Reynolds Valveart APR501 Head

I actually got one of peters first amps and the good girl has never let me down .This amp is great for tones and effected sound in my setup use channel A as dirty an clean channel B effected and clean i use one off peters A B boxes.The only wish i would have is a emulated line out i do a lot of recording at the moment using di boxes from speaker out from amp and also micing the amp.I do alot of different styles of music in my studio and able to explore the amps tones by try new thing with technology and ways of recording the amps tones.

My toys are 2 lespauls, framous electric acoustic, Ibanez 7string, PRS, Strat, Explorer and acoustics. Most of my guitars are double humbuckers. The amp is great for all music styles myself as i have my own stdio i am able to play with amp and to see what tones i can get. In my arsenal of toys i use PODS and V-amps with various pedals and midi threw the amp. Ive found out micing in a small room with a dynamic was good at low volume, then using condensor mics brought the true tone of the amp hi volume. Done over 100 songs with peters amp will never look back. My father has brought me up with valve amps and analog all my life, nothing beats the valve hum, in studio work can be eq'd or gated out. I have alot of things going in to reynolds to get my desired tone but sorry will not reveal.

I have had this reynolds for over 3 years never failed me, ive got two other amps and never come to a gig for 2 years i have faith in peters amps.

Peter is very open minded to ideas and new ways of doing, peter is great man an good service. It is good to see valve amps are still alive.

Ive been playing for 16 years only 21 this year. Other gear i use is pre amps , eq 's , compressors , modulars , software , di's and Pods. The thing i like about it that it is a warm sounding amp awsome bottom end with top end bite only thing i hate about it is a heavy bastard. Compared it with mesa boogie and marshalls, the reson why i chose the reynolds it was the only Austraian amp i know of with a great package inside and a unique style outside. the only thing i would want is direct modeling from amp in to a desk.

My amp is a APR501VR, it's different in that it has a tube rectifier (GZ34), an aluminium chassis, no effects loop or negative feedback switches. The amp is very versatile for me, I like the classic amp designs, nothing with to many bells & whistles, just plug in & turn it up! I play blues/classic rock, this amp covers the basic Fender/Marshall tones but still has it's own signature sound. The 50W is very loud but bearable. I also had Pete install JJ power & preamp valves biased nice & warm.

I have two Grubisa guitars, a strat & a Merlin (humbuckers). I play the amp through a homemade open back pine 2x12 cab loaded with 50W WeberVST speakers (Blue Dog & Silver Bell) & a 1x15 cab with a WeberVST California. With the strat & Cali it's great for clean tones, through the Merlin & 2x12 cab I get great rock tones (Cream, Led Zep.) I usually set ChA vol. on 6 with treble/mids on 5 & bass at 3, with ChB I have the preamp at 5, treble on 3, mids at 3/4 & bass on 2 with the master at 3/4, I have the bright switches off, presence 1/3 & boost switch on. With this the amp has a creamy tone from the combination of the two different preamps mixing together. I leave the amp at this one setting, it's all I need. I can get clean/dirty tones by simply rolling back the volume on the guitar, I get a wonderful singing tone when I use the Merlin with the guitars volume turned up, the amps tube rectifier helps by adding natural sag & compression, no pedals needed! I do have a Analog Man modded TS9 which I use with the strat.

I would definately use this amp at a gig without a backup, this amp is built like a work of art. No shortcuts or cheap parts, just old school craftsmanship, built to last! This amp can be seen on the Products page, it has it's guts on display, just beautiful!

Pete is a legend, excellent customer support, always helpful. With his customer support it's the icing on the cake with this amp purchase. He doesn't do this for the money, but because he loves it & that comes out in his products.

I've been playing for about fourteen years, the other amp I own is an old Vibrolux which Pete has given the once over. The Fender is nice because it has the 6L6 tone which is warm & round, but the 501 has the EL34 grind & compression. I only buy the best gear, custom amp, custom guitars, handwound pickups, handmade effects, even handmade Klotz cables. I'm also happy that the amp is Australian made & I'm supporting someone who puts his heart & soul into these amps. If this amp was stolen I'd be devastated.

I ordered this Amp from Pete Reynolds in 2001, after taknig my collection of Hiwatts and Fenders to his local store for repair / service. I used to look at the Reynolds amp sitting at the front of the store and admire it as a thing of beauty, not truely aware of what a great quality piece of work this actually was. Finally Pete convinced me to take one for the weekend and try it. First thing Monday I made the call and placed my order. It is basicly a 50 Watt head with the best range of tones and sounds I have played. I have previously owned early JMP marshalls, Boogies etc, and still have a few Hiwatts / Black face Fenders etc, but none of these compare to the Reynolds. I run the head through either a Marshall Checkerboard grill greenback box or a Hiwatt box with fanes. They both sound great and are totaly controlable with the Reynolds. I have used it on Tour with The Lime Spiders (very loud) and The Truck Brothers (Metallica meets Chuck Wagon), and found the Ryenols to be very adaptable.

