Valvetech 1x12 Combo

Made in 2001 I think (I bought it used from a laid-off casualty of the Arthur Andersen melt-down).

Bottom line: the most versatile tube amp I know of.

Channel switching, footswitchable boost, footswitchable reverb (EXCELLENT reverb!), about the size of a Fender Deluxe Reverb (but slightly heavier), very cool looking, kinda like a Vox AC-15 but without the Vox logo or stupid diamond grill.

I bought this amp because it is the most versatile "boutique" amp out there--it can do any kind of music and work in any size club.

One warning--while the controls are simple, the way in which they work is unconventional. When I first got mine, the seller forgot to give me the manual. Until he mailed it to me a few days later, there were one or two things that confused me about the channels and boost. The manual explained them, though.

I've got an early '90s Strat RI and an '97 Les Paul Classic with a Duncan JB in the bridge. I used to have an '87 Tele but traded it recently for the Strat.

I play blues, classic rock, and classic hard rock. This amp can go from country/surf clean to blues grit to Aerosmith dirt to Van Halen I distortion. It is the most versatile GOOD sounding tube amp I've ever heard. By tweaking the VERY responsive tone controls, you can dial in creammy smoothness or bite. The amp also has TONS of headroom if you want it. It can be set up to stay clean or get dirty with your guitar's volume. EXCEPTIONALLY touch responsive and respectful of your guitar's invdividual sound. My Tele sounded like a Tele, my Strat sounds like a Strat, and my Les Paul sounds like a Les Paul. The amp likes pedals, but one of the reasons I got this amp was so that I could get rid of my pedalboard, which had gotten ridiculous. Now the only pedal I use is an Arion tuner pedal!

The clean is round and sparkly, the halfway dirty sound is killer, and it can even get a hard rock raging distortion. This thing has the versatility of early '80s Boogies but is much more affordable and easier to tweak to get your sound.

This amp is supposed to be only 22-25 watts, but there is just no way. The other guitar player in my band plays through a mid '60s Fender Bassman head (45 watts) into a homemade open back 1x12" cabinet, and this little combo is at least as loud. It does sound good at lower volumes, too, so it is a great amp for practice or smaller clubs. It also has very little hum, even with the Strat.

It's hand-made, point to point wiring, and steel chassis with a solid feeling cabinet. I've had it for one year and have had not one problem. The thing is just a bit heavier than a typical amp of its size because it's got such over-spec transformers, but it's SOLID.

One weird thing is that the controls feel strangely solid, a feel I've never had with an amp before. I wonder if they use a higher spec pot or something. Like I said, weird.

From what the previous owner told me, the company is a family business that is known for personal customer support. For a day it looked like the previous owner had lost the manual, so I called Valvetech up to see how much a replacement manual would cost. Their answer? "If the guy you bought it from can't find the manual, get back to us and we'll send you one for the cost of the postage, say a buck." I can't imagine Matchless, TopHat or Bad Cat being like that, let alone Fender.

I've been playing for eleven years and have had Marshalls, Fenders, newer Boogies (not as good as older Boogies), a Budda, a TopHat, and a Dr. Z. None of these were nearly as versatile as this amp, and only the TopHat (a Club Royale) and Dr. Z (a Maz 38) sounded as good. The Budda (Stringmaster) was almost as versatile, but it sounded dull and flat compared to the Valvetech. When I got the Valvetech, I sold the Budda.

