Lectrolab Re-Issue R400C

This is a brand new amp manufactured by JBamps (James Benedict). This was sold on ebay as a "boutique amp" based on a proven circuit but with lots of cool extras. I ordered mine with the reverb/tremolo with a footswitch, power attenuator and line out. Sounds great... except that none of it works. It's build quality is ... er... well... did I say quality? It was built and that is all you need to know. Forget about quality. It doesn't work. It is coated in some godawful vinyl crap that was applied with elmer's glue(only on the exterior) and finished off with cheap office staples. A real piece of $h!+

This amp makes only 2 sounds: kind of bad...
flick on the attenuator: oh my god, what f*** is that?
you get the picture.

Forget about reliability. Brand new, straight out of the box, it doesn't work. It is falling apart. What else is there to say?

Support? What support? Mr. James Benedict has turned his feed back to private. He has already got 4 negatives in the last month with many more to follow soon. He does not answer his phone. He does not respond to email. I have heard from many people who paid good money for one of these things and never received anything!

This is a con job! if you see one of these for sale... you know. If it were stolen(and I could find the poor sap who stole it), I would buy the guy a drink and say "good on ya, mate!"

Brand new (2006). For a tube practice/recording amp, it has plenty of features. Reverb and tremolo (both tube-driven), 3 differently voiced inputs (lo to hi gain). Tubes are a 6CA4 rectifier. 3 12Ax7's...and a single EL 84 for output.

It's a great little tube amp. Not a ton of variety, but that's not what I bought it for. Great overdrive at reasonable volume for practice, light jamming and recording. Great tone. The reverb is a little thin. The tremolo could be voiced deeper...but they are both good, if not amazing. I play garage rock, blues, roots and punk. It is great, overall. A rich, sustaining tube tone.

Sees VERY well built. Point to point wiring. Very well laid out. These guys clearly know how to build amps. It's a single EL 84, so I couldn't gig with it, unless it was miked. That said, the tone is VERY giggable.

They were really friendly and will customize your amp. I haven't needed repairs--the thing's built like a little tank, so I'm not sure I will. Jim Benedict was really friendly and good to deal with during the building of this amp.

Been playing nearly 30 years. I own lots of gear and have owned a lot more than that...the list is, sadly, too long to get into. What I love about this: Tone!. What I hate...well, I don't HATE the painted cab, but I would prefer Tolex...tougher for the wear and tear...even in a studio amp. I would give it a 9, but for the money, it's the best tube amp, point to point value out there, so I'll go with a 10, relative to other hand-built amps.