Matamp GTO Head

2004 quad EL34 120/60 watt 80lb. giant GREEN logo Matamp GTO "graphic tube original"

7 very interactive knobs: Depth, Drive, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence, Volume.

Pentode/Triode switch on the back to drop the 120 clean watts (140 watts distorted) to 60 clean watts (70 watts distorted)

There's a "voice" button on the back along with a footswitch jack, but I haven't noticed a discernible difference when "activating" the button. Also, there are some empty jacks on the rear that have been taped over, yet remain labeled. This amp has never been modified so I think it's a bit weird other GTO users have these functions available to them, but not mine.

Mine does not have an effects loop, although others do. I'm fine without this.
I do like the bias points on the rear.

I despise multi-channel amps and subscribe to the "less is more" approach. This amp has more knobs than most amps I play/need, but after sitting with it, I've found that I really enjoy completely tailoring every aspect of my tone.

One gripe was that the second/lower speaker jack is inactive if you're not using the first/upper speaker jack. It was very annoying to be completely set up at soundcheck and have no sound coming out of my amp while hustling through all my cables to find the shoddy spot. Other heads (Ampeg, Orange...) I've had never did this, so maybe it's just a funky amp.

For what I need, this amp is more than enough, but I'll take off a couple points for some unclear/odd functions.

OK, my biggest problem when people start talking about Matamp/Electric/ORMAT, is they become so proprietary that if "you have a matamp you HAVE to play a les paul and it HAS to be stoner metal." **** that! Don't get me wrong, Dopesmoker is one of my favorite records, but that's not what I want to play.

So,
This amp is not nearly as loud or as clean as I was anticipating. I've got Ampeg's that are significantly louder (vt-22,vt-40 for reference).

It's a very soft, spongy, DEEP sound (I love the Depth click switch), but very open too. Not punchy/compressed/present like an Ampeg or a Twin, but like a great warm bath. I believe this is a bandaxall tonestack (google for much much more info) so EQ'ing can be tricky compared to the usual FMV tonestacks. The tone can be throaty (ala Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore), thick, thin, anywhere in between, but it still retains a distinctive timbre that sets it apart from it's doofy cousin, the Orange amp.

I keep the Drive MINIMAL (maybe 8-9 o clock) and turn the volume up (I keep it clean and work fuzz pedals). Starts breaking up around 2 oclock or so, nice buttery. If you want balls to the wall gain, go buy a mesa boogie, if you want lush, vintage warmth check out this amp. In order to get the cleanest tone available, I've been using the 120w mode (which surprised me that I need that much wattage). In a way, it's sort of a compliment that the break-up is so wonderfully even/gradual on this amp

The function of the Drive knob varies on different models of Matamps, but on the GTO it actually works like a Drive knob, with the Volume functioning as a "master." IMO, it doesn't as sound great with the Drive up and the Volume low unlike having the Volume up and the Drive low (even having the Drive and Volume dimed sounds really nice and QUIET/very little hum/buzz).

As described by others, the amp takes pedals really well, better than my other old amps (Supro, Silvertone, Ampeg, Gibson).

Some people say you need to rebias when you flip the pentode/triode switch, but I haven't yet. Although, I do hear a noticeable hum after switching, which for an amp this pricy, should probably not be happening. Even the new expensive Vox amps that offer pentode/triode switching don't have this hum.

I play Gibson semi-hollows, through a couple germanium and silicon fuzz pedals, and an old tape Space Echo into the GTO through an Electric Amps 2x12 cab in a MASSIVE band, so clarity and dynamics are of utmost importance, and this amp delivers. What has been blowing me away has been how nicely it sits in the mix and how minimally I've had to tweak the EQ. It sounds great straight out of the box! So it sounds awesome, but the hum can be bothersome when recording under a microscope. And bass sounds really good through this too!

I read tons about the history of Matamp before buying this amp and have heard horrible things about Jeff Lewis era Matamps (90's to present), unlike the original Mat Mathias amps that are apparently built like Sherman tanks.

I take it all with a grain of salt, and I won't start crying until the problems happen to me.

Fortunately for me, mine's still working great, and it's nice to know that Joel Wheeler (Matamp enthusiast, American importer) offers parts/service if you don't have a local tech you like.

I won't rate it because it hasn't been around long enough to warrant a proper rating.

Never dealt with them because they've never responded to my emails! At first I thought, maybe I'm showing up in the spam, but I tried a few different emails and no response. I will say I've messaged little companies with much larger production than Matamp and had "quick" responses.

