ValveTrain Amplification Classic 205TB

Not really tons of features, but all that is really needed: all tube small combo, 5 watts RMS, one volume and one tone chicken-head white knobs. Quite an essential amp, light weight (20 lbs) and masterbuilt. Feels solid and looks great in its tweed finish (mine is Bedroom Beauty, but if you're into relic-mania you can choose the Tortured Tweed finish and it's really cool!). The speaker is the 12" Eminence Patriot Blue Thick Hound; it's not an Alnico speaker, but sounds good and warm even at bedroom level, very sensitive and dynamic for a ceramic speaker. Rating it for the number of features it should be a 4, as it's really poor from this point of view; for the quality of the controls and the variety of sounds you can get out of it just by tweaking a while the two knobs, it would deserve a full 10, so I give it a 7 in a sense of equity!

Really loud for its 5 Watts, this little baby has a great character and seems to tear the best out of your guitar(s). I play it with my self-assembled strat (Kinman Woodstock n/m and SD Hot Rails b), a PRS SE Singlecut or an Ibanez Artcore hollow-body (with Gibson 57 Classic pickups) and it seems to love them all.
It's not noisy at all, even when cranked all the way and the sound is well defined and reacting fast at any tweak on the knobs (the Tone control is very sensitive).
I use it for practicing and occasionally some small gigs (usually I gig with my Marshall 1974x) and I think it's well suited for my style: I play Blues and Southern Rock, but sometimes I like to take a walk on the Hard side rather than the Jazzy sound. You can get any sound you like out of it: AMAZING! Hats off to Valvetrain!!

It looks cool, it feels solid... Time will show.

Never dealt with the company, but IMO the choice of the dealers reflects someway the company's orientation about customer care. Nitro-tone's staff was helpful and friendly in all purchase phases.

Playing 35+ years, more than a decade professionally, I own(ed) too much gear to be mentioned and I don't want to bother you... It's a great little amp and I'm considering to sell out my Blues Jr and 1974x and get another TB205. Sure I would replace it if stolen of damaged (except if it was self-damaged and should I discover it's not solid as it seems!). A great value, even if not on the cheap side... That's why it's not a 10!

This amp is not loaded with features, but the tone is outstanding. Its based on Princeton circuit and for recording and/or playing in the house, it is absolutely perfect! I love their selection of coverings too. Everything from 2 tone tolex, to a gorgeous vintage tweed. My favorite is their Tortured Tweed look. I guess you can say it's the equivelent to a relic strat. new amp, but nice and beat up. Why didn't someone think of this sooner! When I walked into my local music store here in Long Beach, Ca., I had to take a second look. They had a 61 Champ sitting next to it and the Tortured Tweed 205 was a dead ringer for the vintage Champ.

I used it with a tele and a L.P. and the 205 compliments them both quite nicely. The breakup at a low volume is sweet, smooth without being overbearing or farting out. Rolling off the volume on the guitar cleans the amp up nicely and full on volume makes it SCREAM.

All class A, point to point. Not really alot to go wrong with a simple design like this one. The 12" speaker gives it a huge tight sound and tone. Built like a tank and seems to be very sturdy.

I had a couple of questions about it, so I called and spoke to Rick directly. Very knowledgeable, answered all my questions directly, to the point, and seems like an all around good Joe.

I've been playing for about 20 years and am always on the look out for new cool gear. I have to say, the ValveTrain 205 TallBoy 12 pack is the best find that I've discovered in a long time. Great value for the money, great tone, and looks killer. Can't say enough good things about this one. I am extrordinarily happy with my purchase and am probably going to re purchase another one of their larger ones. Maybe the 414 or 1530.

I have the TallBoy 12 Pack. Based on a Fender Princeton, this isn't an amp studded with features. Hey, that's fine with me. Volume and tone knobs, two inputs. What's that Low input for again?? Certainly could use a standby switch. Since simplicity is the goal here, it's has a nice array of features. The amp is also incredibly light (20 lbs) and superbly stylish.

