Kendrick GigRig 112 Combo

Great features! 3 Knob reverb! 12" Fane speaker! 4 inputs that are have different tonal characteristics.. What more do you need?

I play nothing but strats. Strat > Fulltone Clyde > Takky Drive > gig rig.. Yes I like simple set ups. I like to actually hear the tone of my strats, this amp brings out all the good (or bad) qualities of your guitar. My vintage 62 strat sounds a bit thicker than my vintage 65 strat, due to the bigger neck on the 62 I suppose? Anyway, what I am trying to say is, you can hear the different subtleties of each guitar, unlike most amps.

Play light for clean tones, and play hard to make the amp work and break a bit.

This amp has a great deal more sustain than nost other amps I have had. I think that it may be the Fane speaker?

The reverb: I set the reverb and leave it, don't use much reverb, just enough to kind of fill the tone out a bit.. The reverb can go very Dick Dale if you want it to also!

I play blues and blues rock 2 - 4 nights a week, this amp is the best!

I have opened this thing up and it is pretty simple and very well built! I bring a Fender blues Jr with as a back up, have not had to ever use the back up amp though.. The Gig Rig is very reliable!

The guys at Kendrick are GREAT!

I have been playing for 22 years. I have had a tone of amps.. Matchless, fender BF amps, super reverbs, vibroverbs, etc.. Bogner, carr, and etc.. This Gig Rig is by FAR the best sounding amp I for the stuff I play.. Also, as I get older, I like to grab and carry and amp and a guitar. This gig rig weighs maybe 30-40 lbs..

I also have a Trainwreck / Kendrick Climax 2x10" amp that sounds great but, weighs about 90 lbs and has a bit to much power..

The Gig Rig is perfect!

If someone ripped it off or I lost it, I would have to buy another one!

The other reviewers covered this well. Bare bones like a vintage fender. All the features needed in my opinion.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed in my gig rig. Since I paid $2500 for this thing, waited seven months for it to be built, and heard so many good things about it, I was expecting it to be a thouroughly thought out, well designed machine. One of the most annoying things is where the reverb controls are. They are tucked in the back of the cabinet completly out of reach and out of view. I needed a flashlight any time I wanted to make adjustments to it; not very "gig" friendly! I also was disappointed by the clean sound this amp produced. It sounded very muddy. When cranked the amp breaks up nicely, but I would much rather have a sweet sounding clean since this amp is very loud I would rarely turn it past 5 on the volume knob.

Built like a tank.

You can talk to Gerald Weber himself.

I've been playing 13 years and have been fortunate enough to have owned many incredible amps; '65 vibrolux reverb, '65 princeton reverb, '66 twin reverb, marshall bluesbreaker (reissue), sunn model t, '56 narrow panel deluxe, as well as many others. I recently purchased a '65 deluxe reverb as a back up. It sounded so much better than the kendrick (I had forgoted how incredible the blackface fenders are), that I immediatly sold my kendrick on ebay. If you're interested the gig-rig or k-spot, I would highly recommend a vibrolux reverb-a much better amp IMO. The gig rig is a good amp, but not worth the price. If you try to sell it, it immediatly depreciates. I sold my gig rig for $1600.

I've had my Gig Rig for several years now and have had the opportunity to play out with it a zillion times. This amp is amazing. I purchased it just as Gerald was getting ready to make the Kendrick K-Spot. My Gig Rick is a single channel amp with volume, bass and treble. It has 3 knob reverb to die for and is equipt with two JJ 6L6 and four 12AX7 preamp tubes. The rectifier tube is a 5U4 because I love my amp to sag and it makes the notes more toneful. My Gig Rig includes a magic switch located near the power tubes which pulled forward puts the amp in cathode bias mode and when the switch is pushed towards the back the amp goes into fixed bais mode. Gerald insisted on this addition in case I ever have to go up against a loud drummer. This way I'd have 35 full watts if I needed them. Most of the time I can leave it in the cathode bais mode which softens up the tone and drops the wattage. The original Gig Rigs were heavy on the treble and Gerald readjusted my amp to be more like a true Fender Tweed Deluxe. Also, I opted to go with the Kendrick ceramic 80 watt speaker instead of the overrated Britsh sounding Fane speaker most player went with. The ceramic Kendrick speaker has a better balance and works great in this combo amp. It produces even bass and treble tones without ever sounding harsh. It's warm but growls when you push it. Very touch sensitive to pick attack. Besides great tone, the reverb is post EQ and is the best 3 knob reverb I've ever heard. The only problem is getting to the back of the amp to change it. I also wish the amp had tremolo. This is my number one amp. I use it all the time and when I'm up against a full horn section in a swing jazz band the Kendrick Gig Rig powers through on both rhythm and lead guitar duties.

