Winfield Thomas Amps November 112 Combo

What I have is Winfield's November prototype, the first one he built. It's gone through two different incarnations over the years but has always freakin' RIPPED! Primarily I'm an engineer with minimal chops even though I've been playing for 25 years, I've been looking for "that sound" for most of those 25 years and this amp HAS IT! Essentially, this thing is all of the fun of a '60s Marshall with none of the pain, it will do early Zeppelin tones, BadCo, even G & R Slash! By "none of the pain" I mean I run the thing nearly dimed 100% of the time and my hearing is still o.k., the neighbors only call the cops once in a while and it's NEVER, EVER BLOWN UP! She is essentially a single channel amp and the preamp is voiced quite agressively so forget about Fender Twin clean tones with the November. Winfield builds other amps that do fat clean tones for days on end! My typical control settings are presence: dimed, bass: dimed, mids: dimed, treble, just past 12:00 cuz it gets pretty bright past that, volume, not quite dimed because feedback becomes an issue with my guitar. Speaking of which, at my control settings this thing does nice flutey feedback close to the amp and becomes super controllable ten feet away! I have played through various Marshalls both new and vintage, like I said, Winfield's November is more fun with less hassle! It's a simple amp and not loaded with features so I'll give it a "9" here. What it does it does fabulously well!

O.K., I'm a Strat guy from way back so thick distortion sounds have always been a challenge! I've got Strats, Strats and more Strats but nothing with humbuckers, I'm sure the November would be a monster with humbuckers but I haven't quite carved a hole in one of my Strats yet! I play a lot of classic rock with occaisonal excursions into modern rock tones, the Winfield is agressive enough to nail modern rock tones... especially if I tune down a step or two! The bass stays fat and tight and the amp is super touch sensitive, play gently and it cleans up substantially without ever touching the volume on the guitar, hit it hard and it sounds like you mean it! Being as you asked, there ARE more saturated distortion sounds out there but this amp has tube SOUL quite unlike a lot of the scooped mids rigs out there. Like I said, I've been around for quite a while and collectd a fair stack of pedals, one of the bands I worked with used rack mounted gear featuring Rocktron preamps and Alesis Quadraverbs controlled by MIDI controllers, we had plenty of sounds available there but not quite the TONE that Winfield's little Novermber puts out! Forget about pedals and toys, get one of these, plug straight in and jam your pants off! I give it a "10" here! Want TONE? This HAS IT!!

I could wax poetic about how hard I beat this thing, enough charming metaphors come to mind that those of you who write could write songs about it... like I said, I'm primarily an engineer. Like I said, I run it nearly dimed 100% of the time and have had NO problems, ever! Ah yes, as an engineer I couldn't help but look inside and measure a few voltages and such. It's an intelligently designed circuit with the tubes run at voltages they'll "live long and prosper" at. In the unlikely event the EL84 output tubes ever fail they're a LOT more affordable than EL34s! The rest is 12AX7s in my amp, tube hype aside if you get good ones they'll last for decades! I'll give it a "10" here, I'm sure I could break it if I threw it down a flight of stairs a couple of times!

Winfield's stuff is INEXPENSIVE and KICKS ASS! Where else are you going to get a hand made point to point amp at these prices?! Considering the price, I'd be embarrassed to ask Winfield to custom voice preamps for instance, but the man loves his work, he's committed to customer satisfaction. He stands behind his stuff 100%. There's no written warranty as such but I understand that if you ship it to him busted he ships it back fixed! How cool is that? AND, if you're on the spot his stuff is all classic point to point built on tag board, his stuff is repairable by any decent amp tech anywhere in the world!

Like I said, I've been playing for 25 years but don't have chops commensurate with my years. I -DO- have ears and know GREAT TONE when I hear it! I have an entire spare bedroom full of vintage Fender, Marshall, Ampeg and Traynor (all hail the mighty YBA-1 Bass Master!!) amps but Winfield's November is the one I play through these days. Compare it to other products? It's HAND MADE in the U.S., ALL TUBE point to point for well under a grand! There's NO COMPARISON!

Made in 2001, EL84's, circuit is loosely based on the Marshall Plexi. Winnie also made me the cabinet in purple with OXblood cloth and white chickenhead knobs. Looks very cool... My knob config also looks like this: Vol1, Vol2, Treb, Mid, Bass, Pres. The circuit really has 2 channels, normal and bright but in my config they are jumpered together, hence the 2 volume knobs. Winnie says it runs about 18 watts but it seems like more to me... I was worried about headroom so he used a larger transformer for my amp. (Note that I never give 10's on anything)

I primarily play my tele's thru this amp. A mahogany thinline with Fralins and a pine bodied partscaster with Lawrence L-280's. This amp kicks-ass... It was exactly what I was looking for - a lower wattage amp that I can gig with and get the tubes cooking without making people's ears bleed. It cleans up incredibly with the guitar volume. I like a fat but clear tone with chimey highs that has an aggressive edge, this amp nails it when used with single coils. Think early Pretenders minus the Chorus. When cranked this thing is a beast... and since the tubes are always cooking I can use a good OD or boost pedal very effectively (currently my analog man modded BD-2 is my fave) for my leads.

It had a loose solder joint between the rectifier and the first EL84, so when I first got it, it would cut out on me. I called Winnie and he said to ship it back but I opted to have him walk me thru soldering it myself... it took about 11 seconds... Been solid as a rock ever since. Hey, that's what we love about PTP amps right?

Winnie is a great guy, he was having surgery right after I got my amp and still wanted me to ship it back for a fix. He also spent many hours with me when I was deciding which amp I wanted to buy from him. He also spent the time on the phone with me to walk me thru soldering it myself... try doing that with one of the "big" guys.

I have been playing for about 20 years, I gig regularly in an all original band called Hieroglyph... check out our site at www.hieroglyphmusic.com. Our stuff is kind of a mix of folk, pop, funk, and rock. I needed something that I could play at smaller and larger clubs alike. It's small, light and loud. I can take it anywhere easily and it has plenty of power if you like some hair in your tone. I constantly have other guitar players commenting favorably on my tone and asking me about my rig... I've owned many big-name amps, but I'll take this custom amp from this small custom builder any day. Great tone, great package, great price.

This is a two EL84 powered tube amp combo with two 12AX7's and a 12AT preamp tubes, and a GZ34 rectifier tube putting out around 20 loud tube watts. This is a hand-built tube amp using Marshall Plexi circuitry. Basic bass, mid, treble, presence, and volume knobs. Cream tolex, oxblood grillcloth, and cream chicken knobs....well made and looks cool.

This is a loud, clean, and punchy toned amp with the volume set below 5. Above that gets an on the edge overdriven tone.....kind of tubescreamer-ish. Your tone cleans up nicely when you turn down your Strat's volume knob. I use this amp at band rehearsals, at home use, and in the studio. Overdrive and distortions pedals sound great in front of this amp.....I use a Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Rat 2, and Menatone Top Boost in a Can.

I've never had any problems with the amp since I bought it a year ago.

Winnie Thomas is a great home boutique tube amp builder with great customer service. You will be satisfied with him and his amps.

The November is a cool tube amp combo that has a fat clean tone to it. It's 20 watts is just right for everything except live stage gigging with a loud drummer and band. I like it and recommend it to all guitar players. Go to Winnie's website for more info and ax84.com has more info on the November model tube amp.