Sewell Texaplex 112 Combo

Texaplex 50 watt, EL 34, 3 X 12 AX7, Mercury Magnetics Output tranformer, Celestion G12H - 80 speaker, Mine has just about every option you can get - master volume, SS vs tube rectifier, Cath bias vs fixed bias, bass boost, treble boost, ports for biasing the power tubes and a volume boost pedal.

I play an Eric Clapton strat, 57 Goldtop Gibson and a 51 Nocaster into this amp and I only use a Maxon compressor for pedals. This amp has the best overall tone of any amp I've ever owned! The clean sound is huge and without reverb to help, the amp has such a wide range of distortion that you can go from barely breaking up to pure ZZ Top! As far as rock, blues and pop is concerned this the best amp I've ever played on, the sustain of the notes is quite noticeable. The master volume is much better that any I've used in the past abd truely allows you to get the sound you want at very useable levels.

The amp is made of the best parts that can be bought and Mr Sewell has a great reputation for backing up his amps.

I've not had to deal with the company yet, so I can't comment.

I've been playing for 30 years and own 3 Victoria amps, a blackface Super reverb and a blackface Vibroverb. This amp is more useful and gets more sounds than any of my other amps and is just plain fun to play. The amp is plenty loud for playing in a group without getting lost, and is most likely the perfect "club" amp in that you can carry it in your VW bug and carry your amp, guitar and effects all in one trip from the car. This could be my last amp purchase!

I purchased my Sewell Texaplex 25E used for $1,000 from the local Guitar Center here in Dallas. A steal for a hand wired top quality boutique amp. It is a one channel 1x12 open back combo. It has two EL34's for the power tubes. The preamp tubes are two 12ax7's and one EF86. The speaker in my combo is a 12" Weber Blue Dog. The model I have is rather special and limited. The difference between my Texaplex 25"E" and the regular Texaplex 25....(no E) is the Weber speaker and the first preamp tube. (the EF86) These two mods give the amp a even more "British" flavor. The control panel consists of a vol, treb, bass, standby, off/on, input, footswitch, and a bright/tone switch. Very simple. I also have the variable volume footswitch.

I use the Texaplex primarily with my PRS McCarty Hollowbody. The McCarty Hollobody has PAF style pickups that are specially "voiced" for the hollowbody and are bright (for a humbucker) mellow. This amp rocks like a little Marshall. Very reminescent of Clapton's Bluesbreaker era. The amp doesn't get much louder past the volume's 1/2 way point but the natural overdrive really starts to sing and thicken. The tone is very dirty like a nasty little tweed amp. Just roll back the volume on your guitar a little bit and the tone cleans right up. Nice and Sweet. The volume pedal is an interesting idea that i hope he has patented. The footswitch contains a "true bypass" switch and a chicken head knob that is a volume control. When activated, the switch bypasses the amp's volume pot and uses the volume pot on the footswitch. I set the amp's volume at that point where it just slightly starts to breakup and has some balls. Then I set the footswitch's volume cranked up to a sweet lead level with overdrive. Effectively, it's a volume/boost for a single channel! It works great. The amp has a plate on the back that give you a choice of external speaker cabinet 1/4" jacks. Just unplug the combo speaker and you can choose from 16, 8 or two 4 ohm. jacks. My Fender Tonemaster 4x12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s sounds great through the amp. Use different cabs for different flavors.

The contruction is over engineered. Quite solid. It has a beautiful cream tolex with gold grille cloth. The Chassis is bolted to the cabinet with large brackets and large bolts. All nicely arranged. Rock solid.

The amp did not come with the variable volume footswitch, but, I e-mailed my phone number to Doug Sewell from his website and he called me within 15 minutes. He asked me about my amp and explained a few things and said that he would be happy to build a footswitch for me later that afternoon and (because he happens to live locally and very near my work) would be happy to drop off the footswitch when he is in the area the next morning. PHENOMINAL! He is passionate about his work and it shows in his service and product. 10+

I have played for 16 years. I would recommend any of Doug Sewell's amps. E-mail him and describe what you want and he will get the size/sound that you are looking for. I have owned, played, practiced and gigged with many amps including Komet's, Top Hats, Fargen, Marshalls, Fender Twins, Prosonic, Bassmans, etc. I intend on keeping this amp for a very long time. I would say that this amp ranks with the finest. It packs a huge sound in a little package. The best thing about the amp is it's value when compared to these other boutique amps. INCREADIBLE.

