ikay Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Does anyone have one of these amazing little amps? Seemingly only available direct from the maker in Crete (https://blog.drooble.com/pure-tone-amps-a-talk-with-michalis-serpetsidakis/). Fabulous sounding amp and weighs only 7kg! Are there any other small/lightweight all valve bass amps out there? I've scoured the internet but can't find anything that comes close to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) @Merton pointed out these amps and some rather expensive handbuilt European ones a few days back. Looks v cool Edited June 30, 2022 by Clarky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Yep as @Clarky said I found this quite recently and fell in love. Around €3.5k but I think based on that review and the fact it’s incredibly limited quantity, hand-built, custom-shop production it’s worth every Penny. Especially now Ashdown are selling a 30W valve amp for £1400! Isn’t arms of other small footprint valve amps Hot Amp in Czech Republic are another manufacturer, and Rheingold in Germany. Plus there’s the Handbox WB100 which isn’t exactly massive. I really would love one of these PureTone amps but unless I win the lottery I can’t justify the expense sadly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 Yes, I just emailed Michalis and got the news about the Euro3.5k price tag! He replied in a matter of minutes with quite a lot of info. Build time is 6 weeks and current wait time is about 6 months. I looked at Rheingold and Handbox but they're quite a bit bigger and heavier. Very little info on the Hot Amp website or FB page. The Basstard 1082 80W looks looks interesting, I'll email for more details. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=280303903892855&set=pcb.280305070559405 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) 9 minutes ago, ikay said: Yes, I just emailed Michalis and got the news about the Euro3.5k price tag! He replied in a matter of minutes with quite a lot of info. Build time is 6 weeks and current wait time is about 6 months. I looked at Rheingold and Handbox but they're quite a bit bigger and heavier. Very little info on the Hot Amp website or FB page. The Basstard 1082 80W looks looks interesting, I'll email for more details. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=280303903892855&set=pcb.280305070559405 I emailed Pavel about that “Mini Basstard” and it sounds very interesting - 43 cm wide if that makes a difference for you. Didn’t get a price I’m afraid, but his 15W version is €1.6k. 7-8 month build time and customisable boxes/knobs etc Edited June 30, 2022 by Merton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 PS the Rheingold I was thinking of was this one: https://www.rheingold-music.com/en/p/rheingold-b100 Twice the weight (ish) of the PureTone but similar size I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 Hmm, at 1.6k for 15W I expect the 80W will be heading towards Pure Tone territory... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) Ah, I didn't see the Rheingold B100 which is very much in the ballpark. Unfortunately not the price. Looks like I may need to reset my expectations.. Edited June 30, 2022 by ikay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 3 minutes ago, ikay said: Ah, I didn't see the Rheingold B100 which is very much in the ballpark. Unfortunately not the price. Looks like I may need to reset my expectations.. Exactly what I needed to do ☹️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 It's gonna be a nervous night down the Dog And Duck with those tubes hanging out there... 😕🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Just now, Muzz said: It's gonna be a nervous night down the Dog And Duck with those tubes hanging out there... 😕🙂 That was one of the reasons I decided not to find €3.5k down the back of the sofa 😅 Love the amp, would be amazing but the gigs I’m playing I would constantly be fussing about its safety 🤓 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Ohhh, it's a great amp, but only if I had the money for it to be a home/studio based luxury... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Everything I hate about "boutique" electronics. No proper case to protect the valves and transformer (that'll be why it's lighter than the competition). Un-ergonomic layout of the controls, borderline illegibility of the legends and no markings for the knobs. If this was a one-off a home-brew for the maker to use himself it's probably OK but to expect people to part with large amounts of money for something that looks like a half-finished prototype... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thodrik Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 The lack of case/protection for the valves, horrendous layout of controls and difficult to read handwritten markings would make it a 'no' for me, even if it was priced at £800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 If you’re looking for medium weight all valve then don’t forget Stoneham’s beautiful 200W amp head. https://www.stonehamamps.co.uk/product/yi200-head/? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 38 minutes ago, JPJ said: If you’re looking for medium weight all valve then don’t forget Stoneham’s beautiful 200W amp head. https://www.stonehamamps.co.uk/product/yi200-head/? I emailed these guys about a smaller 100W head (along the lines of Handbox/HotAmps size) but never heard back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 5 minutes ago, Merton said: I emailed these guys about a smaller 100W head (along the lines of Handbox/HotAmps size) but never heard back Martin is a one-man band and I know he’s been very busy of late, including moving his premises so it might be worth trying again? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 5 minutes ago, JPJ said: Martin is a one-man band and I know he’s been very busy of late, including moving his premises so it might be worth trying again? Ah nice. Will do exactly that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 7 minutes ago, JPJ said: Martin is a one-man band and I know he’s been very busy of late, including moving his premises so it might be worth trying again? As someone who runs their own one-person business, I simply don't get this. No matter how busy I am with actual work, every new enquiry gets an answer with 24 hours, even if I have to apologise that I am too busy to take on any new work at the moment. An unanswered request will most likely result in my potential customer never bothering to get in touch again, whereas those I let know I can't accommodate them right now may well come back with a new request at a time when I need the work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 3 hours ago, Merton said: Ah nice. Will do exactly that A 100W that comes in at around half the weight of the YI200 would do nicely! Most new breed 'lightweight' valve amps still seem to weigh in at close to 20kg. I wonder how Pure Tone managed to get it down to 7kg? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 36 minutes ago, ikay said: A 100W that comes in at around half the weight of the YI200 would do nicely! Most new breed 'lightweight' valve amps still seem to weigh in at close to 20kg. I wonder how Pure Tone managed to get it down to 7kg? If I get anywhere with it I’ll let you know - maybe it would help the cause of two of us are after the same thing 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt P Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Martin at stoneham has been my go to amp tech for a while now, I have suggested a 100w bass head to him and he seemed to suggest that it would be possible, if it was narrow enough not to hang over the edges of my cabs I'd possibly be interested as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 I emailed Handbox for prices of the WB-100 and got the following reply from Leszek. Price seems very reasonable to me. I've contacted Sims re UK distribution and waiting to hear back. Hello Ian, The price of the WB-100 is £ 800. Transport to the UK is around £ 25-30. Tubes prices have risen by 50-80% since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Most of the famous brands are produced in Russia, unfortunately. Theoretically, I work with Sims Guitar, but the cooperation is not going well. They have had the equipment from me for over two years and have not sold anything during that time. All the Best Leszek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarky Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 (edited) Couple of things - Handbox will ship directly but there will be VAT/import duty payable on top - and more importantly they have been awaiting steel enclosures for WB-100 and R-400 from supplier for some time and don't appear to have clarity when these will arrive (the amp 'guts' are all made and waiting to be installed in enclosures, apparently). A few BCers (myself included) are waiting on amps but it seems a bit like 'how long is a piece of string' Edited July 8, 2022 by Clarky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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