Matchless Clubman 35

You know

For you guys who said volume was an issue, I found a solution. I had an old fender super sonic 2x12 cab. I used it stock for a few months and started having trouble hearing myself in some band situations. I have several speakers (webers, jensens, 25w greenbacks, vintage 30's etc.) and decided to experiment one weekend. Believe it or not, I prefered the sound of eminence patriots over all the vintage stuff I had. After playing a few gigs that weekend, I still had the volume problem. So that week I rewired the cab to make it a 4 ohms and used the 4 ohm output on the head. Night and day. I can keep up with any halfstack or heavy handed drummer easily now and didn't lose a drop of tone. As a matter of fact, the amp almost seems a tad bit edgier, which I like. I'll probably cook tubes faster, but it's worth it for the headroom increase.

Bulletproof.

Still great.

It's golden. I quit tone searching when I got this beauty a few years ago. I own the one you hear played on the theme song to king of the hill. It was Brian Blush's from the Refreshments.

2001..
one channel tone machine..

I've been playing Bassman's & Plexi's most of my guitar life.
I love Bassman's & Plexi's.. This damn amp outshines anything else I've played through. It's a very versatile amp. The low end can be a bit chunky, but I have a Weber copper cap to take care of some of that.
It has nice midrange & the high's are a bit much unless you back them down. It love's P-90's. No amp can do it all.. This amp is very close to total satisfaction all over the tone chart in my head.
The cleans are the best I've ever heard. The Overdrive is fantastic too! The tone controls really preform. I'm used to having the bass cranked on most of my Plexi's. With this amp, I have the bass & treble on about 3. Brilliance on 1. It's the most organic amp I've ever played through. My Les Paul Junior is the best match..

It's a TANK!

Not the best..

I've been at it for over 30 years.. At 46 I have finally found the best tone available to man. I play Rock, Punk Rock, Southern Rock.
If it Rocks I dig it.. I'll probably look to sell a bunch of amps since this amp covers it all for me.. EL34's & Class A are a match made in heaven.. My tone has much less overdrive than it did 10 years ago. I love the way an amp sounds when it on the verge of breaking up.
The Clubman does it better than any other amp. I'm certain I've owned just about every amp ever made over the years. The Clubman has the best note bloom. If you want a killer EL34 based amp, look no further..
I'm glad I pulled the trigger on this amp. It's also nice to have one amp that can do everything!

The amp is made in ??02. Plays louder than my two Marshall JCM800 stacks combined. Atleast it feels like it does. Since this is a very pure, clean amp, it can be used with many brands of guitars and with many different styles of music, if I change guitar, the amp changes. It has the features needed. I am not an active user of the ??Brilliance?? knob as much as I could have been. There are so many sounds in this amp that you can get to with just adjusting a little on the preamp volume or bass/treble + master volume. As far as pedals concerned with this tone-monster, I tend to use just an analog-man treblebooster or the fulltone ocd. The rest of the sound can easily be adjusted with the volume and toneknobs on the guitar. From super clean with my strat, volume on 4-5, to crunchy on volume 7-8, to overdrive with the volumeknob on the guitar on 10. Or 11 for those who like 11 better. I used to run reverb through the effect loop, and have the rest of my pedals on the stage. But who needs reverb. My reverb stuff is for sale.

I play mainly on a NOS 63?? Tele. A Clubman combined with the Tele bridge pickup easily cuts through the rest of the band. Ofcourse, do some tone adjustments and you have a warm tone you can wrap a mosquito in without it being harmed. Everything is as it should be with the strat. I use SG and a greco Zemaitis for humbucking sounds. There seems to be no problem for the Clubman to make all these guitars sound just like they should. I have not yet tried the amp with active humbuckers or EMG??s yet. It probably won??t happen either. I play a variety of chicken pickin country , the blues, southern rock and jazz. The attack in this amp suits funk very well too. This is one of the most honest amps I have ever tried.
This is a class A tube amp, and such amp will crunch at high volumes. I have found my spot between clean and just before it starts breaking over to crunch. Heaven.

This prison takes good care of the tubes, and I have stashed my JCM800 away. This reminds me, -I haven??t seen these amps in 2 years. So I guess the Clubman is reliable. Anyways, be sure to use good tubes. Try out the NOS Mullards. Cheap tubes will break down faster, and with such honesty this amp delivers, you can easily hear the difference high class tubes and low class tubes.
There was one time I heard some bad sounds in my 2x12 cabinet when using the Clubman. I can??t put the finger on what made that sound. That was the only time I??ve heard this sound. I guess it was a year ago. It could have been the wires in my cabinet after I did some wiring myself(a Music-Man bassreflex cabinet with one greenback and one vintage30). Anyways, have never heard that sound again.

