over again. (I also have a Fender Cyber-Twin, which is kind of the polar opposite to the Guytron, and thus complements it nicely. The CyberTwin all flexibility and no great single tone.)

The Guytron is about the quietest I've ever heard when you're not playing. Even on the B channel with cascading gain, if you have quiet pickups and crank the gain to about 7 (there are no numbers on the amp, by design) there is no noise until you play, and then WHAM!

Speaking of the B channel, the harmonics in the heavy distorion are unlike anything I've heard before - they're so creamy! With the gain all the way up on B the distortion is absolutely scorching, but I actually use this setting sometimes - you can get endless sustain and even feedback at really low volumes this way.

I use the A channel about 72.3% of the time, since I find it more natural for the Blues I'm obsessed with this month. I especially love the tone control on the a channel, whis is pre-gain, so you get more treble distortion (ie more vox-like) as you turn it up. At lower gain settings on A, it's super clean. Some amps have no distortion on A at all, which I think is a mistake, and it's one that the Guytron doesn't make. As you get to about 4 the gain kicks in for a perfect blues tone to about 7, and then gets in to more rock territory.

Not only has this amp not broken or had a problem in the 2 years that I've used it (daily) but it hasn't ever made any kind of weird noise. Couldn't ask for more.

Still has the original tubes. Guy tells me that it's engineered to be very easy on tubes, which is good since there are so many to replace!

I've often called the company and spoken with Guy just to chat and bounce ideas off of him. Through these conversations and my research I've learned a great deal about tube amps, and really tuned my ears for tone.

Once I asked Guy to make a small adjustment for me - to increase the sweep on the B channel's tone control, which he did no problem. This was not a repair, but was a Mod that I wanted to have done.

Everything this amp does, it does perfectly. The one thing that really stands out for me though, is how even with the gain up, you can hear details in chords that I can't hear with any other amp I've tried. One of the other reviews for this amp said it sounds like several top notch amps playing at the same time, with different settings, and that's a very good way to describe it.

If this amp were lost to me, I would replace it. I intend to have this for the rest of my life. The only thing this amp MAY be missing is reverb, but even that I don't miss nearly as much as I thought I might. This amp is expensive, but has sound, features and reliability that are more than worth it. Before you buy your next high end amp, find a Guytron and play it.

Made in 1999. Features covered in previous reviews. I've decided to keep this amp & sell most of my others. It covers all of the sounds that I need.

Using Les Pauls with a VHT FatBottom 2x12 on the floor & a Guytron open back 2x12 on top. Effects used are a Budda Wah & AnalogMan modified Boss Super Overdrive into the main input, a SweetSound UltraVibe & Akai Headrush Delay into the loop. I get Huge, Thick, & Sweet tones from this setup. This amp has a magical sound that I've not heard from anything else. Using the volume knob on my guitar, I can go from a Beautiful 3D Clean to Very Aggressive Lead Tones.

I've been using this almost everyday since I received it, without one problem yet. I bought a 2nd one for backup, no need for it so far.

Guy has been great at responding with any ?'s I've had.

Playing for 20 years. I've owned too many amps to list, sold most of them, using the Guytron exclusively. This amp is great for recording, even at low volumes. I think those Class A EL84 Tubes in the tone circuit really add something unique.

This is an update to a submission I made more than 1 1/2 years ago - my comments can be read in my first submission below. I bought another GT-100 head about 3 weeks ago to have as a backup since I have been unwilling (unable?) to play with anything else for the last 2 years. I wanted a spare in case it was ever needed.

See my comments in my previous submission below. I have read some comments from a few other reviewers who have described the GT-100 as not having enough "punch" or having a smoother, rounder distortion tone. That may be true enough. But for me and my ears, I was tired of that pronounced upper midrange Marshall sound and wanted something creamier with a little less bite. I also wanted something that sounded a little different than what most everyone else was using. Still, I would suggest that people who want more of that Marshall tone try talking to Guy Hedrick as there may be something he can do. Or just go buy a Marshall like everyone else.

