Pierson Tweed Deluxe 112 Combo

This beautiful ultra-cool looking and fantastic sounding little "fenderish" Tweed Deluxe was handbuild to my order by Ludovic Pierson in May-June 2005. It is build with a european-type transformer (220 Volt, 50 Hz). The Pierson amp caught my attention, when surfing on Myles S. Rose's enormous Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting web-site. I was looking for a simple, portable, good sounding 1x12" combo to suit my playing styles, which is mostly (preferably) blues, but also rock'n roll from the "the honest true to the music" - kind-of-guys, some pop-music and a little country.
Outside this beauty shows a "vintage aged style varnished tweed" cover, inside a Jensen 12" P12R alnico speaker, high quality capacitors and phenolic tube-sockets,tubes: JAN Philips 12AX7 WA NOS,12AY7 G.E. NOS, 2 x 6V6 GTA G.E. and a 5Y3 GT. Class A cathode biased amplifier - no biasing needed. No nonsense kind of combo with no reverb or tremolo, just 4 channels - normal or bright and volume 1 or 2, one tone-control and a ground-switch, that reduces hum, if that should occur! I have used it without grounding (not common in electrical installations in Denmark), and it only gives the slightest litlle noise, that gets even less using the ground switch. If I connect a ground-wire, the amp is completely silent.
This amp has the features needed for me, especially I found out, that it has a wonderful kind of natural reverb probably coming from the superbly constructed circuit, the vibrant "singing" cabinet and Jensen speaker. I find it a posoitive feature in itself not having unnecessary and sound-reducing features (I used to have a Mesa Boogie Mark IV head!) and can easily give it a "10" in this category. The versatility comes from your fingers and guitars (saw just yesterday the dvd with Stevie Ray in Monreux 1982 and 1985, so you know what I mean!)
It delivers at least 18 beautiful, crisp, singing, harmonising, sustaining, twanging or whatever you like - watts, and that will be plenty enough for me in small to medium playing jobs (which I almost entirely do), in bigger places I could mike the amp up and let it go through the PA. It can also be used for band-practising or home-playing - it is like wherever you go, you can always have your "Porsche" with you!
The price is more than reasonable considering the ultra-high quality (this amp is build with love and caring!) - delivered to Denmark $1470 (plus taxes and customs - sadly!), but if you don't have to ship it across the Atlantic, you might cut up to $350 off the price.

I have 4 guitars. My Fender 54th Anniversary Stratocaster (not the expensive custom-shop model though) with ash-body sounded (not surprisingly!) just perfect with this Tweed Deluxe - every sound just heavenly devine. This combo delivers anything from crisp and clear to fat and full sounding, though of course the Jensen speaker might loose some breath, if you played heavy-metal and very distorted kind of stuff. You can be Mike Bloomfield, Stevie, Eric, Ronni Earl, B.B., Green, T-Bone, Buddy Whittington, Otis Grand, Duke Robillard, Keith R. and more...I have a Nocaster NOS Tele too, and this combination just take your breath (and not the amp's!) away - it is twang-heaven (read: Jim Weider), but can also give some full and fat-sounding tones from the neck pick-up, you can hear the wood, overtones and sustain from the guitar, the Tweed Deluxe's pine-cabinet and the alnico speaker in a perfect blend. Ok, then to my Gibson ES335, regular model, well this guitar is a players dream, the neck and frets is far easier, than the Nocasters u-shape and vintage 21-frets. This time I had to do some tweaking to "open up" the sound - turn up the simple tone-control and use the bright channel. In many ways the 335 sounded most bluesy, fat-toned and still singing, when using the neck pick-up. The brightness of the bridge pick-up cannot compete with the two Fender guitars more singing and sustaining clear highs. Don't misunderstand: the Pierson Tweed Deluxe with a Gibson 335 is simply THE blues (read Melvin Taylor, T-Bone and..) Lastly my Les Paul Standard from 1992. This guitar used to go for heavy distortion and thick rock-sounds, and that can work with the Pierson too. I combined it with a Fulldrive 2 pedal and it sounded awsome (as they say in USA!), but the most interesting: I changed the pick-ups to the Seymor Duncan Antiquity Humbucker Neck and Bridge types and what a difference. Played through this perfect amp in any combination, the Les Paul just wailed, sustained and sang complete open and "woody-sounding" (I would have thought it was a 335 in a blind-test). And I could go one....but check out for yourself, get one!!

Honestly, I haven't had it for more than a couple of months, and it haven't been on the road for real yet. But I am completely confident, and as Ludo Pierson says: I will stand behind my amp, as long as I live. Tube-changing is easy, since no biasing is needed, and what could go wrong with super-high quality components in such a simple circuit?

I am no expert in electronics, but I consider myself very experienced in finding good, skilled and honest guys, that can help get me, what I want. Ludo Pierson is the nicest and most trustworthy person, you could connect up with, we have had interesting talks and discussions via e-mail about this amp, and he is always quick to ansver, if you have questions. Of course we live on each side of the Atlantic Ocean, and that's a pity in many ways. But I have repair- connections in my country, if I should - God forbid - crash this amp.

I have been playing guitar, since I heard Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, The Yardbirds, Blind Lemon Jefferson, The Stones and many more early in the sixties. I am not a professionel (guitarwise anyway, since I am a doctor, but if I had been given the talent, I would play the blues forever). The usual "stolen"-question is as usual kind-of stupid, but of course I would get another, and maybe even have Ludo build me another amp. I really love this combo, it has the perfect sounds, versatility, size and looks, and I bought it after intense research (Matchless, Dr. Z Z-28 - I own a Maz38 head, Marshall handwired stuff, Fender 57 Twin and many more) and have never regretted my choice one second. I cannot recommend this guy - Ludo Pierson - enough!! Did I mention, that my amp was "Blueprinted" by Myles S. Rose from Groove Tubes?
By the way - I bought a very cool, perfectly fitting, padded cover from Studio Slips for this amp