I have the luxury of having a large guitar collection, however my Favourite guitars throiugh the Reynolds are my Guild Starfires, Flying V, and Gilet Tele. The Reyolds allows you to mix the clean and dirty channel, which is my favourite tone. Lots of switching options (go check out the site) rather than me bore you.

I have only owned it a short while but it is built like a sherman tank. Backed by Pete's call me anytime waranty.

Dealing with the man who owns the store runs the store, commitment and service has always proved excellent.

I have played for 30 years and gear has come and gone through that time. I have said I will always keep my 70's Hiwatts and now the Reynolds adds to that list.

My Reynolds isn't an APR501 or an APR502 its something else, Im not sure what but its not one of those. To explain what it is i'll have to explain its story of coming to existance. Around December of 2002 i decided i had to buy myself a Reynolds amp. At that time i was using a friends amp which i think was an APR501, and i just loved it to death and didn't want to give it back. So i didn't and i hung onto it for a while. After using it more and more i became less and less happy with its clean sound and was critical of the way it would break up and get abit crunchy and dirty. So on returning the amp i decided the time has come to get my own. I called the Maker of these lustrious amps and told him i would like to purchase an amp off him and i also told him about the dilemas i had with the model i had been using. So after some time of speaking we decided we had to make a 150 Watt oddball. Boosting the wattage would solve the problem of the clean channel. But to change from 60 watts to 150 watts meant that the amps shape had to be changed. So we went from the origional dollshouse shape to just a plain old rectangle which i personally am not to fussed about because it just looks stunning. One glance at her and you know she sounds great before you even hear it.
Now its a 2 channel amp that is switchable via an A/B box which i never use because i always have my A and B channels running at the same time and never switch between channels. I had all the features that were useless to me such as the pentiode and triiode switches removed had the boost switch removed and internally left on permanently.
The features i wish it had are all on it so i am pretty lucky when it comes to the features i wish it had. The features i wish it had are sounds. Good sounds, and you know what it sounds better than anything else ive played on.
I've used this amp in small venues, out door venues, indoor arenas, big indoor arenas and it always sounds monsterous yet with that delicate tone that gives me more confidence than i care to do with.
I play in a rather hard edge band and with the help of all my tricky gizmo's does better bigger and harder than a Mesa, or any rack units ive seen and played and heard.

Im a Les Paul man to the core and thats what i use because i like alot of mid range from my playing.
The amp suits my musical style like few others could and is very, very sensative to the way you play. Any missed not or mistake will be recieved and will be made very apparent so if you're a sloppy player then maby you should try a mesa. The amp makes any sound you desire to muster up and does it well.

Never had it break down on me and always have easy contact with the maker. Although in its earlier days it was very temperamental and would change sounds at will. I was starting to think it had a mind of its own or Pete just put a females brain in side it.

As Above.
Life time warranty on manufacture.
Makers even offered to revoice her for me free of charge. Ha i'd like to see another amp company offer you that.

Been playing for a good 11 years. Ive got alot of gear and a second amp. I own an ENGL Richie Blackmore and i A/B her with the ENGL and once i finally solve the earthing dilema they will give me one of the biggest sounds on the planet.
If it were stolen i would cry for a while go to pete get another one and a quad and find the little bastard and break the quad over his head.

I OWN TWO OF THESE BABIES AND BOTH ARE DIFFERENT. THE GOOD THING ABOUT BUYING FROM THE MAKER/BUILDER IS THAT YOU TELL HIM WHAT YOU WANT !!

I USE FENDER, PRS, GIBSON, MATON AND THEY ALL SOUND GREAT........OF COURSE YOU CHANGE SETTINGS TO SUIT. BUT THIS IS TONE TO DIE FOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELL WHAT CAN I SAY....... AGAIN NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS, BUT IF I DID I WOULD RING THE BULDER [PETER] AND HAVE IT SORTED NO PROBLEM !!!1

SAME AS ABOVE.......BUY AUSSIE MADE MATE !!!!!!

PETER REYNOLDS IS A MASTER OF AMP BULIDERS, AND ANY ONE WHO BUYS FROM OVERSEAS IS A TOTAL TOSS. THIS IS THE TONE TO DIE FOR............WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GO AND F@#KING BUY ONE NOW !!!!!!!!!!

