Kendrick Climax

After writing a reveiw of this amp I need to clarify a few things.When I refered to the amp being "damaged" in shipping I should have been very specific to the nature of the "damage". The owner of the amp brought to me to play and was unaware of the intermittent reverb, while I was playing it the reverb was spotty, i traced it to loose cables and re-tweeked the ends and the amp was 100%. There were NO OTHER problems! I guess my ingrained dislike of UPS over colored my comments and I apologise for any misconceptions this has generated.If any questions remain PLEASE email me ampegv4@aol.com

two channel, no channel switching, reverb,master presence, master high cut, bias control,test points,canary wood cab.#83.A blues,jazz,classic rock amp.

I've played for 28 years and have fixed amps for 32.I've played dang near every amp ever made.Tested this amp with a '59 lp junior,'72 maple neck strat with Fralin classic pu's, and a 76 lp standard with duncan custom customs.This amp has 2 channels. The 1 channel is clean with a Texas knob for adding more tweed tone and the 2 channel is the lead channel.This amp will disappoint most players.If people say your a " tone in his hands "guy,then this amp just kills.If you can hear the tone of pot mounted tone caps and play using your volume knob then both channel will yeild a vast array of tones.The controls are very sensitive,just the slightest tweek is heard.I could get great lead tones on both channels and roll back to get varying amounts of clean.The tones have a purity not found in most amps.I tried EL 34's, 6l6gc's,6v6's,kt66's and el37's.This is an amp that is a tweekers dream,easy to bias and every pre I tried produced a distinct tone,mullards'brimar's,rca's'ect., not a plug and play amp, a guy could go on forever trying different combos of tubes and bias settings. The amp came with Fane alnico 10's but I also ran it with custom coned JBL's,vintage 30's,oxford 12's and Jensen's in open and closed back cabs.I didn't find any non-usable tones, whether one would ever find "the" tone, who knows.

This amp came to me for repair, not because of design, because of UPS,this amp was bought used,and was damaged in shipping.Now to address some of the other reveiws, one guy complained the caps were "cheap crappy orange drops" all the orange drops were 715p Spragues and the bypass caps were Sprague atoms along with the filter caps,better than most of the custom amps I fix.The great thing about this amp is if you want MIT's in it, get out the iron and lift the hood.All the pots were of top quality, and the lay out and construction were spot on.The cabinet is a work of art, just beautiful.If it was my amp I would upgrade the speaker wire to monster xp and go to a 3 sping reverb tank.

I've dealt with Kendrick several times and use an ABC box on my pedal board when I can get it back from my friend who is on tour most of the time and they're great to deal with.Something I don't say about most companys in the amp biz.

This amp is a 10 if you like to tweek tones,play old school style using your volume knob purist.If your a plug and play,dual recto,rack to the hilt type it would'nt break a 2.

The Climaxhead i purchased was made in 2001.I have found the versatility outstanding. The Texas Tea knob,witch allows you to blend tweed and blackface tones, is outstanding. Also, the bias adjustment pot allows you to change tubes quickly. (The amp uses many different kinds of tubes witch further enhances versatility)

I use the Climax with a 1989 Gibson 347 equipped with Van Zant pickups. The Climax is clean as can be when you want it to be. On the other side( i call it the dark side ) the distortion is not so much loud as it is Fat.And Deep. The sustain is forever. The attack is so quick, you might try to slow it down with different tube configurations.

no problems

When you call Kendricks, you will speak directly with Gerald Weber, his wife Jill,or Kendricks employees Jim or Dan. All of the people at Kendricks are most courtious and helpfull.
Warranty? We don't need no stinking warranty!!Serouisly, I don't know how long the warranty is. I just know that any problems will be handled properly. Gerald, and all the people at Kendricks are Topnotch.

I compare this amp with the classic great amps. 59 bassman,67 JTM 45... The ones that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
The thing i like best about the amp? Well I LOVE the amp. But what I like best is the fact that I have come to know Gerald and Jill Weber,Jim Istep and Dan (whats his last name?)They are all personable, intelligent, knowlegeable and helpfull. I cannot understand how anyone could have a problem with Kendricks Amplifiers. To knock these people with an unsigned letter is childish.