About 3 months ago, I was playing a gig and my girlfriend bought me a drink. Unknown to me, she set the drink on top of my Guytron head (!). Well, this was a fairly large room and I had the amp humming along at a decent level and the vibrations caused the glass to travel backwards until it hit the vent slot. About half of the drink spilled into the amp scoring a direct hit on the power amp section. Naturally, hot tubes and cold drinks are a really bad combination so those bottles took off like a couple of rockets! Once I realized what happened, I popped all 4 of the power tubes (even though only 2 exploded). I cleaned the tubes sockets quickly with some De-Oxit spray electrical parts cleaner, popped in a set of tubes and replaced the fuse which had blown. In less than 10 minutes, the amp was back online and made it through the rest of the night without incident. In fact, I have not had a moments trouble with the amp since and I have done nothing else to it! Let's face it - dumping a drink into a tube amp is about as bad as it gets and to have this amp recover so easily says something significant about the quality and reliability built into these things.

I have only had the need to speak to Guy on the telephone a couple of times but each time he was very helpful and took the time to make sure I was satisfied with the answers I got. He was also very forthcoming and took the time to have an actual conversation with me - kind of unusual to get that kind of service these days - especially from the owner of the company.

In the 2 years I have played Guytron amps, my opinions about this amp have only changed for the better. I sold my other amps and use these exclusively. For everything. Period.

As a side note, I was in the studio last week and I can attest that these amps record beautifully. The engineer even commented that he had the opportunity to record a Guytron once before and said that it was a great experience as he was able to get great tones without a lot of fuss and nonsense. True to form, we stuck an Audix D4 mic on one of the Guytron cabinets (the G12T-75 speaker), moved it just one time and the sound was perfect for the entire full day session.

IT IS A TWO CHANNEL AMP THAT WILL COVER MOST SLYLES OF MUSIC.IT HAS A CLEAN AND A DISTORTED CHANNEL,TWO EFFECTS LOOPS,AND THE STANDARD 4-8-16 OHM OUTPUT SWITCH.

I USE LES PAULS WITH HUMBUCKERS,AND A STRAT.THE AMP CAN BE VERY CLEAN AND ALSO VERY DISTORTED.BUT TO ME IT DOES'NT DO EITHER ALL THAT WELL.IT SEEMS TO LACK FOCUS ON EITHER CHANNEL.IT WILL COVER A LOT OF GROUND IT JUST DOES'NT NAIL THE TONES IM LOOKING FOR.

THE AMP HAS NEVER STOPPED WORKING.I DID HAVE TO SEND IT BACK TO FIX SOME TUBE SOCKETS,THAT BECAME NOISY AND MADE A POPING SOUND.

WHEN I CALLED THE FIRST TIME TO REQUEST SOME INFO,GUY WAS A LITTLE SHORT WITH ME.HE ASKED ME IF I WANTED READING MATERIAL FOR THE BATHROOM.AFTER I PURCHASHED MY AMP HE WAS GREAT ABOUT ANY QUESTION I HAD.THE WARRANTY IS FOR 1 YEAR.

I'VE BEEN PLAYING FOR 18 YEARS.I ALSO OWN MARSHALL AND ROCCAFORTE AMPS.IF IT WERE STOLEN I WOULD NOT REPLACE IT.I BOUGHT IT WITHOUT HEARING IT.THE REVIEWS WERE SO GOOD I DID'NT THINK I COULD GO WRONG.I EXPECTED BETTER TONE FOR 1800.00 DOLLARS.SOME PEOPLE LOVE THEM AND SOME DONT.IT JUST DOES'NT DO THE CLASSIC ROCK STUFF TO SUIT ME.IF ANYONE IS CONSIDERING BUYING ONE,MINES FOR SALE AT A GREAT PRICE

1999 model, bought new. The features have been pretty well described in other reviews below, 2 channels, footswitchable, shared eq but each channel has its own "tone" knob to tweak the tone for each channel. Each channel also has its own volume/gain controls. Effects loop, actually 2, one for low signal devices, one for higher. One other reviewer said he wished the channel A had another footswitchable "clean/crunch" option, I would concur, this would be nice. I have used the amp onstage in my four piece band on several different occasions www.go.to/rockdox (if anyone is interested).