My Valvetech 1 x 12" combo was made early in 2001. It was custom ordered from www.valvetechamps.com in actual Marshall purple tolex with gold piping,black cloth grille and cream chicken-head type knobs. I ordered it with the effects loop and tube reverb options and upgraded the plastic footswitch housing to metal.
It is a VERY versatile amp with two channels but I wish it had an easier way to go from a really clean sound to really dirty. You have to unplug the cord from the clean input into the dirtier channel 2 input to switch channels. It has a gain switch for the 2nd channel but I don't use it as much as I thought I would because the difference isn't as great as I had hoped for. The amp also has a 12AX7 / 12AT7 switch in the back that is especially useful for the clean channel but can also be used on the dirtier channel for a different sound. It doesn't actually switch tubes but I guess it switches in an electrical circuit that emulates the tube swap. Rob told me that it reduces the gain with a negetive feedback path, and it also boosts the bass at the same time. This alows for either a big clean "vintage" tone that can break up like a BF Fender, or a good amount of headroom in the ay7 mode. At 22 watts it can get quite loud yet enables it to reach power tube saturation without being obscenely loud. The tube driven reverb is ok, not as rich/deep as a Fender reverb. I switched the reverb tube from a 12AX7 to a NOS Philips JAN ECG 5814A and that helped sweeten the reverb a little. I probably wouldn't get reverb if I ordered another one. Rob said that the amp has a cathode follower stage, which is where all the punch comes from...something like that anyway. I'm not an expert on tube electronics but it made for some tricky circuitry to put reverb on this type of amp.
The parallel effects loop is very good. Nice and transparent. It has an fx amount knob in the back to dial in the proper amount. There is also a Presence knob, Reverb knob, and Ohms selector knob for the two speaker outputs on the back panel. The front panel has a hi and lo input for each of the 2 channels, gain 1 , gain 2, Hi, Lo, and Master volume, a 3 position ground swicth, DC on, AC on and a red jewel power light. It came stock with an Emminence speaker but I replaced it with my favorite - a Celestion Vintage 30. It came with a Sovtek 12AX7LPS and 3 EI 12ax7 preamp tubes and 2 6V6 Electro-Harmonix power tubes and a 5U4 rectifier tube.

This amp excels at such a wide variety of sounds it's amazing! I can go from clean, twangy sounds to the slight overdrive of classic rock to full tilt modern metal. No kidding. I listen to and play a wide variety of music. From clean pop to 80's metal to Dream Theater this baby sounds great. I was surprised that one amp could please Fender AND Marshall/Mesa players and do it with very little background noise.
It can go from a heavy midrange sound of Brian May to a really scooped sound like Metallica all with the sweep of one knob - the LO control. It is a very unique tone stack but somewhat hard to get use to. After you learn how to work the controls you can dial in MANY sounds. You can also jumper the front inputs for even more possibilities. I'm still dialing in new sounds months later!

This amp is very well built. Rob Pierce takes pride in his work and it shows! No problems whatsoever. I won't give it a numerical rating as I don't think it's fair to judge an amp for reliability after only owning it less than a year, but so far so good!

Rob is great to deal with. He answered my MANY emails qucikly. You can tell that he is really into his great amp creation and it shows.

I've been playing since I was 12, so about 25 years, but as they say...it's not how many years, but how many hours! Anyway, I've had a Crate Vintage CLub 30 tube amp (under-rated), Marshall JMP-1 preamp, Rocktron Voodu-Valve preamp, a little Electar Tube 10 amp and still have a Marshall 6101 30th Anniversary amp. I'm sure that this Valvetech amp will be a keeper. It has a great mojo to it that is hard to describe. This amp does require a bit of getting use to at first. It is definitely unique in its tone shaping controls. It can sound like quite a number of amps yet has its own personality as well. It was nice to have the amp made the way I wanted. Especially at this price. It was a little bit of a gamble to lay down the money on an amp before I even heard it but I'm sure glad I did! Feel free to email me regarding this great amp.

It's a frikkin 1x12 combo amp with tubes. Is it worth $800 as the shop was asking for it? Hmmmmmm, i dunno. Guess if I was a rich rock 'n roll star. Do I find this amp to be significantly different than the vast majority of amps out there with printed circuit boards? NOPE. Sorry, just don't see/feel/hear that much difference (if any at all).

Okay. Nothing that bad, but certainly not anything that justifies the price of it. Couldn't they make it a little LOUDER? Jeezus every drummer I know could pound this thing into submission. Again, the tone is good, it's simply not deserving of the ridiculous price for these things!

I do not know, but I'd imagine it would be very reliable. I wont rate it because I don't know.

What a bunch of loser idiots out there who think, oh, I MUST have ptp wiring and i MUST spend a grand to have a decent sounding amp! Give me a freaking break. This thing sounds okay; so does my Fender Blues Jr, for oh about FIVE HUNDRED frikkin dollars less.

My Valvetech 22 watt all-tube amplifier is the 1-12" model in basic black Tolex/vinyl,built to order in early 2001 by Rob Pierce.The speaker is the efficient [spl/101dB] Eminence Legend V12;an excellent copy of the Celestion Vintage 30.This Valvetech has the tube driven reverb and FX loop options.Rob had a nice custom vinyl cover built for me [at my request] for only $40.00.Point-to-point wiring at this price is pretty much unheard of these days,but this beauty has just that.All other features are covered nicely by the prior two reviews.This amp looks good [somewhat like Matchless/Bedrock in design],is extremely well built and quite loud.The tone?Read on.