I'm a Strat player who recently switched over to Gretsch guitars. I use a Gretsch 6120 (Setzer version w/custom T.V Jones pickups) that really delievers a wide variety of tones. I play Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, R&B and Pop music styles. The Kendrick Gig Rig is quiet, depedable and always delivers. If I need better projection I just place the amp on top of a chair and wail away. It only weighs 35 pounds. My Gig Rig is not set up for the normal distortion most players might crave. The amp is very capable of getting distortion but I haven't been using it that way. I would invite most players using an amp of this type to use a distortion pedal for more control and flexibility. The amps real strength is it ability to deliever great tone.

I use this amp all the time for gigs and have never had a problem. I do not take a back up amp. I probably should change out the tubes but they still sound so good. The amp looks brand new. The folks at Kendrick know how to put a finish on a tweed amp. The nico-tweed covering looks better than most amp manufacturers who try to produce vintage tweed amps. Oh yeah I almost forgot. The Gig Rig cones with a 25 foot long AC power cord so you'll never have to place your amp close to an outlet because your power cord isin't long enough. Thank Gerald!

Purchasing the Kendrick Gig Rig was a labor oflove for me. I've had lots of amps and I wanted an amp that would deliever the sound I was looking for. Gerald Weber spent a lot of time listening to me and asking me questions. First of all he's one of the few amp guru's around today who still answer their own phone. I've called him at midnight and talked to him while he was working on writing an amp article. Guys like Gerald Weber know what customer service is all about. If I had any problems with this amp I wouldn't hesitate to ship it back to Texas to have him repair the amp. He's the best. he knows tone.

I've been playing guitar almost 40 years. I've played in all kinds of situations using all kinds of amps. If this amp were lost or stolen I'd be on the phone to Gerald Weber asking him to make me a replacement. My Gig Rig is similar to the new Kendrick K-Spots which is just like the Gig Rig but with a fancy "K" in front of the amp. In closing I wish the amp had some tremolo to go with that great reverb but it sure blows away all the other Boutique Tweed Deluxe amps out there. Thanks Gerald for making great tone available to all us players. :) If you get a chance to play out of a Gig Rig or a Kendrick K-Spot, do yourself a favor and have some fun. It's never to late to make a date with some great tone. Enjoy.

This is a new Gig Rig, ordered not long before Gerald Weber stopped taking orders.
The features are simple: Bass, Tone, Volume, plus a three knob reverb unit tucked away inside the amp (with footswitch). It depends on your perspective. If you're looking for a "modern" amp with a milliion knobs, this will seem wanting. If you're looking for an early Fender-type amp, this is just right. The latter is my perspective.

I play this mainly with single-coils. For blues and blues-oriented rock (although it can also do decent jazz duty with a Guild Manhattan at lower volumes).
This is a warm, lively and richly dimensional amp. I think the tube rectifier (I replaced the stock JJ Tesla with a NOS Philips GZ34S) accounts for the "singing" quality of the tone. I can play this amp for hours and just marvel at the sound. You can get a decent variety of tones (it's highly responsive to guitar settings and touch-sensitivity), though all are within the parameters of a Fender Tweed kind of vibe. For that kind of amp, it's really, really fine.

Have had it only about a month, but it seems built like a tank. I've talked with Gerald Weber a few times since getting it about particular details; am highly confident he would back it up if ever needed.

I've been playing close to 40 years. Have had many tube amps. Currently have a THD Univalve and an Acoustic Image solid-state amp. I'd better not lose this amp because Gerald 's not making them any more...would have to find on the used market. It's light, it's loud, it sounds fabulous. I love this amp.

I give this amp an 8 for features because it does not have a control for mids. That is about the only feature that I feel is missing. If you need more than what this amp has this isn't the amp for you.

The best sounding amp I have ever owned. I currently own a tweed Deluxe, Pro, and non-master Marshall. I play a sixties strat and just use a fulldrive in front of it. People are amazed at the big sound I get from my little amp. It really sounds like a tweed bassman in a box the size of a deluxe.

What could possibly go wrong? It's all quality pt. to pt. Change tubes once in a while and play it.

