TopHat Club Royale 1x12 Combo

2002 TopHat Club Royale 1x12. 20 watts of beautiful Class A tone. Extremely touch-sensitive and articulate. And loud. I play mostly blues and classic rock in a couple of different bands...this amp is perfect for small/medium clubs. Even still it is probably too loud. A half-power switch would be cool. It has the following controls: Master Volume, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Cut, Fat-Normal-Bright switch, High and Low inputs, Sag/Normal SS Rectifier Switch. No channel switching, no reverb, no tremolo...some other features might be nice to have, but ultimately, they would clog the signal path and compromise the tone. I have used external reverb effects on Class A amps before - the complexity of the tone gets lost. The folks at TopHat know what they're doing...their amps are awesome. Celestion G12C30 speaker.

This amp allows the individual character of my various guitars come through...Les Paul w/humbuckers, Les Paul w/P90s, Strat, Strat w/mini-humbucker, Tele...the differences in tone these guitars posess comes through. I've had people at gigs come up and ask how I've modded the Les Paul and Strat I was switching between to get them to sound so completely different from one another - "Nothing...it's the amp." The master volume/gain lets you dial in some overdrive at a lower volume, but the beauty of the tone of this amp comes through the louder you play it. The cut control is a key part of this amp. I never move the tone controls: Treble 9 o'clock, bass 12 o'clock, mid 3 o'clock. Switch on Fat. Rectifier on Sag. The cut control seems to make a huge difference at about 3 o'clock - I move it from there to around off, depending on the guitar and my mood. Dials out the piercing highs that some guitar settings produce. I use an AnalogMan 808 brown mod TS9 (level up/drive low) for a lead boost, and it is great. Sometimes wah (Teese Picture Wah), sometimes flanger (Boss BF2), sometimes chorus (CE2), sometimes analog delay (DM2). All sound great in front of this amp.

This amp is built like a beautiful tank. Never had a problem. Take a look inside the chassis...a work of art. I bring extra tubes to gigs, and a Zoom digital effects/modeling unit, but they stay in the gig bag.

Excellent Email response.

I have been playing 37 years. Over the years, I have owned 23 different amps, and I'm now down to 6. This Club Royale is the amp I gig with 80% of the time. For outdoors gigs or with very loud musicians, I use my TopHat King Royale. When more visual testosterone is needed, I use my JTM45 Marshall w/4x12 cab. TopHat amps are incredible instruments, and the Club Royale is no exception.

My T.H. is a 97 model with the cool scripted, Bogner looking logo. I play all styles an need vesatility AND REVERB! DUH! But hey if all amps were perfect, they would say "Diaz" or "Dumble". Mine has the optional efx loop which I once looked at, but never used; however, no reverb?. Features are: Vol, Treb, Mid, Bass, "Treble Cut?"(I don't get it) It has power and "STANDBY" but still no reverb.(sighs) It even has "low" and
"HIGHHHH" imputs, but still no reverb.(even more dissapointing sigh)
Well obviously T.H. forgot to put in my reverb, but remembered to put in the tone!

Zion, Fender custom shop strat(please, no more offers!)I also have a Gretch and a Les Paul. I read reviews reguarding the lack of headroom. As one of the guys wrote in an earlier review, IT'S ONLT 18 WATTS! Plus I like the breakup. My amp has the alnico blue and records sooooo...well let me say, it's epic; something to definitly "write home about". I even have the matching cab, but with a greenback which gives it a little different twist and the much needed low end.(don't expect much low end out of a open back cab this size though). FYI, don't push you limits on this little guy. If you plan on playing the super bowl half time soon, don't bring you little 18 watter okay, but for small rooms, recording, clubs, or church(I can't believe I just put those two right next to each other), you absolutely can't beat the Club Royale. "This is not you daddy's oldsmobile" it's you uncle's Mercedez and drives like a dream.

So far, soooogood.

Don't know.

For my 8 years of mastering the six-stringed instrument known as the guitar, I have been blessed to play with some top guys(no pun intended) such as Phil Keaggy etc. As I said in a Groove Tube review, I live not for the possession of the object, but the pursuit of. I will never replace it, in fact, it's sold, I'm just waiting on the guy to send the money before I ship it. However, I have thoroughly enjoyed my short visit with the little guy. If I owned a studio, this be in it a permanent mic positioned on it. I love it, but only rate it with amps in it's direct class in mind. I would give it a 9 1/2 since there is no reverb, but because there arent halves on the little "option meter" it gets a 10!