Mine is a 2003 model Texaplex 50 watt. I ordered this amp with just about every feature available. It came with a tube or solid state rectifier, cathode or fixed biasing, bass boost, and three modes of negative feedback to chose from. Also it has a master volume. I have used the amp for everything from small club use to large concert venues and it has been excellent in every situation I've used it in. I'm using a Celestion Vintage 30 in this amp, and it seems to do the job just fine. There's no channel switching or built in effects.

I use various guitars with this amp. I mainly use a Telecaster and a ES-335. One of the sounds I like most with this amp is any guitar with P-90 pickups. I play a variety of styles and am currently using it in a Rock n Roll cover band. Also, I've used the amp for recording as it can cover a lot of different sounds with the different rectifier, biasing, and negative feedback options.

The Texaplex is an all hand wired amp. They use the finest quality caps, resistors, pots, board material, and tranformers you will find anywhere on the planet. The amp has bias taps on the rear panel so installing a new set of tubes and getting them adjusted properly is extremely simple. No need to take the amp apart or to a tech just to have the bias set. It can all be done on the back panel. When I got this amp in it had a bad power tube in it, but that was easily replaced with one supplied by Sewell. The way everything is built I can't imagine a failure of any sorts due to workmanship. The cabinet is made like a tank. Everything is made solid as a rock.

This is where the Sewell company shines the most. If there were a rating higher than 10, I'd give it to them. This company has the best customer support of anyone I've dealt with ever. Before you buy, give them a call and chat about your playing style, volume range you need, guitars you use, and whatever else, and they'll custom taylor an amp to fit your playing needs.

I've been playing for about 30 years, I've owned a lot of amps considered top of the line like Dr Z, Vintage Fender and Marshall, Rivera, Bedrock, and this amp is the cream of the crop. I still own a black faced Fender Pro Reverb, and some Magnatone stuff. The Texaplex gets the call in most every situation.

I'm generally skeptical of HC reviews that give all 10's. However, comparing this amp to others I've owned that got rave reviews on this forum, I'd have to say the Sewell is really off the charts compared to those. Especially in the build quality and customer service areas. With Sewell's customer service policies, ability to match up an amp for the customers style and wishes, and the guarantee of service offered, there's just no way you can go wrong.

2003 production 1x12 with one channel, no master volume, no reverb and no effects loop. The multitap output transformer allows 4, 8 and 16 ohm loads, though the stock speaker is an 8 ohm Celestion G12H80. The Texaplex was designed with the classic rocker/blues rocker in mind and does NOT disappoint. A very simple and intuitive set of controls with a brite switch for a bit of added sparkle when playing at low volume, a volume pot defeat switch (footswitch) that acts as a solo boost (FANTASTIC idea...also on the Sewell Wampus Cat, another very cool combo), volume, treble and bass controls (with a broad sweep...plenty of EQ shaping here), standby and power switches. That's it, and all that is needed for a great gigmeister combo. This amp also is available as a head, but my Texaplex is a 1x12 combo. A beautiful blonde with gold grillcloth and honey-stained oak front and top panels. A stunner, and lightweight with its tolex-wrapped pine cab. It shipped with three JJ 12AX7s, a pair of JJ EL34s, and a Weber Copper Cap. The Copper Cap is a WeberVST design that seeks to make a SS rectifier act like a tube rectifier with current limitation and sag. The B+ rail in this amp is lower than in my Marshalls and allows the amp to develop some fang without blowing the patrons away at me local (its rated for about 25 watts of power when cooking). This is PERFECT for clubs, in my experience, and allows rich power tube distortion to develop and mingle with the preamp grind. This is what makes this "little" amp sounds BIG. This amp is not as versatile as its littermate, the Wampus Cat, but it surpasses the Wampus Cat at what the Texaplex was designed to do: RAWK.

The Texaplex loves my '01 Les Paul Standard Plus sporting Peter Forance's cool voodoo PAF knockoffs), my '74 ES335 TD(stock), my PRS McSoapy (Jason Lollar P90s in this one) and my '65 Strat (stock mid-60s pups). Less happy playing tag with my Barden Tone-Tone equipped PRS custom 24, Parker Fly Deluxe (stock) or Peavey Wolfang Special (stock). I'd say the consensus in theseparts is that this amp is for classic rock big bawls nonmaster volume Marshall sounds in a small package and not for modern rock de jour. I just love this thing...its the sound of me youth.