I bought this amp three years ago from the US. Had it sent to Norway. Emailed Matchless on how to wire the transformer over to 220 w. Got an email back right away with very detailed descriptions on how to wire. No problems. This amp is point to point wired, and its easy to get a grip on how this all hangs together.

I have been playing for 16 years now, and has owned some gear through this time. Not many amps tho. I tend to gravitate towards getting the best no matter what I buy. This is cheaper anyways than buying tons of half-good equipment, selling it and buy some other half-good equipment. I like testing different pedals tho. The Clubman sound really good with the strat through a TS808 with half of the batterypower left, and when switching to the SG its a chapter of its own. A lot of fun for us guitarists. I just wish I had some more time to play.

I bought this amp, honestly not knowing what to expect. I play guitar in a modern rock (on the heavier side) band, and at first I was a little iffy about the amount of gain this amp produced. But after messing around with it for a little while, I was able to get a good amount of awesome sounding natural distortion out of it. And it just sounds absolutely amazing! By far the best amp I've owned.
Not only is it able to create a gainy enough sound for the heavier stuff I play, but it is also the holder of an unbeatable clean tone.

This amp is extremely versatile, it can play anything from blus, rock, pop, country - whatever! You name it!

I play it with my Fender '72 Tele with humbuckers, through a vintage Marshall 1960 w.greenbacks.

It keeps pretty quiet regarding hum, even on the higher levels of volume.

Again, the sound quality is definitely A+!

I DO run a zvex super hard-on on it when I need a HEAVY distortion sound! And even that, it handles very well.

I just recently bought it, so I haven't had any problems thus far. I do suspect that I could put it on the road, let a car hit it and play a show with it that night though.

I haven't had any experience with the customer support system at all.

I'm a guitarplayer of 10 years and I have owned countless amps and several guitars. I have finally found my home in the Matchless Clubman 35!

Would I replace it was it lost, stolen or broken? Most definitely!

I really don't have any negatives about this amp (so far at least)

Another awesome feature is the lighting Matchless logo and bass/treble etc logos.

Not only does it sound awesome, it also looks the part!

Thanks Matchless.

One channel amp, but very useable tone controls: bass, treble, presence, no mid. Gain and volume controls, hi and low inputs. Fairly sparce, but very effective for what it has.

Here is where this amp really shines. The sound is phenominal! This amp distorts well, but it really shines when you set it to just break up, and plug in a Strat! It is in my opinion, the best tone out there! I almost melt every time I plug in! I use a compressor if I am playing quietly, for sustain on the Strat, but the compressor isn't necessary for a Les Paul. It has the most crystaline sparkly high end, and also lots of bass. I set the amp like this and use a pedal for more distortion. Incredible! If I could give a score higher than a 10 in this category I would!

After one year, I had to replace one tube (phase inverter). I still haven't gone and bought a complete set of spare tubes yet, and other than that, it has been rock solid.

Phil Jamison himself has talked to me every time I have called, and he has been very helpful.

I have been playing for 40+ years. I am now pretty picky about tone. I have been through several Marshalls (older ones were great!), a Mesa, lots of Fenders, even older Crate tube amps, but I have now finally found my sound! I never get tired of it, and always get compliments when our band plays. I am finally happy!

built in '01. features have been stated in prior reviews.
this amp is super versatile, it wrings tones out of my hands that i'd always hoped were there. unmiked, the amp is ideal for any club stage that i know of, miked, of course, anything goes. lack of features is a feature here.

this defines touch sensitivity, the amp distorts so very gracefully, this is what most folks are striving for. i'm a strat player, and find the amp to be free of extraneous noise. wonderful and seemingly unlimited chime on tap, plenty of top end available, the bass treb and brilliance knobs allow very precise control, from warm as toast up to stinging icy. even the icy sounds are still warm, if you follow me.
i've run out of clean on stage before, but nobody (including me) seemed to mind. kind of redefines the idea of, or need for, clean for me.
above comments are based on using the 2 12 matchless cab with one matchless prepped greenback and one matchless prepped g12h30

runs as hot as it sounds. gotta say that phil jamison deserves his rep. i bought this used (thanks brad!). the amp did develop a glitch that i couldn't suss out, i shipped the amp to phil, he found a burnt resistor (not HIS fault) fixed it, returned the amp to me freight paid, with new tubes as needed. all in about a week!

is there a 20 for this category?
phil treated me like a king.

playing 42 years. clark beaufort (!) vicky 35310 alessandro working dog gretsch playboy (vicky built) sovtek tube midget oak combo '63 vibroverb reissue.
the matchless IS a cut above any of these fine amps.
there are tones and dimensions in my guitars that these other amps are unaware of.

