Holland Brentwood 212 Combo

50 Watt Combo amp built by Mike Holland and company around 2002 (I think). A very solidly built and somewhat hefty amp with point to point wiring in a sturdy wood cabinet covered in a cool lookin' blue tolex with a wheat colored grill and two 8 ohm 100 watt Eminence Legend speakers. One input but two different volume controls, one being bright, with a blend knob to control how much of each you want to dial in but no master volume which some consider tone suction. An amazing Reverb, bass, middle and treble presence, and a sweep control which let's you split between the speakers I think (no manual). Powered by 2-6L6's, 6V6's or KT 66's just make sure to re-set the bias which is amazingly easy and more amp manufacturers should take note, if you need directions and don't have a manual e-mail Holland or me. The 6L6 is clean and glassy with more headroom, the KT's rock nicely and are easier to overdrive, I haven't tried the 6V6. Someone told me that this is the combo the Holland Jumpmaster evolved into, and somebody else told me that the Holland line became Heritage and this is what is now "The Patriot". I dunno. No headphone jacks, no effects loop, just a solid hunk of amp. Simple but quite effective.

Great amp. The best amp of the 4 tube combos I own (a '96 Marshall TSL 122, a '79 Fender Supertwin, and a '96 Peavey Classic 50-410). The clean sound is clear yet warm, no icepick in ear like some Fender-style combos. The Brentwood sounds louder than it's rated 50 watts. Holland/Heritage/Val Evans has been totally supportive on any questions I've had. Mostly regarding tubes and rebiasing which you can check/set easily yourself, not the case with most amps. You can use KT 66's for a little earlier breakup or 6L6's which seem to have a little more headroom and glassiness, for lack of a better word. I've had mine since last August and probably play 10 hours a week on it. I gigged with it the first day I got it and everybody was very impressed. I have only had a rectifier tube go out which was kind of odd. Val offered to send me a new one but I took care of it myself, and I blew a very easily replacable .79 cent 3 amp bus type fuse, which is mounted on the front panel, once when I plugged in the KT66's didn't re-bias and had the volume maxed out and an THD Hotplate attenuator putting a very heavy load on it basically amp torture. It sounds great on it's own with a guitar plugged in and sometimes I bypass my far too many pedals and play something clean on it (take five, moondance, jazzy stuff, etc..) but as I said usually tap dancing on my 10 effect pedalboard with SRV, STP, Albert King, Nirvana, Jimi, Eric C., Santana, etc...and it handles fuzz/chorus/wah etc...torture devices with aplomb. The blend feature helps dial in "your own sound" and the reverb is actually better than old Fenders, which I consider the standard to measure all reverb by. I barely turn it on which is a good thing. With my Les Paul with Rio Grande humbuckers straight in or just a Z-Vex SHO and the amp cranked you can get a Mick Taylor or early Billy Gibbons tone which is beautiful. With my strat on the 2 spot and the guitar volume rolled off Mark Knofler or "The Wind Cries Mary" on the middle pickup. It really lets the guitar's natural sound come through and enhances it. If you want a clean powerful solidly built combo, this is one of the best.

Very solid. I'd gig without a backup but bring a spare fuse, power and pre-amp tube just to avoid Murphy's law. See above for details.

Val Evans has emailed me repeatedly in less than 24 hours for biasing and tube info. I bought the amp on E-bay. He has offered to send me replacement tubes and told me to ship them my amp and they'd fix it for free even though I wasn't the original owner and had not sent any registration/warranty card. The was crackling now and then and I didn't know why. The rectifier tube went out shortly after and the noise disappeared after I replaced it. It's been great ever since.

I've been playing 25 years. Through my garages and spare rooms has passed too much gear to list easily but I'll throw in a '66 Fender Vibrolux and a '79 Marshall Super Lead 100 for reference. This is a great amp and possibly has the best clean sound of any amp I've owned and a beautiful thick tone when you crank it. I'd definitely have to replace it as best I could.