Product: Tatoo Amplification Tribal 50 Head
Price Paid: US $950
Submitted
04/13/2003
at
08:10am
by
Brad
Features
:
7
Year of Manufacture: 2002
The Amp is basically a Boutique "Plexi" Clone 50watts all tube. Hand wired.
2 channels, Non-Master Volume, No Effects loops or Reverb.
This amp has all the features I wanted, as I was looking at Vintage Marshalls and the re-issues.
I use this amp in my home studio in the basement, as I am a hobby player.
For 50 watts its way too loud to play at home without a power attenuator, I use a powerbrake to calm it down a little bit.
I am going to give it a 7 in versatility, because its a classic no frills amp. It sounds great with pedals and is loud and clear, but it doesnt offer switched channels etc.
Sound Quality
:
9
My setup is a Les Paul strait in for classic rock sounds and sometimes I use a Strat and a DOD250.
I play mostly 70s and 80s style Metal.
This is one of the quietest "plexi" style amps I have ever used as far as noise, hum and this one seems to have lesser ghost notes or warble than I have heard in other amps of this type.
The amp has a great clean sound, altho the bright channel can get a bit too bright, but when its mixed with the normal channel via a jumper like Hendreix did, it fills out very well.
You have to turn this amp up to get into the distortion and then its a very loud amp. The tone controls are as effective on the vintage amps I was after. This does what you would expect from any vintage Marshall, with less noise and hum. Mine seems to have more bass tho.
Reliability
:
10
Built like a tank, much higher quality than the re-issues.
Amp has never broken down or given me any trouble at all.
I had to pull the chassis out to see how the amp was built and its like a work of art. Aside from the cost the build quality is why I went with this amp.
Customer Support
:
10
Tommy had always been very helpfull and built the amp for me in a very personal manner. Anytime I had a question he emailed me right back within minutes on a few occasions. He even helped me troubleshoot one of my other amps over the phone.
Overall Rating
:
9
I have been playing for 18 years. I own a Marshall JCM900, 1978 Strat, 76 Les paul, several effects pedals.
If it were lost or stolen I would have another one built in a second.
I love the fact that its a hand built amp, and I may sell my 900 to get one of their high gain amps to replace it.
I have compared this amp to a lifetimes worth of non master volume Marshalls and this compares very favorably.
