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.

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.

This is an update to my previous review. I have found out two things about this amp: 1) please to not try to swap the Greenback for a Vintage 30. Not good, it sounded pretty lame. Maybe try a Vox-type speaker, but not a Vintage 30. The Greenback seems almost proprietary with this amp. 2) Replacing the rectifier tube with a 5Y3 totally changes the feel and, somewhat, the sound of this amp. It went from Marshall to more Vox after the switch, a change I appreciated immensely. However, it did seem to loose some power (I think that 5Y3s are not as strong a tube as a GZ34) and is noticeably more "squishy" (I guess GZ34s also have the tightest "sag envelope" of all tube rectifiers), but again this is something I found quite appealing.
I guess that if I were to pass on any word of wisdom, they would be that Top Hat amps are made right the first time. I have gotten in the habit of taking apart and modifying things to my liking, this most likely being due to my historical pattern of purchasing less than exceptional gear. I tried this with the Club Royale, but soon found that Top Hat and Brian Gerhard really know what goes together and what does not. Another testament to their quality of structure and sound: After running with this amp for a while I purchased (sight unseen and sound unheard) one of their 50 watt Emplexador heads and a 2X12 cabinet. Yikes. Incredible. This is one of the finest amp companies, and for that matter company in general, that you can find, folks.

This is a 1X12 version of the Club Royale and was made in February of 1998. As the specifics of this amp are mentioned in other reviews I will not elaborate on them here. One issue worth mention is the power of this amp. It is a 20 watt class A amp with a full set of wonderfully voiced eq controlls, and while it is loud it is not overwhelming (more on this in the next section). I have heard that the 2X12 versions sound a bit bigger. The rating here reflects the amp per se, not in comparison with other veg-o-matic amplifiers out there which try to be everything and often fail to be anything. When you play through this amp it does not matter that it does not have "channel cloning", a variable fx loop, or a graphic eq, for it is built as completely and comprehensively as any amp I have ever heard; that is, it has all the features that it needs to fully utilize its inherent tone.

Right now I am playing through a Fender American Standard Telecaster, so consider this when reading the following reviews. Judging by the tone of this amplifier I am certain that it would sound even better with a Les Paul type guitar, as the darkness of the Les Paul would be a perfect compliment to the chimey, Class A tone of the Club. As far as noise goes this amp is extremely quiet (especially compared to my Mesa DC-2), this most likely being to 1) superior construction and 2) the lack of multiple high gain circuits. This amp is a non master volume setup so if you want distortion you just have to turn it up. Being a fairly young player I tend to go towards the fun, high-gain sounds, yet when I truly heard the sound of this power section on ten I realized that even the best pre-amp distortion is totally different and incomparable. Which brings up the feel of this amp: when you turn this thing all the way up and play through it, you will experience the very "organic" and natural "feel" this thing has. It can go from Vox to almost Fender to nearly Marshall plexi; the tone controlls are the best voiced that I have ever used. When you play through this amplifier it just feels right, not sterile like other amplifiers. I am completely certain that this small combo version would make an EXCELLENT studio amplifier and would certainly cut it for smaller gigs. As mentioned in other reviews, this is not an amplifier for the high gain crowd, or heavy music in general. I tried to play my Mesa V-Twin through it and it was as if the Club Royale rejected it! The natural sound of this amplifier is so comprehensive and dominant that the Mesa sounded horrible. Granted, in a lesser amp the Mesa would be able to do its "take over and make the amp sound like me" thing, but with the Top Hat this just does not work. Buy another amp if you like gain, but buy this amplifier if you want TONE, TONE, or mabye TONE.

I have had this amp for about three months and have not really put this to the test. However, EVERYONE else who I have talked to, including dealers and owners across the nation, has only had glowing things to say about the quality of construction and reliability. These are hand wired, point-to-point amplifiers that have a LIFETIME warranty. What more could one ask for? The rating here reflects the numerous opinions I have gathered from others.