Mine is an open back 1x12 combo, so it lacks the "knock" of slamming a 4x12 closed back cab (natch). I've played it through a 1960A Marshall 4x12 with G12H30s and that sounded GREAT, but in the mix, the Texaplex 1x12 combo sits right where it needs to be.

I went with the combo over the head so that I can cut back to one trip from the wagon to the venue. Also, hauling a 4x12 into a club here is begging for a "too loud, too loud!" cry from the barkeeper even before firing her up. The Texaplex is a STEALTH MARSHALL... it grinds and snaps and sings without pissing off the neighbors. Oh yes, its plenty loud for weekend warriors and honestly sits in any room I can play around here (except ballrooms which I play about once a year...I pack a cannon for them), but its a sensible volume that still lets me work the amp hard.

I?ve messed around with speakers a bit. The best match seems to be a Fane alnico 12, but that?s a pretty expensive speaker. The stock G12H80 is pretty neutral sounding, though certainly has some of the Celestion stamp on it. Its a fine speaker for this, and makes the amp sound a bit bigger, but I like there to be a bit more speaker involvement when I?m humming. A 003 cone ?60s Celestion G12M ?Vox silver? alnico was terrific, but I feared cooking it, so replaced it with the Fane, which turns out to be a better match anyway. I think Doug voiced this amp and the Wampus Cat to develop most of its mojo in the circuit and not at the speaker...the speaker swaps just add a bit MORE to the sauce, boss. So the speaker swaps are just the habits of a veteran tinkerer and not necessary...this amp rocks right outta the box!

I have had her for a few months and have put about 100+ hours of playing on her, balls out. I also idled her for about 40 hours to cook her a bit..I find this really helps a new amp open up and this one was no different. During extended playing or idling, the power transformer became quite warm to the touch, but this may be from radiant heat from the Copper Cap which is REALLY hot. This is my first expereinece with the Copper Cap, which looks good on paper, so I'm eager to see how the CC holds up over time. Doug Sewell and I exchange email now and then and his customer service has been TERRIFIC. He offered to send me a UG4 tube rectifier to compare to the copper cap and previously sent me some parts (gratis) to replace a switch on the Wampus Cat (which I purchased used from another player).

The construction of the Texaplex is top shelf with good quality components, flying leads from the board to the controls and jacks, and an airy and well-laid out design. Doug is an architect as well as an amp designer and it shows.

We'll see how the amp fares on down the road, but given my experience with the Wampus Cat, the construction quality and design details of the Texaplex, and the superlative customer care by Doug Sewell, I'm very comfortable with this purchase.

As I mentioned above, Doug Sewell is a gentleman and provides some of the best service I've experienced in thirty-fivish years of playing (along with Doug Holt of Jenkins and Sean Fokes of Mad Sound). Kudos!

I think Sewell is making the most sensible club amps out there. I am fortunate to own a number of super fine amps that I've picked up trading gear over the years (including the impressive Gjika mini amp, four K&M analog Two Rock amps, a Fuchs, a couple Marshalls, a stable of vintage Fenders, a couple Alessandros, a London Power studio amp, a Hi-Mu, a Gibson, and two Sewells). I build amps for my own pleasure and have come to own all these amps both out of a love of the craft as well as to learn from others. While each has something special about them, from the perspective of what makes sense for weekend warriors, the Sewells are at the top of the list (along with the Gjika mini amp). If you need to make the classic rock/blues rock gig, the Texaplex serves it up in a great package.

So, to sum up, the Sewell Texaplex a just plain SENSIBLE rock amp. A very fine stealth Marshall club combo for the classic rock/blues rock thing. Its not as versatile as Sewell's AMAYZING Wampus Cat 15, which I've used for jazz, blues, pop, rock and avant garde dance music, but it surpasses the WC15 for its intended application. The WC15 is a comfy ride; a cathode-biased tweed Pro-like amp with some tricks. The Texaplex is quicker, rocks harder, and cuts through the mix better. They are both GREAT club amps: They?re light, sound great, have what they need and no more...what's not to like about that?