1994 Clubman 35. Everything you need, and nothing you don't. For a single channel hand-wired amp, I'd call it a 10.

Nothing quite like it -- complex and organic tone, very warm sounding. Cuts through the mix very well.

Built like a tank. I used to think that Mesa overbuilt their amps. Matchless is a step above in build quality.

Helpful staff when calling in.

It's every bit worth what you're paying.

2004 Clubamn 35 (No reverb, who needs it), used but new condition, paid 1499.00 US

Since this is a single channel amp it's hard to rate features.

It does have a somewhat useable master volume and detachable power cord, effects loop, and three separate speaker outputs for 4,8, 16 ohms. Can ruggedness be considered a feature? Cause it is.

Overall features rating 8

Mainly use 2 Relic 60 strats (1998), although occasionally use '98/'58 historic Les Paul and '98 Reissue ES335.

Only effects right now are tube screamer and regular dunlop crybaby. Looking at Fullton OCD or Fulldrive in the future. Amp is running through a 2x12 open back cab with celestion vin 30s (16 ohms each wired for 8 ohm total)

Beautiful lush warm clean tones. One of those amps that makes effects unneccessary. Set for crunch tones, the amp if full with plenty of bottom end, a little loose on the botttom end but it works for me. Sounds like a cranked up amp without getting terribly loud. The top end is crisp without ever being harsh.

Perfect AC/DC crunch to hard rock tones. Put a pedal up front for more saturation.

The amp does get a little fuzzier once it gets good and hot (but not in a bad way). The amp does runs hot.

Built like a tank. I always carry a backup amp or direct preamp just in case.

Waiting to see how the long the tubes last. They are biased hot.

Fat sound (The dealer) is great. I can get the amp serviced if need be.

This amp hasd great tone. I would probably get another one if something happened to it.

It's got that old school marshall sound if you want it, yet still has the beautiful Fender clean tones as well.

Mine is from 2004, go to the company website for a list of features. Yeah, so it doesn't have reverb or trem or a bloody computer inside it, but keep in mind that each time an amp builder adds another gizmo, it's just one more thing that lengthens the signal path and sucks a little bit of tone. I've owned this amp for a year and I've gotten very familiar with the controls. The bass/treble eq on the preamp and the brilliance cut in the power section, plus effects loop, all combine to give this amp a surprising amount of versatility. If you know how to use this amp, it's can be as versatile as you need it to be.

My latest setup is as follows: Fender 52RI tele >> Bad Cat 2Tone >> line 6 fm-4 >> line 6 dl-4 >> Matchless Clubman 35 >> Avatar 4x12 with 2 vintage 30s and 2 g12h30s. I'm not proud of my tone-sucking line 6 stuff, but they get the job done live. More importantly, when I use this amp in the studio I either run direct via monster cables, or run through the Bad Cat. Either way, this amp sounds as pure as any I've ever heard. The amp itself is voiced for moderate gain, but when pushed by any type of boost, you can achieve extremely saturated overdrive while still retaining the character of the guitar. On the other end of the spectrum, turning the master all the way up and adjusting the volume control effectively makes this a non-master amp. This particular setting is the best clean tone I've ever heard, hands down. If you've got the balls to push the volume hard with the master cranked (or if you're just deaf) you enter into the rich, dynamic overdrive territory. Bass and treble controls are smartly set to unity gain at 12 o'clock. This means that you only need two tone controls to do the job of three. I'm not sure how many decibels of boost or cut in each direction, but it's enough to get any tone that I've ever needed over the past year. I've also used the effects loop return in conjunction with my Bad Cat 2Tone to create a BadCat/Matchless hybrid where the Bad Cat is the preamp and the Matchless only uses it's power section. The brilliance cut on the power amp is great for this format. It also works really well for adjusting to different guitars. It takes the bright edge off my tele while retaining the complex treble character that made me fall in love with the guitar. I've also run some gibsons through this amp with amazing results. My friends '76 Les Paul custom and early 70s ES 137 both sound deep and rich in their own unique ways. Personally, I prefer single coils, but this amp responds well to both. All in all, this amp takes good equipment and makes it sound HUGE. If you are running some shitty ibanez schecter bc rich nonsense, then you will hear what your guitar truly sounds like. The amp's transparency is a gift with a good guitar and a talented player, but a word of warning to guitars made from plywood and players who use distortion as a crutch: this amp is for serious guitarists that value a good investment in tone, dynamics, and feeling. A well deserved 10.