1998 Trainwreck Climax 2 x 10" Fane Combo with Canarywood Cabinet. 2 channels. Channel 1 being voiced as a higher-gain version of a Fender Deluxe, and Channel 2 being more aggressive with a British (i.e Marshall) voiced tone. The amp has a very basic design, no channel switching, just reverb on channel one that is foot-switchable. I've read the other couple of reviews and MY amp differs enormously in that (abit, i have tweeked it with many hours of trying different vintage tubes and hand-biasing for each) My tube choices have leaned toward lower gain NOS GE's and RCA 12AT7's in Chan. 1. This really smoothed out the chan. to a very nice fat Fender tone. In Channel 2 i use NOS GE 12AX7's. And i found a great match with using a NOS GE 5751 in the phase inverter. I have also changed out the bright cap across the Lead Channel volume control from 500 pf (disc) to 100 pf (silver mica). The higher value was used on some old Marshalls; the lower value was/is used on the Marshall JTM-45 and 1987 heads. This has made the amp go from being overly bright to being way smoother. The amp's key is an amazing ability to accept most almost any Power Tubes. They can be 6L6's, EL34's, KT-88, 6V6's. Every one give the amp a different color and feel. (Maybe that's the reason the other reviews notice it being 'flat') Some tubes do that in this amp. Other make it really sing. I really like the new Svetlana EL-34's. (Great new tube and a good price) They snarl just right in this amp. The bias MUST be set correctly for the tube of choice. Other things are the amp is really, really heavy with the Canarywood cabinet and It must be used with the 16 ohm tranny tap for best sound. The 8 ohm tap doesn't get all the tone from the transformer.

I play with a '56 Esquire, '57 TV Jr., a new '60's custom Shop Relic Strat and a PRS McCarty. The amp sounds really good (now that's it tweeked) with the strat and the other single coils. But it just kills with Humbuckers. Everyone who hears it with the PRS is blow away at the tone. I have heard many things about these amps. i.e. changed Ken Fisher designs, harmonic imbalances, bad tubes etc. some have been traced to the early amps (1st 30 amps built or so) and then the later ones sounding different due to changed parts. So, take that with a grain of salt, mine was #45 and in the middle of the build. I know a couple of other in the 'middle' and they all sound great. (???) Try it, before you buy it, has always been my motto) The reverb is a bit on the noisy side (in all) but it's footswitchable and almost unnoticable in live settings. The Fane Alnico 10-30 speakers sound but maybe too dark for some. I like them due to the single coil fetish i have. I've changed them out for P10Rs and JBLs too. They all sound different and hey, it's your taste and style that matters. The amp does sound best with my Marshall 4x12" cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's. The amp does have 2 taps on the output tranny for 8 and 16 ohm speakers. The 16 ohm tap sounds best because it uses the entire tranny all the windings. (Trannys are the key to most amps tone)
The Tonal range of Channel one is like a Blackface Deluxe drive really hard with a "Texas Tea" knob that brings in a Tweed type voice on top. Very nice to have that suble tone mixed in. It's kind of like the tone of blending two different amps together. The Lead Channel grinds nicely and gets to (for me)
a great singing, compressed tone that works nicely for me. It's not a 'metal' amp and is not intended to be. It's a great 'blues' amp. (I'm not young and have owned many, many vintage amps) The amp has it's own tone and some may like it, (like me) and some won't (i just hope they don't give up too quick and get to tweek it)

Has been working perfect since the day i got it. No problems, I didn't like any of the cheap tubes it came with though. Those went in the trash the first day. I love the user 'quick-bias' system. The amp has 3 ports (2+ & 1-) on the back for a volt meter. You just plug in you meter, throw some new tubes in it and adjust the bias by a little screw on the back. It's amazing the different tone one set of tubes can have with just changing the bias. (this might also be a clue to the other "flat" sounding amps. By adjusting the power tubes bias up or down, the amp can be dialed-in to be brighter, softer, dynamic with more headroom, depending on the brand of tubes etc.

Kendrick has alway been very nice on the phone. When i ordered the amp, they always kept me abreast of the timetable. When i started to hear about the Harmonic Imbalance in the early ones, I called them and they said that they would fix any early ones that had this problem (mine was post-problem-matic) so, they seem to be on top of it.

I've been playing for over 30 years in club bands, and studio gigs. I currently own 4 amps, the Trainwreck Climax, a '52 Tweed Fender Pro, a Matchless DC-30 and a Fuchs Overdrive Supreme. All sound quite different, but have their own distint voices, just like me. If i lost them all, i'd try to find them again and maybe add a Guytron. (which i heard and also loved)

My overall rating for this amp is a 9. If you want flexiblity, forget it, it you want tone (with some effort) it's in there in spades, but you gotta' find it.

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Kendrick was helpful and friendly. They offered help when I asked. The owner returned my calls. No problem here.

