Matchless Chieftain 212

1997 2x12 mismatched Celestion speakers. single channel one trick pony
This ia a hand made, point to point wired boutique amp. Great tone
high priced. Alsohas a decent reverb.

Sounds good with any style except heavy metal. No matter what type of pick ups you use they sound great.. This is a class A amp, distortion
is a gradual break up

Built like a tank, at 85 Lbs it could be a back breaker. Tends to go through power tubes if played alot. All hand wired.

Out of business but recently back in business

Been playing 32 yrs and this is one great amp

I walked into Seattle's downtown Guitar Center and saw this beauty. At first I looked at the controlls and for any extras on the back of the amp, and it didn't have much. Matter of fact nothin much at all. So, I wasn't too impressed. Then I flipped the on/off switch to on...the words, "Matchless", lit up with this warm glow that caught my attention. Then I flipped the standby switch to on. Every bit of text on the whole display containing the words volume, bass, mid, treble, reverb, etc. lit up as well as the individual number markings for the knobs. Oooo...the little kid inside me liked that feature.

This is the part that blew me away. I've played lots of amps. And I forgot about all of them when I started playing through this. It oozes with tone. You know the legendary "land, flowing with milk and honey" that God promises the Israelites? Well, this is the legendary "amp, flowing with milk and honey" that God promised all guitar players. I couldn't stop playing this amp. I never thought I'd say it, but Fender's clean sounds dirty compared to this. Every single harmonic characteristic is reproduced perfectly from your guitar. It's as if the amp WAS part of your guitar! I could go on and on about this amp...all I can say is PLAY IT!! You won't be able to touch your own rig again with out thinking... "My stuff sounds like crap!"

I don't own one, so I don't know for sure. But the tubes were all stock in it, and it's an old amp. I think the one I was playing said either 1952 or 1972. So I would imagine it's pretty darn reliable.

The company has been out of buisness...so it's been non-exsitence. But, word on the street is that they're now back in buisness and are already taking orders for amps from retailers. So, hopefully...customer support will be here soon.

Despite the lack of features, this amp is a PERFECT 11!!! I really feel that it doesn't need the extra features. I know that Harmony Central says that no amp is perfect. But I beg to differ about this amp. And I won't say that about any other amp. I didn't buy the amp I played in Guitar Center (i don't have $35-hundred lieing around). But it definately is worth the price. And I am definately now in the market for one of these amps, and will be saving up every penny I earn to buy one of these.

Not too many features here... read other reviews for specifics.
I played on this amp for 2 hours at a studio. There were VHT, Mesa, Fender Blackface, Bogner, Diezel, Dr. Z., and several other high end amps there. This was the best sounding of the lot, and had the fewest features (aside from the Fenders).

Defintely one of the best sounding amps I've had the pleasure of plugging into. All the other reviewers are dead on, this thing SMOKES, the tone drips out of it. You just can't coax a bad sound out of it, truly remarkable and musical quality to the sound. Fantastic string to string definition, the notes when plucked have a bell-like resonance to them that allows the overtones and harmonics of the guitar to shine through. Your guitar will sound exactly like your guitar - its as if the vibrations of the wood are carried straight to the speakers.

The "volume" knob should read "tone". Cause when you spin it, it just increases the butter-factor. I leave the master full up, and put the "tone" about halfway. For clean sounds, I roll the volume on my neck pickup off to 3/4, and for dirty, I use the bridge pickup wide open. Just switch back and forth.

Channel switching? We don't need no stinking channel switching!

The amp has one main, beautiful sound, but the volume and tone knobs are very effective at tweaking this to your liking. When switching from a single coil to a humbucking guitar, all you have to do is lower the bass a little bit, and maybe bring the treble up a notch.

The beauty is in the definition and immediacy of the amp, it has the responsiveness of a classic Fender, but sounds SOOO much better when cranked up than any Deluxe I've heard. Not real VOX-y, more like a Marshall JTM 45. I would take this amp over almost any vintage Fender or Marshall.

I am a Mesa man, but I've never heard a Mesa that sounds like this. Their Blue Angel doesn't even come close to the sweetness and clarity of this amp. Of course, when I want gain with a capital G, I have a Dual Rectifier. But when you want tone with a capital T, go with a Matchless Chieftain!

Played it in a studio, wish it were mine!

Matchless is out of business. Who knows why with a product like this.

Muuuhhhh, time to sell my soul for a Matchless!

$3K is obscene for an amplifier, but a Chieftain in good condition actually would be a good value at any price.