The only reason that I give this a 9 is because I've had a few tube problems. It came from the factory with a broken rectifier tube (see customer service section) and one of the power tubes started leaking air at some point a few months ago. Both were a simple fix and didn't cause any major problems. I treat this amp well, and it is kept in a custom-fit hard case, but as with any electronic equipment you can't put complete trust in it. That kind of dependence can get you into serious trouble without a backup. Since the only problems that I've encountered over the past year weren't directly related to the amp, I give it a strong 9. I play this amp upwards of 20 hours per week. I'm surprised that I haven't had any sort of melt down yet.

Matchless has been good to me. Before I bought the amp, I didn't really know that much about Matchless because their amps are usually hard to find for an in-store demo. Not expecting much, I called the manufacturer only to be pleasantly surprised by the people I talked with. Half an hour later, we had discussed different amp models and how they would react to my equipment and playing style. They told me about a small boutique store in my area that had just recently started carrying Matchless products, and that a brand new red Clubman 35 should have just gotten there, so I visited the store a few times and played the amp. This is where my story turns sour. Impressed, nay floored, by the sound of this amp, I gave the conniving bastard at Roxy Guitar (7026 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia PA) a $500 deposit to hold the amp for me. The word of mouth price? $1900. Fair enough. When I returned the next day, after going to the bank and emptying my hard earned savings, the jackass told me that the amp now cost $2200. Outraged, I demanded my $500 back. I still wanted the amp, but not from this guy. He refused to yield and I ended up paying for ridiculous overcharges (i.e. "no that price didn't include tax before" and "this is just a little $100 fee for using a credit card"). Madder than hell, I went home to test out my slammin new head, despite its expense. What do you know, it had a microphonic rectifier tube. Every low note rattled this thing like baseball cards in bike tires. I was so pissed, when I called Matchless I was barely breathing. They calmed me down by immediately shipping out a new set of tubes, for free, without asking for proof of purchase or an invoice or anything annoying like that. Two days later, my tubes arrived from the other side of the country and completely alleviated the problem. They could have dismissed me and I never would have played their products again, but their cooperation turned me into a Matchless lifer.

This amp is a monster. Huge clean tones or fire-breathing, tube-melting distortion, either way this amp has been putting out without fail for an entire year. It's been to multi-million dollar studios and shows in grungy dives, turning heads and provoking compliments at each appearance. If you are prepared to invest in a high quality hand wired amp that will be a workhorse tone-machine for years to come, this is it. It is my personal belief that comparing different models of guitar amps is like apples to oranges. Regardless, this amp has held its own next to Marshall '82 and '86 JCM 800s, Jubilee 2550, original JTM 45, Fender Super 6 from way back when, Blackface Fender Showman from the 60s, Orange AD30, and countless other boutique and vintage legends. In the end, this amp is still one of my favorites for its inherent versatility and unstoppable tones (not to mention it looks really sweet when it lights up). A confident 10.

My Clubman is a '92. It is definitely from the Mark Sampson era. Treble, Bass, Brilliance, Vol., and Master. That is about it. It has an effects loop (which I don't use currently). Single channel, 35 watt class A head. The loudest 35 watts I have ever heard. The other guitar player in my band uses a Peavey JSX and this will hang right there in volume. Modeling amps are king in the features department so a 7 is really pretty generous here.

OK here we go. This amp is AWESOME. The cleans are where it is at with this. This beats Fender and Vox for clean. The only thing I wish it had was Reverb, but I honestly don't really miss it that much and I can always throw a Reverb pedal in front of it. The overdrive isn't that great, I have better from DR.Z and Orange in this department, but I didn't buy this amp for the dirty I bought it for the unbelievable clean tone. I have a Tonebone Classic and a TS9 I run in front so what do I care about the amp's overdrive? This amp is a keeper.

This amp is already over 10 years old and it is built like a tank. I think I may need to replace the tubes, but so what. Matchless is known for being extremely reliable.

Don't know never called

Overall one of the best sounding and easy to use amps I have ever had. Extremely cool amp.