My 501 is simply stacked with features - in fact, too many for a boy to use! Seriously, the amp has all the fundamentals: the twin-pre circuitry allows you to (after a lot of trial and error) dial up very exacting responses for your guitar. I especially like the way Mr Reynolds works his gain structures - the classic "big boost" clean sound of the (ahem!) American side, and the incrementally filthy combinations that can be worked on the (ahem, ahem!) British side. By combining different EQ settings for both channels (eg top & bottom boost on the left, plenty of mids on the right), you can achieve that intagible "cream" quality.

As well, the amp has all the normal features - FX loop, phase, etc plus the ability to switch from triode to pentode (why anyone would bother beats me!). All in all, enough features for any amp.

My main guitar is a Strat with EMG active P/Us and pots, therefore is already a fairly high gain machine. The problem I've often had with other amps (Fender Twin, Boogie Calibre 50, Music Man HD)is that they are simply not sensitive enough to accommodate both the high gain of the guitar plus my style of playing, which can be brutal at times. I was surprised, therefore, by the Reynolds' extreme sensitivity to minute changes in attack, string pressure, etc. As well, the way Mr Reynolds has configured the valves gives just enough envelope to the dynamics that you feel confident that things will not get too far out of hand when you are playing on the edge.

Just some techo points: the amp is whisper quiet at all settings; the distortion is as sweet as can be, with the valves going off their rockers strictly at the player's whim.

This is simply the most awesome sounding amp in my 30 or so years of gigging.

It don't break!! If it ever does, I'm sure Mr Reynolds will want to know!

Mr Reynolds is a splendid chap who consulted me during the design stage on my amp all the way. When I tested it on his bench and declared myself unhappy with a paticular mid-range honk, he immediately swapped a capacitor and had the thing purring like a kitten! He knows amps, this man, and gave me the impression that his greatest delight is to talk with the musicians who are using his instruments.

Apparently the warranty on workmanship, certain components (excluding valves, of course) is forever.

I've been racking my brains to find something critical to say about this amp, but every time I step out on stage with the Reynolds behind me I feel as if I can do no wrong - and that kind of confidence in your sound is worth a lot more than the measly couple of G I paid for it

This is hand built, point to point wireed, two channel amp. It is a beautiful looking amp with a distictive "dollshouse" shape and wood panneling front and back. Channel A is voiced in the "American" style and channel B has a "British" style voicing. Output is rated at 60 watts but can be switched to half power. There are separate EQ's for each channel apart from one overall presence control. Channel B can be run in either boosted or unboosted mode but you can't switch on the fly. There is a bright switch on both channels, but it is only active in the boosted mode on channel B. Channel B has a master volume, to allow the preamp to be cranked while still maintaining a volume that is balanced with channel A. Each channel has it's own input socket and channel switching is accomplished via an A/B box. It is also possible to link the two channels and blend the two voicings. There is no reverb, and no effects loop.

I use this amp with a '57 reissue Strat (stock pickups) and an Ibanez s-series (S470 with twin humbuckers). The amp sounds great with both, though I do like to adjust the EQ settings when switching between guitars. In terms of pedals use a Carl Martin Hot Drive n Boost, a Visual Sound Route 66, a Voodoo Labs Anologue Chorus and a Dunlop Crybaby Wah. I play anything from hard rock to pop and jazz.

Channel A is round and full sounding , but with a nice high end shimmer. Once you push the volume up to around 6 the tone starts to dirty-up nicely, and with the right EQ settings I can can get some nice texas blues sounds. The amp responds beautifulls to my picking dynamics - clean with a light touch and dirty if i dig in. Turn up the drive on a stomp box and you can get nice thick warm overdrive tones (eg. T-rex, Cream.....)

Channel B has a much more open biting tone, with a tighter bass response and more "cut". I usually run this channel with the Master volume maxed (ie. not affecting the tone/volume)and the preamp volume between 3-7 depending on the amount of volume and or dirt I'm after With the boost switch off and the volume around 3-4 you get a nice trebelly (but not harsh) clean, which is great for funk and clean snappy "Pop" sounds. Turn up to 6-7 and you get a classic stinging blues tone. From there you can engage the boost switch and move into "classic rock" territory (eg AC/DC). With the bright switch engaged and the bridge pickup selected on my Ibanez the tone is bitng and edgey (but once again not harsh), great for rock rhythm parts. Switch to the middle or neck positions on the Ibanez and the tone is sweet and singing and just right for lead playing.