I have e-mailed the company with a question and to my surprise the OWNER responded! I have heard great things about Brian Gerhard but man, when the guy who makes your amp and ownes the company calls back, you have to feel good about things. It is just this type of customer service which will make you drop any preconception about great customer service. Very nice.

For the price, well, for just about any price, this is one of the best deals in the world. There are a few other small amp builders kicking out great amps (Dr. Z comes to mind), but I cannot speak as to their amps and service, etc.. Let this give some extra perspective on the influence this amp carries: To purchase it I traded in a mint condition Epiphone Les Paul, an Ampeg Jet II reissue, an Ibanez tube screamer, and a Tech 21 XXL. Upon REALLY playing the Club Royale I proceeded to sell a MINT Marshall 4X12 and my Mesa DC-2. Please do yourself a favor and play through a Top Hat.

This review is the second Bay Area 'shoot-out'. In response to the first shoot-out, John Bartlett and Brian Hill volunteered their TopHat Club Royale and King Royale, respectively. Oleg Tomashevsky brought his recently purchased Dr. Z Carmen Ghia, Pete Cage sent an 18/00 head and I brought my stock Alessandro English and George sent an upgraded English for comparison (see review for details on the differences). The price given for each amp is list price at the time of purchase, not necessarily what you would pay. Contact your nearest dealer or the manufacturer for your price.
The guitars used to evaluate the amps were a Grosh Retro Classic with Fralins and a rosewood fretboard, an older Fender strat with Rio Grandes and a maple neck, a PRS McCarty and a Tele clone with a stock Fender Telecaster pickup in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan in the bridge position and a maple neck.
In the interest of time, we used the tubes that were in each amp rather than switching tubes to optimize each amp. First, the owner of each amp did a quick run through of what he likes about his amp. Then the other 3 played the amp, changing guitars to get the overall tonality. Finally, we recorded each amp with every guitar on to Brian's Roland digital recorder.
E-MAIL - if you have general questions about this review that are germane to this post, please post a follow-up. If you have specific questions for one of us, please contact us via e-mail: scott.weaver@etak.com, olegt@pmanet.org, brianh@sirius.com.
Before describing what we heard, we should provide a little information about each participant and their preferences.
First up, Oleg Tomashevsky - I play single-coil (Van Zandts, Fralins and Duncan P90s) equipped Fender Strats and Don Grosh guitars. What I mainly appreciate in an amp is an ability to fatten single coil tone while preserving articulation and definition. I do appreciate high-end complexity but only after I hear strong (not TS9 honky, though) midrange. My favorite guitar tones are the ones of mid 70's Ritchie Blackmore and Tommy Bolin.
Brian Hill - I play a few different styles - mainly rock, funk, blues and jazz. I like amps that are versatile but I mainly want a good clean sound and a good overdrive sound. I particularly like amps with which I can smoothly go from one to the other just by changing the guitar's volume and/or my picking. Some of my favorite guitar tones are Eric Clapton's on the first Cream album (particularly his lead tone on 'Sleepy Time Time'); Jimi Hendrix's on the album 'Axis Bold As Love' (pretty much all the guitar tones); Mike Bloomfield's on 'Super Session'; just about all Bill Frisell's clean tones, especially those on the album 'Bill Evans' by Paul Motion, Prince's rhythm tones on tunes like 'The Kiss'; Eddie Van Halen's on the first three Van Halen albums.
Scott Weaver - I grew up listening to Queen. Brian May's guitar tone does it for me. I also love the sound that Mike Campbell gets with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Peter Buck with REM. I play a Grosh Retro Classic with Fralin single coils although I love a good Les Paul style guitar w/humbuckers. What I look for in an amp is balance throughout the entire frequency range (bass, low mids, high mids and treble) and a lot of detail and complexity. I love to play clean, semi-distorted and full tilt distorted (not metal) so I look for an amp that can do all three well. If I can control that from my guitar volume, that is even better.
Unfortunately, John was unable to complete his portion of the review due to work travel. Hopefully, he will post his comments at a later time.
TOP HAT CLUB ROYALE 2-12" combo tested; 2-EL84 output tubes; 3 12AX7 pre-amp tubes; single channel; two inputs; volume (pull boost), bass, midrange, treble, cut; tube rectifier. Don't know MSRP, but general price seems to be around $1,150.
Scott - The Top Hat is a very versatile amp due to the boost function and the very interactive tone controls. No matter what you plug in to it

