Bruno Amps in The House

Here's the report on the Bruno amps:

6/10/05
Everything arrived safe and sound. I don't know where to
start, but they all sound incredible. The Tweedy18 is to
die for. Early Page, Richards, Wood in a lunchpale sized
1x12 combo. What a gorgeous classic rock tone. Tweed
Deluxe circuit with a Celestion Blue.The ultimate tiny rock
amp that makes a Marshall stack sound small.

The Tweedy 35 delivers that big focused overdrive that
you get from a dimed bigger Tweed. Think Bassman,
Bandmaster, Tweed Twin. It can really nail them all but
with many sonic improvements. Big fat juicy thick classic
American overdrive. Much spongier yet fuller than any
British overdrive circuit. This is all meat and potatoes.
No high end fizz here. This one will rumble your gut and
give your woofers a big run for their money. No need for Exlax
with this amp in the house.

Cowtipper 22, the sweetest Blackface Deluxe Reverb type
amp I've heard. Beautiful breakup at very reasonable levels.
The softest output (6V6s) of all the Brunos I have. Very
easy on the ears to dial in great sounds. Very SRV-like
sounding breakup. A low level input can open the door for a
bit more clean headroom if that's what you want. The high
end has more girth and holds together so well and the lows never flub out. Beautiful singing harmonics and overtones
come swirling out of this amp and dance around the room.

Cowtipper 45, with the new 4x10" cab is not to be believed.
A new height in incredible Blackface tone. I think I just
raised the bar by about 10 feet with this setup. The Cow45
will stay glued to the 4x10 cab. (The Tweedy35 did not
work as well with the 4x10 but sounds incredible through
the 2x12 cab, so there it will stay). The 10"s are the DT-10
speakers from Lord Valve. They are dark sounding speakers but the Cow 45 can deliver more than enough high end to make the DT-10s sing. (DT=Derek Trucks of the Allmans). Again, super
strong hang and clarity on the high notes and a great tight
focus on the bass notes. The 2 weak spots of the Super Reverb
are vastly improved upon here.

I don't miss my 60's Super, Pro, Twin or Deluxe at all, as they are
all off to new homes. IMO Tony Bruno has perfected the classic
American circuits and sounds, and I feel that Brian Gerhard at
TopHat has done the same for the classic Marshall and Vox
British circuits. Between the TopHat line and the new Bruno
additions, I feel that I have assembled a world class amp room
capable of delivering classic guitar tones in a bigger and better
way than ever before. I also have the ability to capture the
more modern tones with some of the newer high gain amps that I've acquired over the past few years.

Still to Arrive:
Fargen Custom Shop Single Channel 6L6 Lead Amp
(this is turning into Ben Fargen's masterpiece)
Bruno Cowtipper 90
Straub Cantus
TopHat Club Deluxe w/ some xtra dirt

I'll post on these as soon as they arrive.

 

They're mine but I run a studio and am launching a new label.
I ran Relativity records for 21 years (Satriani, Vai, Holdsworth,
Henderson etc... to Megadeth, Exodus, Possessed etc....to
The Cure, My Bloody Valentine etc... to Agnostic front, Sick
Of It All, Circle Jerks.....) and I'm gearing up to do it all over
again. I've got lots of great guitars in and coming in as well
but I'll post about that in the Guitars In General Section soon.

These are my tools. My mission is to make the best sounding
records I can, and I'm thrilled to be getting back into the world
of guitar driven rock/metal/whatever music.

thanks

 

Anytime. I've got 2 Swans here and 2 more coming. Email me.

Cliff

 

The guitar aresenal right now is:

Fender 67 Tele (Twang from hell)
Fender Nocaster Relic (Led Zep in a can)
Fender 67 Strat (major vibe on this guitar)
Fender 50's Strat parts guitar (best tone I've ever had)
Gretsch 6120JR
Gretsch 6128T Duo Jet
Soloway Maple Top Swan
Soloway Mahogany Top Swan (featured in July's Guitar Player)
Burns Cobra
Fender Roscoe Beck 5 String Bass
Godin A12 acoustic/electric 12 string
Many Satch and Vai owned/toured with guitars (gifts)
PRS McCarty Soapbar (being sold)
Gibson LP 58 Custom Authentic (being sold)
Gibson 1989 Blonde 335 Dot Re-issue (being sold)
Gibson 1963 SG/LP (being sold)

Incoming:

Gustavsson 59 Custom w/ Lollar Imperials
Koll (Gretsched Out) Duo Glide
Soloway Swan Bubinga top with F Hole & Humbuckers
Soloway Swan Bubinga Top with no F Hole & Bluesbuckers
Fender 1973 Telecaster Custom

***All the guitars above that are listed as being sold are going
because the Soloway Swans have made them obsolete in terms
of tone, by tremendous margins.

 

Trisonic,

The Cowtipper22 totally transcends the best BFDRs out there.
I had 6 great vintage BFDRs at my studio to choose from and
went for the CT22 in a heartbeat. It was no contest. The CT22
nailed all the best tones from the other 6 and was able to
cross into 6L6 land without any tube swap. Hence the SRV
type breakup without a TS808. It's capable of so much more
than just dialing in a great BFDR sound.

 

Gat,

Nicely, nicely. Thats a great group of amps. I had a Komet
and liked it quite a bit. Will probably bring one back on board.
I'm not moving on the Super 100 because of the High Gain
6L6 single channel Lead Amp that Ben Fargen is designing for
me. I think Ben is really going to deliver this sound thats been
in my head for years that no one else has been able to convert
to hardware for me. Think of David Gilmour at his best without
having to use a pedal to soar above the music. Ben is right
there. I think this will end up being the gain side of his new
Bordeaux when all is said and done.

Anyhow, get a Cow22 now. You will not regret it. In fact you'll
sell a bunch of Fenders and walk away richer both tonewise
and financially.

 

The CT45 has a bright and mid boost switch which Tony was
thinking of incorporating into the CT22. After some experimenting,
the decision was made to definitely remove the mid boost
function on the CT22. You can have the treble boost installed
but my advice would be to go with the high and low inputs and forget the treble boost as there is plenty of treble on tap to
be dialed in. With the treble boost, you will be altering the basic
circuit as that boost is applied across the input. This amp is too
harmonically beautiful to make such a compromise IMO, and
again, you will never max out the existing treble control so
the boost becomes not only a negative to me but also pointless.

Just get the stock amp with the 2 inputs. Having the high and low
inputs gives more flexibility. The tone controls are so sensitive
on all the Brunos that you'll have more tonal possibilities to dial
into than you'll have time for.

Now order the damn thing.......I did and I couldn't be more
pleased.

PS: I let Tony make all the final decisions for me. He is the
architect here, and he did the absolute right things for me.
I wanted him to make the best sounding group of amps for
me and he delivered above and beyond. When he's happy
with the amp, trust me, so shall you be.