The People's Amp

[tunghaichuan]

A review of a handmade 18W style amp from Premier Guitar Magazine. Looks interesting

Website link.


tung

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Looks does look really cool. I don't find the guy's "anti-boutique" statements on his site too strident, as does the author. But for a good sounding little amph, it seems to me the Blackheart series might be a better bang for the buck. I know it is not 18 watts, but Tung, what do you think? The 15W Handsome Devil seems pretty close if you want that many watts. http://www.zzounds.com/item--BLABH15H I am betting I would go smaller though if I bought a second one.

I know nothing of the technical differences and would just approach it from sound.

 

[tunghaichuan]

I'd probably go for the Handsome Devil head. It is $300 less, and it is built just as well as the People's Amp. Even though the HD is PCB-based. The HD does look better. I haven't played a HD, but from the clips I've heard, it is much like its 5W little brother, not much grind until cranked all the way up. And then not as much as you'd expect from an 18W style amp.

I don't know: this photo doesn't look much better than the work I do, and I'm strictly an amateur.

tung

Looks does look really cool. I don't find the guy's "anti-boutique" statements on his site too strident, as does the author. But for a good sounding little amph, it seems to me the Blackheart series might be a better bang for the buck. I know it is not 18 watts, but Tung, what do you think? The 15W Handsome Devil seems pretty close if you want that many watts. http://www.zzounds.com/item--BLABH15H I am betting I would go smaller though if I bought a second one.

I know nothing of the technical differences and would just approach it from sound.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

That confirms what I thought. This is cool, but not my next amph. If I were to get one, it would be either something very much like the Little Giant head, or a modeling amph like the Vypyr or Vox. (But my son has one of those so I can use his. )

The "People's Amp" is cool though, and I like the concept. Just not for me. I have a great 30 watt tube amph already.

 

[Katastrophe]

I like the concept, but do it sound better than a Crate 18 watter?

It is cool that the guy is trying to make "handmade" affordable.

 

[tunghaichuan]

I like the concept, but do it sound better than a Crate 18 watter?

That's the $100,000 question, innit?

It is cool that the guy is trying to make "handmade" affordable.

I think so too, but his amps look homemade, and not in a good way. It is also interesting to note that the picture of the guts that I linked to above is no longer on his site.

For six bills, I'd look at the Egnater Rebel 20. I played one of those in person, and it sounded much better than the clips on the People's Amp site.

If I were more budget minded, I'd get a Handsome Devil, rip out the PCB and install an eyelet board.

And not to run the guy down, but amps wired with tag/eyelet/turret boards are not point to point. They may be hand wired, but they ain't point to point. But to be fair, even Marshall makes this mistake when advertising their 1974 combo reissue.

tung

 

[Katastrophe]

I'm with you, tung... I think that the Egnater sounded better, too. Except, the Egnater sounded better in person, and the "people's amp (Volksamph?) farfrumplucken?" is a clip played over the internet through (at least my) crappy computer speakers.

Who knows? I didn't get to see the wiring pic you posted.

It seems that everyone wants to be a boutique amph builder these days, and is scrambling for their own sales angle.

http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]/index.html?pg=1&cnt=5&t=a

Whaddaya think of these?

 

[tunghaichuan]

I'm with you, tung... I think that the Egnater sounded better, too. Except, the Egnater sounded better in person, and the "people's amp (Volksamph?) farfrumplucken?" is a clip played over the internet through (at least my) crappy computer speakers.

Good point. To make a fair comparison, I would have to play them side by side.

It seems that everyone wants to be a boutique amph builder these days, and is scrambling for their own sales angle.

People have gotten hip to the secret: it is actually very easy to build a good guitar amp. With all the kits, parts sources, and 'net information, it is dead easy. Anyone who wants to and has a few bucks to spare can make a decent sounding, good looking amp. There is even one guy who buys Weber kits, builds them and sells them on Ebay.

I've been building my own amps for over 10 years now. I started right about the time the WWW started up. There wasn't a whole lot of info back then, just a few BBS. One thing that I noticed as time went on is that a new guy would start posting to the board, asking a lot of newbie questions. After about 2 or 3 months, the newbie would disappear. A few months later, he had hung out a shingle and was selling amps. I'm all for capitalism, but what happens when the amp breaks down? A lot of these guys do not have the theory or diagnostic skills to figure out why that was. I was at a friends amp shop and remember seeing a spendy boutique amp where one of the connections on the tube socket wasn't soldered. The amp had gone intermittent and the owner had to take it to my buddy to get it fixed. Unacceptable. The real trick to building amps is to figure out how to fix it when it stops working, that is the hard part.

Another guy posted pix of his work that looked downright dangerous. His amps are an accident waiting to happen. This particular fellow started out modding Valve Juniors and 2 months later was selling his modded creations as "boutique."

To be fair to the People's Amp guy, he does offer a limited lifetime warranty.

http://www.geocities.com/[email protected]/index.html?pg=1&cnt=5&t=a

Whaddaya think of these?

Kind of quirky. They seemed to be aimed at the bedroom players. I wouldn't want to haul them on a gig. Also calling modded Valve Juniors and converted SS practice amps "boutique" is a bit of a stretch, don't you think? Still if the guy can find a niche and make money from it, more power to him. I would like to see pictures of the innards of the amps. You can tell a lot about the build quality from them.

tung

 

[Feikert]

Last week I was able to play the People's Amp, and I was sold the minute I plugged in.

Listen, its not how the amp looks. You can buy the cassis and make your own fancy flashing lights and **** for under $50. The thing I liked the most about the amp, is the response. I have never played an amp that gave me the kind of response that the People's Amp gave me.

I play mostly metal, and progressive rock (like Rush, and Dream Theater, and Metallica) and the people's amp alone did not give me the sound I quite wanted (well, maybe for Rush, but not Metallica thats for sure.) However a Boss Distortion pedal fixed that problem right away.

The People's amp has a beautiful clean sound; very responsive. I listened to clips from different Pro Tools sessions that used the People's Amp and there was a pretty up beat rock session that had the people's amp hooked up to multiple effects pedals and it sounded amazing.

Also, one thing I would like to mention... the internet clips of the amp's recordings do not give the amp justice. You need to be in the room, right next to it, volume all the way up, rocking away to get the people's amp's full experience. I have never heard my harmonics as rich as I did with any other amp. The feedback was present and easy to control.

Its the feel people. You literally feel this amp.

Overall I would say that the People's Amp is a winner. Karl Wohlwend, the maker, is the nicest guy you will ever meet, and will work with you as best as he can.

 

[oldguy]

Welcome to TheFret, Feikert! Glad you joined us here to chime in on these amphs..........
Tell us a little more about yourself when you have time..........

That being said, I read the article and saw the pics also.
I like the concept, perhaps not so much the execution. The amphs look fine to me, with the exception of the wiring. Not bad, as good as anything I could do, but I'm definitely amateur.
Glad you love yours, a touch-sensitive amph does come alive under your fingers, huh?