Frenzels

[Gibson 1964]

I know there are some ancient threads in here about them, but as the proud owner of two of these fine amps, I wonder if there are more of us out there.

I own a champ pro and a hot box wildcat, and I have to say the champ pro with NOS RCA 6k6's and a NOS RCA 12ax7 is simply the best pedal amp I have ever played.

The Hot Box wildcat with a TC NovaSystem is also just perfect.

Anybody else use these great amps? Absolute sleepers in my opinion.

[rjs6700]

I just recently picked up a HBX-AC15 used. Still experimenting with it, but like it so far.

[Lizard Leg]

I have a Deluxe Plus being shipped from Frenzel on the 18th - looking forward to it.

[soundchaser59]

5E3 Deluxe Plus for almost a year now. Love mine. Most inspiration I've felt in 20 years was when I brought home the Mesa, and when I dimed the Frenzel with no pedals. Pure tone bliss. Very tempted to save for another, like the HotBox....

[gill]

5E3 Deluxe here too. Started my amp search looking for a Princeton Reverb with a 12" speaker and wound up with the Frenzel , a 1X12 with a Weber Alnico sig and a reverb pedal. Lots more versatillity for a lot less $$ :)

[Satyrist]

A friend of mine has, I believe, the HBX-AC15 and absolutely raves about it. We've jammed and I dug the sound, lush cleans and plenty of growl when cranked.

[Chrome Dinette]

The guitar player in a band we played with last night had a Frenzel. It was one of the fender/marshall hybrid things. He said it was 35 watts. I was really curious to hear it, but it was a weird PA situation(semi large pa, but only three vocal mics, nothing else) and he was afraid he wouldn't be loud enough and he used my amp/speakers instead.

[samuelson]

I've had my Deluxe Plus III for about a month now and it's one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard. Both the Marshall and Fender channels are very usable and can be used with an A/B box to switch between the two. works well with a 4x10 cab, a 1x12 celestion gold cab, and my alnico blues cab. a good friend of mine who does amp repairs thinks it's one of the best amps he's heard too.

I've got Bad Cats, Marshals, Blankenships, Mesa Boogies, Vox's, Dr. Z's and all that and its as good as any of them. really. do yourself a favor and get one. mine was under $600 too!!!

[mwhy]

I have a "Super Deluxe Plus" with reverb, and it's a smokin' amp. I play jazz mostly through the "fender" input, but switch to the "marshall" as well. A friend has the same amp, and he always uses the "M" input, and he sounds great. Killer amps.

[kleydj13]

I have stumbled onto Frenzel amps just this past week looking for a head version of a Fender Deluxe. I just placed an order for the 5E3 Deluxe Pluss III and am really excited about it. I got the steel enclosure, effects loop, and bias switch upgrades for $700!!

[soundchaser59]

Both the Marshall and Fender channels are very usable and can be used with an A/B box to switch between the two.

I got an ART CoolSwitch that lets me run into both preamps at once. You dont have to switch, you can use them both at the same time too. I had to put 6V6's in mine to bring the overall power down, so that I could run the master up and drive the power tubes a bit more. Very rich and warm sound.

[Norf]

I have a 5E3 Deluxe Plus which has great cleans and is a terrific practice amp. Not much for gain at low volume but I use pedals anyway. I have used it with the band once. It performed well but doesn't really have the headroom i need. Overall I am very pleased with it.

[MNBassman21]

I've got a Bassman Bluesbreaker JF-B45 head rackmounted and roadcased.
I absolutely love it!
I hate to say I'm having to part with it :(...

[rixtertech.com]

I've got a Champ Super Sportster due to arrive in early June, an Avatar Contemporary 112 cab with a Hellatone 30 on the way to pair it with, and a plan to stuff a couple of Webers of some sort into a 2x10 bass cab I've got lying around as soon as I can figure out which Webers to buy. I've been puzzled about the Frenzel "under the radar" syndrome too. Maybe he's not charging enough? I must say his website probably isn't helping any... not so much because of the clunky but working site design but rather the very uneven and sometimes badly written text content. I had a lot of trouble figuring out some of the stuff I read there, and it slowed down my decision-making process. But lots of people must have his amps, and they don't seem to have much to say on the web.

Oh. Maybe they are busy having a ball playing their gear! Yeah, maybe that's it. I'll let you know next month!

[soundchaser59]

When I bought my Mesa 5.25 Express, I thought I was done amp shopping.

Now, 3 years later, I just tried to sell my Mesa. Why?

Because when I leave the house with my guitar, I grab the Frenzel.
When I turn on the recorder, I fire up the Frenzel.

The Mesa just sits there......cold......lifeless......waiting.....and when I finally turned it on out of sympathy, I spent 2 hours trying to make it sound like the Frenzel.

[shawncothran]

I have had the 5E3 Super Deluxe Plus since 2007. I was and still am SOO glad i switched to it from my former Mesa Lonestar 2x12. It is consistently beautiful whether i plug in clean or go through all the pedals... Jim did me right! Usually the 40 watts through the 1x12 V30 is MORE than enough, but stuck on my Geezer 2x12 it is that much better. My tone hunt totally ended with this amp.

I only wish it was a combo so I could carry all my crap in 2 trips! too many pedals... but the pedal tone hunt never ends...