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FabAmp
Custom Metalhead Studio
Point-to-Point Hand wired
Single 6V6 powered
3 12AX7A’s
Power Rating: 5-Watts Class A
Price as tested: $450 USD
This amp head is a prototype built by Rob Franklin in Vancouver, Canada. It was designed for me, with lots of input from the maker. I wanted a 'final' amp. I wanted something all tube that would do Van Halen to deMartini type metal at home at reasonable volumes and also be useable in a low volume, yet sustainable jamming situation. I also wanted a Plexi like clean tone for blues and pop.
I ordered a head that is a mere 17 inches wide. Rob was able to accommodate me to make the amp fit on a 1x 12" cabinet. We had about 60 e-mails going in either direction until the amp was finished. Some of my suggestions were changed and other features were offered at no charge.
Rob went the extra distance on every aspect of this amp. I wanted a custom sized cab and chassis. He had it made. I wanted custom snakeskin tolex. I ordered it and he found a pro to apply it. The tolexing is perfect.
Rob had custom plates done for the front and back done on a CAD machine, to have the amps name and features engraved in gold on a black background in the front and back, for a finished pro look.
It looks as good or better than most of the smaller makers that you read about. This is the first cosmetically professional looking amp that he has made. It looks nothing like the amps on his site. If looks are as important to you on your gear, order with confidence. With tolex and labor, this will add $100 to your price, but it is well worth it. (So really, this amp was only a paltry $350! The window dressing added the extra $100). Now where else are you going to get a handmade tube amp built to your specs at this price?
The amp features a high and low level input. The low input is a line level input for a CD player or a rhythm box to jam along with. Therefore, it is a single input amp for guitar.
The amp has been tested using Analysis + Hollow Oval Cable, a Mesa Boogie 4 x 12" cabinet, a Krank 2 X 12" cabinet and a 1x 12" custom front ported cab with a Celestion Century, limited edition speaker. It sounded best with the 1 x 12" cabinet.
Test guitars were a Nash E-type with a traditional output OC Duff pick-up and an Epiphone Les Paul with a vintage Gibson 'Dirty Fingers' in the bridge. The guitar cable was a Klotz La Grange.
The controls are as follows: Gain, Mids, Bass, Sweep, treble, Master, Top.
Gain: It has a very fine British voice. Even tough it is only 5 watts; it has enough volume to anger your neighbors. With low gain and the volume at around 9 o’clock is reminiscent of the tone of the 18-Watt clones that are so popular today at a tame volume.
Some clones use less expensive parts and in turn have some compromises over their $2000+ big brother, other than you doing the labor. This is a 5-watt amp and really gets you there in a mini version with a ton of extras. Internal parts are of quality and the transformer is a Hammond.
The Gain on full is a polite sounding 80’s version of a very famous amp from the UK that graced most stages that featured metal/ hard rock bands. The tone with the gain on full is more polite to allow for more clean headroom, air and a hint of bloom. Just as the originals, this amp needs to be pushed with a distortion pedal to get ‘the sound.’
It was originally voiced as a hot-rod, but the amp didn’t allow for cleans and the voicing was a little too 70’s for my taste. The current voicing is open rich and smile inducing to the unsuspecting. The manufacturer offered a host of easy resistor and cap value mods, complete with schematics to get me the tone that I described, after I was not so taken with the first voicing. He sent the mods, with instructions in 2 hours via e-mail form my initial concerns. Now that’s what I call service! Anyone that can handle a soldering pencil can handle these ultra simple changes, if the amps voice doesn’t exactly suit you.
Keep in mind, that mine is the prototype. He sent me the changes from his own head, without any testing. He voiced it by memory of his circuit design and what could be modded. There was over 100 hours spent building this prototype. The attention to detail comes through.
So, if you think ordering a custom made amp without hearing it is a risky proposition, the only thing you are risking is not getting bargain basement priced great tone by getting something else.
Front Control Panel:
Gain: The gain is very useable and allows for many shades of tone. It does very nice and warm cleans for bedroom jazz and clean pop. It does the blues very well in an assortment of flavors. With the Gain cranked and the volume just past 3, the amp opens up and sounds like a mini JCM 800ish amp.
Mids: Lots of variability here. It has lots of character changes at the slightest turn-a good thing.
Bass: Typical bass control. It gets a little muddy and colored after 2 o'clock if you are a classic rock player. It gets deeper and thicker if your tastes are more to metal. Your ears will have to decide.
Sweep: This is a great function. It lets you choose the overall voicing of the amp. All the way to the right is more compressed and vintage. All the way to the left is more open and bright. There are so many flavors in between, Baskin-Robins has nothing on this tiny bad boy. I think of it as a low mid eq hump. It is my favorite feature on this amp. It is open and bright top the left and darker and more compressed to the right, for a more classic sound.
Treble: A very versatile pot. that never gets brash or too biting. It is well voiced.
Master: The attenuation is well stepped, although the amp finally comes alive at 3 o'clock. Then the amp has a real nice hard rock tone to it.
Top: To me, it sounds like a top cut control that doesn’t do too much. The designer, Rob, designed it as a Negative Feedback Loop attenuator. One person who tried my amp really liked the feature. Others have yet to get good use out of it. Time will tell.