I bought this amp after trying out a Mesa Boogie Mark4, the Soldano SLO100 2X12 combo and the Chieftain112. I was looking for tone amp and after going through all the others which were already pretty amazing, this one just blew me away. It is without doubt the best tone valve amp I have ever played or seen. Knowing that this was an out of production company, I gladly bargained a bit and bought it. It does not have much in the way of features, but what it hass is pure tone. It brings out every nuance of the guitar, the style as well as any mistakes made. But tweaked properly, it really makes the guitar sing and cry. Being lighted when on, it makes a nice sight when in the dark, with the warm tube glow behind and MATCHLESS in front. I recently noticed Eric Clapton playing a Matchless in his Crossroads, Antigua Concert and it sounded better in my opinion than when he played with the Soldano.

I am currently playing with a Fender Deluxe with Lace Sensors. This is no noise, super sleak sound that I like a lot. It is perfect for my brand of blues, and I get a nice overdrive tone when I play it through the Marshall Jackhammer to get a slight gain. I also play the PRS Custom 24 and when pushed , it gives a thick, rich sound, with plenty of bite. I am never afraid to play all out with this amp as there is plenty of overhead to spare, no matter what the volume. Even at soft volumes, it sounds sweet. The bass on the amp is very strong and can overwhelm the tone so it is set low. The mids are about 6-7 and high tones are also about that. Although the clean channel can be overdriven, I find that it does not sound as good as if it is gained separately. It is after all a clean tone amp originally, so I do not really expect it to sound like a Soldano SLO100.

I ahve not had any problems with it so far, the tubes just sound better each time. The weight is a minus factor as it is quite tiresome to drag it around gigs too often, although it is so solidly built, it would probably survive a nuclear attack!For a tube amp, it gives a very consistent tone at a fixed setting, so it is more dependable than Marshalls in this respect.

This is not applicable as Matchless is defunked. In any case I stay In Singapore, half a world away from Matchless in USA.

I have been playing since 16, and to date it is the best amp I have ever played with, and that is a lot! I also own a Rosewood Telecaster, which is extremely twangy when played through the Matchless. The Valley Arts Custom Pro with EMG85,SA,SA sounds like Mark Knopfler's Pensa Suhr when overdriven through the JMP-1, and mids set high. I would have no qualms about getting a second Matchless anytime.

This is a single channel amp. If you desire a wide range of tones, you'd probably do better with another amp. If you like to ride your guitar's volume and tone controls to adjust your sound and don't require screaming high gain, this may very well be the amp for you. I use it primarily in a funk/r&b band as well as a blues rock group. I have never heard an amp more perfect for funk. It is not overloaded with features, which is the start to better pure tone. The controls (volume treble mid bass brilliance master reverb) are all voiced beautifully and are completely usable within their entire range (with the exception of the bass control which can get ridiclous amounts of low end, anything past 10 o'clock is pretty much overkill; I set mine between 8 and 9 o'clock). The tone controls are also VERY interactive, so you can tone tweak for days and not even touch on the possibilities (although some are very subtle, even inaudible, changing the feel more than the tone: tubeheads, you know what I'm talking about). The effects loop works fine but I don't use it live. The only feature I wish it had was a higher gain input, but I make up for this with a Z.Vex Super Hard-on. Also, I have yet to find an overdrive pedal that does not work well with this amp. Ones that I have tried include TS808, TS9, Vox Valvetone (possibly my favorite), Matchless Hotbox, Way Huge Red Llama, MXR Dist +, Rat, Boss Blues Driver, and Z. Vex Fuzz Factory. I give it a modest rating for features due to a lack of bells and whistles, but it give it an 11 if you value pure tone and simplicity.

I have an extensive guitar collection, but the guitars I use live with this amp are a Tom Anderson Hollow Custom with stacked hb p-ups, a custom shop strat with Texas Specials, a Tele (James Burton Signature that has the lace sensors replaced with a custom wound set of Lindy Fralin p-ups), and a '76 Les Paul Custom with a Duncan Pearly Gates/Duncan Jazz p-up combo.
The amp sounds absolutely amazing with all of the above guitars, but seems to be a perfect match for the Tom Anderson. The clean tone is absolutely sparkling and bell-like, and the spongier response (due to a tube rectifier and class A circuitry ) gives muted funk riffs a fatness that I have heard in no other amp (the reissue Vox AC-30 being the closest. This amp sounds best with the master dimed and the volume between 10 and 3 o'clock, depending on the amount of crunch desired (this IS NOT a good practice amp; the settings I've mentioned will easily get you evicted and/or arrested-this amp is LOUD). The reverb is very lush and sounds much better than the verb in either of two Matchless Lightnings I have used. At lower settings it is "somewhat" Fendery, and when cranked is easily in surf territory. I haven't noticed significant noise like some of the other reviewers have mentioned. I would suggest changing the reverb driver tube if you experience this noise. The mid control ups the gain at high volumes as you turn it up-nice. As I mentioned before, there is not a tone of gain on top, but more than enough for a Hendrix/Trower/Young/Leslie West/SRV tone. Just use a box if you need more.