Late '90s. Not a feature laden amp but the EQ is very powerful yielding enough versitility to at least deal with different styles of pickups and deliver very satisfactory results with all that I have tried.Mine has a master volume that I never use.Otherwise, a very simple amp that sounds very, very good.

This is the first Class A amp I have owned. I have old Fenders and Ampegs and I sold a Marshall to get the Top Hat. The difference between A/B and A is dramatic and at first I did not quite know what to make of the Club. But after experimenting with the EQ for awhile, I have become a believer in the joys of Class A. I am puzzled by some of the reviews I read of this amp complaining of lack of head room, volume etc...It's 18 watts! It's not supposed to sound like a Twin. What it does do exceedingly well is transfer to tape...my other amps sound harsh by comparison. While this amp breaks up quickly, it remains detailed,musical and,(forgive me)organic. The overdrive is very sweet and I find it matches up well with any of my Teles. If you are looking for a Vox inspired low wattage recording amp you can't go wrong with one of these. I'm trying not to gush about this amp but I have not been able to play through any thing else since I bought it three months ago. A great amp!!!

No problems and I play pretty hard. No wierd sounds or failures of any kind.

I e-mailed Brian with a couple of questions and he replied in detail the next day..Very impressive, especially since I bought this used.

I have been playing for 37 years. Strictly a basement hack with a four track.I would replace it if it were stolen. I may even sell some vintage stuff to get a King Royal.My only gripe is that it does not seem to like the snapping of strings country style(chicken' picken')...it seems to distort in an unpleasent way. I don't play that way very well anyway so I overlook that one small niggle.

I bought this amp new about 2 years ago. It's a single channel amp. The features are; volume, master, cut, bass, treble, mid, fat/bright switch, power cut switch, high and low input, 20 watt el-84 class A. The amplifier is very simple to use but very versatile with the mid-range control being the strongest sound shaper. With the mid low you get close to a Fender sound, in the middle the chimmy Vox sound and set at the 3/4 mark a Marshall sound. The speaker is a Celestion Greenback. The amp has good headroom and can be used for Jazz although not its strong suit. I wish it had reverb buy maybe that would color the sound.

I use a Gibson 335 dot, an Anderson hollow-t, PRS McCarty and a Fender Amer Start. The amp works well with all the guitars and accuratly refects the character of each guitar. I mainly play Blues and late 60's early 70's rock. The amp works great for these styles. One of the things that I love about the amp is that it works extremly well with any stomp box that I throw at it. So when clean you can get a great chimmy Vox sound, kick in a tube screamer great blues sound, use a hot cake for a Marshall sound, add a compressor and you get Cream era sustain for days. This is not a high gain amp but it can take you from some beautiful complex clean tones to some serious grit. It repsonds beautifully to guitar volume changes and picking nuances. I can really get just about any sound that I want from the amp (I'm not into high gain or polytone type sounds).

The amp is built extremly well. It has that solid feel that you look for with all of the small details being in perfect order. I do not gig regularly but I have several friends that are pros that I jam with all over California. I have not had any problems over that last 2 years. The amp is hand wired and is a relatively simple beast, so if there were any problems I don't think it would be hard to find a tech to handle the issue. It's very easy to change tube and no re-biasing needed.

I have not had any problems with the amp but I think that they would solidly stand behind the product. I say this because I have e-mailed them several times with questions and they always get back to me in a timely fashion. I have also spoken to Brian on the phone and he took the time to answer all my questions. He was just a pleasure to deal with. All of these questions came after the sale. I think part of the pleasure in owning a boutique amp is how you are treated by the manufacturer after the sale. I have had some experiences with other companies that were less than satisfactory.

I have been playing for about 7 years and if the amp was lost or stolen I would buy again. I also own a Clark Beaumont and a Fender 65 R.I. deluxe, both of which i enjoy. The Top Hat is my favorite. It is different than the others but there is some overlap due to the flexibility of the Top Hat. I have also owned a Matchless Chieftain and a Fender silver face Deluxe. The Top Hat is built extremly well. It is easy to change tubes, can easily drive other cabs (no hassle connection), the owner is a pleaure to deal with and to me it sounds great. I really can't recommend this amp or company highly enough.