Rear Panel: (left to right)
Headphones: This amp has a headphone jack that works in dual mono. It is an Output Transformerless Power amp, using a 12AU7A built into the amp. I am surprised that there is tube independently powered amp within an amp for headphones for a hi-fi sound. This is an unbelievable feature, yet alone in a $450 amp! It sounds very nice for playing late at night. It has it's own voice, as it is based of a different power tube for it's output-nice touch!
4 and 8-ohm taps: I found the amp had more grunt at 4 Ohm through the Boogie cabinet, although all other cabinets tested were 8 ohm only.
Pentode / Triode Switch: You can go from 1/2 power to full power on the fly. This is a great feature for at night, or for apartment dwellers. At 1/2 power, it is thicker and more saturated. It adds more tones to play with. This amp is not a one trick pony.
Slave: You can add a power amp to this shoebox-sized amp and play larger venues. This is a great feature if you wish to add a single rack spaced power amp or more. It is also has a tube buffered power stage for the slave. So you won’t have to totally sacrifice your tube power tone, if you are driving the head through a 400-watt solid-state power amp at a large venue. It is a very cool feature for those who want to keep a good fat tube sound in a tiny package. If you have found ‘your tone’ in this little Pandora’s box of sound at home, or in the studio, there is no need to give up your sound when you play live.
Conclusion
If you kind of like plexi’s and kind of like JCM 800’s and would like a mini version at home that melds the tone of both in a real world package, this is your amp. It does not do ‘D tuned’ NU metal. It is voiced for those who grew up on Roth era Van Halen, Motley Crue and Ratt. You will need to add a distortion pedal to push this amp, but it is designed to take it. The output transformer is 8-watts, so don’t worry about giving it too much juice. The components are quality and you shouldn’t have any problems.
I have had this amp for a month. I wanted a ‘final’ amp that would do this type of music, all tube and hand wired, at a low wattage. I am most impressed with the substantial palette of tones presented in this little amp. It sustains beautifully at real world volumes.
Yes, there are better amps out there, for 5 times the cash. There is nothing that can touch this pure tone tube amp for under $500 on the planet. I spent tons of hours looking at small makers until I found Rob. I am confident after 20 years as a guitar player, that this is the right choice for anybody that still remembers that wonderful 80’s tone, yet is a little older and wiser with a different set of priorities for their finances.
Contact information:
Fab Enterprises
3224 East 20th Avenue
Vancouver, BC Canada
1-604-619-8771
[email protected]
Custom Metalhead Studio
Point-to-Point Hand wired
Single 6V6 powered
3 12AX7A’s
Power Rating: 5-Watts Class A
Price as tested: $450 USD
This amp head is a prototype built by Rob Franklin in Vancouver, Canada. It was designed for me, with lots of input from the maker. I wanted a 'final' amp. I wanted something all tube that would do Van Halen to deMartini type metal at home at reasonable volumes and also be useable in a low volume, yet sustainable jamming situation. I also wanted a Plexi like clean tone for blues and pop.
I ordered a head that is a mere 17 inches wide. Rob was able to accommodate me to make the amp fit on a 1x 12" cabinet. We had about 60 e-mails going in either direction until the amp was finished. Some of my suggestions were changed and other features were offered at no charge.
Rob went the extra distance on every aspect of this amp. I wanted a custom sized cab and chassis. He had it made. I wanted custom snakeskin tolex. I ordered it and he found a pro to apply it. The tolexing is perfect.
Rob had custom plates done for the front and back done on a CAD machine, to have the amps name and features engraved in gold on a black background in the front and back, for a finished pro look.
It looks as good or better than most of the smaller makers that you read about. This is the first cosmetically professional looking amp that he has made. It looks nothing like the amps on his site. If looks are as important to you on your gear, order with confidence. With tolex and labor, this will add $100 to your price, but it is well worth it. (So really, this amp was only a paltry $350! The window dressing added the extra $100). Now where else are you going to get a handmade tube amp built to your specs at this price?
The amp features a high and low level input. The low input is a line level input for a CD player or a rhythm box to jam along with. Therefore, it is a single input amp for guitar.
The amp has been tested using Analysis + Hollow Oval Cable, a Mesa Boogie 4 x 12" cabinet, a Krank 2 X 12" cabinet and a 1x 12" custom front ported cab with a Celestion Century, limited edition speaker. It sounded best with the 1 x 12" cabinet.
Test guitars were a Nash E-type with a traditional output OC Duff pick-up and an Epiphone Les Paul with a vintage Gibson 'Dirty Fingers' in the bridge. The guitar cable was a Klotz La Grange.
The controls are as follows: Gain, Mids, Bass, Sweep, treble, Master, Top.
Gain: It has a very fine British voice. Even tough it is only 5 watts; it has enough volume to anger your neighbors. With low gain and the volume at around 9 o’clock is reminiscent of the tone of the 18-Watt clones that are so popular today at a tame volume.