Only five knobs and one pull switch, ah simplicity. One other thing not noted by others, there is another input jack which is lower gain, a 3-way ground switch and second speaker jack. No master volume and no reverb and I don't even miss them.

This thing sound so good. No matter what tone or volume setting or even which guitar. A crappy newer Gibson garbage Les Paul sounds good on this! The higher the mid tone setting the more it sounds Marshally. I cut the highs and crank the mids and the volume w/boost and easily stay with my friends 68 50 watt plexi. Not better, but different, and just as pleasing to the ears (and obviously not as loud). The bottom stays tight and never flabs out no matter how loud or high you set the bass control. This thing is loud enough to bother the neighbors and be over a loud drummer, but for live I think I need two daisy chained together or mike to the PA.

Opened it up, all quality wiring and parts. Point to point. Only one problem so far, I'm getting a buzz somewhere at high volume and I can't seem to find it. I'm still tightning screws and searching, so I haven't contacted Top Hat yet (I don't want to send off my amp, I just got it).

Don't know yet.

I've played for 20 years and this is it. I'm down to this amp and now I want another one. I sold my Rivera and another amp to buy this. I tried the club royale out side by side with a Matchless 2x10 Hurricane and this won hands down. The Matchless was too clean and dark sounding. The Top Hat had more gain, tone, and character. I originally wanted a Vox but felt they were also too clean and too loud, the Club Royale is just right.

Keep reading. This amp isn't supposed to have many features. all about tone. There are two noteworthy features. The volume has a top boost function which gooses all frequencies when pulled. There is also a "cut" knob which rolls off some of the very highest frequencies but later in the signal path than the other EQ controls.

My God, this amp is just beautiful. If you don't know, it's modeled after the old Vox amps which means that there isn't a master volume the distortion you derive is from overdriving the power tubes instead of using the preamp tubes (like a Marshall or a Boogie). The amp starts to break up around 4 and by the time you have the thing completely cranked, it's like butter and cream are pouring out of the cabinet. I'm playing a Tele Plus (3 pu's) with Duncan pickups (Alnico II for Tele in the neck, Vintage Staggered for Strat in the middle and Vintage '54 Tele in the bridge)and it's really difficult to get a bad tone out of this combination. You can get cool kind of jazzy tones turned down low, beautiful jangly tones with the volume around 6, and dimed this baby screams! I really mean it about no bad tones. Just for the hell of it, I've turned all the controls--volume, bass, mid, treble--to 10, engaged the top boost, and had no cut at all and the thing still sounds great.
One caveat. There is almost no headroom in this amp. But, if you want this type of Voxy power tube overdriven distortion, you're going to blow the windows out (and your hearing) if it's got any headroom.

This thing is built so simply that I have every confidence that if TopHat shut down tomorrow, and my amp did the next day, I'd be able to get service on it from any number of qualified techs who work on vintage amps. No problems whatsover so far.

Here's the highest possible compliment I can give--the customer service is as good as the tone. Brian Gerhard (owner/founder) is an absolute pleasure to talk to and bends over backwards to get you the amp you want. Probably the single most satisfying customer service experience I've had in the music industry.

I want another one. This thing is just such a great amp, I love to play through it. This is really a steal when you can get an amp like this for less than 900 bucks. Buy one!

Not much to it. The other submissions cover the controls and such. 15 watt class A combo, EL84 output tubes, Celestion speaker, not a bell or whistle to be found. One note, there is a pull-boost and a second speaker out jack if you need it. If you count looks as a feature, my dark green version is quite an eye catcher. If you count wiring as a feature (and you should), it's BEAUTIFUL point to point work under the hood.