I play many different types of guitars through this amp;from a Fender Fat Tele to a Hamer Archtop Studio.The amp is great at allowing each guitar's personality to come through and shine.The overall tones are on the fat,somewhat dark side;though cutting through a band mix is NOT one of it's weak points.This amp sits in the mix extremely well,with tones that have people in the audience asking,"What amp are you playing through?".When told what it is,they often say,"Whatever it is,it sounds awesome!".I really like channel one for it's ability to capture the tone and vibe of a tweed era Fender Deluxe.The tone and dynamics are great for blues,country and oldies type rock.The FX loop is of quality and quite flexible;the mix control being a nice touch.The tube driven reverb is nice,clean and quiet;though not quite as wet and deep as a classic Fender reverb.Channel two is my favorite;with versatality that allows me to cover just about all the tone's one would need at just about any gig.In the normal mode,the guitar's volume control allows me to take the sound from clean,fat chord comping,sweet fills and blues licks;to screaming,touch sensitive dynamics,that allow great freedom and expression on solos.When the gain "boost" is engaged,all hell can break loose!This mode has all the gain just about anybody would need...even metal heads would smile at this amps crunch and grind.With the mid/bass control on full,the Valvetech gets awesome scooped-midrange "death metal" tones.Tweaking the knob back counter-clockwise introduces vintage Marshall-type midrange bark and bite...great for cutting through a loud band mix.Although there is tons of gain available,the tone stays very articulate and well defined,with great harmonic complexity and sustain that should satisfy most guitarist.Backing-off on gain one or gain two also yeilds superb results.I got incredible SRV tones in the "boosted" channel two mode,with a little tweaking.With my Fender CS '54 pickup loaded Strat;gain one on 6 and gain two on 5,master volume on 7 and the mid/bass at about 4 o'clock,it sounds magical.With my Teese RMC1 wah added,it was instant "Soul to Soul"!I've never had an amp get so many distinct and different tones,with this many types of gain structures,and do them so well and with this much authority.I can do a quality country gig with my Tele,channel one and a touch of reverb.Then I can turn around and grab my USA Washburn MG-120,plug into channel two,and do a convincing metal/hard rock set.I haven't heard it mentioned before,but I feel that the Valvetech captures some of the tone and vibe of the Dumble amps I've played through before.The touch sensitive,dynamic nature of this amp puts it in some mighty fine company,IMHO.

I have little worry that the Valvetech will be of any problem with reliability or giving many years of quality service.The point-to-point construction and Rob's individual attention to detail suggest an amp that will last and sound great for years,if not decades,to come.

Rob is awesome;answering all emails and request for information in a quick and timely manner.I hear that Rob will do any upgrade that he comes up with at no charge;though,of course,you would have to ship it back to him to do the modification.I believe he has a 30 day return policy,though I have the feeling that Mr.Pierce would do what it takes to make things right.

If my Valvetech were stolen,I would be way bummed and pissed.Then I would order another one;maybe in a funky color,like teal.The only thing that would make this amp even better would be to have the ability to access all three modes at the same time.If Rob finds a way to do this,I'll send it back for the mod.Other amps I have are quite nice in their own right.My '84 MesaBoogie MKIIC+ is a classic screamer [see review,under Mesa Boogie],I also have a nice '96 Fender Prosonic combo,a cool little Tech21 Trademark 10,a Crate VC30 [an underratted blues/rock amp],a killer early '60s Supro combo w/a single 6V6 in true Class A and 8" speaker,and a Hartke B30 bass combo.My guitar "harem" consist of a '95 Fender American Standard Strat w/CS '54 p/ups,a USA Fender Fat Tele w/Duncans,a USA Hamer Studio in '59 burst,USA Hamer 25th Anniversary Artist,USA Hamer P-90 Special,a USA Washburn/Grover Jackson MG-120,USA Washburn WM200,USA Washburn WMS Studio,a Warwick Streamer Standard bass and a Martin DM w/Fishman p/up.The Valvetech fits in nicely with the rest of my fine gear.As you might be able to tell by my choices in guitars,I pride myself on finding high quality,wonderful sounding instruments that don't meet the normal criteria for "collecting chic".My Hamers and Washburns play and sound as good as any Gibson I've ever owned,and were each picked-up quite cheaply.In that same spirit,I purchased the Valvetech.It might not say Matchless,Dumble or Bruno on the outside;but I can safely say that it can hang with,and often out perform,those industry heavies in tone and versatility.Check out Rob's website for more info at www.valvetechamps.com.

