TopHat Club Royale 1x12 Combo

This is an '05 model TopHat Club Royale, with tube rectification and the boost section. The fat off bright switch does very well and can change your tone with just that alone. The main features IMHO are the extremely sensitive cut control, and the active EQ that i will praise in a second. Everything else has already either been said or isnt exactly a "feature," as this is a players amp, not an amatuers. One of the best "features" about it is its lightweight compared to alot of other 1x12 amps out there. not TOO much of a pain to lug around. Great practice amp, and of course great club amp as the name suggests.

Okay, here we go. Ive been playing for about 7 years and have been playing proffessionally (gigging) for about 3 now. I play everything from old school blues (hooker) and country (reed) to techno to metal, and everything in between. No im not joking. I bought this amp about 4 months ago, and the reason im writing this review now is as follows: I own a matchless, a star, and a variety of other amps the likes of marshall, mesa, laney and line 6. The only ones ive kept are the matchless, the star, and the tophat. Just recently my old drummer and i have gotten back together and are doing original stuff and i use the tophat for our jam sessions. Now, i understand that class A amps are a different breed, and have the utmost respect for what they bring to the table. But ive always felt like there was something missing, something the marshalls have but have to much of, or something the mesas have only when they are in a good mood, or whatever. The other night i angled the tophat up to about 20 degrees against the wall i was playing in front of, and low and behold....THERE WAS THE CONTROLLED FEEDBACK I HAVE BEEN MISSING SINCE I STARTED THIS AMP CRUSADE. NOT JUST FEEDBACK BUT RICH, HARMONIC, SUSTAINING FEEDBACK THAT LET ME OPEN SONGS WITH IT AND PUT EXTRA SUSTAIN TIME ON CHORUS PARTS. I should mention i use a blackstone OD pedal, and only the blackstone in front of it for extra crunch when i need it. This combination has everything i desire in tone and has ended my quest on ebay. Now for the second holy *%$# part. Ive always been a metal fan as i said earlier but never quite got that "metal" sound out of my gear, and figured that those guys must just know something i dont or have the gear to produce it. WELL, between the tophat settings at Cut: 0, Bass: 10, Mid: 0, Treble: 10, Preamp Volume: 10, Master Volume: Eardrum Rupture Threshold minus what you need, Blackstone on Red channel, I NOW HAVE METAL TONE ON TAP WHEREVER I GO. NOW IM SET. NOW IM HAPPY, NOW IM DONE. Remember, this amp is a CLEAN amp, not a metal amp and is reviewed and advertised that way. Well not for me. And the greatest part is, besides actually being able to save money now, when i roll the volume knob on the guitar and switch to the brown channel on the Blackstone and theres my clean. UNBELIEVEABLE.

Probably as reliable as you let it. Dont drop it off a building or take it to a mosh pit. End of story

Never dealt with him, but im sure he'd want his customers happy.

I very well might sell my matchless, for the sake that its VERY heavey, VERY LOUD, and the tophat does everything i need. Hope this helps.

Well i hate to get complicated but it seems there was a purpose for the features in this amp. Meaning that if the manufacturers were told they were going to be rated on the "features" of this amp, they would hope that the judges understood that this is not designed to do things to cover up your playing or dance around the truth of any deviation from that one thing that we all talk about, TONE. I shall use Timbre because its more than the tone of your guitar versus the amp versus the cord or note, the EQ is fine tuned quite nicely, making YOUR GUITAR and YOUR HANDS determine what is expressed, not a pedal or modulator. This guy has figured out how to make the cut control work even for people that don't know (like me). 2 inputs for mood playing, and nice to carry and look at. An excellent tube amp design for the purpose built no frills club style amp. (and its great with pedals IMHO!!)