We play mostly 70s/80s/90s rock, I was very intrigued by the description of this amp and wanted to try it out. I use mostly a musicman axis, also a wolfgang. The tones from this amp are of the most complex I have ever heard, incredibly rich and detailed. The clean (channel A) is one of the most astounding cleans I have ever heard, although I would be quick to point out I don't know clean all that well. Nonetheless it is a very impressive clean. It will gain out to a medium vox type gain when fully pushed. A lot of amps claim you can simply strum lightly or back off the guitar's volume and the amp will clean up nicely; until I heard the guytron, no amp really ever lived up to this claim. The guytron will in fact do this exceptionally well, give you a nice raunchy crunch, then simply strum lightly or back off the volume and it truly cleans up well. Guy himself actually recommmended to me to leave channel A maxed, and use your guitar volume to get a clean tone. Channel B is the higher gain channel, and it will get a decently thick distortion. However, here is where I must throw in what I consider to be somewhat of a negative; the amp is not a punchy amp, the gain from channel B stays round and thick and despite everything I tried I could not get the amp to give me some decent punch. This is not necessarily a negative per se, a lot of people don't want that marshally in your face attack from an amp, but I found myself wishing for more of that from the guytron. Nonetheless channel B is also quite amazing, very complex tones, the amp sings and soars beautifully, the eqs don't seem to matter much, it sounds good most everywhere you eq it. I tried the amp through several cabs including the guytron 2x12, and it sound best through a 4x12 with 30s to my ears. It didn't match well with EV speakers. Again, this is nowhere near a soldano/5150 type of gain, more along the lines of a mesa heartbreaker; plenty of gain as far as I'm concerned, the quality of it is just more along the lines of less punchy, less aggressive style. I took off one point for this, although again, that round/softer type distortion is desirable by some.

Have used it quite a bit, it seems to be built like a tank. I can't imagine it really breaking down, it just looks to be too well constructed.

Guy is excellent, he spent a lot of time on the phone with me tweaking the tone, etc. Great, er, guy.

Been playing 30 years, have tried everything, at least most everything. I have mesas, marshalls, soldano, bruno, naylor, peavey, etc. If this amp were stolen I honestly don't know if I would replace it, it's not my main amp, but I think that's simply because it doesn't cover my styles of music well enough. It is a great amp, no question, well made, incredible tones, excellent customer support, well worth looking into; just be aware of the lack of aggressiveness the guytron has, other than that it is certainly an amp to consider if you're looking for some incredible tones.

