Peter Arends is the CEO of Bad Cat Amps (badcatamps.com). It was a pleasure to meet him and do this quick interview during the NAMM 2022 edition. Following this moment we agreed on doing a visit in their workshop in Costa Mesa, you can find it in this article. Peter Arends interview Until the next
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Invaders Bluegrass 550 tube amp, a 50W single-channel powerhouse
Tuesday, 26 January 2021
The Bluegrass 550 from Invaders Amplification (invadersamplification.com) is a 100% tube amp single-channel tube amp that has a pretty phenomenal sound. One thing is sure, you won't run out of headroom with this amp! Invaders Bluegrass 550 review Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Dave Friedman interview, tube amp guru presenting his guitars in Paris
Wednesday, 23 October 2019
Dave Friedman is the great guru of the tube amp line that bear his name, he launched two years ago a line of electric guitars built and conceived with Grover Jackson. Dave talks about it in this interview done during the clinic in the L'Ampli à Lampes store in Paris, France (see the report in
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New test run for the Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box which is this time connected to a Marshall 6101 combo. For reference, for comparison a recording was also made with a Shure SM57 positioned in front of the speaker combo. OX Amp Top Box / Marshall 6101 Connection of the OX on the amp
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The Sideman FX tube amp from Kelt Amplification, entirely Made in France and even 100% in Brittany is a beautiful sound machine with an integrated effects loop. Kelt Sideman FX review Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Gear Review – OX Amp Top Box Universal Audio / Kelt Sideman FX amp
Friday, 03 May 2019
Here's a new review for the Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box which is this time connected to a Sideman FX Kelt head and cab. For reference, for comparison a recording was also made with a Shure SM57 positioned in front of the 15 inch speaker cab. OX Amp Top Box / Sideman FX amp
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Amp Review – Kelt Amplification Sideman – 100% tube powered!
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Thierry Labrouze manufactures in France in Brittany 100% tube amps that are found more and more in the hands of musicians who love beautiful tones. Some time ago a subscriber of La Chaîne Guitare ordered a Sideman Kelt but could not take delivery when Thierry brought him at the Puteaux show. So until further notice,
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In a previous article La Chaîne Guitare presented you an interview in French with Bruno Durand of the brand BD Custom Amplification. Here in this article you will find a review of his BF/Brownie model amp head that offers two completely separate channels. The first clean channel offers a Blackface type Fender sound, the second
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The Toulouse brand of high end boutique guitar gear Dewitte Wired has in its range a tube amp which sounds awesome: the Brut(e) Deluxe. Nicolas Dewitte, the boss of the brand, was visiting the showroom with his amp under his arm for a tour of Paris, it was an opportunity to do a quick test
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Amp Review – Heptode Jim 81 – Awesome sounding 100W solid-state amp
Friday, 22 June 2018
Jean-Luc Chtioui is a French engineer specialized in repairing guitar amps, with or without tubes. For his own line of amps under his brand Heptode, he chose to focus on making the greatest sounding solid-state amp possible. The Jim 81 100W amp - Heptode Recording setup Guitar #1: Strat / Vintage type pickups Guitar #2:
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Amp Review – DV Mark Micro 50: good sounding solid state head
Sunday, 08 May 2016
During the NAMM I was intrigued by theDV Mark Micro 50 amp. It's super small and quite powerful with 50W. DV Mark is a brand more established in the bass amp market but big players like Greg Howe or Frank Gambale are using their guitar amps so it says something about what they propose.
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Universal Audio Fender ’55 Tweed Deluxe plugin review
Saturday, 07 May 2016
Universal Audio is highly respected for its great plugins which run in their interface. So far, the guitar amps plugins available were geared toward the big distorted sounds with the Friedman or Marshall plugins. It was possible to get some cool clean tones from the existing plugins but not as good as a real Fender amp. Until now. Universal Audio has just released a plugin for the Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe amp. Here's below the Tweed Deluxe plugin review in video.
Universal Audio website: www.uaudio.com
The cool looking user interface for the plugin.
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Here's a video review of the Friedman BE100 plugin available in the Universal Audio Apollo interface. Friedman is well know for the quality of their high gain tube amp. That's why I was very curious to test drive the plugin based on the BE100 model.
Here's a screenshot of the plugin in what I call the simple mode where you see only the amp settings:
Here's a screenshot of the plugin in what I call the rack mode where you see in the top half all the settings to fine-tune the sounds : noise gate, cab and mikes, delay, etc.
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Amp Demo – BriceDelage rocking the Leo ’64 amp from Heptode Effects
Tuesday, 06 October 2015
Check-out the one and only French guitar player Brice Delage rocking the brand new high end solid state amp Leo '64 from Heptode Effects.
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Review of the @Line6 AMPLIFi 150 – A super cool amp full of tones
Monday, 28 July 2014
The AMPLIFi line is the latest offering from Line6 regarding guitar amps.
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UE Boom guitar amp - Nowadays you can't enter an electronic store without seeing a plethora of Bluetooth speakers. Last month I was invited to a presentation of the UE Boom from Ultimate Ears, the speakers sounds really great especially seeing the relatively small size. I wondered how it would sound to plug a guitar in one and see if it can be used as a guitar amp.
UE Boom guitar amp video
Unpacking the UE Boom
If you are familiar with the Apple unpacking experience, you won't be disappointed with the UE Boom one.
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