Top Hat was a blind decison for me, and the club was my choice because it was reputable, smaller, and of course, all tube and class A. I was immediately taken by the crystal cleans and the bottom end that all the sudden made me realize what people meant when they said "bottom end" of an amp. I use a shecter C-1 Classic with the normal setup and it has just the nicest overall sounds to it i think, and when i plugged into this thing it was just clean heaven, not really any breakup which suprised me, even with the volumes set up for it. Then i jacked the volumes to their respective distortion settings and was pleasantly surprised by the ac/dc grind and mid oscillation of a good marshall. It was not until i tried it with my pedals that i realized how versatile this amp was, and the kicker was right here: Not since ive begun my tube amp spelunking have i ever gotten back to the "metalish" distortion that i was "kinda" enjoyed back in the days of the peavey's and line6's, (no offense anyone) and now my gig amp is a matchless indy, with the three channels and i can dial in some hard nasty dig, but not quite to the point of all out "hell yeah that's the **** right there" type of crunch. then it happened with the tophat, with the treble up the channel volume maxed and the master down to level, i put a GREEDTONE in front of the amp and ill be damned if i wasnt in crunch heaven, a distortion that overwhelmed me with happiness, cause now i could be a bad *** again. it really was great, and im glad to share it with yall. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Only a one year warranty, but its point to point wired and has a speaker wired in a box. i think you can figure it out.

Ive heard Gerhardt doesn't mess around, so don't call him with some dumb **** like..."uhhhh, i heard these tubes were the best and when i tried em my amp like blew up and i cant find it now........." he'll be pissed!!!!!!!!!!

just kiddin.

Great amp and im sure it will continue to impress me, and so will the company that makes em. Yall take care!!

Made in 2007. Handles most variants of musical style. No fancy features however I wouldn't be sad to see reverb added but I'm not even sure it would improve the sound. This amp gets used primarily at home and small venues.

The sound quality for this amp is PHENOMINAL in my opinion. It has a Fat, Bright and Off switching option to achieve different sounds. This amp breaks up at the perfect volume in my opinion. Want a little more distortion and thicker sound just click the switch to FAT. I primarily play Strats and Teles however also use my Flying V on occassion with this amp and everyone of them creates a unique tone but each is beautiful to my ears. I play mostly various types of blues and classic rock for which this amp seems to almost perfectly built for. I probably wouldn't advise buying it if you want to play metal however it would definitely handle hard rock with a pedal compliment.

Not sure yet however it comes with a one-year limited warranty and the thing is hand wires. The odds of something going wrong if you aren't abusing it are probably slim. I did quite a bit of research as to the reliability of this amp and wasn't able to find anyone that complained of problems relating to it's build quality.

I've called one time with a simple question on features and spoke with the owner and builder of TopHat amps. He was helpful, friendly and I came away with a very good experience.

Overall this is definitely one of the best amps I've ever played or owned. I currently have a few vintage Fenders, which definitely have a place in my amp line up but I ALWAYS come back to the TopHat. It's nice breakup at low volumes can keep my ears from bleeding at home yet still be perfect for a small club or recording. It isn't cheap, it doesn't have a ton of option... but the tone and beauty of this amp inside and out is worth every penny.

This amp has no reverb, channel switching etc., etc., but that is a good thing here.

I have two of these amps; one is an older model with the solid state rectifier and thinner cabinet and the other is a newer model with a tube rectifier and wide cab. The circuit in these amps,when the fat boost is engaged and the mid control is at noon, is simply a 1/2 power Vox AC30. I normally use AC30's which I love but for most clubs the Top Hat is the amp I take. It has enough headroom to get an "edge of breakup " tone at useable stage volumes, and the tone is all Vox. The additional mid control and tone switches give you tons of other tone/gain options, but I just look for a good semi-clean foundation and add an OD on top. I actually prefer the solid state model for club work insofar as the solid state rectifier feels and sounds identical to the tube rectifier. (All you techies know that a 15 watt amp is not going to draw enough current to create a rectifier sag anyway) However, the solid state rectifier has a soft position which does give a great sag, and more importantly, lowers the overall volume of the amp so you can get to the sweet spot at a little lower volume overall. The wide cabinet has a bit deeper tone when playing around the house, but on stage, in the heat of battle, both amps perform equally well. This amp is one of the all time greats and is certainly one of the best values out there. Not an amp for the high gain crowd, but will work for just about everything else.

