Winfield Thomas Amps November Head

I bought a Winfield amp from Winnie in 8/2004. The others have gone over the features. It doesn't have all the modern bells and whistles, what it does have is terrific plexi tone at much more reasonable volumes.

I play a '99 Strat, a '94 Les Paul with Wagner Fillmore pickups, and a '69 SG. My signal path is guitar -> VHT Valvulator -> Wah -> Tube screamer -> Marshallesque pedal -> Boss CE-2 -> Ibanez AD-9 to the Winfield which drives a closed back 2x12 cabinet with Celestions. This amp is absolutely awesome. I also have Winnie's Elizabeth amp for Fender tones and I have everything I need. This amp and the Lizzy with 2 6L6 tubes can be A/B's with perfect volume matching. I would have to give a 10 in this category to a real Plexi 100 Watter at full bore, this with the EL-84 is a much more practical solution to the earsplitting problem of a real Plexi. It's a beautiful amp inside and out, all PTP wiring and top notch components.

The amp loves my pedals too. Everything sounds great. I'm somewhat of a hack and I make my own pedals. I know they sound great through Winnie's amps. They may sound like crap though other amps, I'll never know as I will play these amps for the rest of my life.

I know my wife will never believe me . . . but I mean it this time, my search for the perfect amp has ended. I always wanted 1 amp that could do Marshall and Fender in one. I've found that's impossible. So I now have 2 heads and a stereo cabinet so that I can A/B both heads through the same cabinet for a really solid gigging amp. The volume is plenty loud for playing out yet doesn't cause anyones ears to bleed.

I'll be forever happy in the amp department . . . I'm still working on the guitars and pedals!

Tubes go, but I'm confident based on the build quality that tubes will be the only thing I'll have to replace for a long time to come.

Winnie's amazing. He invited me into his home to try out his amps back when he lived in VT. He's in AZ now. I didn't really have the money for the amp when I went there, it was just a curiosity thing . . . needless to say I bought one on the spot! It's that good.

This is the biggest bargain out there. With all the boutique makers charging as much as you'd pay for an actual vintage Marshall or Fender, Winnie's amps are a no brainer. Don't just think that the bigger price tags of the other guys will equate to better tone. Winnie has all the tone for an unbeatable price.

Stop reading and pull the trigger!

Bought it in the spring of 2004. Sort of a Marshall Plexi with 2/4 EL84s (switchable on the front of the amp via a mini togle switch)in the power amp. Internaly jumped input on normal and bright channels. This amp is rated 18 watts with 2 EL84s and 30 watts with 4 EL84s. One 5U4GB rectifier. No loop, reverb, channel switching but lots of TONE. And it is substantially smaller than a Plexi Marshall.

I'm mostly using a Tyler Burning Water 2K, a 1965 Strat and a Fender Telecaster. I have a fairly large pedal board with lots of high end "boutique" stuff (Teese RMC1 wah, Keeley moded TS-9,Voodoo lab Micro Vibe, Voodoo labs Analog Chorus, Cats-eye Mista Fuzz, BJFE Dyna Red Dist,A/B/Y A: Lovepedal Cot 50, Boss DD20, Winfield Amp, Hiwatt cab with one Celestion Vintage 30 and one G12H; B: Boss DD20, THD Tweed 2x10 amp). The Winfield sounds great just by itself, but it also sound fabulous with pedals too, but since the whole point with an amp like that is to run it loud enough to get the power tubes workin, it doesnt sound too good if you slam it with lots of distortion from a pedal. If You like the sound of an old Plexi but wanna have a smaller amp that You can open up without killing the audience in the front row - get yourself a Winfield. Its loud enough for almost all situations, especially if You get the 18/30 watt option (and with a speaker cab with "loud" speakers like the Vintage 30 and/or G12H), and it respondes well to changes in volume/tone settings on the guitar so You can get a clean/semi-dirty/dirty sound just by using the volume control. With a Winfield You dont net lots of effects and stuff - it sounds great just by itself. Igive it an 8 in this category - that means that it is a very good amp, ome of the best I ever tried/owned. I

Its an all tube PTP amp. Tubes do fail ever ones in a while. Bring spares. The Winfield lokks great on the inside also. I have had it for around one year and som far - no problems.

Winfield Thomas is the man behind the amp. Very nice person to deal with. Really friendly and helpfull and he's quick to respond to mails if You have any questions. Highly recommended!

As I stated above,this is a very good amp if You like the Plexi sound/feel. It sounds great and is fun to play due to the fact that it respondes so well to Your playing/settings on the guitar. Get one. I think he lets you send it back if Your not completely satisfied with it. Its one of the best amps I ever tried (and I've been playing for 25+ years, pro or semi-pro) and it costs only around 600 USD!