I normally play blues, jazz and pop/rock, with a strat, a 335, a tele, and a Hamer special. This amp makes all of them but the tele sound wonderful right off the bat. The amp is naturally pretty bright, so the tele is only for the brave, but a hefty high end cut will do the trick.

But the real deal is that this amp, with any guitar, at any volume, sounds simply outstanding. It will do gorgeous, blooming Vox clean to slightly grinding sounds, great gritty overdrive, and really over the top crunch/feedback insanity if you want it to. I play with a guitar player who uses a Budda Stringnmaster (the Twinmaster was my previous dream amp) and this baby sounds as good. The Budda has a bigger bottom end, and a bit more of a marshall flavor, but it's different, not better.

Bottom line, this thing sounds as good or better than any amp I have every played. It distorts so well, you may find yourself using more distortion than you had previously. You won't do any better.

It's so new, I don't know. It is built in the old school method, so I bet it will last a lot longer that pretty much every mass produces amp.

no idea

I'll give it a 9 only because I can't answer some of the questions. I recorded this amp this weekend, and we got fantastic sound from an AKG mic about 18 inches from the speaker. We didn't have to jam an SM-57 a quarter inch from the speaker to get it to sound full and tight, we just needed it to sound like the amp did in the room, which was fantastic. If you have a real preference for a Matchless or a Budda, I won't argue with you, but this thing can hang with those amps easy. I guess the Top Hat is for the lover of low wattage amps who wants the Vox flavor with a bit more Tobasco. I'm in heaven.

Controls are Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble and Cut. No reverb; no trem; no effects loop; no master volume. Celestion Greenback 12 standard.
Features aren't really what this amp is about. In fact, it's kept simple on purpose. I will say that the preamp section, although simple and straightforward to use, is incredibly flexible.

I play various styles of music, but when I can manage it, the lead tone I prefer is singing VOX ala Mike Campbell in the Heartbreakers circa Damn the Torpedos). I've owned more different amps than you can shake a stick at.
Ok, guitars - PRS Standard (dragons), G&L ASAT-3 (duncans), Fender '57 RI strat (antiquity IIs), Supro Lap Steel.
I was literally in a position to buy ANYTHING I wanted for the first time in my 32 years of playing. So I tried EVERYTHING I could get my hands on - Matchless, Tone King, Diaz, Budda, Groove Tubes. About the only amp I didn't try 'cause I couldn't find one locally was a Dr. Z.
Let's cut to the bottom line - this amp sounds fantastic. It gets a wide variety of tones ranging from quasi-Fender clean on thru the Vox range to girthy Marshall, albeit only one at a time. It took me a while to appreciate just how flexible the tone controls are. I don't usually care for Cut controls - I like a lot of detail on my tones. However, setting the other cotrols (especially the mid) to max and using the cut control yields some exceptionally thick early Zep tones. This amp sounds girthy but never muddy or harsh.
I would have to say that this amp sounds a bit dark, probably due to Greenback. I gigged with it recently. The lead tones were everything I wanted, but it was hard to get enough sparkle. I'll probably use two amps in the future - this amp and my Fender Deluxe Reverb.
Make not mistake about it - NO ONE AMP WILL PRODUCE ALL THE TONES YOU NEED.
I hate to give anything a 10, but this truly sounds awesome. So a 10 it gets. There are some pieces of gear (my PRS is another) that are so killer that you just know any problems getting good tone has to be your problem and not the result of inferior gear. This amp is one such piece - I you can't get good tone with this amp, you can't get it with ANY amp.

Built like a tank in EVERY respect. Every component is the finest available. BTW, his amps are laid out on terminal strips so that any amp tech worth his salt could repair a Top Hat.

OK, I know Brian Gerhard a little bit. He really bends over backwards to satisfy all his customers. The only downside I could see is if something ever happened to Brian.

