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Deleted member 43831
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RaceU4her
Well-known member
If I liked how it sounds, the build quality looks good and it’s reasonably priced sure, everyone’s gotta start somewhere
japetus
Well-known member
You can find some Plexi clones out there made with good parts for reasonable prices. Good deal if you are looking to do some modding.
BesaMoogie
Well-known member
Building or cloning an amp is no rocket science. So it mainly comes down to the quality of components used and individual solder skills of the builder.
fek
Well-known member
I have bought a couple Ceriatone amps that were tweaked to this or that spec from some modders that I have heard of that had good reputations. I have not bought a random custom amp from someone that I have read nothing about. Too risky for me because I would have no idea how to dig inside an amp to troubleshoot.
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ClintN667
Well-known member
I mean if you are looking for an amp there are a lot of good options out there to where you dont have to take the risk. Unless you just have the extra cash and can stomach the risk then do it. I have a friend who is always buying guitars and custom amps from places like Russia, Ukraine, and other countries on that side of the world. Some stuff has actually worked out for him but most often it doesnt. He paid someone like 800 for an uberschall based amp and it was terrible. I mean like you would have to go far and wide to find a worse tone. Think of a busted Ibanez amp crossed with a can of bees bad then the internals screamed fire hazard and or electric shock. If someone feels good about their work you should see some gut shots.
DanTravis62
Moderator
Staff member
I would buy an amp like that from someone reputable, but not someone random.
DrewJD82
Well-known member
I’m getting tempted to snag a Leviathan from Ceriatone, but I think that’s as far as I want to wade into the small/‘custom’ builders because I know how I am, if I got a dud of an amp it’d sit there collecting dust for a decade until I got sick of looking at it.
Luca79
Well-known member
Never did, but i think i'll ask my tech an advice with the inside pics of the amp, before buy.
MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
I guess it depends on who it is.
I've bought amps from Shea Monomyth, Jason/Headfirst, Jeremy/Ground Zero, and Rob/Jaded Faith with no second thoughts. Though all of them fully deserve the recognition, they're not overly well known in the mainstream the same way Bogner, Egnater, Friedman, etc. are. They do; however, have a stellar reputation within the community.
If it's someone who has worked for an amp company for a while and has ventured out on their own I'd probably feel comfortable with that. I'd even feel comfortable buying something from a well known forum member that builds in their spare time. I may even feel okay enough to buy from someone who has designed an original circuit that interests me and clips sound good; as long as the price is reasonable.
Now if we're talking about some complete rando with no community presence that's building JCM clones out of their basement and selling on Reverb, then no way. I get that everyone has to start somewhere, but that's past my risk tolerance.
I've bought amps from Shea Monomyth, Jason/Headfirst, Jeremy/Ground Zero, and Rob/Jaded Faith with no second thoughts. Though all of them fully deserve the recognition, they're not overly well known in the mainstream the same way Bogner, Egnater, Friedman, etc. are. They do; however, have a stellar reputation within the community.
If it's someone who has worked for an amp company for a while and has ventured out on their own I'd probably feel comfortable with that. I'd even feel comfortable buying something from a well known forum member that builds in their spare time. I may even feel okay enough to buy from someone who has designed an original circuit that interests me and clips sound good; as long as the price is reasonable.
Now if we're talking about some complete rando with no community presence that's building JCM clones out of their basement and selling on Reverb, then no way. I get that everyone has to start somewhere, but that's past my risk tolerance.
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Racerxrated
Well-known member
Definitely can be a great deal if priced right….but I laugh at the Marshall Plexi clones that guys want real Plexi prices haha…I see “68 Marshall clone best parts!” for like 3K….when I can buy a road worn original for a little more. Not hard to make that choice lol
BesaMoogie
Well-known member
Like previously mentioned, building a clone of something thats out there since ages like a Plexi or 2203 shouldn’t be to complicated. There are many companies offering kits on those amps. But if buying, I would in any case ask for gut shots.
Someone‘s super modded private experiment is something totally different. I would stay away from this.
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Jimty
Well-known member
I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I didn’t even try to.
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ClintN667
Well-known member
They aren't overly well known yet... I remember buying my first Monomyth and people who say "who?" Now it's "you had a Monomyth??? Cool!"
MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
@ClintN667 you still enjoying the Alta?
311boogieman
Well-known member
@PLX just made a SLO preamp build that sounds pretty good. Should I say, juiced up?
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ClintN667
Well-known member
I love it!!
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Hamer95USA
Active member
I bought this 2010 Stiff 90-AD lunchbox amp head off of Reverb in 2018. The seller claimed it was 50 watts. It had only a 20 watt output and there was a Vox output transformer installed when I received it. This amp was made by Tony Krank with his new amp company, Stiff Amplification. The chassis is his 100 watt chassis, has 4 output tube sockets in the chassis, but only has 2 tube sockets installed. I had my local amp tech remove the 20 watt Vox transformer, install a Pacific Audio 50 watt Marshall output transformer, and installed a 4/8/16 ohm impedance knob on the back of the amp. The amp has a footswitch for changing channels and activating the effects loop which has send & return level knobs. You can use the effects loop as a boost, if you're not running effects into the loop.
The clean channel has a good tone, can overdrive if pushed, and the 2 band EQ is quite useful. The overdrive channel goes into Marshall JCM 800 territory (mid gain) and has a voice knob which acts like a parametric EQ. It sounds great by itself and sounds better boosted with an overdrive pedal. I like to run an Xotic AC Booster pedal into the amp's input. I'm currently running a Legendary Tones Hot Mod v2 EVO in the v2 tube socket of the amp and I can squeeze a hot rodded Marshall tone with no need for any overdrive pedals. The amount of gain the amp has now is like having molten lava coming out of the speakers. In other words, it's totally sick!
The clean channel has a good tone, can overdrive if pushed, and the 2 band EQ is quite useful. The overdrive channel goes into Marshall JCM 800 territory (mid gain) and has a voice knob which acts like a parametric EQ. It sounds great by itself and sounds better boosted with an overdrive pedal. I like to run an Xotic AC Booster pedal into the amp's input. I'm currently running a Legendary Tones Hot Mod v2 EVO in the v2 tube socket of the amp and I can squeeze a hot rodded Marshall tone with no need for any overdrive pedals. The amount of gain the amp has now is like having molten lava coming out of the speakers. In other words, it's totally sick!
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RaceU4her
Well-known member
i might be wrong but werent these the dude from kranks company after krank went under?
edit: totally missed the part you said it has him lol
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Hamer95USA
Active member
That's ok. I do want to say that the sound of the amp is like a Marshall JCM 800 style amp, is the improved version of the Chadwick amp in sound & design, and is nothing like his Revolution (Dual Rectifier) or the Krankenstein (designed with Dimebagg Darrell). I never liked the sound of either of those amps and no disrespect to anyone that owns or plays these amps.
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