Blackbox is as pure and direct as it gets. Designed as my gigging amp, this low-wattage, 12″ combo is perfect for adding warm, tube character while keeping stage volumes manageable. Featuring a simplified Princeton circuit, with Treble/Bass tone stack and fixed bias 6V6GT push-pull power section, this handsome combo puts out 14 clean watts into a 30-watt Black Betty speaker.
Dimensions: 19w x 21h x 10d inches, ~35 pounds
Here it is. This was my first amp build from scratch. Based on the one-watt Firefly design from ax84.com, this is a great practice and recording amp. A Boost switch enables a second, cascaded stage, for a surprising amount of gain.
Powered by a pair of Mesa Boogie 12AX7s and a vintage RCA 12AU7.
Features a hand-made walnut and maple hardwood base.
Dimensions: 12.75w x 5.5h x 8d inches, 6.6 pounds
The Mitchell PRO-100 is a Mesa Boogie clone, made in the 80s in Southern California, with a Fendery tone stack, and a WIDE variety of tones available by switching four cascaded gain stages in and out of the signal path.
This amplifier came to me in rough shape. I recovered the cabinet and made many mods to the amp, including new electrolytic capacitors, D-style values in the preamp stages, a new and custom designed FX loop, and general cleaning and improvements. Now it’s a great all-around performer. Very quiet and well behaved at home, loud and lots of clean headroom available as a pedal platform, great edge-of-breakup tones for single coils, and absolutely screaming high-gain sounds for leads.
Powered by three 12AX7s and a quad of Sovtek 5881s.
Dimensions: 21w x 9.5h x 10d inches, 32 pounds
This computer served me well for six years. How could I possibly throw it out? Just look at that chassis—heavy, precision machined aluminum, highly designed, custom fasteners. Well, good news, it makes a GREAT amp chassis, and now it will live forever as a 100-watt Marshall-JCM-800-style guitar amplifier. My design features the “High” input of the JCM 800, with its three cascaded gain stages, followed by the standard TMB tone stack and Presence control, with the Master Volume that makes available high-gain shredding at bedroom levels. But! With 100 watts on tap from a quad of Russian 5881s, this amp has enough clean power to rattle windows the next neighborhood over. The ultimate math rock amp?
Dimensions: 8w x 20h x 18.75d inches, ~35 pounds