Made in 2000. The amp is set up with high and low inputs, volume, cut, bass, mid, treble, master volume, normal-fat-bright switch, selectable hard or soft SS rectifier switch. It is a equipped with a 25 watt Celestion Greenback.This is a very straightforward amplifier with absolutely no wasted features. Others may miss the lack of reverb and extra channels, but for me, this is absolutely all I can ask for. I'll give it a 7 only to reflect what others may miss.

I'm using this amp with a Les Paul Standard equipped with SD Antiquities, Gretsch DuoJet, Gretsch Double Anniversary, Fender Telecaster with DiMarzio Twang Kings, Fender Stratocaster with SD Alnico II Pro Vintage Staggered. This amp brings out the best in all of these guitars, except for the Anniversary which requires more speaker to bring out the low end of the big heavy flatwound strings.
My main guitars are the Les Paul and DuoJet. This amp brings out the best qualities in both of them. The Les Paul has a fat complex single note lead tone that gets you in the guts, and beacause of the SS rectifier, the most wonderful tight rhythm tone , think Billy Gibbons on the first 3 ZZ Albums, The DuoJet on the other hand chimes as if it's plugged into a cranked AC30. It's not hard to say that I LOVE this amp. Oh yeah, my Strat and Tele sound awesome with this amp too.
And even with one twelve, the low end does not get farty.

I'm pretty sure that I can depend on this amp, it looks to be built like a brick shithouse. The only thing I would change would be the plastic corners for metal ones. The grill cloth loosened (most likely due to UPS monkeys jumping on the box) when shipped by the previous owner, I tightened it myself, and have had no problems since

I got this amp used (I traded it for a Bogner Metropolis, another very good amp, but not enough clean headroom for me). The owner of this company, Brian, returns E-mails ASAP. This amp doesn't have any repair history, and is over a year old.

I've been playing pro or semi-pro my whole adult life (43 years old).
If anything happened to this amp I would get another ASAP to replace it. I have tried countless amps in the pursuit of the tone I like, and this one absolutley gives up the goods. Another reviewer said that a club royale couldn't handle the volume of a real rock gig. Well I disagree, as this amp has already seen unmiked gigs, and it easily gets above our drummer's volume. The tone of this amp really develops with the cranked volume. I would recommend an ext. cabinet for bigger clubs. I can't wait to record an album with this thing.

This is an older non-master volume model. 2 inputs, volume with pull boost, treble, middle, bass, cut, 12" Celestan Greenback, EL84 duet, class A electronics. I rated the features on this amp for what they are and not what I wished it had. Everything works well together. The simple eq setup interacts well together and gives me a wide range of quality tones. I do wish it had reverb but that is not an issue here. What is an issue is the quality of the features that are on the amp. I also like this amp because it is small, light weight and easy to carry. This is a professional quality amp that is built tough.

This amp is a little Badass!! The design is based on the old Vox amps however I do not have enough experience with Vox's to comment on how close the two amps are in terms of sound. The closest that I can compare it to would be a cranked 50 watt Marshall plexie.

This amp is a loud 15 or 20 watts with tons of crunch. It reminds me of ZZ Top Tres Hombres or Deep Purple's My Girl from Tokyo. Open the volume up to 1/4 and the amp stays fairly clean. From 1/4 to 1/2 the volume increases and it starts to clip big time. 1/2 to full it does not get much louder but saturation does increase. Pull the boost to fatten the tone and increase the volume, crunch and sustain.

Because of its compact size and big sound this amp works well in a small club setting. It excels in Rock 'n' Roll, Santana sustain and Claptan 'Beano' blues. If you are looking for the clean Fender Super Reverb sound then this may not the amp for you although your tone will clean up when you back off your guitars volume control. Furthermore, this amp has a definate British vibe. The Greenback gives it that retro sound but beware, it sounds kind of box-like at first but don't give up on the tone, after the first few power chords your ears will adjust and you will be hooked.

I once took this amp to a local big chain guitar store because I thought that I wanted to trade it for a RI Fender Deluxe Reverb. The sales dude AB the amps to see if it was worth the trade. The look on his face when he played the Top Hat next to the Fender told me all that I needed to know. The Top Hat was louder and had more balls than the Fender. RI Deluxe's are cool amps and with the right pedals they are probably more versital than the Club Royal but when it came to just guitar and amp the Fender didn't have the overdrive or sustain that the Top Hat had. Needless to say I kept the Top Hat.

