Kendrick Trainwreck/Climax

I played this amp while visiting a friend in upstate NY. My friend ordered this amp WITHOUT playing it. SUCKER!! That's what he feels like-he was taken in by hype and screwed by Kendrick. This is no Trainwreck. Lot's of knobs. Changes the sound from flat to shitty.

I played a Custom Shop Tele and '59 Historic LP. They sounded like playing through a Pignose on steroids. The clean side was flat and the gain side was flatter. What a piece of shit! And $5,000.00. There aught to be a law!!!!

A tech took it apart and said he had seen an early Kendrick that looked well built with quality componants but this had some cheap tube sockets and other cheap parts. JUNK.

I never dealt with these guys and from what I have heard and seen, never will.

SHIT

There are two channels. One is a clean channel, Fender BF based, the other, the lead channel, kinda Marshally. The clean channel has a control called "Texas Tea" that brings the sound from BF to tweed, and is actually pretty functional. From what I understand is known as the "Mickey Curve" on some original Trainwrecks. The one I tried had a canarywood cabinet (I can't beleive these guys are charging an extra two thousand bucks for that cabinet..they must be smoking crack) and two 10" Fane speakers.

I tested it out with a Hamer Sunburst Custom with Seymour Duncan JB in bridge and Duncan Custom in the neck, a PRS with Dragons and a Fender Relic strat with Van Zandt Vintage plus p/ups.

The clean channnel was ok, but a bit bright and in your face. Nice reverb and the "texas tea" was OK too. Kinda like a Deluxe with more headroom. It was okay with the guitars. The second channel, in my opinion, sucked. I think The guys at Kendrick were going for an early ZZ Top sound, (I hear Gerald is infatuated with Billy Gibbons) and I guess you can kinda get a wimpy version of that. it's kinda like a plexi reissue. I was not at all impressed. In fact I couldn't beleive they are asking that kinda money for an amp with that lead channel.

The cabinet was ok looking, but I have played the tolex covered pine version and hear no difference. Same nice clean sound and crappy lead sound...

Don't really know. But doesn't seem that well built. This seems to be the consensus among other owners or amp techs.

I've made an inquiry to Kendrick about this amp, and was led to beleive this is the "mothertone". Yeah right...

I've been playing roughly 28 years. I own a Bruno Underground 30, a Boogie MK IV, a Diaz CD 100, and a ADA MP1 going through a VHT 2:90:2. Have owned various other amps. Own the above three guitars as well as Anderson, Ibanez and three Frankensteins I made.

I DOUBT that this monstrosity could be a product of Ken Fisher's. I've seen and heard real Trainwreck, and fols, this is not it. If you look at the work on the inside, the components are not what Ken uses, and the build is not Trainwreck quality. I'm not certain but I suspect something has gone bad, because there is no way Ken Fischer would let a product out of this quality at any price, nonetheless FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. If I am going to pay FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS (that's without the Fane speaker option which tacks on an extra 400 dollars) the amp had better make me pee in my pants as soon as i hear it. This amp was not be impressive if it sold at 1200. FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS IS UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. Needless to say, my friend who own the amp is disapponted and was not allowed to return it for his money back. Word of advice- Listen to one before you lay out any money for this amp. It's been hyped well, but workmanship quality, material quality and tone, in my honest opinion, are lacking.

Ken Fischers past products are absolutely orgasmic to the ear, so I refuse to beleive Ken Fischer is responsible for this.

Ken Fischer licensed Kendrick Amplifiers to manufacture 100 serialized Trainwreck Climax Amplifiers with plans to retail them at $2,500. The Climax comes in a cabinet made of dense Canarywood (related to Teak & CHEEP). The cabinets are hand made by a German/American craftsman. The amplifier is built by hand one capacitor and wire at a time by dedicated expert technicians. It has two channels- the clean side reminisicent of classic Fender, the other side sounds very British (Marshall, Vox). . The control panel is made of Maple Hardwood.

This amp is EXPENSIVE and FLAT. It is DEFINITELY NOT worth the money. I have had trouble with it since the day I bought it. See below.

JUNK-$5,800.00 worth of crap. What a rip-off. No more buying an amp never heard. Day one one of the bass pots crackled and made noise. I called up and was told to pull the chasie out and spray the pot. If I were a Technician, I would not buy such a piece of crap. They expected me to fix their junk. After that the tubes started going south without 1 gig. They told me to buy a new set of tubes(I guess Kendrick thinks that I must spend mor than 6k to get tubes replaced after less than 25 hours). Next I went for the Fane upgrade-big mistake. They sounded dark and they sent me used 10's ($400.00). BUYER BE WARE!!!!! I gave it a 3 because it still makes sounds.

Thye are great on the phone but full of shit. I hear so many stories now that I got stuck with this outrageously expensive lump of shit. Amps being sent to Ken Fisher (Mr. Trainwreck) to be "fixed" tonally, were returned unable to rectify the tone. It seems that the final product was MODIFIED from Ken's original design. Great job Gerald!

BUYER BE WARE!!!!! If you can find a working one, do NOT pay more than a couple hundred bucks. Maybe, down the road it will be worth a grand. It is NO Tainwreck-It's a sub knock-off. Again a 3 because it makes noise