I have never had any problems whatsoever with this amp, aside from routine maintenance. This sucker is DEATH to power tubes. If you gig regularly ie. at least 2 times per week, be prepared to replace power tubes every 3-4 months. Your tone will definitely suffer if you don't. This amp will sound like crap in a hurry with beat tubes. I have found Groove Tubes E34L's to sound the best and last the longest in this amp. My second favorites are the Svetlana EL34's, although these don't seem to hold up as well.
As far as gigging without a backup, I think that is one of the stupidest criteria I have ever heard. ANYBODY who does not have some sort of backup on a gig is completely unprofessional and deserves whatever trouble comes their way. NEVER GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP. The best piece of equipment in the world can become toast in an instant with a power surge, spilled beer, etc.

Now for some bad news: Matchless is out of business. I have a friend who is a tube amp guru, so I'm not too concerned, but others may have a problem with service. I heard a rumour that Mark Sampson would continue to honor the lifetime warrenty of these amps, but I don't know the validity of this. I also would have no idea how to get ahold of him.

I have been playing since 1976, professionally since 1989. I have quite an extensive gear collection, but some of my other amps that I have compared the Chieftain to are: Fender Tone Master, '66 Pro Reverb,'68 Deluxe Reverb, '72 Marshall Super Lead 100w, Mesa Boogie Studio 22, Bogner Shiva 2x10 w/6L6 tubes, and a Marshall Artist 3203 Half Stack. The Matchless blows them all away with its tonal complexity (especially in the midrange and sparkling highs), but is not quite as versitile as some of these others. It also sounds amazing in a multi amp setup, in my case with the Pro Reverb or Marshall Artist. I would clearly recommend this amp to professional working musician, but I think it would definitely be overkill for the the hobbiest (unless your wealthy and have a place to play where you won't disturb the neiborhood).
With Matchless out of business, these have become instant collectables, and prices seem to have eclipsed the $3000 mark. You would have to weigh the +/- of paying this much for an amp to gig with it, although you may want to keep it for recording and/or as an investment.

Has volume, bass, mid, treble, brilliance, master, and reverb controls. Just one channel, but can produce many sounds. Has an effects loop, but I don't use it. I prefer to run the pedals straight into the amp. It's all tube and Class A, which means even though it's only 30 or 40 watts (i can't remember), it can get really loud and sound like an amp of much higher wattage. I give it a ten because it's really easy to use and the features is does have are very good.

I use 3 different guitars with this amp. A tele, a strat and a Les Paul. The Les Paul is main instrument and sounds absolutely amazing through this amp. I like the tele and strat through it too, but I use those mainly for clean tones. I like the Les Paul clean as well, but sometimes you need that single coil brightness and this amp does it great. As I said, the amp has amazing clean tone, and I keep the master volume all the way up, and then adjust the volume to however loud i want it. It usually doesn't go beyond 4. You can get distortion tones with this amp by keeping the volume higher, and turning down the master volume. Basically the reverse of how I have it. I really don't like the distortion tones of the amp. IT sounds really brittle and harsh sounding which doesn't suit my style of music (Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Phish, that kinda sound). So I just keep the amp clean all the time and when I want my distorion tones, I just stomp on a Tubescreamer and WOW. It sounds unbelieveable. Depending on how the Tubescreamer is set, it can go from nice, mild overdrive, to a really nice crunch. The thing I like most about the sound of this amp is the amazing bottom end that it gets. You really have to hear it to believe it. The bass really doesn't need to go above 4. The reverb sounds fine, but the higher you go the more hum you get. This doesn't bother me much becuase I don't like a lot of reverb. But for those who want the surf reverb sound, this probably isn't for you. So I give it a nine becuase I don't like the distortion sounds it gets.

This amp is a beast and weighs almost 90 pounds. I haven't gigged with it yet, but when I do, I don't plan on bringing a backup. I bought this amp from Brian Blush of the Refreshments and he toured with it for 5 nights a week for months and it still looks great. The only thing he recommended was changing the tubes every six months or so.

I've never had to deal with Matchless, but I've heard good things about them. The amp is guarenteed for life...how can you beat that?

I've been playing for 3 years and before this amp, I had a Marshall tube combo which just wasn't doing it for me. I origianlly got interested in the Matchless company because Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard uses a Matchless DC-30 and I love his sound. However, I found I liked the Chieftan a little better. Who knows, I might get a DC-30 as well. If something were to happen to this amp I would definately get another one. Yes, it is very exspensive for a one channel amp, but you pay what for what you get. It just sounds so awesome and does what I want perfectly that I have to give it a ten.