Amp was built September 2003. Features are Presence, Mid, Bass, Treble, Volume 1 and Volume 2....all tube! One input, standby, 2 parallel output jacks, an impedance selector and toggle switch to go between 18 and 30 watts. This is truly a great feature! I?ve used a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 50 in the past and have been accustomed to a ?gain? switch. This amp however gets amazing tone when the Volume 1 and Volume 2 are played with and this is where you get your crunch. I?ve had this amp only a few days and already I?ve discovered some amazing tone and sound capabilities. I play in a classic rock band, doing covers of mostly 60?s and 70?s guitar rock and this amp is plenty loud.

I play a Fernandes with a double hum and use this amp with a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet. Minimal effects (delay, wah, chorus and tremelo). As stated above, the sound capabilities are amazing with this amp. When clean, the amp is beautiful with no effects running through. When the Volume 1 and Volume 2 are pushed a bit, I?ve discovered some great gain and crunch. I play a lot of blues and classic rock and this amp can cover it all. I?ve encountered very low noise with this amp. When at a lower volume, there is absolutely no noise or hum. When cranked, there is only minimal noise,,,,,and that is probably from my effects unit. I find the gain/distortion is great on this amp and again, a great variety of sound. When the tubes are pushed, this amp cranks with plenty of headroom and great tone just pours out of this amp. (And, this is only on 18 watts!!!!!). I can find that classic Marshall distortion on this amp, but also find a lot of other tone possibilities. I can play ZZ Top to Hendrix, Cream to The Cars, Zeppelin, The Stones, Bad Co, etc, etc. If you need that extra 'push over the cliff', just switch to 30 watts! You can get a lot of play out of this amp using your volume on the guitar.

I was told this amp is meant to be pushed. I?ve only had it a short while, but it is built solid. My guitar teacher turned me onto this amp (Kenny Hohman- see his review above and check out his band!!!). He has had this amp almost a year and stated he has had absolutely no problems with it. I don?t foresee any problems with this amp other than regular maintenance (tube replacement). I do gig with a back-up, but that is in case this amp were stolen! If so, I would chase down the person and beat them with my back-up amp!

Winfield Thomas is a great guy to deal with. He is very humble but is extremely talented! I?m not a technical guy (probably evident by this write up), but Winnie was able to explain everything to me and give me the basics of the amp so I could understand what was what. He kept me in the loop while the amp was being built which I thought was a great gesture. He informed me that if anything went wrong with the amp, all I had to do was call him and he?d figure it out. He is very reliable and his timeline for the finished product was dead on. His customer service is one of a kind and something you really don?t find these days!

I?ve been playing guitar for about 20 years, mostly as a hobby, but lately I?ve been getting more into gear. I?ve found that ?less is more?, especially with tubes amps. My set up is basic and I try to let the amp be my sound and do all the work. As stated above, I play mostly classic rock and this amp is a perfect match. I?ve owned a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 50 and have had nothing but problems. This amp was a perfect solution and I?m able to use this and push it to the max. Again, if stolen, I?d chase the person down and fight to the end until I got it back!!!! I never thought I?d own a ?custom made amp?, but the wait was totally worth it!!!

Winfield Thomas November 18 watt amp (Head Version) built in 2003. All tube PTP wired, 2xEL84, 3x12AX7 & 1 6CA4 (EZ81) Rectumfryer Tube. This amp is based upon the good ol' Marshall Plexi era amps we all know and love. The amp is not "versatile" in the sense of channel switching, reverb, effects loop etc.., No my friends, this is a straight up Plug & Play Rock & Roll machine.\0/ The amp is no frills like the old plexis. 18watts may not sound like much, but this amp has plenty of balls for the average sized club...most of us get miked through the PA anyways--right? and keeps up with a drummer on 2-3 on the volume for rehearsals. Simple and effective controls, normal & bright channels are internally jumpered to mix the tones, a very nice feature so you dont have to find a lil patch cord ;)

I play this amp with a Les Paul fitted with Duncan 59 and Custom 5 pickups. I play blues, rock and punk with this amp, it has a wide range of overdrive tones...not much clean headroom, which i love. If you are looking for a "clean" amp this is not for you. The amp has alot of character, nice deep bottom end, great touch sensitivity and great harmonics. I run this amp with a Barber Direct Drive overdrive pedal to push it over the top at lower volumes and i can get a wide range of great sounds from this amp. AC/DC, Allman Bros, Sabbath...its all in here:) Like I said this is a rock n roll amp and Winnies amp reacts and engulfs the player like a good Marshall Should. Put your favorites on and wail away:)

PTP wiring should hold up like other boutique style and vintage amps. The amp has proven reliable so far, and nice wiring and parts inside. I trust from other reviews and owners that this amp will serve well and deliver for a long time. Winnie stands behind his products and obviously does this as a labor of love...I have no worries. Besides, a good tech or even yourself (if so inclined) could repair this amp, heavy duty transformers..nice cabinet, looks built to handle the rigors of the road.