Amp is handwired on terminal strips and is about as solid as an amp can be. I am a pro player and have used my 1998 model for going on ten years without as much as a scratchy pot.

Like all classic PTP amps, if you change the output tubes once in a while you won't need service.

I have had/used pretty much every kind of vintage amp made. The Club Royale hangs with all of them. It is a Vox clone circuit, built extremely well in a sturdy and portable package. What more could you ask for. For the money these can be found for used, it is shameful not to own one.

My amp is a 2006, pretty basic setup, single channel amp, no bells or whistles, master volume, volume, bass mid, treble and cut, 2 inputs. I score it lower because it is just a single channel amp.
It is a loud 20 watts and I use it for funk, blues, rock and R&B. Nifce breakup at higher volumes, I use an OCD to boost it further or to break up at lower volumes. It has a tube rectifier, 2 EL84's and 3 12ax7's, came with Tung Sol ax7's and TAD EL84's

Probably one of the best sounding amps I have played. It does not have reverb but you will never miss it. The cleans are amazing and as a indiacted earlier the break up is quite nice, typical class A chime. When turned up the drive is really quite nice. I am giving it a nine instead of a 10 because there is a hiss from the amp if you bring the master up to about 7 and turn the volume up past halfway. This is not even noticeable for gigs but can be heard if you are a bedroom player. But the sound of the amp makes up for any hiss issues. Haven't tried different tubes to see if that will make a difference yet. I am using it with an SRV strat with dimarzio virtual vintage noiseless pickups. The amp is very responsive to your picking style and cleans up qyuite nicely when cranked by lowering your guitar volume.

had the amp now for about 1 month and no issues. The thing is built like a tank. The UPS store shipped the thing and basically just put it in a single box with no padding. When I got it and opened it one of the plastic corner pieces was cracked from shipping. That being said when I took it out the thing was solid. The wiring is meticulous and there is no doubt it can withstand the stresses of the road. cosmetically it is quite impressive as well. I have gigged without a backup and will continue to just keeping some spare tubes handy just in case.

You can call their help number and talk directly to Brian. He obviously is quite knowledgeable and takes pride in his product. He is always ready to give you advice on any issues and to help you out.

I have been playing about 15 years. I have owned numerous amps including fenders, marshall, and mesa boogie. This is by far my favortie amp. Even moreso than my 1968 Super reverb. If it were stolen I would definatly replace it. I might even be tempted to get a different model tophat in the higher price range. It is probably the best bang for the buck in the price range it sells for and the quality of construction and tone.

Not the newer deep cabinet model. Built in 2003 I believe. Features have been covered by previous reviewers.
I use this as a "clean" amp in my multi-amp setup. I use a Loooper to switch between this amp and a Bad Cat Hotcat 30.
I was hoping to get an that "special" overdriven sound by using the Master and Volume....but couldn't get it. So it's my "clean" side.

I'm using a 73 Fender strat with Kinman pickups as well as a Jimmy Page Les Paul with Voodoo 59 pickups. It's not a noisy amp with my guitars. There is some hiss (same as my Bad Cat amp) as the volume goes up, but not a problem in a live situation.
I like the Top Hats clean, chimey sound...reminds me of a Vox. Great for blues, funk, light rock.

Extremely well built! Remove the cover and look at the wiring....it's beautiful.
It's very simple. I'm sure I'll be able to repair anything that goes wrong with it, although I'm sure nothing will.

Don't know much about the elusive Brian...just what I read what others say on the Top Hat Forum.

I've been playing since the early 70's...have owned Marshall's, Boogies, (recently sold a Mark II-C+ on ebay) Fenders, various boutique amps. I think Brian is on to something here. I especially appreciate the fact that you can plug a Menatone Red Snapper, Barber Tone Pump, or just about any overdrive pedal into the front and still maintain that Top Hat amp sound while still pushing the gain. I wish I could get that same overdrive using the existing Master and Volume as I mentioned at the outset. I've switched tubes many times trying to get the sound I'm looking for, but haven't been successful. Thus, my multi-amp setup. The clean channel on the Bad Cat can't touch the Top Hat, but the overdrive on the Bad Cat is smooth, creamy and what I need.