Some clones use less expensive parts and in turn have some compromises over their $2000+ big brother, other than you doing the labor. This is a 5-watt amp and really gets you there in a mini version with a ton of extras. Internal parts are of quality and the transformer is a Hammond.
The Gain on full is a polite sounding 80’s version of a very famous amp from the UK that graced most stages that featured metal/ hard rock bands. The tone with the gain on full is more polite to allow for more clean headroom, air and a hint of bloom. Just as the originals, this amp needs to be pushed with a distortion pedal to get ‘the sound.’
It was originally voiced as a hot-rod, but the amp didn’t allow for cleans and the voicing was a little too 70’s for my taste. The current voicing is open rich and smile inducing to the unsuspecting. The manufacturer offered a host of easy resistor and cap value mods, complete with schematics to get me the tone that I described, after I was not so taken with the first voicing. He sent the mods, with instructions in 2 hours via e-mail form my initial concerns. Now that’s what I call service! Anyone that can handle a soldering pencil can handle these ultra simple changes, if the amps voice doesn’t exactly suit you.
Keep in mind, that mine is the prototype. He sent me the changes from his own head, without any testing. He voiced it by memory of his circuit design and what could be modded. There was over 100 hours spent building this prototype. The attention to detail comes through.
So, if you think ordering a custom made amp without hearing it is a risky proposition, the only thing you are risking is not getting bargain basement priced great tone by getting something else.
Front Control Panel:
Gain: The gain is very useable and allows for many shades of tone. It does very nice and warm cleans for bedroom jazz and clean pop. It does the blues very well in an assortment of flavors. With the Gain cranked and the volume just past 3, the amp opens up and sounds like a mini JCM 800ish amp.
Mids: Lots of variability here. It has lots of character changes at the slightest turn-a good thing.
Bass: Typical bass control. It gets a little muddy and colored after 2 o'clock if you are a classic rock player. It gets deeper and thicker if your tastes are more to metal. Your ears will have to decide.
Sweep: This is a great function. It lets you choose the overall voicing of the amp. All the way to the right is more compressed and vintage. All the way to the left is more open and bright. There are so many flavors in between, Baskin-Robins has nothing on this tiny bad boy. I think of it as a low mid eq hump. It is my favorite feature on this amp. It is open and bright top the left and darker and more compressed to the right, for a more classic sound.
Treble: A very versatile pot. that never gets brash or too biting. It is well voiced.
Master: The attenuation is well stepped, although the amp finally comes alive at 3 o'clock. Then the amp has a real nice hard rock tone to it.
Top: To me, it sounds like a top cut control that doesn’t do too much. The designer, Rob, designed it as a Negative Feedback Loop attenuator. One person who tried my amp really liked the feature. Others have yet to get good use out of it. Time will tell.
Rear Panel: (left to right)
Headphones: This amp has a headphone jack that works in dual mono. It is an Output Transformerless Power amp, using a 12AU7A built into the amp. I am surprised that there is tube independently powered amp within an amp for headphones for a hi-fi sound. This is an unbelievable feature, yet alone in a $450 amp! It sounds very nice for playing late at night. It has it's own voice, as it is based of a different power tube for it's output-nice touch!
4 and 8-ohm taps: I found the amp had more grunt at 4 Ohm through the Boogie cabinet, although all other cabinets tested were 8 ohm only.
Pentode / Triode Switch: You can go from 1/2 power to full power on the fly. This is a great feature for at night, or for apartment dwellers. At 1/2 power, it is thicker and more saturated. It adds more tones to play with. This amp is not a one trick pony.
Slave: You can add a power amp to this shoebox-sized amp and play larger venues. This is a great feature if you wish to add a single rack spaced power amp or more. It is also has a tube buffered power stage for the slave. So you won’t have to totally sacrifice your tube power tone, if you are driving the head through a 400-watt solid-state power amp at a large venue. It is a very cool feature for those who want to keep a good fat tube sound in a tiny package. If you have found ‘your tone’ in this little Pandora’s box of sound at home, or in the studio, there is no need to give up your sound when you play live.
Conclusion
If you kind of like plexi’s and kind of like JCM 800’s and would like a mini version at home that melds the tone of both in a real world package, this is your amp. It does not do ‘D tuned’ NU metal. It is voiced for those who grew up on Roth era Van Halen, Motley Crue and Ratt. You will need to add a distortion pedal to push this amp, but it is designed to take it. The output transformer is 8-watts, so don’t worry about giving it too much juice. The components are quality and you shouldn’t have any problems.
I have had this amp for a month. I wanted a ‘final’ amp that would do this type of music, all tube and hand wired, at a low wattage. I am most impressed with the substantial palette of tones presented in this little amp. It sustains beautifully at real world volumes.
Yes, there are better amps out there, for 5 times the cash. There is nothing that can touch this pure tone tube amp for under $500 on the planet. I spent tons of hours looking at small makers until I found Rob. I am confident after 20 years as a guitar player, that this is the right choice for anybody that still remembers that wonderful 80’s tone, yet is a little older and wiser with a different set of priorities for their finances.
Contact information:
Fab Enterprises
3224 East 20th Avenue
Vancouver, BC Canada
1-604-619-8771
[email protected]
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