Winnie was, and has been great to deal with. Worked with me to get the amp I wanted and I am sure that he will stand up for his products 100%. Very informative and kept in touch during the build process, along with help after the sale. Winnie is a great guy and builds a fine product that avg. Joe Guitar Player can afford and have a nicely built soild amp, more builders should follow in his footsteps;)

Kick ass! I love it...sold off my Hot Rod Deluxe & couldn't be happier--pair this amp with a Les Paul and ride the wave to sonic heaven:) and have some $$$ left over for a 6 pack for the ride;) RUN...don't walk and get your badself one of these amps NOW~!

the 2 features that i love on this amp are the half power switch and the internally jumped channels. going from all 4 EL84s to 2 not only changes the volume of the amp (it is noticeable, btw) but changes the character and the response of the amp.

it is pretty versatile since it has great clean sounds as well as a distortion sounds.

i had been looking for a "good" Marshall (both old and new) for about a year. when i got my Winfield/November, my search ended. i feel pretty silly that i didn't contact him sooner. this amp delivers OooOdles of sonic goodness we generally associate with "Plexi" amps.

i've been having a LOT of fun playing the amp. i haven't had such a great time with a new piece of gear in a long time, especially a guitar amp. the "out of the box" experience of this amp is incredible. once can unpack the amp and fire it up and go. i'm a tinkerer at heart, so the first thing i generally do with a new amp is to switch the tubes around and whatnot. i haven't done none of that so far except to try a couple of different 5AR4s (use a NOS 5AR4 for increased headroom and more 'spank'). the amp has a HUGE soundscape, generous amount of gain, dynamic touch response, pretty much everything i want in this type of amp.

so far so good. i'll be back in a couple of years and do an update. :)

Winnie was SUPER during the build. i very much appreciated the frequent progress reports, at least twice a week.

check out his web site at: http://www.rfd.cc/winamp/

unfortunately my review of Winfield/November amp sounds like just another HC review ("it's awsome!! 10+++!!!") but this amp IS really good. and i'm very happy that i had Winnie build it for me and this is an amp that let's me just "play" without worrying about "how is it sounding tonight?" isn't that what we ultimately want? an amp that lets us just play. i would definitely buy another one. and thanks Winnie for an awsome amp!

I had Winnie build this November head for me 11/02. It is like a mini bluesbreaker with a double power option-4 el84's, two can be left unused at the flick of a switch -18 watts to 30 watts. Pretty sweet idea if you ask me. It no has effects loop or master volume, or reverb, or fat or bright switches and so on, it is basically just a no frills plexi-Marshall style rock machine at a lesser volume. There is only one input. It has the two channels jumped on the inside somehow so that vol. 1 and 2- bass and treble volume- can be used and blended to get the tones you would normally have to "jump channels" to get on a Plexi. It has a chicken head knob on the back to change impedence for different cabs which is also a great idea. It has 3 ax7's and an ar4 tube rectifier. Winnie tells me that the phase inverter can be changed to an at7 for a bit more clean headroom which I have not tried yet. I like to get my grit from my amp and not from pedals as much. I do not like amps with multiple channels and complicated push pull switches and so forth. I also don't use reverb that much so for me this amp has all the features I need. It is not a swiss army knife so I guess I can't give it a 10 which stands for "very versatile", but then again in my 20 years of playing I have never found one amp that is good for every style. It does everything it is meant to do very well and is in fact more versatile in some ways in tonal variation and in being able to switch the wattage than a real plexi-Marshall (which I also own) which is considered top of the pile in rock by most so I am giving it a 10 anyway because that is quite a feat. It also looks great. You can get Winnies amps in a few different configurations too which is nice. I got mine in a head with black tolex covering and etched gold plexi faceplate with black chicken head knobs. It is small and pretty light. I don't see beating a classic style point to point hand built boutique amp in this price range.