Everyone at kendrick is very helpful. Any questions usually Gerald Answers them personally.

I've been playing for 25 years and gig at least twice a week. I wish I had the money to buy another for a back up. This is by far the best amp I have ever played.

This is a straightforward amp, with only the features you really need -- volume, tones, and a THREE KNOB reverb (mix, dwell tone). At first, I wasn't crazy about the fact that you have to reach behind the amp to access the reverb controls, but I came to realize that I generally dial in the reverb I like and leave it alone (it is footswitchable). No vibrato, but that's not really a concern to me, though it might be for some.

This amp is killer for blues, but also has a very nice clean tone as well.

This amp sounds amazing. It's also very loud -- the Gig Rig name suits it perfectly. And, best of all, it is AMAZINGLY lightweight (antique pine). You can get everything from a nice clean reverb-unit in front of tweed sound to an awesome overdriven sound. This amp also responds well to picking technique and cleans up nicley at almost every level by turning down the guitar volume control, without any loss of highs or punch.

No problems yet. To early to really say, but Gerald is a great guy -- I've spoken to him a couple of times on the phone, and feel certain he would take care of any problems. Very solidly built. The insides are a work of art.

Gerald lives, breathes and talks tube tone. I loved his books and tapes, and now that I have had a chance to speak with him and actually own one of his gems, I am only that much more impressed.

I've been playing guitar for 35 years. I've owned more than 40 amps in my life, vintage and modern. I currenly have 10 amps, and this one is by far my favorite, except when I need something that breaks up at a lower volume (i.e., tweed champ territory). I'm currently looking over the amp farm and deciding which ones I can prune now that I have this.

It's expensive, but value is a subjective measure, and to me it's worth every penny. This one is a keeper -- I'll have it while my fingers are still capable of pushing down a string!

The features on my Gigrig are simple,1 Tone and 2 Volumes.12" Fane speaker(the best hands down).I had my gigrig made into a 55 fender harvard cab i had laying around.I opted out of the added bass knob,to keep it more on line with a 5e3 deluxe,and chose not to have the reverb unit installed.I currently use a Kendrick Revereb unit already.It puts out 35 watts,also is driven by JJ tubes 6l6's,and 12ax7's,the rectifier is a NOS Mullard 5ar4.

I use a 56 Stratocaster and a 52 reissue tele w/lindy fralin blues special's.The gig rig sounds insane with these two guitars.I also have a ibanez rg 550 loaded with a seymour duncan 59 neck and a sreamin demon bridge humbuckers,Oh dear lord this amp has Tone to the Bone.I play everything form The blues to hard rock to top 40,this amp handles all Very well.With volume on 4 this amp really does open up.It is very receptive to effect pedals,I use a Ibanez ts9,and i also sub it with a Kendrick Buffalo pfuz pedal.

This amp has no problem handling a gig the amp does not wash out with the drummer's cymble.I agree with the above post.

The best Hands Down.I havent needed repairs on this model,but i sent back a Black gold 15 and the turn around on it was 10 days including 3 day shipping.The folks at kendrick are great people.Hey there all guitarists.

Ive been playing for 25 years,and i play both Bass and guitar.If this unit was stolen i would replace it in a heart beat.I have alot of old amps and this one just gets all of the attention.I have a 63 princeton,59 bassman,65 deluxe reverb,59 champ(kendrick made),64 vibroverb,kendrick BG15,56 vibrolux.I think its perfect the way it is,he really made it to what i needed it to do.An average cost for the gigrig is around 2000.00,but opted out of the cab and the reverb unit.It does need a fane speaker so if you order one order it with a fane thier expensive but well worth it.

as far as i can tell, i have the second gigrig made- the first was made for the guitarist that requested the mods to the 2112 that wound up 'creating' the gigrig. it has two pairs of inputs (bright and normal), and a bass and treble knob on the top of the amp, along with power and standby. attached to the inside of the chassis in back is the reverb unit, with level, tone, and dwell knobs. also in the chassis is a kendrick-modded fane alnico 12" speaker- this puppy has a magnet the size of a small coffee can! very sweet-sounding speaker indeed!

the 'main dude' at kendrick, gerald weber, guesstimated the amp puts out around 35 watts- sounds about right, as my 35 watt '63 tremoluxe has about the same volume output. oh, it has a pair of 6L6's for main output tubes, and all the tubes are the 'JJ' brand that everybody's raving about- i can see why!

