WEM/Watkins Dominator 210 VFront

This is the one folks! Charlie Watkins? famous V-Twin Dominator. You read a lot about how rare these things are, one popped up on UK Ebay once with a reserve of #1200, but I've never read a review of one nor seen another in real life. Mine is one of the early models with the black and gold control plate. Pics of the same model can be found here:
http://britamps.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/watkins/dominator/dom1.html

Features are pretty basic, but then what can you expect from an amp from the late 50s/early 60s:

17 watts (sounds more like 30!)
3 x ECC83 (preamp), 2 x EL84 (power amp) and an EZ81 rectifier
2 10? Elac Speakers
2 channels: one with tremolo
2 imputes per channel: I think they are biased differently, one for guitar and one for a microphone, though in reality there?s not much difference
Master volume and passive tone knobs for each channel
Speed and depth knobs for the tremolo

The V shape of the cabinet was supposed to help sound dispersal though I can't imagine it makes much difference. In practice I find raising the amp 2 foot off the ground on a stand helps it project best. The real advantage of the V shape is that it looks amazing!

Now on to the important bit. The sound this beast produces is subtlety unique. It?s closest in tone to other Watkins amps, notably the EH15 but has a character all of it?s own. I put this mainly down to the 10? Elacs because you can find other plenty of amps from this era with a similar compliment of valves but none to my ear have the musicality of the V-Twin.

I play an Ibanez Artist (lovely guitar) loaded with it?s original humbuckers and a Les Paul copy with 2 Kent Armstrong P90?s in it (less lovely but great sounding) both have a reasonably high output. I occasionally use a Electro Harmonix Line Booster 2 (essentially a clean boost with a bit of grit) to increase the volume and saturation for solos and the like but basically I like to play straight into the amp. My band play band plays 60?s pop/rock country/blues and soul. This amp covers all basses perfectly.

Up to about quarter way the amp sounds ok, clean and musical if a bit dull. Ultimately it?s the kind of tone that makes you want to turn it up to see where that takes you. Turn the volume anywhere between this and 2/3s of the way up and you still just about get a clean tone though with added sustain and balls. Once you get to 3/4 volume you?ve hit the sweat spot: beautifully dynamic crunchy overdrive. Every note sings, even in bar chords but with that 60?s British growl that?s on all your favourite records. It responds to changes in pick attack and guitar volume better than any other class A amp I've ever played, always retaining it?s presence and cleaning up with out ever becoming dull - providing your guitars tone and volume pots aren't cheap and horrible. This is the reason I've sold all my overdrive pedals apart form the one line booster (which isn?t really an OD pedal anyway). Essentially so long as I'm not looking for ultra high gain I don?t need the extra distortion, and this way I can control everything with my fingers.

With the volume maxed out the saturation increases and you get a lovely fruity sustain. It does become less dynamic, responding less to changes in pick attack though it will clean up if you roll the volume back.

With just my front pick ups selected and the tone rolled off a touch I get a fantastic smooth blues tone, add in the bridge pick up and the chime is unbelievable. With just the bridge pick up on you get a dark honking growl that The Kinks would be proud of. The P90?s sound just as good as the humbuckers but with a bit of that single coil transparency - the advantge of a setup as simple as this is that you can really tell the difference in character between two guitars.

The tremolo sounds truly vintage, it pops a bit with the depth turned up full, but show me a trem of this age that doesn't. I can't say that I use it all that much but it?s there if you need it, and set at full speed and minimum depth it does add an interesting shimmer to your sound.

To conclude this is easily the most musical guitar amp I've ever played. The one thing it wont do is the refined American sound or high end sparkle of a vintage Fender, but it?s a thousand times more dynamic and much more unique sounding than a Vox or one of those awful Marshals. It?s also very loud. I use it as my rehearsal amp and it easily competes with the keyboards and drums. I've also gigged it in moderately sized venues though it?s a brave man who takes an amp like this on the road. (I have an ER30 that I use for this now)

One word of warning: if you are used to modern amps or play with a compression pedal then any amp of this nature with seem a bit uncontrollable, essentially too responsive. Once you?ve learnt to vary your picking style however, there is now going back.

Well, it?s never broken down on me! Alright the pots crackle and the tremolo pops plus all the inputs take a bit of fiddling with to get a good conection, but hey seeing as this amp is almost 50 years old I?ll cut it some slack. I pulled mine out of an uncle?s attic 15 years ago, and had the valves replaced with new old stock ones. I still have the originals which I do pop in from time to time and would say that the main difference if that the old ones are noisier and a bit more dirty but have a bit more of that X factor. The new ones certainly sing at full volume though!

Charley is still alive and amazingly will respond to emails send via the WEM/Watkins web site.

I've been playing guitar longer than I would care to admit ? it doesn't really correspond to how technically good I am, but I do know what makes a good tone.

Like I said this is my primary rehearsal amp ? way too loud for bedroom playing, but perfect for a small studio or practice room. I also own an WEM EH30 head (also wonderful with a ton more head room than the V-twin and perhaps a bit brighter) and a Sound City 50 watt Concord combo (insanely loud, unbelievable clean and painfully bright ? essentially like chalk to the Watkins cheese). The V-Twin has more charm and character than either. I've also gone through Fenders (which were lovely, but just not for me) and Marshals (which just made me sound like everybody else). They have their place but why not hunt around for something that gives you a tone that others don?t quite have.

I understand that finding another amp like this would be almost impossible and consider myself eternally lucky to own it, but other Watkins amps from this period are also very good and close in sound to this. Clubmans, and Scouts can be found for reasonable money on ebay occasionally and the WEM version of the Dominator (black grill and a 12? speaker) also sound great. Also worth looking out for is the WEM ER15 head which is probably the closest in tone to a V-Twin but needs matching with a good cabinet.

If this amp was ever lost/exploded/stolen by aliens for medical research, I would sell my electric guitars, sit down and play the blues. Acoustically.

Nuff said.