FOR MANY PLAYERS, THE 6V6-POWERED 1X12 CLUB COMBO
is an American classic akin to mom and apple pie. This is thanks
largely to Fender’s seminal ’50s tweed Deluxe and mid-’60s
blackface Deluxe Reverb, but also in part the many great Gibson
amps of those eras, such as the GA-20, GA-30, and GA-40
Les Paul. The 6V6 output tube faded from use with many makers
in the 1990s because of a lack of good new-manufacture versions—
and the expense and scarcity of new old stock (NOS)
tubes—to the extent that even Fender’s 20-watter for the masses,
the Blues Junior, was fitted with a pair of EL84s. The arrival,
however, of reliable and good-sounding 6V6s from the likes of
Electro-Harmonix. JJ/Tesla, Groove Tubes, and others in recent
years has sent makers back to this classic bottle with a vengeance.
Arguably the ultimate American blues and rock-and-roll tube
for recording and smaller venues, the 6V6 has a sweet, musical
sound with
balanced highs and
lows, a slightly gritty
midrange, and tactile
compression. It also has
the “benefit” of putting out
only about half the wattage of its big brother the 6L6, making
it perfect in small clubs and studios when you want to hit the
sweet spot without generating deafening volume. This month,
we’re throwing five hot new U.S.-made contenders
into the Cage of Death: three from new makers Divided by 13,
Nolatone, and Smith Custom Amps; one from established
California high-gainers Budda, and one from Fender—the brand
where this mojo caught fire in the first place. Ladies and
gentlemen, it’s bets-on-the-table time.
Budda Superdrive V20
LONG A HIGH-GAIN AMP MAKER TO BE
reckoned with, Budda branches out into rather
new territory with the release of the V20,
which should just be hitting retailers by the
time this goes to print. While this amp is an
extension of the Superdrive II series, it also
promises to introduce sonic elements previously
not found in the Budda camp. In addition
to Budda’s established “California
high-gain” voice, the V20 includes a reworking
of the company’s clean voice, with an easy
segue between the two thanks to this amp
being the only channel-switcher in this test.
The V20 is also the only printed circuit board
(PCB) amp in this review, but I don’t mention
that with any derogatory implications.
The brainchild of respected designer Jeff Bober,
this circuit is laid out on a board that’s solid
and extremely linear, and is accompanied by
a lot of hand wiring, chassis-mounted rectifier
and output-tube sockets, and a plethora
of quality components. As with all Buddas,
the control layout is fairly simple: there’s a
knob each for Rhythm and Drive channel levels,
a three-knob tone stack, and a Master Volume,
with pull Bright and Thick switches on
the Rhythm and Mid pots respectively (these
pointer knobs are a little slippery to pull, however).
You can also pull the Master to switch
channels, although most players will want to
use the included footswitch. Added features
around the back include Send and Return
jacks for the series effects loop, parallel output
jacks with a switch to select a 4Ω, 8Ω or
16Ω load, and a Slave Out (DI) with its own
level control. There’s a small fan mounted on
the underside of the chassis to help extend
tube life, and the quality ply cabinet is loaded
with an American-made, Budda-designed Phat
12 speaker. While the V20 retains Budda’s
retro-modern cab dress, there’s a tasty new
twist in the ivory control panel, while the
company’s beloved purple is saved for the
logo badge.
Whoa, this little amp is loud! And it has a
lot more of both articulate headroom and
overall output available than I’d expect from
a 20-watter. At lower settings the Rhythm
channel offers a bold voice that I’d describe
as “contemporary American clean.” It’s confident
and sharp, with a quick response and
an edgy attack that make it great for speedy
picking and crystalline jangle alike. I’d like a
little more taper on the front curve of the pot,
perhaps, as this thing gets fierce fast. This
channel has an impressively meaty rock and
blues voice of its own at anything upwards
of 10 o’clock, and with the Master maxed it’s
a real sonic bludgeon. Impressive as the
Rhythm channel is, stomp on the footswitch
and the Drive channel ushers in even greater
proportions of scorch and burn. It’s an outstanding
lead voice, with great lower-midrange
body, sweet but eviscerating highs, great sustain,
and an easy float into feedback. The V20
is a real wolf in sheep’s clothing (or stadium
rocker in a club cab), and a fun new addition
to the Budda line.