I have dealt with Matamp USA/Electric Amps and they were good.
I didn't think to contact Motor City Matamp though (who are the current US distributor of Matamps).

I won't rate customer support as I haven't had any issue crucial enough that they pulled through or dropped the ball, but if you're a U.S. customer prepare to have a hefty phone bill from the int'l calls.

First and foremost, all the amps I own are at least 50 years old, so I was taken aback when I found how much I enjoyed playing this amp and where it fit in with my sound. I like oddball/off the beaten path amps and my range includes supro, silvertone, gibson, and ampeg, which was what first attracted me to matamp.

I've never paid this much for an amp (the glory of old amps is you can buy them for 150-250$!!!), but it will certainly be around for awhile.

It has been a staple to recording (my other choice amp being a 50's Gibson GA30) and offers a huge foundation on which to build your sound. I can see why Sleep and the like enjoy these amps: MASSIVE TONE for MASSIVE MUSIC.

I play in a 10 piece band described by people as shoegaze/soundtrack full force band. We're not that quiet, but we are very dynamic, and this amp certainly retains the aspects I need for my band.

It's big and green, definitely catches the eye and adds to the show decor.

This amp is scarce enough as is, so I would be SUPER bummed out if it was stolen/lost/damaged etc. but after crying into my pillow, I'd start over, save up, and probably buy an Electric Amp 120w model.

The was made sometime in 2004. The amp is versatile enough to handle any type of classic rock but if you wont to go into high gain metal territory you should probably buy a pedal to boost it with. I play mostly a fusion of rock/metal that includes doom, stoner, blues, alternative and classic rock. It is one channel and does not have many featires beyond a basic eq, gain and depth knobs, and a half power switch for powering down to 60 watts. I use this amp mostly for bedroom playing and even though 120 watts may seem like a little too much, it realy isn't that bad. The amp is of course all tube and has wall shaking mountains of power.

I play a SG with three Bare Knuckle Pickups "Warpig" humbuckers. The guitar is usualy detuned to either B or C. The amp is the quintessential choice for my style of guitar playing. Many of the greatest doom and stoner bands in history have recorded and played with the GT Matamps and there should eb no question why. There is just something about the way the amp is voiced that makes it realy shine when played with a detuned guitar and slow, powerful riffs. It is very quite even at max volume. The only time any "hiss" or microphonics can be heard is when it is being boosted with a distortion or OD pedal. Cleans can be achieved at almost any volume level just by manipulating the drive knob or the guitar volume knob. Of course the distortion is incredibly brutal and pounding. It has a character all its own and is unmistakable when played next to a common Marshall or Mesa type amp. I would describe the tone as being organic, and natural as opposed to buzzy and artificial.

Heres where it realy looses some points. When I first got this thing I had it on max volume for about 10 minutes before it killed my cabinet and then died. I wasnt surprised it killed the cabinet being as it was only rated for about 120 watts rms(the head cna put out up to around 140 - 180 actual watts), but I was shocked to find that the amp would no longer turn on or make noise through an alternate cab. I took the thing to a local tech and after two weeks of waiting he charged me a hundred bucks for the repair and told me it was good as new. A week and a brand new cab later, it did it again. When I took it back to him this time he told me there was nothing he could do for it. I was forced to take it up to Atlanta and have a different guy look at it. It turns out it had blown its power transformer and also needed a replacement quad of EL34's. The guy also tolds me it would be a good idea to have a lkow noise fan installed to reduce heat. I gave him the go ahead for all of the repairs and after another month he told me ti was fixed and I finaly had a reliable amp. The total cost of repairs was more than $700 dollars and I have lost most of my faith in the amps reliability.

Matamp can be a little hard to reach at times if your relying solely on email. It can sometimes take a week for them to reply to an email but if you call them directly they always answer. There was no warranty on my amp as it was technicaly second-hand. I believe tehy now have a warranty system in place for their new custom amps.

I ahve been playing for around 5 -6 years now and have owned alot of gear. Up until now I have been playing with a Marshall MG halfstack and a valve OD pedal. This amp, coupled with a new 1960B 4x12 and DAM Sonic Titan distortion pedal, is way, way, way, WAY, better sounding than that setup. Its hard to thin I would ever want to buy another amp in my life unless this one died again, then it would be straight to teh trash heap. I would definatley buy another Matamp though I dont knkow if it would be a GTO or not. Id prefer a little more preamp gain so maybe a GT1 or GTL next time.

