Mission Amps Tweedy Deluxe 112 Combo

Just has volume and tone knobs with four inputs. Not much in the way of bells and wistles but if you are buying this amp you are not looking for channel switching and boost/cut knobs, are you?

The tone of this kit is about a smooth as you want to be!! NOt the grind of a cranked Marshall or the like but for the woman tone look out. This is like sonic gols as far as I a concerned...

It was built be myself so I am to blame for anything in the build.The plans were great that were supplied and Bruce is MORE than helpful!!!

Just ask Bruce any intelligent questions and the man gets back to you kimself in the matter of a few HOURS!!! On a Sunday no less!!!

I would love to build this again and again. It was fun and informative. Bruce puts together one hell of a kit. Awesome parts, diagrams and the best packing of any shipment I have ever seen...

This is a slightly updated reproduction of a Fender narrow panel tweed Deluxe (5E3). So the features are about right for 1959. There is a normal channel and a bright channel, each having volume control, a low gain, and a high gain input. There is a tone control that affects both channels. Controls go to 12 (!). I give it a 10 , not because of numerous features, but rather because the amp just sounds great in both channels. Easy to make your rig sound great.

The amp has a gorgeous clean sound that picks up a gnarly overdriven edge as you increase the volume. Even at full volume, it will not produce heavy metal style distortion. For hard rock, get something else. For R&B and blues, it just doesn't get much better than this. Tone like the best black-face you ever heard, except it's not quite so clean. Just a little grit. In the high gain input with a telecaster (Fender original vintage PU's), you hit full power at about 2 1/2, and from there on up to 12 you are just dialing in the precise amount of touch sensitivity and compression you want. It does not get muddy or flubby. Similar results with '62 Strat.

No issues so far. I built this from a kit, so it's my own fault if it breaks. I've never gigged with a back up yet.

Randy and Bruce at Mission Amps were very helpful and friendly. If I have a problem, I'm sure they will be there.

I've been playing for 40+ years. I have had a Boogie Studio 22, '64 Fender super reverb, '63 Bandmaster, and a '61 Tremolux. I would replace it if it were lost. I love the fact that you don't need to spend much time worrying about settings. I just flat sounds great regardless. I sold the Boogie to pay for this, and that was the best gear move I've made in the last 40 years!

Let me preface this with normally I wouldnt have undertaken a kit, nor opted for a 'lesser' known name versus a boutique or otherwise KNOWN brand. I am a daily player, lawyer, dad, husband and pretty busy. The reason I did was the tone was knockout, I mean tone that makes you want to play until you cant shoulder the guitar any longer.

When I heard a friend's I HAD to have this little piece of Bruces IMPROVED circuit of Western Electric /Fender history. It was worth every dollar and hour I spent. You should also know that i compared a 59 Fneder bassman to a Mission bassman and ...the Mission had the same tone, but wasnt falling apart, and you could gig with it.

So this was a journey to get tone and along the way, into learning a bit more about amps and what makes them go. What makes this amp great is its circuit is so simple, all the fingers and guitar comes through.

This is a 2003 kit. The components in the kit are complete, all you need for the finished product chassis, pictures to show you what to do. All you need is a soldering iron, screwdriver, wire stripper and needle nose pliers, solder, perhaps some de-soldering braid. A good work light would be nice too.

The amp is a little gem and I built it without experience (except for knowing how to solder)and without electrical knowledge, from Mission Amp's/ Bruce Collins kit (303-423-4103). This is a one channel amp-normal and bright inputs. It has a volume controls for each channel, which are interactive. It has a single tone control which is a treble cut. It is simple and YOU CAN build one-you dont need to know how to bias an amp, or how to read a schematic. This is a very wonderful little amp, and I bench mark aginst my Marshall 30th anniversary, 1964 Blackface Bandmaster, Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12, and a Tweed Pro Junior (not even close to 6v6 sound). It is all tubes and point to point wired cause you do it all. This amp is not blisteringly loud (but too loud when raised to ear level on a stand), but indeed kicks, and is perfect for mic-ing. It can be modded to 6L6's for greater output, and can also support another 1x12 cab. Its limited, soundwise, thus the rating for versatility. It is so much easier to transport it could rate a 10. I beleive it may aslo be available on special order with a verb like the soulkicker.

Bruce has craftily put together a combination of great tubes, including NOS rectifier and 12 AX7, and this adds authentic tweed mojo(a term bandided about on HC with little regard-it applies to this amp no question)

I play strats but mostly Les Pauls. It has The Tweed sound, and the harmonics of the guitars come though in over drive (which on its 1-12 volume scale, comes at "3", from there on its how much grind. Oddly the amp also sounds great cleam below 3, think Fender tele twang, just a bit o'thump. This amp is dead quiet, period. The amp gives the Tweed sound-=think LaGrange by ZZ top, think Hubert Sumlin, this little amp is a two trick pony and both are really worth taking the 1 day it will take to assemble the chassis. I ordered the beefier Mercury output transformer and the Weber Blue Dog 30w speaker and this little amp absolutley left the Victoria 1x12 counterpart with its Jenson speaker in the dust IMHO (even with a new, unbroken-in Weber speaker-I mean we are not talking a little difference but a really significant difference in tone-big and beefy with sparkle and life and grind). The interactive volume controls are a bit of a mystery and all I know is the type and amount of grind changes.