I have the TallBoy 12 Pack with the 12" Weber Alnico speaker. That speaker really packs a punch, and I'd recommend it over the 10" or the ceramic. How'd they get that thing into that little cabinet?

Playing a Strat or SG with P90s sounds superb at almost any setting. The amp is ambiently quiet, responsive to pickup settings and player attack, and roars when the volumne is cranked. Easy to control the gain with your guitar's volume control. Takes pedals fine too (if you must).

Even with the 12" speaker the amp just loud enough to play with a loud band. Don't expect to replace your Boogie/Marshall stack at your next stadium gig. Oh nevermind, go ahead and replace them, and just mic the TallBoy.

Solidly built, handwired, simple design, top-notch components. Haven't had a problem with it, so I guess that's reliable enough.

Haven't had a problem, so no basis for answering.

Great value here - classic tone, loud, light weight, great looking, hand-built, top components, reasonable price. More tone than you'd get from a lot of boutique amps at twice the price. More class than you'll get from some mass produced circuit board amp. Enough balls to play anything from jazz to smoking classic rock/blues. Get one dude (or dudette).

Just got this amp. I wanted an amp that I could practice/jam with and also use in my recording studio.

This amp is based on a classic Princeton tweed circuit with a 10inch speaker and an slightly larger than usual cabinet (although it is still highly portable) hence the "Tall Boy" tag.

It has a volume and tone controls along with a high and low input. My other alternatives were "Champ" based designs which only have a volume control so I will give it a 10. This is far more versatile sound wise... see below.

I had looked around for a long time at various Champ reissues from Victoria and Kendrick, I had tried a few of them and none really shone for me. They all had "one" great sound and that was it. I eventually came accross the Valvetrain web site and sent them an email asking a few questions and describing what I was looking for.

Rick from Valvetrain recommended their 205 Tall Boy amp which compared to the Champ has a 10 instead of 8 inch speaker, an extra tone control and a slightly oversized cabinet.

Because of this the amp seems to have a bit more clean headroom and a tighter bottom end. I still has that great "bark" that I associate with the Champ line but there is a huge range of other sounds I can get from this - it is far more versatile.

I use a Gretsch 6120 with TV Jones pickups and a telecaster with Seymour Duncan pickups. (I also have a Fulltone tape echo which sounds awesome with this thing!)

This one of those amps is immpossible to get a bad sound out of it.

Really this has a great full tweed tone with a bit of sparkle which I love. It is the kind of amp that sounds bigger than what you think it will. Another friend of mines exact words were "this punches above it weight". - I thought that was a great description of this amp.

I play country, rockabilly and blues and it works great for all of them.

This thing is built like a tank immaculately put together.
Valvetrain list every component they put into their amps on their site and they are all a good as you can get. I can see no problems on the horizon.

Over the course of getting this amp made Rick from Valvetrain answered every single question I asked of him, promptly and in great detail. I was kept in the loop the entire time my amp was being built - he even sent me progress photos of the cabinet.

I have bought a lot of gear over the years and this is the best customer service I have ever received - period.

I am in Australia and run off 240 volt power. Rick got me to send him an Australian power cord and offered to pay for the shipping of the cord from me to him!

Overseas customers ? Valvetrain making their amps work with your power voltage and their shipping is very reasonable.

The item was packed immaculately also.

Amps I own include a Fender Super Reverb and Deluxe (both black face) a Bad Cat and a Victoria Double Deluxe.

I play Telecasters and Gretsch guitars and have been playing for 30 years.

I don't use many effects except for a Fulltone Tape echo, a RC-boost and a TREX tremelo.

I would replace this amp in a second. The only other amp I feel this way about is my Victoria Double Deluxe.

I highly recomend this company to anyone - I predict they will be the next Victoria, Carr, Badcat!