Sweedish Chef gets top billing at New York Amp show

[Emperor-TK]

Premier Guitar puts them first in the photo montage:

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2010/Jun/GALLERY_New_York_Amp_Show_2010.aspx

I haven't seen Steve around here much lately, but I had a chance to meet him last weekend at the NY amp show.  Wonderful guy, wonderful amps.  I arrived a little late and couldn't make all the rounds, but his amps were in my top two favorites (among the 10 amps that I really got to sit down and play).  Check out his website.  Impressive list of clients using his stuff.

http://www.audiokitchen.co.uk/

Hits: 
Audio Kitchen - wonderful amps, like a great steak dinner:  Short on bells and whistles, high on flavor.  Goes the extra 5% beyond a typical great simple amp.  One bell/whistle:  a voltage control knob (not to confused with an attenuator).  Voltage goes down, fuzz goes up.  Like a juicy fuzzface meets tonebender, but without loosing body.

Reinhardt amps -  The way I used to remember tube amps when I was a kid, LOUD, with a "kick you in the chest" response missing from many modern offerings.  He's not afraid of high wattages either (sorry, 15-30w is NOT loud and would be pissed on by any rock drummer I've ever played with) .  Inspired by old Marshalls, but they blow my '72 and '77 Marshalls away in many regards.  Smooth, not shrill, and VERY percussive.  Unbelievably quiet in between notes when dimed as well.

Misses (same as last year):
Bludotone - had lines out the door, very talented players were loving the amp, I thought they sounded like a gassy badger trying to squeeze too many large notes through a narrow pipe.  Notes were crashing into each other all over the place.  In other-words, he nailed the Dumble sound he was going for.  My buddy described it as "the lows have too much low mid, the mids have too much low mid, and the trebles have too much low mid".  I'll never understand the fascination...

Fractal Audio (high end amp modeler) - same lines out the door as Bludotone, same "amp across the room with too much processing" sound as a vintage POD.  Not in the same league as the much cheaper Vox modelers and Revalver software.

 

[zebra50]

Nice to hear it. Well done Swedish Chef!

Steve made a big contribution in the early days of this community, and I learned a lot from his posts. Top bloke too. Let's hope he sells a load.

the lows have too much low mid, the mids have too much low mid, and the trebles have too much low mid

That made me laugh.    You know exactly the kind of sound he's talking about! (We've had a few metal bands pass through the studio and it'll never be my favourite thing to work on. But the kids always seem nice and respectful.)

Stew

 

[SSLtech]

Kudos to Chef...  Long may he reign!

Speaking of amp modeling:

Not in the same league as the much cheaper Vox modelers and Revalver software.

I recently bought me a strat-type-guitar thingie, after 15 years of not owning a 5-string electric twanger... and I bought a few amps. to go with it.

First was a dead Twin reverb. Resurrected using help from here. Sounds big and bright, but WAY too loud to practice with.

Second was a smaller Fender practice amp for my son to use.

Third was an attempt to avoid cranking the twin reverb... so I bought a Line-six... -It was okay... -sort of.

...then I tried a colleague's vox modeling amp.

Holy crap! This little thing is FANTASTIC value for money, and doesn't make me wish that it wasn't a fizz-box!

I've actually FORGOTTEN that I owned a Line-6 until I wrote this... the Vox has eclipsed it by such a colossal margin.

I'm building an 18-Watt though... -anyone want to buy a twin reverb?

 

[skipwave]

Cheers! Steve's a very nice fellow, and I wish him success.

Anybody heard Verellen Amps? some of my favourite players are using them.

http://www.verellenamplifiers.com/products.html

 

[ledogboy]

Cheers! Steve's a very nice fellow, and I wish him success.

Anybody heard Verellen Amps? some of my favourite players are using them.

http://www.verellenamplifiers.com/products.html

Holy crap! I know Ben Verellen from many moons ago- we did a couple of tours together.  I didn't have any idea he was into amp design / building.  Thanks for posting this link, I'm gonna have to drop him a line!
Cheers,
Ryan

 

[drpat]

This is good to hear. I'm really intrigued by these amps, they have some innovative features that appear to be very useful, like the "power" knob. I wonder if there's any demo units floating around the west coast, or if they have a return policy if it's just not my bag? I'd love to hear one of the Little Chopper heads.

I've been doing a lot of amp and speaker buying too. Just picked up an older block letter 5150 for the screamo bands. I also have a custom 15W head made for me by SGA. And a 3W/5W Blackheart for practicing with. Between these and my VOX & Marshall rigs, I get a nice variety of tones. I may pick up another Fender and GK250ML to replace the one's that my ex-wife inherited too. :-\

I'm also collecting parts to build a P2P AC15 head. Should be fun...

 

[skipwave]

Cheers! Steve's a very nice fellow, and I wish him success.

Anybody heard Verellen Amps? some of my favourite players are using them.

http://www.verellenamplifiers.com/products.html

Holy crap! I know Ben Verellen from many moons ago- we did a couple of tours together.  I didn't have any idea he was into amp design / building.  Thanks for posting this link, I'm gonna have to drop him a line!
Cheers,
Ryan

That's cool. I only met him at the last Harkonen performance at Bumbershoot fest some years back. Needless to say, he was not in a talkative mood after smashing his bass onstage. It was as though he was shattering any possibility of a reunion right then and there, which I admire.

I think I've been hearing the Verellen amps on some recent recordings by Matt Bayless, and if so, I'm impressed.

 

[Kev]

sweeet
... nice work Steve