A little rant about reissue amps

I get the following email about 3-5x a year…

Hi, I was just checking to see if you can hand wire my reissue amp?

Part of me wants to take this personally of course…Who do you think you are asking me to work on something like that, fixing some other company’s mistakes… etc. But in reality, I realize that some people are just never going to bring themselves to buying a high end amp…or they think they cannot afford one. But in reality, the price of a re-issue combined with a hand wiring job (if actually done to completion) is close enough to the price of a new Headstrong, and possibly the same price as a used one.

I am not actually angry about the question, just frustrated that people don’t realize how close they are in price to being able to get something that is actually built properly. This doesn’t mean a Headstrong is the only option either, there are several guys out there building quality amps for less than I do that will perform well, last longer and cost about the same, or less, than a hand wired board mod.

To me the issue with these amps is not the PC board so much as it is the overall (lack of?) quality of components and build consistency. The hand wired vs PC board discussion is for another blog, but in my opinion there are quite a few PC board amps out there that are of equal quality as a hand wired amp. It is just not being offered by the big companies, generally speaking. The larger companies will always use price points as a deciding factor in ALL builds, even the “hand wired reissues”. In fact if you look inside some of the hand wired versions of these amps, you will find many of the same components as the PC reissue amps have. My guess is CE certification and costs are the main reason for this. The other thing I have noticed is the same clip on connections for transformers, switches and fuse holder…An old amp (and the Headstrong) have been soldered for these connections. While I have seen some “boutique” tone caps in the hardwired series, the other caps are basically what you would find in the PC amp.

Gut shot of the $2800 PR “hand wired” amp

Tonally PC vs hardwired can actually sound different, but to me the differences lie in overall quality, serviceability, consistency and toughness. Some of the PC amps just won’t hold up on the road. They have connection issues, bad tube sockets, grounding issues etc, that when put out on the road in a van or bus, running around the country with varying AC voltages etc, this will just beat a reissue into submission alarmingly quick! There are many exceptions to this, you can actually win the reissue lottery and get one of the good ones! Even the hand wired series have issues with fit and finish, the cabs buzz or rattle, it is literally a crap shoot!

PC board from a PRRI Custom

And while we are on that subject…the board is only one of the issues going on inside those “hand wired” amps. There are many that have the wrong value filter caps, questionable pots and the layout is different as well. The carbon film resistors are the same as you would find in the $1300 dollar version…They want $2799(!) for a hand wired version, that, other than more labor, has basically the same Bill of Materials as the cheaper versions. The sum of all parts is what makes an amp sound and perform well. NOT just the board or wiring technique used.

I am not trying to convince you to spend your money on what I do, but rather, spend your money on the best possible option that is available for you. Also consider, do you work hard in your day to day, can you afford something more high end? You most likely deserve to treat yourself to something of quality! Do some research, ask some pros what they think about reissue vs hand wired versions. Most guys I know, for fly in gigs chose the DR reissue…they know what they’re going to get, they can get a decent tone out of it and they’ve been around for years, and most likely they already know where to set the thing to get through the gig.

There are several companies out there that offer the hand wired conversion, for what I think is a great price. They have been doing this for years, and are great at it. My approach would be more, by the time I am done bringing that amp to spec, you would pay more than if I just built you something. The transformers are suspect, the tubes are not great, some of the wire routing is no ideal…you get the picture.

So in closing, what I should’ve said in the first paragraph…NO I do not do hand wired drop in boards for any reissues nor do I work on any current offering from Fender. Just not something I have time or desire to take on. I really enjoy building an amp from scratch, it allows me to layout everything the same way as I have for 20 years, not having to adapt and say things like, “it’s close enough” Perfect is basically the only thing that I find to be “close enough”

With that, I will now get back to the bench and finish up what I think is a proper Deluxe Reverb, the Royal Reverb, with all of its soft bass response when pushed and “noisy and drift prone” carbon comp resistors!

Thanks, as always, for reading

Wayne