Carlton Blues King amps


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Handwired Valve [tube] amplifiers ex Little Dawg Amps USA
Chassis are Handwired in the USA to the old Fender tweed circuits from the 50's by Jim Nickelsen. Recognised as one of the finest boutique amp builders in the states Jim really knows how to put together an amp.
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If you want the "holy Grail" vintage tone. these amps have it.

The chassis are imported from the states and fitted into handbuilt, dovetailed, solid timber cabinets here in my Melbourne workshop complete with switchcraft jacks, steel corners, stainless steel screws, bolts and solid hide handles.

Models available
Champster - 5F1 - 8 or 12 watts - head or combo
Princetone - 5F2-A - 12 watts - head or combo
D-lux - 5E3 14 or 25 watts - head or combo
The Pug - 18 watts - head or combo
SuperDawg - 5F4 35 watts - head or combo
TopDawg - 5F6-A 45 watts - head or combo
NB: pricing on application only due to currency fluctuations
There is plenty of info on the web re these old tweed circuits.

Above is the Champster [5F1] fitted into a US oak dovetailed cabinet finish is oil and wax. It's an amp set up for the road and built to last a lifetime.
More about the most popular of these circuits
Heres a clip of the 14 watt 5E3
D-lux [5E3] has a singing compressed sustain and warm thick overdrive. The tube rectifier promotes a "saggy" tone which means when you hit a note or chord the sound blooms as the power kicks in to push the signal.

Controls are volume bright, volume normal and tone. Thats right, 3 controls only. The volume controls are interactive and when jumpered with a short patch lead, you can tweak the two volumes to give a wide tonal palette from clean to wildly overdriven. There are two models available, 14 watt and 25 watt models. They play very loud for such a small light amp and will easliy keep up with a drummer.

Champster [5F1] is great little grab n go amp ideal as a studio or house amp. You can crank it without waking the neighbours or upsetting the producer. To really get the most out of the 5f1 crank it through a multi speaker 10" or 12" cabinet.

D-lux [5E3] Left - Dovetailed Brazilian pine Cabinet with a Lorantz 50 watt greenback clone speaker
 
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The power plant
Shown at the left is the Lil Dawg 25 watt Chassis. The chassis is based on the Fender 5E3 narrow panel tweed Deluxe, one of the most recorded amps in history.

The original circuit has been modified to some extent to conform with modern safety standards and to promote longer valve life. The original circuit doesn't have an earth to the wall [very dangerous]. A standby switch is added to allow the heaters to warm up slowly before applying full power. The fuse has been relocated from the front control panel to the rear. Extension speaker and lineout jacks are also provided.

It is a no frills working mans amp, built like a tank to last a lifetime.

The valve compliment is:
V1 – 12AY7, V2 – 12AX7 V3 & V4 – 6V6 V5 – 5U4G

Weight [with Lorantz 12" speaker] 12.3 KG [27lbs]
     
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In the cab showing the JJ 6V6's and the 5U4G rectifier   Mounting brackets and bolts [bottom] hold the chassis firmly
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The speakers
I use Lorantz speakers in my stage amps and reckon the tone is a knockout. They are becoming more and more popular here in Australia. Lorantz are locally made at the old Rola factory in Dandenong just out of Melbourne. Lorantz make a 10" and 12" speaker which are as good as most I've tried and in the 5e3 the 50 watt 12" is very very nice. It is an inherently dark sounding amp favouring warm creamy overdriven tones. Having a bright sounding speaker like the Lorantz really helps kick the sound along. I have heard that Weber and Jensen Alnicos work well in this amp.

Older players will recall the fine tone we got from the locally made amps we used in the 60's and 70's which invariably used Rola's. Mike, the original engineer at Rola, is now running the place with his wife.They have access to the old cone presses, paper recipes etc etc and are turning out some really fine toned 10's amd 12's.

Speakers are a personal thing though and if you want to BYO speaker thats fine by me.

Alternatively I can source Celestion, Eminence, Jensen and Etone.

Jensen Alnico and Ceramic Vintage, Mods and Neos are available at very competitive prices

   
Aussie built chassis - Coming soon!!
Australia has a venerable history in amp building and anyone who has played a 60's goldentone or a 1950's Maton will tell you of the beautifull singing tone of these lovely old amps. We have a few Aussie amp builders out there making great amps again and I found one who is building great tweed chassis at a very affordable price. Using my special "brew" of Hammond trannies and JJ tubes they have that "holy grail" vintage overdrive tone

Models available
Deluxe - 5E3 - head or base mount combo 13 watts@4ohms
Champ - AA764 - head or base mount combo 4.5 watts@8ohms

Both amps come with tapped transormers allow the use of either 4 or 8 ohm speaker load.

Pricing and clips on the Aussie circuits soon		 That elusive vintage overdriven tone
These amps are based on the old Fender classic circuits from the late 50's. They have that warm, biting, overdriven tone that you just don't get from modern multistage overpowerd pcb based commercial tube amps.

These simple old circuits just need to be cranked and that tone you've been through 20 different pedals and effects boards trying to nail is just there. The smaller amps like the champs are best run fllat out with volume and tone adjusted directly from the guitar.

Pedals?? if you really want smoking meltdown these circuits are ferocious when pushed. They just love to be out on the edge.

If you want to try out some amps email me and you can drop over and have a blast