This amp is an incredible addition and complement to my other amps. This amp is a total Matchless killer - better tone at 2/3 the price. Look up "value" in the dictionary and you'll see a picture of this amp! I paid $625 for a new Peavey Classic 50, for just a bit more I could've had a Top Hat. Save up, you'll never sell this amp.

This is an 18 watt single channel amp with absolutely no frills other than the excellent tone controls. Part of the concept of this particular model is keeping the signal as free of interference and as pure as possible. All Top Hats are point-to-point hand-wired with the most discriminating components. The tubes and tone circuit of this model are based on the Vox AC30 Top boost, only half the size and power (Class A with two EL84's and three 12Ax7's, plus a tube rectifier which can be changed to all the usual rectifier tube types). Brian Gerhard, the company owner and designer recommends using a Celestion Greenback with this model, but I really wanted a Vox Blue in this case and was lucky enough to end up with a 1968 Vox Silver which I located privately. Tone controls include Treble, Middle and Bass, plus a Cut knob that employs a Capacitor before the power section and provides a lovely cut in highs unlike turning down the treble. Of the tone knobs, the Treble is the most active. It peaks around 2 o'clock, and then seems to engage a reduction in Bass and Mids as you dial it the rest of the way. It's a very hip and musical control, like some of the controls you find on Matchless products. (Try a Hotbox floor pedal preamp for a good example). The volume control features a Pull Boost that increases gain, but evenly across the spectrum without coloration of it's own. The two input jacks sound different, the 2nd being cleaner without that slight loss of tone you will get with other amps. The amp is set for 8 ohms, but runs fine at 4 or 16 without a selector switch.

I bought this amp after years of soul-searching over my clean sound and admiring the great tones of the Vox AC30. I considered the "real thing" for a very long time, but came to this amp instead because of the very high quality craftmanship and the interactive relationship that Brian Gerhard offers his customers. He is willing to modify his amps for each customer, and in this case he installed a slightly cleaner resistor because of my agenda for keeping the sound clean. Even with this mod, if you dial up the volume to 12 o'clock, you have half the clean sounds and half the break-up sounds at your fingertips. This is my favorite part of an amp, the point at which you can control the distortion by playing harder of softer. With the Vox speaker, the clean tones are clear and gorgeous. With the Pull-boost pulled out, the distortion can be creamy or firebreathing, depending on the tone settings. Virtually all of the guitars in my collection sound marvelous with this amp. My personal favorites right now are guitars that feature highs as integral elements of the tone, such as my ES-335 12-string, with was the instrument that called for the search for this amp. This is the kind of amp that is hard to find a bad setting on, even with different guitars and speakers. I tried the Club Royale through a pair of 30w Celestion reissues in a Fender cab, and of course it's a different world than the Vox speaker, providing a killer creamy distortion that I don't get with 6V6 (or 6L6) based amps I own, including a terrific Jim Kelley amp I've had for years. (See my review posted on the Amp Database).

I've only had this amp for 2 weeks, and in fact the Club Royale only came out in early 1997, but the service is very good with this company according to another friend of mine, who owns the same model with a Greenback and regularly visits the shop in La Habra, Ca. I don't expect the amp to break down, but if it did, I wouldn't have the slightest worry about getting it fixed. It's a total pleasure talking to Brian Gerhard on the phone, who lives and breathes the topic of tone and will discuss the many amazing aspects of guitar sound and how it is affected by each variable in the design of a tube amp and speaker.

(See above), their specialty. TopHat amps can be purchased through West LA Music, who I hear has most of their models in stock. I also hear if you try them out you'll want them all.

For a hand-made boutique amp, it's an excellent value. The Club Royale with the Greenback would run under $1000 based on the $1100 List. I took the amazing risk of ordering the amp after MANY discussions with another owner (but without having played through it) and I'd get it again in a heartbeat. I had such a picky agenda over the quality of the clean sound (and the circuit itself) that I'm amazed I didn't disappoint myself. The Club Royale lived up to all of my expectations, which were very high.