I prepaid $3000.00 for this amp. I was excited to own a product designed by Ken Fisher. My problem is with the way the amp was marketed. I was told that Ken Fisher would be involved in the construction of this amp. Kendrick would do some work, send it to MR. Fisher, he would do some tests, approve/ disapprove what Kendrick had done and send it back to Kendrick with his instructions on what needed to be done. Kendrick would do more work and continue this cycle until the amp was finished. This was why it took 8 months to get the amp. I was sent mail from Kendrick decsribing what was happening and I also received a letter signed by Ken Fisher. The amp I received was one of the noisest amps I've ever owned. This amp was supposed to have been put through a burn in period where problematic amps were singled out and fixed. There is no way this happened. I send my amp back for repair. When it came back, the clean channel had a significant change in its tone. ( It was better before it was fixed). This amp was shipped with Sovtek tubes. Imagine paying $3000.00 for an amp and it has the cheapest tubes money can buy installed in it. I was told by two people who know Ken Fisher personally that Mr.Fisher never saw this amp and never tested this amp. If this is true, then this amp was marketed fraudulently. I was not happy with the performance of my amp and I sold it. I have owned alot of amps ( Matchless, Dr. Z, VHT, Guytron and Hounddog). All of these amps were less expensive and were better performers. Buyer Beware!! If you want a Trainwreck-buy an original!!

I was in Boston, and stopped by a studio a little while ago to check one out that they had because I was looking for a two channel combo, and Kendricks website and claims opened my eyes. It's a 1x12 combo in Tolex. First channel clean like a fender, second channel dirty like a marshall. Useful controls on the front, I mean they effect the overallsound. Too bad the amp still sounds lousy. This amp bites.

Used with a Stevie Ray strat and a Historic Les Paul. I play mostly blues and Blues influenced rock, and am searching for THE tone. I imagined Stevie Ray in clean and the trainwreck voodoo in dirty, especially for the $ they're asking.
Unless your looking for a tinny clean sound (channel 1) and C.C. Deville's guitar tone coming out of a transistor radio (channel 2) I suggest you not buy this amp. If you find anyone that was crazy enough to buy one check theirs out and see for yourself. I bet if you did a blindfolded test and A/B'd this amp with a Gorilla Amp, you wouldn't know which was which. This amp blows chunks.

I don't really know. The studio owner says it's worked well for him. I have a friend who is an amp tech who opened one up as soon as it was shipped and said it's a hunk of crap. He said their were Sprague caps in it and they are real shitty and cheap. He also said that the tube sockets were used when he got it. This is not trainwreck. This amp sucks, but because I don't know if it's reliable (I hear it's not), I won't rate, but- this amp still sucks

Never dealt with Kendrick, but I hear they're full of crap. The fact that they're asking for a hardwood version of this amp for $5000 should tell you that. I think the guys over at Kendrick put the rest of their climax inventory up on ebay cause they know this amp sucks, and won't sell. But because I've never dealt with them personally, I won't rate.

Been playing about 25 years, own a Two Rock Emerald 50, a Plexi reissue, a old BF twin reverb and super reverb, and a Holland Lil Jimi. I know good tone. I've played a friends Trainwreck Rocket. Now THAT is tone to the bone.
This amp sounded like crap with both single coils and HB's. i don't think anything could help this amp.. It's a peavy in a ridiculously expensive hardwood cabinet. I feel sorry for anyone who has paid any money for one and hasn't heard it.

It has two channels- the clean side reminisicent of classic Fender*, the other side sounds very British (Marshall, Vox)*. The control panel (Maple Hardwood) has these controls:
Clean Channel: Volume-Texas Tea-Treble-Bass-Reverb (clean channel only). Texas Tea allows you to take your tone from Black Face style circuit to a Tweed style circuit.
Lead Channel: Volume-Treble-Mid-Bass-Presence-High Cut. The presence and High Cut affect both channels. You can dial up tone ranging from pristine to mega sustain.
This is the first combo that has ever been offered by Trainwreck Amps. It comes in either 2x10 or 1x12 speaker configuration. I got 2x10 with Thane speakers.

I use a Fenfer Custom Shop Tele Master Built with "Texas" pickups (2). Blues, blues, blues. The sounds and overtones are so smooth and complex, it instills heart palpitations.

This mother's built...

The guys at Kendrick are first rate. They return calls promtly and as friendly and knowledgable as can be. Gerald Weber is a true leader in designing and perpetuating the "original" sound.

Nothing else like it on the planet. I just spoke to Gerald last week and there were just a couple left out of a limited run of 100. Check it out at the following: http://kendrick-amplifiers.com/
A bit pricey hense the 8