Basically, by selecting appropriate stomp box settings, switching between the rounded channel A and the the more scooped channel B, and switching guitars and pickups, I can create just about any sound I like. This amp does not on it's own deliver brutal high gain metal tones and is pobably not best suited to that style but with the appropriate stomp box/es anything is possible. Other Reynolds amps deliver more gain on channel B

Noise is minimal, particularly with humbuckers

I've had it for 5 months and had no problems. It's built like a tank. Another guy who owns one had it dropped off the top of a quad box (in it's road case) after which it tumbled end over end a few times. Turned it on - still worked fine!. I have gigged without a backup.

I delt personally (via e-mail) with Peter Reynolds throughout the building of the amp. He is great to deal with and really cares about his product. I don't have the details of the warranty in front of me but basically the amp is warantied for life excepting tubes and a few other easily replacable components which are part of the on going maintenance

I've been playing for 18 years and this is the amp I've looked for all that time. I am now one happy guitarist. If it were lost or stolen I'd cry, and then go right back to Pete for another one. The only thing I'd like is reverb but the tone is so nice I don't really notice it's missing. I've compared it to Marshalls, Boogies and Fenders, and while all those amps had their good points, this amp combines their best features into the one package. OK I love it.

New to the market (I've had mine for 8 months)the Reynolds Valveart Apr501 is an all tube, handmade 50 watt amp. For me to buy this amp was a stretch($2500AUS) but it looks distinctive, sounds unforgetable and I couldn't find anything that I thought did the job as well.

The amp has two separate channels. You can use Channel A, Channel B or link the two together for another option and sound again!

Channel A has vintage American sound that is CLEAN at just about all volumes. Channel A produces a big full bodied sound thats just massive.

Channel B sounds a lot like a vintage British amp it can go from smooth overdrive sounds like a JTM45 to producing more raunch and crunch of the latter day Marshalls. Having said this though, Channel B is not a high gain channel (Reynolds make two other amps with more gain in the B channel if thats your bag).

The amp also has a link feature that allows you to link the A and B channels togehter - it sounds huge!

The front panel of the amp is laid out simply. Both the A and B channel has a volume, bass, middle, treble controls and there is a master volume and a presence control. There are also bright on off switches. Seems pretty straight forward but the range of tones you can get is amazing.

On the back of the amp there is the on/off switch, a Pentode / Triode swtich (that cuts the output of the amp to half power) a negative feedback swictch, main speaker out, extension speaker out, an impedence selector (4, 8 or 16 ohm) a channel B boost and a channel A phase switch.

I haven't used the last two switches I mentioned - but how they work is you can run Channel A and Channel B out of phase and adding some different effects can get some pretty weird sounds due to phase cancellations.

I opted not to have an effects loop put in the amp - with an effects loop the sound the amp produces doesn't seem so responsive or alive. I think its something to do with the limited band width signal processors deal with.

The amp doesn't have reverb which I thought at first might be a problem - but I'm not really missing it, although if the amp had it I probably would use it.

The Apr501 is a really versatile amp that I think is mostly suitable for rock, blues, country and even jazz (Channel A) styles.

While the model I have is not designed for high gain styles, I'd just whop a distortion pedal between your guitar and the channel selector footswitch and I suspect you'd be in shredder heaven.

I use three guitars with this amp - an old Ibanez Roadster ll with single coils and a humbucker in the bridge. It screams.

I also have two custom made Kunkel semi electric guitars one with a Seymour Duncan Jazz and JB (neck and bridge respectively) both of which are coil tapped. This guitar sounds massive the sound is enveloping.

The other Kunkel is fitted with Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers - sweat and warm.

Depending on where I'm playing and what I use a Marshall 2x12 and a Marshall quad.

I play rock and blues styles and the amp sounds great - no complaints.

The amp is really responsive - you can get a whole range of tones from crystal clean to overdriven to full on raunch.

To get the clean channel to break up you would have to be running the amp flat out.

I've only had the amp for 8 months - but I've never had any problems.

I've dealt direct with the guy who makes them, Peter Reynolds.

Not that I've needed it, but there is a lifetime warrenty on labour, 1 year on valves, 2 years on switches etc, and 10 years on all other components.

I've been playing for about 17 years and without a doubt I've never had an amp as good as this.

I love the range of tones I can get - it amazes me every single time I use it.

A similar amp is the Fender Tonemaster. I thought the Reynolds was good value for money. The Reynolds is handmade there are no transistors, integrated circuits or printed circuits its point to point wired - a tone machine.

As I said above, reverb would be a handy feature.