The amp is wonderfully sensitive to pick attack and when pushed has a noticeable 'sag'or very very slight diminshed/delay in output at '12' which makes it really cool. This is a great blues and rock and roll amp-but wait-its also a really cool tele twang, clean amp(just little headroom). It is very musical which is saying something because my other amps are too, but this amp is a gem. It is worth the time and the effort to build this amp-you save considerably over name brands, but, even if money is no object, it sounds greatly better. A little verb makes you think Nashville slapback on low volumes, and w/o...harley knuckle head thunder...

Absolutely top quality labor and materials-period. If you built it point to point, then you can fix it, mod it (there is a mod for us LP Gibson types which reduces bass a bit, helpful when at '12'. I ordered a nice tweed cabinet, top quality, real pine, really good quality leather handle and stainless hardware. Simple to assemble. Bruce has a simple method for finishing the tweed to a more vintage patina which is booby proof and yields the coolest looking non-vintage 'vintage' amp i have ever seen.

Bruce Collins is very very helpful, pleasant, knowledgable and tolerant. He is dedicated to making the amp work even if you cant. THis wasnt a problem for my project. The support is thorough, including on-line reference photos, a forum for discussing the 5E3 chassis and mods and speakers etc, how to get a beautiful patina on the tweed, troubleshooting, etc.

I have played since 1968. I own some other gear, as mentioned above and I play mostly Les Pauls including a reissue. I love the Marshall, the blackface bandmaster, and even my HR deville 2x12 has an extraordinary clean glassiness. This amp is TWEED, so good all by itself, you just plug and play, easy to go to a friend's house to jam or to a gig. I wouldnt want to carry this too far , as its got serious iron, but compared to the others its fly-weight. The real deal is the tone. I would rebuild/replace it in a heartbeat. It has a creamy, responsive, articulate tone all its own, can be nasty or nice. I don twish it had a verb, but i do use one at lower volumes with clean setting. This is a sleeper folks. I now everyone on HC raves about thier gear. I know the vast majority of you are outside of Colorado where these are distributed, and you might not hear one ever. They are like a Clark amp, and, really provide vintage tweed tone that lets your axe and technique come through. The circuit really reveals the quality of tubes used and can change significantly as you change tubes. I could not be happier. The kit is easy and all you need to do is read throught the assembly BEFORE you start and look at the pictures so you get an idea of the BIG picture.

This amp is as simple as it gets. Two volume knobs and one tone knob. It is not about features it is about tone. So I say N/A.

The amp is a blues machine. It is modeled after a Fender Deluxe Tweed amp (which sell for thousands of dollars) but it is quieter. Using 6V6 tubes it starts to breakup at about "3" and is very compressed by the time you get to "6". It is very responsive and has a strong, complex tone. You can get some tonal varieties from the amp by using the two channels (normal and bright) and also by jumpering the two and using them in combination. You will be surprised at the variety that comes out of the amp. I put a Webber Blue dog speaker into the amp and it is a perfect match. Do not waste time with Jenson, Webber will do the job better at a cheaper price! With a simple mod., you can insert 6L6s into the amp, which substantially increases the headroom. Think "Get your Ya Yas out" by the Stones. Not much additional volume from the swap, just a slightly different tone. This is a great recording amp and can go from a warm, almost clean sound to complete compression, ala Funk 49. Forget about spending $1,500 for a Victoria, build this one yourself and get an equal or better sound for half the price.

I built this amp. It was a kit I purchased from Bruce Collins. Bruce uses top quality components, so it is as reliable as I constructed it. So far, no problems. If I do have one, I will fix it on my own or I am sure Bruce will help me.

Bruce Collins is one the nicest guys you will meet in this industry. He is helpful both before the sale (in choosing components) and, more importantly, after the sale. He must have talked to me a dozen times walking me through portions of the build process or making recommendations. He never lost patience. He is very good at explaining things to Newbie amp builders and does not rush you off the phone like others have a tendency to do.

I have been playing for 20 years and am also a recording engineer. This was my second experience in building an amp kit and it was a dramatic improvement from my first. The amp sounds great and the build process was a lot more fun. If someone stole the amp my first reaction would be to cry and then smile when I realized it meant I could build another. Bruce has told me he is considering getting out of the kit business. Bruce, if you read this, don't do it, we need you. If you are at all inclined to build an amp, start with this one. It is simple and you will receive a lot of support. There is even a web forum dedicated to building Deluxe clones. My friends go nuts over this amp and I can?t stop playing it. By the way, I used Armadillo Amp Works to build the cabinet and should mention that they did an excellent job. They take a long time to build the cabinet and are slow in responding to emails and phone calls, but Will is a nice guy and the amp is flawless. It was also very reasonably priced. Sorry if this review sounds like a love fest, but the truth is that this was a great experience.