Sonic Machine Factory (SMF) 35 Watter

This is the 35 watt big brother version made in 2003 of the 15 Watter. Same features but bigger transformers, a bit more bottom end, a little less midrange, and heavier. The amp weighs about 65 pounds. Two channels in class A, with incredible reverb.

It has dual EL-84 power, 2 channel with footswitch, spring reverb with Reverb and Reverb Tone controls, interactive Bass-Mid-Treble and Brilliance, 1x12 inch SMF modified Celestion Vintage 30W, and a nifty lit red logo that is set within gear graphics. Separate tone knob for bright that goes beyond the normal bass, mid, treble. If you don't want the red logo lit up you can simply unplug it from the chassis.

This amp with its class A design is the real Mr. Clean. It will output about 50 watts cleanly before it starts to overdrive. Fortunately, a foot switch or a knob on the panel turns on the High Gear which has incredible overdrive with volume control.

I saw this incredible looking amp in a pawn shop priced at $1800. The reverb was not working. After a week and some research I went back and offered $800 for it which they accepted. I was wondering what planet this amp came from - it was so different, and sounded out of this world. I searched high and low and finally received some first hand information which was very helpful.

The 35 Watter was made in various colors and configurations such as a combo amp with a modified 12" Celestion speaker or in a head cabinet only with a small 4" monitor speaker. I believe only 100 of the 35 Watters were made in all configurations, so they are very rare. Half of these went to Europe. I believe Jack White uses a red 15 Watter. They make great road amps due to their military spec design and durability.

These amps were designed and tested by Rick Hamel of SiB effects/pedals and the renown amp designer Mark Sampson who now is with Star Amps. They spent months working equally together on every part of the amp and and tested the results with live bands before they were satisfied. Joe Alrich, an artist, was deeply involved with Mark and Rick in the amps appearance.

Sonic Machine Factory is no longer in business as a separate company and has been merged into Star Amps. Some other company has picked up the SMF website address.

This amp can be very clean or crazy dirty. I've tried it both with a Strat and a Gibson SG and it sounds great no matter what is plugged in.

One reason is the Class A design which takes all of the input signal instead of chopping it in half with an AB amp which is more efficient, but has less pure tone. Comparable A design amps, therefore, need larger transformers.

Mark Sampson said on the 15 Watter, "Rick Hamel and I were able to pack crazy tone into this very powerful 15 Watter through hours of lab and live auditioning. We've used a synergized systems approach whereby we tuned in tandem the tube circuitry and cabinet dimensions. We seriously pushed the 12AX7 preamp and the EL-84's until we forced out gobs of tone and gushing harmonics. The Celestion really sings under all play conditions. In fact, some studio players swore we were just posing the amp as 15 watts; others wondered if we were driving more than one speaker.

Like the 15 Watter this one has the Sonic Hatch which is an adjustable closed/open back design to help fine tune the baffle sound you are after. Why didn't anyone think of that before? It was either closed back or open back. Also included on the back is a speaker phase switch which helps resolve issues if you are playing in stereo with an amp of another make. Rick Hammel said, "To stop a dogfight between your amp and the monitors, mics, boards, feedback control with a hollow body guitar etc......It's more of a fix-it tool."

The only problem I had was the Accutronics reverb pan which had some disconnected wires. The reverb pan problem is common on all amps if not treated gently. I resoldered the wires myself and the reverb sound great, lush and deep. Someone should design a bullet proof reverb tank. This amp had been through a lot of abuse, but still runs very quiet.

The chassis and circuit board are military grade with extra wide tracings and heavy duty components. The tubes are kept away from the transformers and are enclosed which is a requirement with European countries.

Since the company is no longer in business there is not any support. However, any amp tech should be able to troubleshoot the well laid out design of this amp. Check your reverb pan first if you have any problems.

I collect Fender amps and have some of the great ones such as tweed Bassmans, Tweed Deluxes and even a 63 brownface Vibroverb. I think this amp with its 12" speaker ranks as good if not better than any of them. It may have been ahead of its time in appearance which may have kept some people from buying an incredible amp. I only wish it had a wooden rail to slide the chassis in and out of the cabinet like the old Fender amps, since the chassis is so heavy. However, I plan on buying one of the smaller SMF amps. I can't imagine selling this one. As the old Fender ad said, "You won't part with yours either."