A review of my 2nd VAC. (see original review of my 2x10). Custom made in Red Tolex w/marshall BB salt and pepper grill clothe, white chicken head knobs, white piping,plexiglas handle. A classic, stunning amp! (custom colors are grrrreat!). He matched to tolex to my #1 guitar. This model added a 12ax7/12at7 toggle switch. This switched the amp voicing to a cleaner, heftier bottomed edition. This switch destroys the only weakness the base design has. you can get a grrrreat, full clean sound to go with all the other variety of sounds you can dial up.
My second also has tube reverb and parallel effects loop. A heavy duty bulletproof footswitch was a small upch., nice addition! has LED to show which gain you have engaged.
This amp came stock w/ sovtek LPS in V1 and Ei tubes in the other preamp sockets. AND Electroharmonix 6V6. Great choices Rob.
This amp can cover ANY style of music.
The cabinet is solid, tolex app is precise, and attention to detail is tops. Builds them one at a time. Gets better each time.
Internal works are clean and orderly and shows alot of time spent getting everything right.

This amp is a true no catagorie/all catagorie kind of amp. It can get grindy, and gritty, and bouncy, and popish, and twangy and raging.
Voicing for this amp is still on the darker side. My one and ONLY pedal is still a Rangemaster (Brian May,Tony Iommi, EC). This is one amp that can cover the sounds in your head with just a guitar and a cord. It's that good.
I have combo amps and use them for portability and sound coverage,but have heard the head version on top of a Bogner cab. It uses every nuance of those 22watts. Beefy and alive!
I now have my own sound and am glad I was introduced to these amps.
Soundwise, at home anywhere.
The tone stack is still the most unique I've ever heard. can go from Metallica to Queen in the twitch of the lo EQ. fun!

so far, so good.
Have had the 2x10 for a year+ and the 2x12 for 3 months.
purrs like a kitten.

Builder wants nothing more than to know you are happy. Has a piece of himself in every amp. Always answers emails promptly and takes care of his babies

Comeon, a raging, custom colored, all tube, hand built amp head for $549. That is still the bargain of the century. I'm glad I have my 2 as his backlog is growing. I'm into having craftsmen build my instruments. That's why I play a Hamer, and that's why I own 2 VACs.
I feel goofy giving all 10s but this is the real deal.

2000 model year amplifier, a wide array of tones.AX7/AY7 switch totally revoices the amp to rival the best "vintage" amps,switch to AX7 and the overdrive/distortion will rip your head off.This amp does not have true channel switching, but channel 2 has an adjustable footswitching gain boost, and a huge one at that. This amp has a parallel effects loop and reverb.Amp is rated at 22 watts, sounds louder than any other 20 watt or so amp I have ever tried.

The amp worked well with both of my guitars, G&L Legacy and a Les Paul Standard.It would be nice if this amp had like 3 separate channels that you could set up and switch to. I think it may have too many good usable tones. It takes some knob twittling to use this amp live.If it had at least 2 separate channels I could rate it a 10, and this is my only criticism of the way the thing works.The amp is ungodly quiet in the AY7 mode, I did not think it was working it was so quiet. The AX7 mode has the usual slight speaker hiss. The gain is extremely quiet too. There is however a click that comes through the speakers when you stomp on the overdrive boost switch.The distortion is unreal,simply the best I have tried, and I have tried about all of them.It does the mid scooped metal, to light 70s stlye tones The clean tones are great too. The best part is you can dial in those "inbetween" tones also. I would not try to run the amp clean in the AX7 mode, it just does not clean up enough. The distortion does not sound that good in the AY7 mode to my ears.(probably why the switch is there, DUH !)

Had it a month with no prblems yet

I yr warranty the customer support was great when I ordered the amp, the builder will make it with the color and grill cloth, knobs and handles just like you want it. Mine was exactly how I ordered it.

I have played for over 20 years.It has the best tones of any guitar amp or rack preamp I have tried. I love the sound, but like I said, I wish you could set up at least 3 independant settings and switch to them on the fly. This is the only drawback I can see for this amp. This amp is boogie like in the was it goes from total saturation to really nice clean tones. I have not opened this thing up, so I will have to take their word that it is PtoP wired. The amp is a gret value, but I would like for them to build a 3 channel deal some day.