2004 Matamp GREEN half stack. GTO stands for "Graphic Tube Original" circuit that Mat Mathias, the founder of Matamp, invented in 1965. My amp was custom ordered with my choice of either blue, red, white, black, or green vinyde covering, and either white or black plexi panel with whatever name I wanted engraved on it. I also had the choice of either the name of the color I chose or "Matamp" written on the plexi panel and badge for the speaker cabinet grillcloth. I chose the black grillcloth, the black plexi panel, GREEN painted logo, 4X12 speaker cabinet and GREEN on the speaker grillcloth badge.
I originally wanted to buy a vintage ORANGE, which was first manufactured by Matamp from 1968 until about 1973, but they are getting harder to find and of course are getting real expensive (thanks to all the collectors out there). I found Matamp's website and talked to Joel Wheeler who is the sole distributor in the USA and walked me through the ordering process. I found that the brand new Matamps of today are made the same way they were back when they were first making ORANGE amps that bands like Black Sabbath and MC5 were using during that time. I really dig on that sound, and that's what I wanted. I play in a three piece garage punk band called The GoNoWheres and our bassist has a 400 Watt SWR head and a 900 Watt Sunn cabinet, and our drummer is about 6'3" and 250lbs and plays about as aggressive as Keith Moon. I obviously need something that has enough power to cut through that much of a rhythm section.
So, the head is rated at 140 Watts RMS and has a pentode/triode switch on the back for half power operation. The preamp has three ECC83 (12AX7) tubes, a silicon rectifier, and four EL34's in the power section. I didn't order an effects loop, reverb, or tremolo, but these are all options. I play a 1994 Hamer Studio Archtop with P-90's and sometimes a 1962 National Glendale Reso-Glas which has these huge single coils. For pedals I use a ProAnalog MK II pedal which is an exact clone of a 1966 Vox Tonebender with N.O.S. Mullard germanium transistors and a true bypass switch,into an early '70's Electro-Harmonix LPB 2 pedal. I leave both pedals on all the time, and I use an Ernie Ball Mono Volume pedal last in the chain. I have a Vox V847 wah but I'm not going to use it until I get a true bypass switch and a new inductor and pot from Fulltone to make it sound like the original wahs from the late sixties. The amp has seven knobs: DEPTH,DRIVE,BASS,BOOST,TREBLE,PRESENCE,and VOLUME. These are self explanatory except DEPTH which is a six-position knob that works as a bass filter, going from super sludge to twang, and BOOST, which affects the upper mids for more snarl and bite if you have lower output pickups. There is a cool feature on the back of the amp that allow for a multi-meter probe and a bias adjustment screw for each power tube, allowing for self biasing should you want to change tubes yourself, and save yourself the $45 fee that music stores charge to do this. There is also a slave out if you want to drive a power amp with Matamp's stellar preamp. All in all, even though this amp doesn't have channel switching, effects, or a bunch of bells and whistles, it IS a fantastic AWESOME sounding amp that you can build on , since this amp loves pedals in front of it, although they should always be true-bypass pedals unless they are left on all the time, since this amp is highly reactive to picking technique and output of the pickups. It is a no-nonsense, huge sounding amp that blows away anything else I heard.

All I can say is, you can get everything from Sound City/Hiwatt to Marshall 4 input Super Lead to vintage ORANGE just by playing with that DEPTH control and the BASS,BOOST,and TREBLE controls. I like to have the DEPTH turned all the way to the left for maximum thick fuzzy almost sounds like it's about to blow up tone, DRIVE dimed, BASS at about 3 o'clock, and all the others at 12 o'clock, except VOLUME, which I run at about 1 o'clock at practice through the 4X12, and when our band plays out, at about 2 o'clock with an additional 2X12 cabinet. At 2 o'clock the GREEN Matamp opens up like the secondary jets on a Quadrajet carburator. It has sustain, drive, and crunch like no other amp out there. I use the volume pedal to control the amp, backed off a little during verses and floored for solos. Everyone comments on how great my amp is, and it looks super cool to boot. No one plays through one of these. I could go on and on, but it has a nice organic distortion at high volumes that our band plays, and if you want more, use a pedal or two. You will not experince the same thing at "bedroom" levels, you're better off with a 20 watt combo amp.

Extremely well built. Stainless steel chassis, mil-spec electronic components, Demeter transformers that are huge. This amp does not come with a warranty. It literally doesn;t need one. It's built like a tank, it's extremely heavy, and it has excellent heat dissapation. I have gigged without a backup, and always will. Just make sure you trun it on standby for a few minutes to let it warm up, always use standby when you're not playing, and let it cool for a few minutes before you move it, and don't drop it, you'll be fine.