Purchased May 1999 based on it's reputation and the fact that I could return it if I was not completely satisfied. This was a hard amp to get my hands on as there was a serious back order problem at that time. Needless to say I kept this tone monster. Others have accurately described this amp's features to which I say "right on." This amp is very simple; yet, the diversity of tones is awsome. Channel A and Channel B are different animals. Channel A can be set up as clean as you wish from a a whisper's volume to shaking the light bulbs out of their sockets. Channel B goes from clean and crisp to blistering with infinite sustain; futhermore, the quality of tone is maintained at low volumes. I can honestly say that I am unable to get a tone or sound from this amp that I don't like. I came into the Guytron from a Johnson Millennium 250. Though the Johnson did what it was supposed to do and had thousands of sounds one can't compare the quality of tone. It would not be fair to the Johnson to compare its "sort of tube" preamp and solidstate poweramp to a genuine tube preamp and tube poweramp like the Guytron. Since I lost the hearing in one ear twenty years ago, I have developed a very keen sense of tone quality. The Guytron has the finest quality of tone I have ever heard in a guitar amp. More importantly for me is that when I practice I want to hear the tones at low volumes that I will hear at high volumes. No other amp I have ever heard maintains tone quality over sound level ranges like the Guytron. I can cut loose at 2 in the morning totally enjoying the tones from clean to blistering without waking up my family. It surprized me that a totally tube amp like the Guytron would beat out the a tube/solidstate hybrid like a Johnson Millenium for maintaining tone quality and consistency over a broad sound level range. When I initally purchased the Guytron I was very pleased that it had an EFFECTS LOOP and I intended to get the finest effects box/rack I could get my hands on. I have lost all interest in effects... yes, I also mean reverb. The quality of tones is so incredible that it needs nothing. Maybe someday I will get bored and try some other effects racks or boxes. And there are times when you just have to have an effect to get a signature sound e.g reverb for surf. The Guytron setup is physically heavy. I am glad that he did not make this a combo or I would not be able to carry it. The head weighs in at just over 50 pounds as does the 2x12 speaker cab. If Guy Hedrick made a "BABY GUYTRON" combo that weighed less than 50 pounds I would cut a check for one in a microsecond.

A very pleasant shocker with this amp has been that all of my guitars sound completely and characteristically different (Telecaster American Deluxe with two standard tele pickups and a middle strat pickup, Gibson ES 336 with Humbuckers, Fender Strat with lace pickups, Les Paul Custom with Humbuckers, and an old Kay f-hole) Changing pickup combinations, tone and volume on the guitars makes very noticable but nice variation in the tones. When I am playing I feel like the Guytron and its orchestra of tubes are all part of my musical instrument. With other amps I felt like a had a guitar to contend with and an amp to contend with. With the Guytron my guitar and amp become one. I know that this is not very objective or empirical-- what the hell we are talking about music and tone.

I have never had a problem with this amp. My life does not depend on this amp being up and running. If I supported my family playing music I would buy a second Guytron in a minute for two reasons-- 1. I don't want to play through any other amp. 2. It took 3 plus weeks with cash on the barrel head and a tail wind to get this amp up to Alaska.

Before purchasing this amp I spoke at length with Guy. He seemed like an honorable person. I like supporting people like Guy... Where I spend my money is a personal statement. Guy stands by his retailers and will not sell direct. When I bought my amp they were in short supply and the only place in the country I could find one was through Greg at Makin Music in Chicago 312-455-1970. I purchased the amp mail order, sight unseen after talking to Greg-- things went so smoothly and painlessly that subsequently I purchased a guitar from Makin Music, sight unseen that I was having a difficult getting my hands on here in Alaska.

The following is a dilema I have with the Guytron. I favor channel A for most of my playing. I take channel A from clean to dirty to get most of the sounds I need. I wish I had a foot switch that would take me from Channel A clean to Channel A overdrive. The foot switch only changes from Channel A to Channel B. I don't know that there is a good solution to this situation. I talked with Guy about it and he recommended that I use an overdrive pedal such as a fulltone with a clean boost so that I could stay in Channel A and go from clean to dirty with the push of a switch. I have tried a number of pedals (though not a Fulltone) and was very disappointed in the tone. Call me a sceptic but I just don't believe that there is a pedal that won't degrade the tone!!! If there were a Fulltone here in Alaska I would give one a try. In spite of this minor criticism I enjoy this amp more and more each time I play through it. The following may be a partial solution-- I have noticed that the humbucker pickups on the les Paul and Gibson ES 336 run much hotter through the Guytron than my strat or tele pickups. I have to turn the volume down on the humbuckers to keep them from distorting. I am thinking that if I get a guitar with a combination of pickups to include a humbucker and a single coil that the humcucker will give me the overdrive and the single coil the clean sound with the flip of a switch on the guitar. We shall see. Sometimes strumming a simple chord pattern is so sweet that it just makes me happy. This amp has characteristics similar to Vox, Fender, and Marshall but with out apology it sounds exactly like a Guytron and to my ear is superior to Vox, Fender, Marshall, Soldano, Mesa Boogie, Matchless, etc. If you want a Vox, Fender, Marshall, etc do yourself a favor and buy one. Regarding amps such as the Johnson Millennium or the Line 6 that model or imitate the classic amps-- they have their purpose if you need an all in one for playing top 40 and are willing to sacrifice quality oftone for a variety of tones and many special effects. I don't play the top 40 and when I play I am not trying to sound like anyone else. I am after musical tones that are mine.