i give it a '5' on features only because it's very basic compared to the whiz-bang 25 knob amps other companies put out... but that's not a bad thing at all!

the only thing i really miss on this amp is a tremolo- as outstanding as kendrick's reverb units are (see below), i can only imagine what they could do with a tremolo design!

it's a close copy of a 50's era tweed fender amp- not an exact duplicate of any particular model, but more of a melding of the best traits of the entire fender line at that time.

i use single coil guitars mainly- my main stage guitars are a pair of american standard teles, and i also have a strat and a 54 les paul goldtop i use in the studio. the gigrig is the perfect amp for these axes! the tone controls are very 'active', even tho they are technically a passive design- what i mean is that you can really make drastic changes to your tone using them. i usually run both bass and treble at 9 o'clock, as that seems to be the sweet spot (on this particular amp, anyway).

the amp really starts to 'sing' at around '4'- it's loud enough to keep up with the five piece band i play in with the guitar volume rolled back to '7', and when i open up the guitar's volume to '10', the amp easily overpowers the other instruments! at this volume, the amp has a touch of grit, with a beautiful full clean-as-a-bell roundness underneath. for the amp to start distorting on it's own, it needs to be at about '5 1/2', but it gets so damn loud at that point i use a boost pedal for any overdriven sounds i need.

the group i play in does a lot of female rock stuff (jewell, alanis, ect), with a healthy dose of country thrown in, and the amp suits that style perfectly. aside from the boost pedal (a carl martin 'rock drive'- i turn the gain almost off and just use the level control to push the amp into overdrive), i have a wahwah- so the guitar's tone basically 'naked'- the amp sounds so good any other fx would just detract from the wonderful sound!

actually, there is one other effect i use with this amp- it's built-in reverb. this is by far the best reverb unit i've ever used! at low settings it almost sounds like one of those studio rack units- lush and deep, but not predominant. turn it up to about half-way tho, and it makes the gnarlliest surf tones ever! unlike some reverbs i've used, you can really tell when this one kicks in- when i need a watery, spacy effect, just hitting the reverb pedal gives it to me way better that any chorus or flanger could- very cool!

a lot of beginning guitar players (and more than a few 'pros') think that distortion is the key to getting the jimmy page or angus young sound, but those guys' tone comes more from having a big clean sound with just a little 'hair' on it, and that's something the gigrig does perfectly. even my ash-bodied teles have a remarkable amount of sustain thru this amp, and the notes themselve have the elusive 'swirl' that is the trademark of so many great amps.

for example, i have a gibson goldtone (the new class-a, trace elliot-built model with 2/12" speakers) that sounds great- but it doesn't have the 'swirl' happening when you sustain a note... so while it's a fine amp, it's not a 'great' amp in the same way the gigrig is.

when i bought this amp, i was looking for a backup for my '63 tremolux. it has the most amazing tone i'd EVER heard from any amp, period. what i wasn't expecting was to get an amp i liked so much i made the tremolux my backup- and that's exactly what happened with the gigrig! aside from the goldtone i mentioned above, i also have a '69 bassman 4*10 combo (too big), an ampeg reverbrocket (too loud), a blackface deluxe (not loud enough), and a peavey delta blues (with celestions and 'JJ' tubes, it was as close as anything...but still not THE ONE).

the gigrig is outstanding. i don't know how it would do if used in a metal context, but for country, blues, reggae, roots or classic rock- i really believe it's the best amp i've ever played thru.

i bought the heavy-duty cover for the amp because i do a LOT of gigging- so far (knock on wood!) it's done probably 50 gigs without a hitch... it's built like a tank, and as long as i treat it with a fair amount of care, i think it should hold up as well as any fender amp.

btw, it's internal construction is beautiful- this is one of the last 'built by craftsmen' amps on the market- if there was a problem with it, any decent amp repairperson shouldn't have any trouble fixing it, or finding parts for it.

the guys and gals at kendrick are really in love with the art of amp building, and it shows in the phone and e-mail conversations i've had with them. i had my gigrig custom-built for me, and they were very good to deal with thru the whole process.

hopefully i'll never have to send it back for any reason, but i feel like it would not be a problem if i had to.

i've been playing professionally for 23 years- i've always used tube amps and single coil guitars (either fender or p-90 pickups), and this gigrig is by far the best sounding amp i've ever used.

if it was stolen, i'd certainly have another one made... but i sure hope that never comes to pass.