I use 3 guitars (electric) mainly - a 56' Les Paul jr. a 57 historic Gold Top Les Paul and a 52 Tele reissue. I have my own band, you can check us out if you want at www.super400.com . We are an original rock band with classic influences, sometimes 3 min. pop songs sometimes 20 min. jams etc. I also play in a band that covers British invasion stuff like the Yardbirds, The Stones, Cream, Zeppelin, the Who, the Bluesbreakers and so forth. I basically like to get an amp running hot and work my guitars volume for clean to mean. This amp works very well in that way and for this music. Most of the classic guitar heroes who I need not all name used or still use Plexi Marshalls to get their sound. This amp with some skill in your hands and the appropriate guitar can reasonably nail them all if that's your thing. It is great for gritty blues, roots, and rock. It is not a death metal amp, nor is it a really high clean headroom amp. It is what it is. The tone controls are very friendly and there is not any "unusable" sounds in the amp. You can get a lot of variation in tone just by playing with the balance between vol. 1 and 2 and your guitars volume. It is a very quiet running amp in that it does not buzz loudly and crackle and make sounds of the sea like my old amps. A solid amp of rock. My only hang up is that being that my band plays pretty loud (too loud sometimes- what? what?) and I use a Les Paul a lot, in a live un-mic'ed situation I am on the edge of it's clean headroom sometimes, but that is how my 50 watt plexi is too. I have not recorded with this amp yet, but I am real excited about it.

This amp is vey well built and I have no reason to believe that it will break down based on Winnie's reputation. I have only had it a week or so but I've gigged on it 4 times (3 long 3 set nights and one blues jam hosting where it was played for four hours straight) and played it at home quite a bit testing it out. It has been cranked up around 5 the whole time through different cabs in both wattages and different impedance settings and has not made any suspect noises or freaked out in any way. I don't know how long the tubes will hold out in this kind of punishment, but I usually get 6 months out of my tubes before they start sounding tired and I expect the same here.

Winnie is a real nice guy. He builds all the amps personally one at a time. He is good about returning e mails and phone calls. He had to have an operation during the building time frame of my amp and he was still only a few days off his estimate (which was only a couple weeks to begin with). It is a very cool thing to be able to talk to the person who is building your amp before hand and after a while if you have any trouble.

My experience in buying a Winfield Thomas amp has been a good one. I may even get rid of some amps to have Winnie make me another after a while. He is a trustworthy and talented amp builder.


I have tried to be pretty descriptive and honest as the user reviews at Harmony central have helped me in making up my mind for a few purchases including this one. Happy Twangin'.

Very simple head with 2 volume controls, Treble, Mid, Bass, and Presence...The amp has 2 - EL84's for power tubes, 2 12ax7's for preamp tubes, and a 6CA4 rectifier tube for somewhere between 15-18 watts..One volume control is a little brighter than the other and you can mix and match what tone and gain you want from the volume controls..You then dial in the exact tone using the treble, bass, mid, and presence controls...Very effective, and very simple

This amp sounds like an 18 watt Marshall with added versitility...It can play a very full clean tone, get a really nice grind going, or go into a very thick lead tone that still has nice string to string definition...You can set it up for a great woman tone, or have a very biting lead ... One of the nice features is that you can roll off the volume control of your guitar, and the tone cleans right up, and turn it back up and you have a great lead going for you....Between the 2 volume controls, and the extra tone controls, you can get a variety of diffent tones, and gain settings....This amp is also loud enough for small to med. size gigs...Since you have the 2 volumes that are actually volume/tone pots, it makes no difference wheter you play a guitar with single coils or humbuckers...You can adjust the volume controls to suit either guitar...The tone of this amp rates a 10 since it is a very inexpensive amp and has the tone of the boutique amps that sell for up to 5 or 6 times the price !!...I use to play thru a Carmen Ghia, which I still think is a very simple amp, and a great bang for the buck, but since I bought this amp, I sold my Carmen Ghia and haven't looked back !!...

I had one pot go bad in 2 years of playing every day....Not a problem, because Winnie (the builder ) is more than great when it comes to making you happy......Other than the pot, I have had no problems with the amp...9 since I did have to change a pot....

Customer Support is one thing that a lot of people overlook...You buy an amp new and expect it to work since it's brand new....With some of the shipping company's using amps and other things to entertain their workers with games like "how far can you throw this amp ?"...or "will this amp break if I drop it off of the back of the truck ? "...sometimes you are left with parts broken or wires torn up...Winnie packs the amp like he would like to recieve it...If there is a problem he will take care if it in a NY minute..He has no problem working with you on the tone you are seeking...The build quality is also great, and the components used are all top shelf....

I love this amp !!....I love it so much that I had Winnie build me one using 4 - EL84's with more features ( KILLER AMP !!) ....I would HIGHLY reccomend that you contact him, and have him build you an amp....You won't regret it !!...He also gives you time to check out the amp, and if you don't like it, send it back !!!....I have sold a lot of my friends on his amps, and not one amp went back to him !!!...If you're looking for great tone, and don't want to spend boutique $$$ for it, check out one of Winnies amps...You will start selling off your other amps, I can tell you that for sure !!...