The Chieftain is a straight forward, no frills, class A tube amplifier. It has a single input and only one channel. The circuit is all tube (12ax7 pre and EL34 power) including a tube rectifier and produces a fairly loud 40 watts. The front panel includes vol, bass, mid, treble, brilliance, master, and reverb controls. On the back panel there are 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker outs and an effects loop. There are 2 12" Celestions (modified by Matchless) loaded in the stout and heavy cabinet. My particular amp is covered in Maroon vinyl with a speckle grey cloth over the speakers (looks really good). This amp performs well in the studio and at various sized gigs. I've had for several months and the biggest heartache I have with this amp is that it is EXTREMELY heavy - 85+lbs. It also eats tubes and tends to love the expensive ones the most. I rate this amp as a 9 in versatility because the tone controls are active and allow for a lot of versatility but it doesn't have two channels and tons of gain (things I don't really care about).

I use strats primarily through this amp and I think single coils are good for it. The amp is very quiet with the reverb off but with it (reverb) cranked I get a bit of a hum. I suspect the hum is made worse by the single coils. The reverb is very good no less but don't expect it to sound real fender-y. Cranked all the way up can achieve surf tones though.
The great part of this amp, in my opinion, is the way the master and volume work together. With the master all the way up and the volume a little less than half produces an excellent clean tone. Its fat and punchy with a sweet chime on top. The mid control can help shape the sound immencely. String to string balance is great as well. As you crank the volume past half you increase the distortion level. At first its gritty and then it gets nasty, but it doesn't do metal or anything like that. At lower volumes its a little harder to get awesome sounds but they are there. Even at apartment volume you can get raunchy rock and blues tones that sing.
I also like the brilliance control. Overall, the amp can be a little harsh in the highs and boomey in the lows. I've found that decreasing the treble and increasing the brilliance takes away the harshness but keeps the bell like highs in there.
I use this amp for pop, blues, and rock. The amp just has a nice round tonal quality that is balanced, complex and spongey. When you hit a large open chord, every note is distinguishable. I don't use the effects loop but I put my TS9, Fulldrive, delays and others in front and they all sound great. I've used it in the studio and live w/ equally pleasing results.

Built like a tank and weighs the same as a tank (85+lbs)! Never had a problem with it.

I've called/emailed Matchless and they have been prompt and polite.

Overall, this is an awesome amplifier that has a rich and dynamic tone. I've been playing for 15 years and have played through nearly every amp imaginable and this is easily one of the best. Its built to last and just sounds sweet. Matchless is known for making killer amps but you've got to have an incredible budget to own one. I got a good deal on mine and could never have afforded the current $3k price tag on them. But if you've got the cash or you can find a good price on a used one - go for it. Every time I turn that amp on I'm glad I bought it.

As has been said in the past, if you are looking for an amp with alot of knobs and multiple stages of gain, this probably isn't the animal for you. However, the amps simple control panel allows me to dial in any sound needed from clean, to cruch, to an overdrive sound not competely unlike an old Marshall. Controls include channel volume, bass, mid (very active), treble, brillance (very subtle), master volume, and reverb. An effects loop is included on the back panel. The power section is fueled by 2 EL34's and produces a very audible 40 watts. Speakers are celestion 12"'s tweaked by Matchless. This amp comes with a tube rectifier that produces a "spongier" sound than solid state; you should definitely check out the response before you buy. I use the amp in my apartment to play blues and rock (metal fans will not find the kind of gain they're looking for with this amp).

Sounds amazing...huge clean sound and a great overdrive similar to old Stones/Black Crowes/Angus & Malcom Young. Has decent clean headroom particularly with my '54 custom shop strat; my PRS's tend to distort more quickly. This amp has a HUGE bass response, particularly when overdriven and I often turn the bass almost completely off with humbuckers to avoind blatting out. Midrange conrol is very active and as mentioned above, the brillance control is very subtle and only noticeable when the amp is clean and the master is turned up. All in all, a great blues & straight ahead rock & roll amp.

AMp has not given me one problem in the 3 months that I have owned it. It's built like a tank and comes with a lifetime warranty so Matchless obviously stands behind the goods.

I've spoken with the folks at Matchless a number of times concerning general questions and they were great. Some of the other manufactures should take a lesson from Mark Sampson's crew.

I would definitely buy other Matchless products and would recommend this amp to anyone looking for a bullet-proof 2X12 combo. Sure the thing is 85lbs., but at least you know it's put together. I love the old Marshall sounds this amp can produce and if that's your cup of tea, this amp kills. Once in a while the tubes will rattle a little when I crank the amp, but such is the price you pay. The only thing I wish for would be a half-power switch and maybe an active effects loop, but I'm really stretching. Simply put, the amp kicks ass and I'll keep this one forever.