Amp was recently purchased new and is a 2005 model with the new deeper cab. It has Marshall red tolex with a salt and pepper grill...it is supposed to be a one of a kind because of the color. Other than the color the amp is identical to the other Club Royale's. Plenty of power and oh ya...TONE!!! This is a very versatile amp. The cut and mid settings allow you to get numerous different sounds out of the amp. The amp came with a settings overview instructions sheet that really helped dial in tones I was looking for.

I am using a 1973 SG and a Standard Tele with a Fulltone OCD > Menatone Clue Collar > and Digitech Digiverb. Everything sounds good through this amp! This is by far the best sounding amp I have heard or played. When I compared other amps I was interested in (Dr.Z MAZ 18 Jr, Vox AC-30, Badcat) there just wasn't anything with tone that the Club Royale has. It is not noisy at all. Even with the volume cranked and the master cranked there is minimal noise. There isn't reverb but trust me...there is so much tone you wont even miss reverb. And if you do...there are numerous reverb pedals. ok...now the best part about this amp is the FAT/Bright switch. I was really looking for a EL-84 amp that I could get some bottom end on as well. The FAT switch adds all the bottom end I could ask for. The bright switch is also a great feature and can really make the sound sparkle! Ovearall the sounds you can get from this amp are great!

Seems to be constructed well...solid! Pretty new still but will update the posting if anything breaks!

Haven't had to use it yet.

Overall the Club Royale is a guitars players dream! I highly suggest trying this amp before purchasing other boutique amps in this category. If it were stolen I would definitely buy it again. I have or have owned the following Laney VC-30, Mesa F-50, Fender HR Deluxe, Traynor ycv-20 and have played a couple different Dr Z's and Badcats and nothing compares to the Club Royale.

I just bought a TopHat club royale 1x12. The amp was used and I just kind of saw it there in the cream cover and gold grill cloth. I plugged in and was blown away by all the tone. I then looked over the knobs and switches then looked for tubes. It was loaded with three mesa 12ax7's and two mesa el84's. No reverb, effects loop or speaker out but who cares when you have the tone and I mean TONE!!! I needed a club amp for jam nights and I found it. There is also a bright/norm/fat switch and a hard/soft select. Really simple yet mean at the same time.

I am using a Warmoth strat with Dimarzio pick-ups finished in nitro. The pick-ups are fs-1's. I play heavy but I also like the blues for it's purity. This amp is quiet,responsive and very well made. I can't believe the guy sold it. The sound is real coming out with lots of attack and volumes depending on you. It holds it's own in a jam session and really is a joy to play. You can ride the same note and twist it all around and really sound awsome. Light distortion but just right for blues playing. Think about the beano album with Clapton.

Just bought but it seems sturdy and solid. It all works great. I would back it up with a Marshall low watt amp.

Bought it used so no warrenty. Have not had to deal with yet but the website seems helpful.

I have been playing for 20 years. Mostly hard rock bands. I have Marshalls and custom modded Laney's. I have my acoustic and electric guitars from roberto-venn that I made myself. I also worked at Warmoth so I have alot of that stuff(hand picked). I would replace it. I love this amp through and through it is wonderful. I was looking for a combo so I could play out and there it was at a good price in PURRRRFECT condition. Three notes cranked up and I had to have it. I went home and thought about how good it sounded and went back and bought it. IT REALLY IS THAT GOOD!!!

This is a 1997 model with 2 inputs, volume with pull boost, treble, middle, bass, cut, 12" Celestan Greenback. I play blues and classic rock mostly. I was looking for a portable all tube amp for small gigs that sounded good. It was dark green with salt/pepper grill. Solidly built with only the needed features.