Divided by 13 CJ11
THIS IS THE BABY OF THIS CALIFORNIA
maker’s lineup, but promises all the purity
of design and quality construction that pros
and devoted boutique fanatics are praising
in Divided by 13’s larger amps. Born out of
founder Fred Taccone’s efforts to fulfill a customer’s
request for “an amp based on a tweed
Deluxe, but with more volume, headroom,
and tonal flexibility,” the CJ11 cops a modified
and expanded take on the Fender’s basic
layout, and wraps it in a striking two-tone
green and eggshell levant (other color combinations
available), all offset by a green jewel
lamp and illuminated ÷13 logo. Rated at
what I suspect is a conservative 11 watts, the
CJ11 reduces the 5E3 Deluxe’s channel complement
to one in order to make room for
independent Bass and Treble controls, and
there’s also a Master Volume on its four-knob
panel, with a sneaky pull-boost function that
taps a high-gain mode for “cranked” tones
at lower volumes. The chunky, open-back
birch-ply cab carries a 16Ω Celestion G12M
Greenback, and its 22"W x 20"H x 10.5"D
dimensions should boast enough depth to
give that speaker’s low end a useful boost.
A peek under the hood reveals neat wire runs
and clean solder joints on an eyelet board
loaded with quality components. Clues to
Taccone’s goals of increased headroom and
a sturdier vocabulary are found in the hefty
output transformer, higher filter cap values,
and 5AR4 rectifier tube. Preamp tubes are
from JJ/Tesla, output tubes are from Groove
Tubes. The chassis bottom carries three
speaker outs, one at 16Ω and two at 8Ω.
At first blast, the CJ11 sounds much like
a halfway point between tweed and blackface
Deluxes, with much of the plummy tactile
chewiness of the former and the lively
clarity and tonal versatility of the latter. Clean
tones are broad and round, but wind the volume
past 10 o’clock and, even with singlecoil
guitars, a heavier pick attack brings a
little grit and gristle into play. Wide open,
the overdrive is buoyant and tubey, and easy
to control from the guitar’s volume pot, and
although it’s sizzling when you hit it hard,
it never feels you’re headed toward quite the
distortion freakout (and implied implosion)
that the ’57 Deluxe gives you on 12. The pullboost
is great at adding sizzle at lower volume
settings, although it does induce
unwanted noise with levels elevated (as Taccone
himself points out). Ultimately, the CJ11
is an enjoyable studio tool and small club
rocker, and begs for that plug-straight-in and
fire-her-up scenario.
Fender ’57 Deluxe
AN AMP THAT NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION,
Fender’s new ’57 Deluxe is a hand-wired reissue
of the seminal narrow-panel tweed 5E3
of the late ’50s, a true cornerstone of classic
amps. Rated at only 12 watts and with just
three lonely knobs on the panel (two of them
Volume), the tweed Deluxe has nevertheless
proved its worth and versatility time and
again for more than 50 years. The ’57 Deluxe
seeks to extend that run by faithfully reproducing
all significant details of the original.
Both the list and street prices are pretty high,
given you can buy “tweed Bassman repro”
amps from other reputable makers for around
the same money, but hey, this one has the
legal right to wear the Fender name. The
basics of the format are all here, of course,
including the cathode-biased output stage
with no negative feedback, finger-jointed
solid pine cab covered in lacquered tweed,
and hand-soldered eyelet board.
Flying leads to switches and transformers
are attached with clip-on connections,
and the board is stuffed with carbon-film
resistors (rather than the carbon comps of
the original) and reliable Sprague Atom filter
caps. The eyelet board itself is of a sturdier,
warp-proof contemporary material, and
other physical improvements include the use
of a Standby switch in place of the original
Ground switch, and a rear panel that’s lined
with noise-reducing foil rather than asbestos
(thank you, Fender). There’s a 12AX7 in the
first position rather than the mellower 5E3-
spec 12AY7 (which can be substituted if
desired), and the speaker is a Jensen Vintage
Reissue P12Q.