My Guytron is a very early model, in conversation with Guy he guessed that mine was one of the first 25 made. April 1997 is the date inside the amp chassis. I bought it used with the Guytron 2x12 cabinet
The amp is basically designed to be as versatile as possible. I play in a 'modern rock' band with pop/blues/funk/jazz/ska/country influences. I play mostly rhythm, but handle a fair share of lead work.
The amp features are described in very good detail down below, so I won't waste server space on them. Suffice to say it is a two-channel amp with an all tube preamp and power amp and its most unique feature is the EL-84's incorporated in the path as part of the tone 'shaping' and not as the output section.
I use the amp in rehearsal with my band (www.marilynmack.com) and in live performance. For future recording I plan to use this amp as my first choice. It is loud enough to hang in any band format you could imagine.
The effects loop is very intelligent and does deserve attention. There are inputs for "high" = +4db level rack gear and "low" = -10db level for effect pedals. This is controlled on the front of the amp with a level pot where you can mix in your wet/dry levels. Very useful and it sounds excellent. I have a Fulltone Clyde Wah in front of the amp and have a Fulltone Tremolo and Dano DanEcho in the loop.
One other point that I would like to point out is that I use a APC UPS-450 to power the Guy (and all of my amps). I set the bias on the output tubes with the APC supplying clean power and haul the thing to gigs. I find it really makes my amp sound more consistent night to night and room to room.

I mainly play PRS's, but my Warmoth Strat and Anderson Drop Top sound very happening with the amp without any tweaking.
Channel A is the clean channel and it has a real Class A glassy top with a big round EL-34 bottom that just works very nice. You can really find all shades of tones from chimey clean to Vox-ish crunch on this channel and one neat thing (and this holds true with both channels) is that you don't have to tweak anything to dial in really cool sounds at all. It is so easy to get good tones that you can concentrate on playing and not nudging knobs all around. A setting that works great for my PRS will sound great with my Warmoth Strat, but just different. It is very hard to find bad sounds with this amp.
Channel B is the gain channel. Has that detailed top end like a good Class A amp does, and fills up that tone really nicely with the EL-34's round warmth and crunch. Very complex and full sounding at any setting. Turn the amp up or down, still sounds remarkable. The gain structure is very dense, but in no way hits that Mesa saturation type of tone. The Guy's tone color reminds me of a Marshall Plexi mixed with a Matchless DC and both of those amps with real nice overdrives in front of them. The gain knob on this channel is like mixing between the Plexi to the Marshall. I cannot make this amp fart out through the Guytron Cab even at full gain at full volume. The bottom end stays full, but very defined and clear. The SPL measured over 116db's at about a yard away according to my Radio Shack DB meter.
You can cop Marshall like tones, Vox like tones, et. al.. But this amp has its own very distinct tone signature that is very attractive. The other guitarist in my band called this amp a Rolls Royce, comparing it to his Mesa MKII C+. "My amp sounds good, your amp sounds fantastic." His comment. Another player after hearing me through it said, "That thing sounds damn good."
The clean channel is prone to a very natural sounding distortion on the top end when pushed with humbuckers, I assume due to the EL-84's, but it is a very natural and pleasing sound. This amp's clean does not sound like a Fender Twin clean. The Class A textures are very easy to pick out.
I tried NOS Mullard's, GE, new EI, new Groove Tube Chinese and the JJ/Tesla 12AX7/ECC83's in the preamp. I preferred the JJ/Tesla's. They seemed to have more smoothness in this amp to my ears (and much to my surprise honestly). Guy strongly recommended I stick with Sovtek(!) in the power output section. I just rebiased the Sovtek's to Guy's suggested settings. I prefer Sveltlana EL-34's in my Riveras, he told me he thought the Svet's sounded a bit stiff in his amps. I will try other brands when a tube change is needed.
All in all, this amp is not the end-all do-everything amp some people hype it up to be. It has a very distinct sound that is very easy to shape and the range of tone colors is very broad. My overall opinion is that is sounds like you are using two or more amps at the same time. The dissimilar speakers in the cab enhance this and do a lot for the tone. The original owner had the cab loaded with 8 ohm Celestion Vintage 30's wired in series for 16 ohms. (He is a Matchless player and obviously that is the way he liked his cabs). As per Guy's suggestion, I loaded the cab with a 16 ohm Celestion Vintage 30 and a 16 ohm Celestion G12-T75 wired in parallel for a 8 ohm cab. Very large improvement IMHO. I also prefer the sound of this cab for my Rivera Rake and Knucklehead. Very balanced, full and deep sounding.
I have never used an amp that had such a "holy shit that sounds good" thing with every setting I tried. No matter where you dial the thing up there are nice tones. Used in conjunction with a nice guitar and the volume and tone knobs on the instrument, you have a VERY flexible and versatile amp. Very inspiring to play. One other note is that it seems to sit in the mix very nicely without overwhelming volume levels. Very easy to pick out of the mix.