I play a Les Paul and a Strat. Both sound great in their unique way. I prefer the Les Paul as it sounded fatter. This amp has lot's to offer soundwise. The push/pull volume allows you to adjust the amount of gain to the signal. So, if you want more distortion, pull it out and you're playing dirty. I found channel 2 allowed the most headroom for clean tone. With my guitars, I could get the amp up halfway on the volume and still sound clear.

The amp sounded very punchy because it's point to point. It's high end and gave me everything from clean to nice crunch. It's not metal, but a very bluesy and classic rock tone. The tone is somewhat dark sounding which is something I don't really want though.

This amp is 18 watts and that's great for smaller venues. You can crank up the volume to 7 and still be reasonable with volume.

I bought the amp used on consignment locally at a nice guitar shop. I took it home and after 40 minutes I heard minor popping and crackle. This continued the rest of the evening and even the next day when I first turned it up.

I decided to take it back because I didn't want to risk it having something really serious wrong with it. I suspect the tubes were the cause, but I bought it for $900 and didn't want to spend more. I can only suspect the problem at this time so I take off a point.

I left a voicemail with Tophat and Brian called me the following day. He was very friendly and informative. He suspected new tubes were needed. He said if you want more clean headroom, replace the first 12AX7 with a 12AY7. Also, newer Celestion G12H speakers would help. EH84 Electro Harmonix power tubes were also recommended.

He mentioned the improvements made with the newer models. After talking with him I want to try a newer model out. He said they are better with bass and not so dark sounding.

I've been playing for over 22 years. I decided to take the amp back and take my time finding another one. I think since it had the popping issue and perhaps new tubes were needed that it was getting spendy. I did like the amp very much otherwise. Probably, I'd want to try a newer model first before considering this model.

Purchased new June '03. Hand-wired point-to-point 20W Class A, 3x12AX7 tubes, 2xEL84 power tubes, solid state rectifier, single channel Volume and Master. See www.tophatamps.com for full spec and features. Mine has standard G12C-30 speaker (TopHat's modified G12H) and 11" deep cab (older model has 9.5" cab). Soft/normal switch - always at normal. Bright/normal/fat switch - always at fat. Two inputs - always use input 1. I would not say this amp is versatile, but it has the features which do exactly what I want, so it gets 10.

Gibson Les Paul Standard 1990 with Bare Knuckle The Mule pickups, Roger Mayer Red Lion Wah upgrade, Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive 2SV3, Roger Mayer Voodoo-1. I play blues rock and southern rock styles. This amp is perfect for my musical and playing style. Very dynamic, natural sound. Bass is tight and full. Mids and highs chime nicely and are not harsh. Everything you play, you hear. When you play well, it sounds amazing, when you fluff it, everyone knows! Response to picking dynamics and guitar volume is exellent. I run it with both Volume and Master at around halfway. This gives a warm full clean sound, loud enough to play with a hard-hitting drummer and solid bass player, so long as they are leaving room for you. I can get a vivid open crunch by overdriving either pre or power amp. If I turn up both Volume and Master, it's too much overdrive for my taste. I get my riff/ryththm crunch by adding in the Voodoo-1 with Gain minimum and Output high. I add in the Blackstone with Output maximum and overdrive low for the lead sound. These settings on these pedals work very well with this amp - you would be hard pushed to tell the difference between the amp overdriven and the pedals through the amp clean. The Blackstone has two channels, so in effect I get six channels ramped from warm clean to lead overdrive and they all sound great.
If I wanted more headroom to achieve a higher volume without more overdrive, I would by a King Royale head and 2x12 cab.

I think I can depend on this amp - I don't need a backup.
The amp has had a small inermittent problem with something adding a little bit of buzzy distortion to the clean sound which you can only hear when you are playing quietly without the band, but hey, it's a combo.

Retailer spoke to TopHat and investigated the above problem under their instructions but couldn't reproduce it, offered to send it to amp repairer or back to TopHat, but I'm not that bothered by it and it seems to have gone away at the moment.

Would replace if stolen. Playing 14 years. I love the sound of EL84 based amps. I don't like super clean and I don't like high gain. I like crunchy rythyms and solos with dynamics. This amp is perfect for me.