End of an era… Award Session to close in a couple of months…

[TrevorR]

Just read on the Award Session Facebook page that Stuart Ward is retiring and closing down the business at the end of March. They’ve been a bit obscure over recent years but they had a real moment in the sun through the 80s. Their Sessionette amps were great little amps and their guitar preamp/speaker sim pedals were absolutely stonking! British SamsAmps before anyone had really heard of Sansamp.

 

Sad to see another British small manufacturer close but hopefully Stuart will enjoy some well earned feet up time!
 

 

[Graham]

All my cables are Cleartone, been using them for years so this is a shame, but glad the owner is able to retire on his own terms.

[TrevorR]

11 minutes ago, Graham said:

All my cables are Cleartone, been using them for years so this is a shame, but glad the owner is able to retire on his own terms.

Apart from the ones @obbmlater made for me, same here.

[jezzaboy]

40 minutes ago, Graham said:

All my cables are Cleartone, been using them for years so this is a shame, but glad the owner is able to retire on his own terms.

Same here, got a cable off them last week. That`s me buggered as they make great cables at decent prices. Still the man deserves to enjoy his retirement. 

[chris_b]

For a brief period, about 20 years ago, Stewart used to bring his amps (can't remember if they were production or prototype models) to our jam night to check them out on a gig and raise a bit of Session interest.

[Bassassin]

I used a Session 4x10 bass combo from the mid 80s to the end of the 90s. Poor man's Trace Elliots, those were. Very bright & directional, & needed an extension cab if you wanted any appreciable bottom end. In fairness it made a better guitar amp than bass amp.

[2pods]

On 02/02/2024 at 00:36, Bassassin said:

I used a Session 4x10 bass combo from the mid 80s to the end of the 90s. Poor man's Trace Elliots, those were. Very bright & directional, & needed an extension cab if you wanted any appreciable bottom end. In fairness it made a better guitar amp than bass amp.

 

Me too !

After much moaning from the band, replaced by a Peavy TNT  combo, which was great.

 

However, the guy was over the moon with the Session, and insisted on giving me £25 quid too.

Maybe he had another cab waiting for it.

[Steve Browning]

I had the 1x15 version. Not enough power (let alone bottom end). That said, Stewart told me that it was only produced so they could say they made a bass amp.

[casapete]

I tried both bass combos, and agree they were boxy and underpowered. However, a mate of mine had

a Session 15:30 watt valve combo which was an interesting guitar amp. Could be used along with a 

separate slave combo in multiples to increase output which was I believe a new concept in the late

70’s / early 80’s.

Before discovering @obbm on here I used ClearTone cables after first seeing them on a trade stand

at a guitar show. Still using some now, great cables. 

[Dan Dare]

Thanks for posting this. I've used a Sessionette 1x12 for many years for my electric fiddle. It doesn't have that baked in mid peak that so many guitar combos have, which clash horribly on a fiddle. It's nice for jazz guitar as well, probably for the same reason. It's been in need of a refurb for a while - pots getting crackly, etc - so you prompted me to get in touch with them. I emailed this morning and Stewart replied to me within the hour. Have booked it in for some TLC. He told me they are to stop making new amps shortly, but will continue to service/repair existing ones until 2029. 

[Dan Dare]

Just returned from Stewart's. Had a very interesting and enjoyable morning chatting over a cuppa and talking gear and the old days (he works mainly from home at present). Had a play on his '63 Tele' through one of his current combos. The amp was really excellent. All solid state and sounds just like a 50s/60s valve amp. Instant Ventures guitar sound when clean and breaks up gently and smoothly at higher volume. I would defy anyone to play it sight unseen and not think it was valved. Compact and light and very pokey for its 22 W rating.

 

He explained the idea behind it. He's developed a circuit that replicates the effect of an output transformer (which S/S amps traditionally don't have). It senses speaker impedance and ensures, as does an output transformer, that the signal sent to the speaker takes account of variations in impedance. Speaker impedance varies, sometimes quite dramatically, according to frequency. In general, impedance rises as frequency gets higher, meaning a S/S amp is working harder to deliver the same output as frequency rises and causing it to sound duller and lacking in sparkle. 

 

He considers the reason valve amps sound louder than S/S amps of the same output rating is due to the fact that the speaker in a valve amp is always being sent an optimised signal. So maybe the belief about "valve watts" isn't a myth, after all. Made sense to me as a layman and I can confirm that it works extremely well.