Matamp is a company of about 5 or 6 people. The web site says 40 days after your funds clear their bank, but it took me 4 months to get this. It was because CELESTION had to make more speakers for them and they are speacial speakers, a 100H I believe is the model, and they held up the process. So, good things come to those who wait. If you are impatient, go to a music store and buy a different amp off the floor. But, if you want something completely hand made custom to your liking, these are artists, not factory workers. They're located in England, and if you live there, you can go to the factory and you won't have to wait so long. If you live anywhere in the USA or Canada, be prepared to wait. However, all the worry and wait was DEFINITELY worth it. As soon as you fire this up the first time, you'll understand. All in all, Matamp kept me up to date, but I felt like the website should be more honest and realistic with the wait time, that way I could 've based my decision on that at the time of purchase.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years and I've had various heads, combos, rack mounted stuff, etc. I wasted thousands over the years on used crap or new technology that sounded dated later. The only problem about these amps is that unless you go to North Huddersfield England, or know someone with a Matamp, you'll never play through one until you order one. I took a chance, and I am completely satisfied. It's heavy as hell, there's no warranty, it takes forever to get one, and I'm always keeping a close eye on it at gigs for fear someone will attempt to take it, but good luck, you better be one strapping dude to try to "sneak" off with a bright green half stack that has a combined weight of 160 pounds. But, if it were stolen or lost, I hope insurance would cover it, because I'd have to get another one. This IS my sound. In fact, I hope not too many other people get one, because I don't want them to sound like me. If you ever wanted to know what the big deal is about the early marshalls, oranges, and sound city amps, get one of these brand new for about the same price of a new marshall, mesa-boogie, or new oranges (made by Trace Elliot) and you'll understand.

2004 Custom build GTO Head
1 Channel badged as 120watt but far lounder think they use overrated Transformers and Components so there is plenty or room and power compared to a so called Valve Amp.
This amp is used Live and in the studio and is switchable between 120watts/60watts(140watts/70watts).
It is Hand built point to point wired.
Controls on frount Panel are Depth,Drive, Bass, Treble, Presence, Boost and Volume.
Boost control allows the feedback to be continuously varied.
As far as valves go its 4 x EL34 and 4 x ECC83
Covered in the Green covering.
I will rate this as a 10 as i ordered this and was built to my needs so it isnt really versatile in theory but it is 100% what i wanted so it would be unfair to downgrade the amps rating because it hasnt got loads of useless channels.

I use the head with 2 Matamp Cabs
1 Matamp 4x12 and one matamp 2x15

I use 3 different Guitars

1 Gibson Les Paul Custom
1 Gibson 335
1 Gretsch White Falcon.

effects wise Marshall Shredmaster,Big Muff(U.S.A) and Boss RV5 Digital reverb , also hooked up is a Korg Rackmounted tuner!

Style of Music is Indie Rock
www.overplay.co.uk/theprogram for clips
The reason i brought this amp is i wanted a no nonsense valve head with a immense sound,I certianly got this.

All of my guitars sound different which although should be expected is rare amongst some of the amps i have owned.
I have prevously had Hiwatts,Orange(voice of the world,I Know!!!) and some older Marshall heads this one blows them all away.

Sounds amazing does take a little fine tuning with the controls but once you nail it you have pure british tone clear big brash and basically the best i have ever heard!!! , I have wasted thousands of pounds trying to get this sound should of gone to Matamp first.

When you crank it up you get a real natural distortion it is really unique dynamically and is brutal once i hit my shredmaster.

only had it for about 3 weeks.
It is heavy and is built like a tank.
I would take it to a gig without a backup and not think twice if i did take a backup it would just be another matamp anyway!!

I cant really rate this amp on reliability yet because i havent owned it long enough

Matamp are the the only company i have ever dealt with where all the guys anwser the phone and are helpful/informative and basically top guys, you really get a quality service that you just dont get buying from multi chain music shops.
As far as warranty goes when i asked prior to placing my order the deal is you own a matamp you send it back if it ever goes wrong no silly timescales or limited warrantys,if it is the fault of matamp they will put it right.
Everytime you talk to the guys you are filled with confidence this is how it should be,Old fasioned values of dealing with people in the correct manner backed up by a second to none product make matamp great!

Amazing Amp amazing people cannot beleive why more people dont go the matamp custom route it is cost effective and the quality you get is amazing.
These guys have cult status in the U.S!

cant say enough good words!