I gave this amp a ten because I cannot think how the tone could be improved. This amp already produces quality professional class A tone and I feel that any "improvements" would just be added bells and whistles.

This is a very well built amp. I've had it for over two years and have not had a single problem.

I have talked to the owner Brian over the phone and in person on several occasions. He has always been nice, informative and personable to me. Furthermore, he stands behind his products.

I have been playing guitar for over 25 years and have gone through a lot of amps. My Club Royal is definatly a keeper. If it were lost or stolen I would for sure buy another one.

Made in 8/99. One channel, high & low inputs. Master volume, soft & hard rectifier settings. I love simple one channel great sounding amps, I'll use pedals if I want different sounds.

Sounds esp great with my fralin equipped G&L legacy. Breaks up so nicely. The switch for the soft tube rectifier setting is incredible! This amp has more sag than my black face Deluxe. But if you put the amp in hard mode and turn up the midrange, it sounds like a little Marshall. This amp has the perfect amount of power for my needs. I can play at 4 with the master on full, and I get no ear fatigue. If you want to use an overdrive pedal, I recommend using the Hotcake pedal. It sounds great with this amp. I've also had great luck using an old Ibanez CP-9 with the level cranked.

Behaves perfectly, I have no reason to believe I'll have any problems for a long time.

I needed a pilot lamp bulb, since the store didn't include that for some reason. The people at Tophat sent me a few at no charge, and I talked with the designer of the amp for quite awhile. Very knowledgeable and helpful

Love this amp! I want another Tophat amp soon, perhaps the Club Deluxe. This amp is a great little gigging amp. Very portable, and fits well in the stage setting. I guess the 2-12" combo has more bottom end, and sounds alot bigger, but the 1-12" is fine for me.

Amp is one of the newer models (manufactured in March 2000) with a solid state rectifier. Single channel, class A 1X12 combo format (Celestion Greenback) in a compact 39lb. enclosure. Controls include Hi and Lo inputs, Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Cut and Master. Also has a Fat-Off-Bright switch (effects gain structure) and a normal/soft rectifier switch (very subtle). Amp does not have reverb or an effects loop (offered as an option I believe). Power section is fueled by 2 EL-84's producing 20 watts. The size of the amp makes it ideal for players looking for a recording/small club rig. I do wish the amp had reverb, but I'm learning to live without it and utilize a Boss RV-3 when necessary.

After owning many larger and more powerful amps, I was looking for something that offered a good range of clean to overdriven sounds at a reasonable volume level. This amp has suprising clean headroom for 20 watts. While not a Fender clone, it comes closer to a tweed deluxe versus a blackface amp. The overdrive is excellent with great definition even when the channel volume is pegged. The distortion definitely has a vox-type of bite tyo it, but you can shape the tone by manipulating the Cut knob.

The amp also responds well to the guitar's volume pot. I'm running a PRS McCarty, ES-335 and a G&L Fullerton into the amp and they all sound great. Despite having only one channel and a simple layout, you really can cover some bases with this amp. By the way, this is the most quiet amp I've ever owned; with a humbucker-equiped guitar, its difficult to tell if the amp is on!

I see too many 9 and 10 ratings in terms of sound. If all of these amps were so great, no one would ever sell them (myself included). That said, this amp does the Fender meets Vox thing very well and does so in a portable package. As such, I'll give it an 8 because I think it provides a great twist on the classic blues and rock tones. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm pleased.

I've only had the amp for a month, so I can't comment. Its all handwired and comes with a very strong warranty, so I don't forsee and problems.

I've spoken to Brian a number of times and he's always helpful and friendly. His technical knowledge can be a bit daunting, but he obviously knows his stuff. He's certainly committed to his product and I'm sure Top Hat will be there in case anything goes wrong.