The sight of one of these little tweed boxes
still sets the heart aflutter, and the ’57 Deluxe
certainly looks the part, minus the mellowing
effect of 50 years worth of nicotine on its yellowish
tweed, and you can’t argue with that
25 lb weight either. I tested this one (and all
the amps) with a genuine and entirely appropriate
’57 Fender Esquire, and subbed in a
Custom Shop ’60s Stratocaster and a Gibson
1957 Les Paul reissue for flavor. At Volume
settings south of 10 o’clock on either channel,
the ’57 Deluxe dishes out bouncy vintage
clean tones with a compelling blend of warmth
and sparkle, with a little more brightness in
the Instrument channel than the Mic channel.
You can also jumper the channels to blend
the two voices. It’s not particularly loud at this
point, although it could just about cut a smallroom
gig with a restrained drummer. The
tones found from 11 o’clock to 2 o’clock are
what these amps are all about, however—a
zone that takes us from bluesy crunch to
southern-fried rock sizzle. Past this point
we’re ladling on juice and compression rather
than volume. Overdrive with the stock 12AX7
leans toward the fizzy when you hit it hard,
but swapping in an NOS GE 12AY7 introduces
smoother, throatier vibe that I feel
brings out the best in this circuit. It’s not the
most versatile amp on the planet, but the ’57
Deluxe does what it does very well, and
reminds us why its namesake is a classic.
Nolatone 22 Tango
A NEW ENTRANT INTO THE BOUTIQUE AMP
world but starting to make some waves
already, Nolatone is the work of Paul Sanders,
who still hand builds each one in a suburb
north of Atlanta, GA. The 22 Tango ($1,799
retail/street N/A), his flagship model, offers
an innovative rethink of a typcal 6V6 output
transformer (based on the one used inthe
original Marshall 45-watt “Bluesbreaker”
amp) for maximum headroom. The front end
juices things up, however, with a parallelwired
12AX7 for preamp duties, a boost feature
that’s switchable at the front panel and/or
back panel footswitch jack (either of which
grounds a bypass cap off the preamp tube to
fatten up the 12AX7’s frequency response),
and a Fender tweed/Marshall-style cathodefollower
Treble/Middle/Bass tone stack that
Sanders has fine-tuned to suit this amp. On
paper, all of this indicates a powerful, versatile
and touch-sensitive front end that should
offer a wide range of voicing options, despite
the amp’s apparent simplicity. We’ve got tube
rectification here from a GZ34, although a
Firm/Sag switch on the back panel yields
some variation in the playing feel.
The 22 Tango looks great on the outside,
its finger-jointed solid pine cab covered in
eye-catching two tone covering with a distinctive
V-shaped panel and cane grille. Inside,
it exhibits workmanship that’s just as impressive.
Sozo signal caps and carbon-film resistors
populate a combination of turret board
and tag strip construction, as best fits each
particular stage of the circuit. There are neat
wire runs and immaculate solder work
throughout, as might be expected from
Sanders, a naval aviation-trained soldering
technician. Other well-considered constructional
tidbits such as the placement of the
first preamp tube close to the input jack, the
inclusion of output tube bias access and
adjustment points on the rear panel, and the
mounting of the oversized Mercury Magnetics
power and output transformers at opposite
ends of the chassis both for better
carrying balance and decreased noise indicate
that a lot of consideration has gone into
the design of the 22 Tango.
Fired up, the 22 Tango impresses first
with its solidity and sheer volume at clean
settings, second with its tonal depth and
dimension, and third—and yet again—with
its volume and muscle when cranked. If I didn’t
know better I’d have assumed this was a
40-watter with a pair of 6L6s in the driver’s
seat (I couldn’t resist checking just to make
sure). There’s beef aplenty in this combo,
with glorious shimmering cleans that boast
piano-like lows and swirling highs. Crank it
up a little, adjust the interactive EQ controls,
Bright, and Boost to taste, and the Tango
dances through impersonations of big Fender
tweed and Marshall half-stack voicings as
desired. The 22 Tango may even be too loud
for many smaller club situations, although its
Master Volume is effective and impacts tonal
purity less than many such controls. Also, the
highs can be a tad piercing at some settings
with single-coils, but that’s what the Treble
control is for. Overall, though, this amp’s
blend of sweet and gutsy makes for a package
that punches above its weight class.