I have only owned the amp for 6 weeks thus far, so I cannot comment yet here. However, after opening the amp to rebias it, I can say that everything is very solid looking and the work inside is just a thing of beauty. In this price range I would expect nothing less, and this amp is nice.

Have spoken to Guy on the phone numerous times, fax him back and forth and emailed. He is very responsive and helpful. Even though my amp is out of warranty, he promised me that if anything went wrong from a parts/quality standpoint, he would stand behind his amp. I feel very good about his customer support thus far.

I have been playing for close to 20 years (ouch). Other gear I use other than mentioned above are Rivera amps and cabs, Taylor Acoustic guitars and various home built solid body guitars.
I am fully insured (I would be crazy not to), but if this amp were taken from me or destroyed in an accident I would do everything in my power to replace it.
I love the depth, complexity and range of gratifying sounds that come out of this amp and cab. Combined with my Rivera Rake amp I have an enormous range of tones to choose from. Every setting on this amp sounds good in some way, and it is very easy to get it to do what you want with minimal knob tweaking.
I had ordered a Dr. Z Prescription to replace my Rivera Knucklehead (which sounded too similar to my Rivera Rake) and could not believe my luck when I found this amp and cab up for sale 1/2 hour from me. After a 30 minute demo session, I canceled the order on the Dr. Z. The Guytron is an enormous amount of money, but after working with the amp for 6 weeks, I am not sorry I did it.
This amp has the effect of making me lose myself in the sound of it. I find myself staying after rehearsals with the band and playing for hours and hours on end. (Rehearsal usually breaks at 10p on weekdays, and I have found myself just playing until 3am with work the next day on a regular basis. And I only stop because I have to go to the rest room!). Very few pieces of gear I have ever purchased have ever had such an intoxication factor.
It is easy to hype, and I am trying to not add to all of that, but instead just lay out my opinion of this amp and cab. They are worthy of very high praise indeed, but at this price level it is expected. Do I think the amp lives up to its promise? In a word, yes. In a every type of guitar driven music, except possibly country, this amp would fit right in and deliver a tremendous range of very good tones. If you have the money and want killer sounds that are very easy to dial in for a variety of styles, this amp is very effective at its job.
My hat is off to Guy for creating a truly original sounding amp that doesn't beg comparisons to this amp and that amp. It stands on its own.

