What is a great sounding Boutique Guitar Amp?

Question

I'm a Mesa-Boogie owner. I have a Nomad 100 and a Lonestar Special.

These are great amps and well made, but I'm wondering what else is out there I should try. It's important to me that the amp is all Tube, sounds great and built like a tank.

Brands I have heard associated with my needs include Bad Cat, Carr, Rivera and Fuchs. Problem is I don't know anything about them.

Thanks.

Answer 1

My boyfriend owns the Genz Benz 30-310 Black Pearl. This amp is similar to the lonestar special except it can operate at 30 watts with (4) EL84's or 15 watts (4) EL34's, 15 watts with (2) EL34's and last 8 watts instead of the 5 watts which the lonestar offers. This amp is available as a head or combo amp. The combo is available in  one 12 , two 12 or three 10 inch speakers. They are Alnico Red Fang speakers. My boyfriend just had a major injury to his arm and is talking about selling or trading his amp and getting the Lonestar because of the weight.

Answer 2

I love Mesas! If you're looking for that great over-cranked distortion sound, definitely try Soldano. The Lucky 13 is a good amp, but their SLO is quite a ripper. You can even get Soldano pedals.

A lot of players use Soldano despite the fact that they don't give away any of their amps to anyone, regardless of fame. Those that play them bought them, which tells you something.

They're handmade amps, all tube, point-to-point wiring. Made in a little shop just north of Seattle in a suburb called Ballard. Well made and well worth every penny.

I've played with guitarists who've used them. I used one for a studio session. OH! Yeah... that was a custom modified Soldano SLO that Stevie Ray Vaughan sent to Mike Soldano in order to get a bias switch put on the back. Stevie died while Mike was still modifying it, so he kept it. My band borrowed it years later because my other guitarist worked at Mike's shop in the tolex department. Anyhow... it was a great sound. Check it out if you can.

~Joe

Guitar Mentor