Smith Custom Amplifiers CS25R
MANUFACTURED IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA,
Smith Custom Amps have become a hot item
with many Nashville Tele pickers over the
past couple of years, and the CS25R has
earned a growing list—and a waiting list—of
name players. The phrase Deluxe Reverb has
come up a number of times in this test, and
it’s impossible not to mention it here. Touch
points are the blackface-style tone stack, with
the EQ sandwiched between the first gain
stage and a recovery stage (although there’s
an added Midrange control here), the reverb,
and the overall conduciveness to Tele twang
of Smith’s design. There are several departures,
however, that make this into an entirely
different beast. The CS25R has a 3-way boost
switch that grounds either a 25uF or .68uF
bypass cap in the preamp (or none at all) for
fat or Marshall-style boost respectively (or a
clearer clean tone, un-boosted). There’s also
a second form of variable boost comprising a
potentiometer that grounds out, and therefore
bypasses, the tone stack the further clockwise
you wind it. This feature can also be
stomp-selected via footswitch, offering a usersettable
lead boost. In addition, the reverb
carries controls for both depth and dwell, the
output stage can be switched between fixed
and cathode bias, and rectification is solidstate
rather than the traditional tube. It’s a
very different amp physically, too, with its
inset top-mounted control panel and separate
chassis for preamp (top of cab) and power/output
(bottom of cab). Builder Sammy Smith
makes everything in house, from solid-pine
cabs to stainless-steel chassis, and there’s definitely
a high-quality “artisanal” look to the
final product. Inside the chassis, painstaking
circuitry hand-wired on carefully laid-out terminal
strips backs up this impression. Cosmetics
include a range of two-tone and
single-color options, and custom feature
requests can be catered to. The big silver letters
that denote control functions in place of
their full names might not be to everyone’s
taste, although Smith points out they are
entirely functional, intended to make it easier
to see what you’re doing on the fly on a
dark stage, and the positioning of the preamp
chassis makes it difficult to swap tubes or
attain access for maintenance (again, says
Smith, entirely intentional), but otherwise
the whole package feels over-engineered and
built to last a lifetime.
Smith has built this beastie first and foremost
for Tele players, and the CS25R loves the
’57 Esquire. Even at low volumes it’s thick and
earthy, yet still crisp and twangy. The variable
boost makes it a breeze to add body to this template,
or flick the Boost switch in either direction
for thick, organic lead tones. Raise the
Volume, craft the EQ, set Bright and Boost to
your liking, and the sky’s the limit. This is one
lavishly elegant-sounding amp, with a voice you
just want to sink down into and a playability
that keeps you coming back for more. At elevated
levels it proves a fierce rocker, too, though
it retains good clarity until you start pushing
the boosts to extreme. The CS25R’s reverb is a
sumptuous affair, and doesn't sap the solidity
of the core tone, but it will go into self-oscillation
if you turn the Dwell and Reverb knobs up
too high. All in all though, the CS25R is a real
peach, and de-servedly feted among the “in
crowd” of pickers.
VERDICT
This one is tougher to call than many Fight
Clubs because each of these amps excels in a
different arena and might arguably be top dog
depending on your requirements. The individual
awards would run as follows:
BEST GRAB AND GO ROCK’N’ROLLER: Divided
by 13 CJ11
BEST HIGH-GAIN ROCKER DISGUISED AS A CLUB
COMBO: Budda V20
BEST HIGH-HEADROOM TWANG MONSTER:
Nolatone 22 Tango
BEST SUPER-LUSCIOUS TONE MACHINE: Smith
Custom Amps CS25R
BEST TWEED DELUXE IMPERSONATION: Fender
’57 Deluxe
For my own touch and tone preferences
(and by this point things get very subjective),
the Smith Custom CS25R slightly edged out
the Nolatone 22 Tango— which was my second
favorite—but it took one hell of a brawl
to get to this decision.