Dave and others below have covered the circuitry and other features very well and you can download them at the guytron website. All I can say is that this amp has totally consumed me with a desire to play it unlike every amp I have owned in the past 25 years.

I use a Strat, Anderson, Tele, Les paul and an old Jazz box and with each guitar you hear all the subtle nuances that come from each one. I play Hard rock, blues, fusion and some jazz and country. In every style this amp does the job!

It is built extremely well and I have had no troubles as of yet.

Guy has responded to every email and question very quickly.

Played for 25 years. Also have Egnater TOL combo and some other amps. I am thinking of getting another one in case anything ever did happen to it. Compared to ALL other amps I have heard or played, this is by far the best amp made. It will do the best sounds from the best amps ever made and some of them better than the most sought after tone machines on the planet. If you can afford an amp in this range don't even worry about hearing it just order one. You will kick yourself If you pass it up and hear one after you spend your $ on a Soldano,Matchless,Mesa,Rivera,Fender,Bogner or anything else in this kind of price range. The cabinets are equally impressive. email me with any questions you have and I would be happy to share any info I can. If other ratings for amps are a ten this one is ceartainly an eleven!

Let me start off by quoting the Guytron sales brochure:
THE HEAD:
* Exclusive patented design delivers that "on 10" sound at any volume (without external power attenuators), restoring power amp distortion and harmonics missing from conventional master volume technology
* Cascaded power amp design utilizes EL84 and EL34 power tubes operating in Class A and Class AB
* Vintage clean and dirty tones (from crystal clear to hotrodded overdrive)
* Channel Switching (2 footswitchable channels)
* Hand wound, custom-designed, interleaved paper bobbin transformers
* Hand-made in the USA
THE CABINET:
* One 12" Celestian Vintage 30 and one 12" Celestian G12T75 (Greenback tone) in one cabinet to provide balanced clean and dirty tones.
* Angled baffle board
* Custom tuned closed back design
* Lightweight and portable
* Full stack fits in a compact car
* Hand-made in the USA
Let me add the following:
* Low-level (-10 db) and high-level (+3 db) effects loops are accessible from the back panel of the head, allowing simultaneous operation of both pedal and rack-mount effects units. The Effects knob on the front panel controls the wet/dry mix sent to the output power stage.(The manual doesn't explicitly mention this, but the Effects knob can be used to setup the loop for parallel or serial operation. Just turn it completely clockwise and all of the amp's signal is sent to the effects loop - now you have a serial loop!)
* Each channel features Gain, Tone and Level controls. Channel A spans the range from sparkling clean on up (in very fine increments) to a bit more gain than a stock Marshall plexi. Channel B spans the range from warm, round clean tones on up to way more gain than most humans would ever need. The Gain knobs control the degree of saturation. The Tone knob in channel A affects the gain and distortion in the upper registers. The Tone knob in channel B does not affect the distortion characteristics of the channel, but simply controls the amount of high-end bite. The Level knobs do not affect the level of distortion in either channel, but simply control the amplitude of the signal fed into the EL34 power section. Consequently, their purpose is to set the relative volume between channels.
* The signal from both channels is routed to a pair of EL84s running in cathode-biased Class A and then into a transformer and finally into a resistive dummy load. According to Guy Hedrick, this transformer is designed specifically to drive the resistive dummy load, as opposed to most output transformers, which are designed specifically to drive speakers, which are reactive loads. This is where Guy's design is different than anything currently in production. I also believe this is where most of Guy's patent activity is centered. Guy's transformer/dummy load pair DOES NOT attempt to emulate the reactance, or the tone, of a speaker as do many of the inductive attenuators on the market (such as the Marshall Power Brake). Guy has simply matched components according to accepted laws of audio electronics and attempted to preserve signal integrity throughout the signal path (through the use of extremely high quality components, especially the transformers). The coloration of the speaker transform occurs naturally when the signal finally reaches the speaker cabinet. Obvious, yet brilliant! (By the way, the Level controls described above are placed after the dummy load.)
The signal from the Level controls is then routed to the master tone section, which sports Master Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass and Presence controls (as well as an Effects knob, which controls the mix in the parallel effects loops as described above) and then into a quartet of EL34s (100W, Class AB2), a main output transformer and then out to the speakers.
This configuration allows the user to adjust the gain in each channel for the just the right amount of EL84 power amp saturation, the relative volumes between the channels with the Level controls and then the final overall volume and tone with th

