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Former owner/founder of Tone King amps has developed and now builds a new range of very high spec totally handbuilt amps under his own name - with a price to match! Anybody tried them, Guitar Magazine (UK) review sounds
interesting?
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11-07-2018 05:02 PM
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Bartel Amplifiers LLC – Masterbuilt Guitar Amplifiers
Regarding the price, holy chit!
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I’m sure these are fantastic guitar amplifiers and I’d love to try one. But I really wonder what the street prices will be. The msrp prices are sky high!
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Right, so the question may be, "Can anyone afford a Bartel amp?"
I'm sure they're great, but if I had an extra $4500, I'd probably buy a really nice guitar!
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.....or even 2...or 3 nice guitars....
Originally Posted by marcwhy
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'Street price' in UK, from the only stockist, Coda Music is £4500ish ($5200?). I recall a few years back when Standel tube amps were being built by Danny Kinney (?) they were around £4000. At the time, more than a new L5!
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I admire his dedication to detail and if I was a rich man I'd buy one, but I have to wonder if it's worth it. The classic tube amps everybody loves were built by factory hands from standardized designs. The website talks a lot of about "purity of tone," but who goes to tube amps for "purity?" That he molds his own wiring standoffs is crazy cool, but I'm more skeptical of the claim that the "single channel Multi Voice preamp offers an incredibly wide range of voicings ranging from sparkly cleans to thick, woody tweed to driven plexi crunch and grind." I really don't think you can get a tweed deluxe and a blackface twin and a Marshall in the same amp, and no amount of artisan craftsmanship can change that.
The cheapest one is $3295. It has a cabinet with
- "Special recipe coating compound applied to preserve natural acoustic behavior.
- Upholstery applied with natural hide glue for superior acoustic response."
How did anyone ever get good sounds out of those old amps?
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I'd wait for the Kemper PFA Bartel profiles...
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I can't imagine how it sounds, but the craftmanship and design with attention to detail is simply off-the-charts
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I was thinking along the same line. That attention to detail and superb craftsmanship may justify the high price tag. I’m pretty impressed by what all he says about them. Maybe it really is the holy grail many of us are seeking in an amp. There’s a reason I’ve been through more amps than I can even count. Originally Posted by LtKojak
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...More like 5900$.....U.S. Dollars that is.... Originally Posted by bananafist
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Originally Posted by PB+J
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Originally Posted by PB+J
Just wait for the Kemper profile... Originally Posted by TOMMO
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Might as well hear what all that money buys you...
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Thanks for putting the vids up, I've not seen these before. Like the blackface and tweed sounds, not so much the JTM, although to get all three in one single channel amp is good. Price to rich for me, sadly.
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Maybe I just don’t understand electronics, which I don’t, but if the treble and bass controls affect saturation, why are they labeled treble and bass? Great tone, that’s for sure. However, too rich for me as well.
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Hopefully this is the final fallout from the failed Premier Builders Guild experiment. Tone King was one of the companies that actually sold out to the PBG (most engaged in licensing deals). My understanding is that those who sold out lost their company names along with the company itself when the whole project wound down. So Bartel is a fresh startup.
The original Tone King amps were universally spectacular and very expensive, so he's just gone back to his roots. And it's an American company so maybe translating the British price back into US dollars is not the best indicator of the US Price. It's a high craft amp for those who are willing to spend a lot of money on non-musical benefits (although I'm sure that they also sound great). I assume that production will be limited to small quantities and I suspect he'll have no problem finding willing buyers.
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I will never be a buyer at the prices charged. Crazy for sure way beyond the definition of price point...……...absurd cost for an Amp.
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Ever priced a Dumble? Originally Posted by deacon Mark
The price for the Bartel amps makes sense to me, since it’s just one lone guy building them. I’m sure he is aware that sales will be limited to only a few buyers, so greed doesn’t really play into the pricing, most likely. I like his “the amp is an instrument” approach, and he is correct. Guitar AND amp make one instrument, if you think about it. How many of us have played guitars ranging anywhere from 3-10k (or more) through amps costing $500-$1000? The most I’ve spent on an amp is about $2700 for a Carr Imperial (long discontinued). It was Steve Carr’s version of the Super Reverb and was HEAVY. Still wish I hadn’t sold it. I did lots of studio session work with it and engineers freaked out over how great it sounded—they could really hear the difference. Since then I’ve never been completely satisfied with any amp I’ve owned. The Carr ruined me. My point is, you really do get what you pay for.
I would probably buy the Bartel Starwood if my financial situation allowed it. But, alas....Last edited by El Fundo; 11-08-2018 at 11:12 PM.
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That first video gave me a bad case of Tele GAS. Not so much the amp, I only fantasize about the realm of possibility.
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I just scratch my head about new guitar amp companies, or some of the same guys building amps with new company names on them.....
Unless you're planning on using your life savings, or have just hit the lottery, or it's just going to be a hobby, eventually you're going to have to present a plan to a bank for funds.
So, wouldn't you have to be able to sensibly answer questions like these:
" Who exactly are you going to be competing with this time ? "
" Have you ever been successful against them ( Fender / Roland / Carr ) in the past, and how will you now compete against them ? "
Your short answer - "You haven't been successful competing with any of them in the past, ( 'cause very few have been) ".
The banker would say something like ' Sorry', and that'd be it.
I mean I wish these guys all the best but -
What in the world am I missing ?Last edited by Dennis D; 11-08-2018 at 10:43 PM.
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Boutique amps make no sense to me at all.
You could have the actual vintage amp these are all modeled after, completely retubed, recapped, with a new three prong cord, for like a third of the price.
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Well to be fair this guy is claiming it's not a vintage amp design, it's an improvement. It has a master volume for example, and he says a completely original preamp circuit, and the speaker baffle is totally different than anything I've ever seen. He's also touting a much higher level of craft and attention to detail than you ever got from Fender. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I'm skeptical that these things add up to "better," and Im highly skeptical of the magical acoustical properties of the specially formulated coating on the tweed, but I do admire the attention to detail
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Still, no-ones actually tried one yet?
I, personally, like to see people pushing the envelope, admittedly with old technology, and there will always be a market for 'Rolls-Royce' gear. Incidentally the ones at the UK stockist are all sold, and more ordered, so clearly there are buyers.
I accept not everyone can, or wants, to spend this kind of money, but I applaud the guy for doing what he clearly believes in. It may be a small point, but a cab that doesn't rattle or vibrate at volume is a plus to me. I've bought some big name and boutique amps over the years, and well fitted and well glued covering is not a given, by any means.
I will not be buying one, but that doesn't stop me being interested in checking out new gear.
I was not in a position to get a top line archtop for many years, but am so glad I eventually was able to order my custom Slaman, and it continues to give me pleasure, as a great guitar, and as one spec'd for me.
I mentioned the UK prices, just to illustrate how much more we have to pay this side of the pond. The US prices are on the website.
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A few people on the Gear Page have tried them. They pronounce them incredible, although they mention having to mess with them a bit. The only clip offered by a regular player, recorded bedroom stylee, sound pretty standard to me. The professionally produced clips not surprisingly sounds great, They always do.
if I spend that much on an amp the incentives to pronounce it incredible are strong, needless to say.
Here's a video of the Sugarland, the one I"d be most interested in because it's the cheapest and the simplest. It sounds bad to me, very harsh
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