Penn Instrument Company P-50 112 Combo

Features 8
Simplicity at its finest! I guess some people would frown at having a
single channel amplifier (Others live by them). I myself was a little
hesitant but decided to take a chance on the Penn and I'm more than glad I did. There is definitely something to be said about having a really good clean amp, and the Pennalizer is superb. It wouldn't be appropriate to give the Penn a 10 feature wise because it doesn't have all the bells and whistles a lot of other amplifiers have. I'm not an electrical engineer but I'm assuming any additional features would alter the tone in some respect and after hearing the Penn I wouldn't want to do anything to compromise it's
tone.

The Pennalizer 50 is a hand-wired, point-to-point single channel amplifier covered in black tolex with wheat grill cloth and gold accents. The amp is rated at 40 watts and comes standard with a matched pair of GL6's, 2 - 12 AX7's, 2 - 12AT7's
and a WZ34 Weber rectifier. The standard speaker is a Weber 8-Ohm 12F150. There are two inputs; Input 1 for maximum signal and Input 2
for lower gain and clean tones. The top control panel has the following layout; 3 Amp fuse, On/Off switch, Standby switch, Red Jewel Light, Master Volume, Reverb, Bass, Treble, Volume, and Inputs 1 and 2. All the black chicken head knobs go to 12. The dual pot type Master Volume is located within the phase inverter. When the Master Volume is turned completely up, the amplifier is returned to original specs with no interaction from the Master Volume. The reverb is an Accutronics 2 spring. The underside of the chassis has inputs for the supplied footswitch, 4-Ohm speaker, and 8-Ohm speaker jacks. The footswitchable boost bypasses the Bass and Treble for an overall boost in gain and volume.

Construction is first class across the board. Billy uses shielded wire to input grids, a 16-gauge zinc plated steel chassis, 3/4" finger-joined clear pine cabinet with 1/2" birch ply baffle, hand selected and matched 1% carbon composite, metal oxide, hand selected and matched Silver mica, MultiCap, and Sprague electrolytic
capacitors, and Mercury Magnetics transformers. The cabinet is solid
and I have yet to hear any rattles even with the amp cranked.

The Standard unit I own is a demo unit that was used for the May 2001 Guitar World review. I purchased it direct from Billy Penn. Although he sold it to me as a demo model it was mint when I received it and carries it's Limited Lifetime Warranty.

Sound Quality 10
All I can say is wow! This is the one I've been searching for quite some time. I didn't know amps could sound this good until now. For reference I am currently playing primarily Blues and Rock tunes. The Pennalizer suits my style perfectly. I am currently using a Gosh Retro strat with Fralins, a Porter custom Eagle with P-90's, a Les Paul Deluxe, and a Grosh Electrotone with Lipstick pickups. The strat is my #1 and I use it the most. Although all my guitars sound great, the combination of the Grosh and the Pennalizer
really shine. The amp has a pristine clean sound and is nicely overdriven when cranked or in conjunction with the master volume. Using a good overdrive pedal also allows the amp to breakup more quickly. The Crowther Hotcake and the Pennalizer is definitely a good combo. I've got an array of pedals, Crowther Hotcake, Captain Coconut, Teese RMC-3 Wah, a Robotalk and a Prescription Electronics RX Overdriver. They all sound great! The Coconut sounds the best through an overdriven amp (Marshall) but I'm really into the sound I get out of the Penn when I run my signal through the Hotcake ahead
of it.

Reliability 10
Limited Lifetime warranty from the man himself. When I spoke to Billy Penn I jokingly asked him how his health was so I could feel comfortable with my investment. This Pennalizer is solid and made with the finest components. I don't expect any problems ever. I have the utmost confidence that my Pennalizer will probably outlast me; I'm 26 by the way.

Customer Support 10
Billy has been responsive and open to both e-mails and telephone calls. I spoke with him on the phone on numerous occasions to get a feel for the amp before it was shipped. We covered a lot of ground on the phone and when the amp arrived it was everything we had talked about and then some!

Overall Rating 10
I've been playing off and on for about 9 years. My search has finally
ended. I won't have to spend tons of time on the Internet or in guitar
shops looking for an amp anymore. The Pennalizer 50 is an incredible
amplifier for blues and rock guitar. The Pennalizer is a tone machine and is superbly crafted to last a lifetime. I would definitely buy another if given the opportunity. A final word of warning, this amp can get really loud especially with the footswitchable boost. It is a good thing there is a Master Volume.

I saw a used Pennalizer 20 recently on e-Bay and I jumped on it. The music store selling the amp pulled it because the original owner wanted to buy it back. Pretty wise decision if you ask me. I'll guess I'll have to have Billy build me a Custom Series someday but right now I'm spending way too much of my free time playing through the Pennalizer.