I've been playing for 10 years and have spent WAY too much money on gear. I'm trying to focus on owning equipment that offers quality and versatility. I'd love to own a Bogner Ecstacy, but I'd never be able to fully tap its potential. As such, I'm definitely a fan of the 20-30 watt amps on the market. I feel they can sound good in the home yet can do the small club thing as well. Plus, they can be transported easily. I played some of the smaller Boogies, deluxe reverbs, Budda, etc. and the Top Hat sounded best to my ears. I do wish it had an effects loop and reverb, but the stripped down approach forces you to focus more on getting the sounds out of your hands versus out of the amp. I'm sure I'll buy other amps, but I'll keep this one because for its size, the sound quality is difficult to beat. In the end, I'd highly recommend checking out this amp to anyone looking for a 20 watt amp. I'll give the amp an 8 overall because I tend to be a bit conservative. There may very well be a 9 or 10 out there, I just haven't found it.

This is a follow-up to a previous post. I have now owned this amp for two years. Gigged and recorded with it. It still is the best sounding amp I've ever owned. Early on I did have a buzz at high volume problem which turned out to be the Chinese rectifier tube. Replacing the rectifier tube with a 5Y3 also changes the sound slightly as referenced by some previous posts, less power and more sag. Very pleasing because now I can turn it up more at practice and get the tubes working harder.
I also have yet to find a distortion pedal that works well with this amp, most of the pedals I've tried have messed up the tone with the possible exception of the Matchless Hotbox. The Top Hat by itself basically sounds like the Hotbox anyway, so I got rid of the Matchless. I mostly use a Dallas Rangemaster clone to push it from bacic overdrive to serious distortion or a Fuzz face modified for true bypass.
The Line 6 POD also sounds good on this amp. On most amps the POD is too bright especially on the JCM 800 model. This is where the Top Hat's Treble Cut control really comes in handy, because you can dial out some of the harshness of the digital modeling. This seems to be a good marraige between digital and tube technology, though I do prefer tubes ah-natural.

The amp also is very sensitive to power tubes, which makes sense since the circuit is a fairly simple design. EL84 Fender replacements (Russian) SUCK! The Groove tube russians are much better, probably due to the sorting process they do.

No problems at all, just changed tubes.

All my E-mails are answered very promptly by Brian. Excellant.

Fabulous value and sound. I have no thoughts of selling it. I may use an old single channel Marshall for the loud, high gain stuff, but for the small amp stuff I always bring the Top Hat.

The Club Royale is a 20-watt, hand-wired tube amp. Mine was made in 1998. It is powered by two EL-84 tubes, with three 12AX7s. Mine has a solid-state rectifier, but earlier versions of this amp had a tube rectifier. It's got one channel with two inputs. A single Celestion greenback speaker. Controls are volume, a treble cut, treble, mid, bass and master volume. No reverb (which I miss, slightly), no tremolo, no anything else. The amp is a loud 20 watts -- it's got some clean headroom. But it's still just 20 watts -- if you want huge, enormous volume it will come with some distortion. Fortunately, this amp's distortion is sublime.

I use this amp with a variety of guitars -- a couple of Strats, a Hamer Special, a Gibson ES-330 and a Danelectro U-2 reissue. The Hamer and the ES-330 have P-90s and the Dano has lipstick pickups, naturally. I play mostly blues-based music. The Club Royale is terrific for that. Between the volume and the master control, it's easy to get it to a place where it's mostly clean, but distorts just right if I dig in or turn up the guitar's volume just a bit. The amp is as quiet or as noisy as the guitar -- noticeable hiss with the ES-330, for example, and dead quiet on the in-between positions on the Strat. The treble cut knob is particularly useful for dialing out the shrillness of some bridge pickups (like the Dano) while still preserving some top end. Overall, it's a fairly chimey sounding amp, but not as sparkly or brilliant as most Fenders. It's got more bottom end, too, without getting too muddy or flubby.

It seems solidly made. It's an extremely simple design, too, with no printed circuits, so if something does break, it'll be easy to fix. I really haven't had it long enough to judge the reliability, though.

I had a few questions about replacement tubes. I emailed the company off its web site and got a detailed reply from the company's owner.

I reluctantly traded a Fender Princeton Reverb for this amp (I'm not wealthy enough to buy something without giving something else up), yet I haven't regretted it. I love this amp for its warmth and ability to have a clear, solid bottom end and articulate highs as well. I've been playing five years and like single-coil guitars, but a lot of amps translate single-coils too harshly. This amp doesn't. I miss reverb. I miss tremolo. But I love this amp.