The Guytron produces the tones we all love. This is the real McCoy - TRUE power amp saturation at just about any volume you want. This is the tone I used to get as a kid with cranked Plexis and Twins (and more recently with a Power Brake and Tone-Master)...but now I can do it at blues-club volumes and without the loss in tone experienced with power attenuators. The clean tones are also the real deal - sparkling, rich and sweet. No compromises have been made here at all. In my discussions with Guy, he always expressed as much concern over the clean tones as he did over the dirty.
Sure, you can probably get similar overdrive tones by cranking any one of the many fine lower wattage, boutique tube amps currently on the market. BUT, how do you adjust that volume to suit the venue (without resorting to tone-sucking attenuators)? AND, how do you get any kind of clean tone without hauling another (higher powered) amp along with you? AND, how do you get the myriad low and medium gain overdrive tones you need at the volume you need? The answer is the Guytron!
Now, with that said, what are the amp's shortcomings? Well, there really AREN'T any, as long as you're aware of what tubes, pickups and tone settings you're using. When I first received the Guytron, I plugged a Barden-loaded Strat into it and set all the tone controls at 12:00 (as Guy suggested). My FIRST impression was that the amp was too bright. (It sounded phenomenal with humbuckers and Silver Lace Sensors though.) In any case, I was quickly able to adjust the amp for warmer tones with the Bardens by slightly rolling off both Tone controls and the Treble and Presence controls. Another improvement came when, on Guy's advice, I swapped out a very bright and somewhat thin (to my ears) Philips 12AX7 preamp tube for a Chinese 12AX7. Another improvement came by swapping out the Sovtek EL84s for some Tesla EL84s. Finally, complete tonal bliss was acheived by swapping out the Russian and Chinese phase inverters for Yugoslavian EI ECC83s! So, my GT-100 has Chinese 12AX7s everywhere, except for the phase inverters, which are EI ECC83s. Also, the Sovtek EL84s have been swapped out for Teslas. The original E34LS tubes (from Tesla) were left untouched. With these tube changes, ANY guitar/pickup combination sounds absolutely stunning in this amp...almost regardless of the EQ settings. I have tried a Barden-loaded Strat, a Silver Lace Sensor-loaded Strat, a vintage SG, an ES-335 and a Tom Anderson do-it-all Strat and they have ALL sounded amazing!
Let me emphatically state, however, that this amp is not overly picky about tube types. You can get unbelievable tone with any tubes that aren't defective! However, the GT-100 IS a relatively high fidelity amp and, as a result, you WILL be able to clearly hear the differences among various tube types. To my ears, the tube tweaks mentioned above represent prehaps a 3-5% change in tone. These kinds of changes simply reflect differences in personal taste. For example, Guy prefers the Sovtek EL84s for their more aggressive tone when overdriven. Personally, I prefer the Tesla EL84s for their smoother overdrive characteristic. Let your ears and musical style requirements be the judge.
By the way, there is no reverb in the GT-100. But, you won't miss it in the least! Just talk to any of the boutique amp builders and most will tell you that reverb just gets in the way. (Reinhold Bogner told me that he resisted putting reverb in the Shiva for MONTHS until he was "forced" to do so by popular demand. You won't find it in his Ecstacy though. You also won't find it in the GT Soul-O 75 or Dr. Z's wonderful new Route 66 or the Fender Tone-Master, etc, etc.) In any case, if you absolutely had to have reverb in the GT-100, you could always stick a pedal or rack in the effects loop.