Ceriatone, Getting close.....

[pwrmac7600]

I

How close do you think the kk and AH Deluxe are? I have been playing my new KK a lot lately and it just seems to get better all the time. The Solo boost works very good in the dirt ch, you can match it with the ERA switch for lead boost. I also compared the KK to the 2202 through the same speakers and was able to get all the same sounds. The 2202 is a great grab and go amp but I don’t “go” much anymore.

IMO the gain has a different texture. I dont know if it comes down to the kk having cascaded gain controls, And the AH having just a single gain control. But it has a different texture to it.
Keep in mind though I didn't get a ton of play time on the AH yet. My opinion may change after I get a little more time with it.

 

[Ruster1]

Yes, P51 is short for Plexi 51 All Access. As for gain, it seems about half the owners say it can’t do EVH and half say it can. Mine couldn’t. Even Nik doesnt recommend it to those seeking the brown sound. I can say for sure it does NOT have the gain as my ‘73 JMP 50, which does a great VH1 at volume of just 4 or 5.

So far I have to agree that the P51 other than having internal jumper of the channels and having a switch for NO BOOST, half boost and FULL BOOST.. which adds a good amount of gain.. it does not slave 2 Marshalls together, which is what EVH was doing for the most part.. hitting his maxed out plexi with another plexi preamp in front.. no pedal.. just slaved preamp into his screaming plexi.. that seems to drive his tone.. I suppose many Marshall tweakers build that into the circuit today.. The Plexi 51 All access is best for JTM 45 drive to JMP 72 for the most part.. I have not added pedals out front as yet as playing Malcolm to Angus tones and adding a Solodallas Storm pedal in front has been more than enough fun for now.. more tone chasing later.. I will have to put a few OD and boost pedals out front to see how it affects the drive.. perhaps a Marshall Gov'nor out front would create a slave type effect.. the BRAY COCO 50 is my favorite amp to hit the brown sound in an amp tbh.. check those vids.. David Modded my Marshall Major.. its plexi like but has the (KT88 / EL34 split bias).. perhaps i should slave those 2 together.. (hey, good future experiment).. need a DO box or something..

 

[Springfield Scooter]

The 3 way bright switch and 3 way Era switch are very good tools to have. You can change the whole dynamics of the amp making it very versatile.

Ampeq,

Very curious on your thoughts regarding the Chupa's regular VS. buffered loop options.

I also sent you a p.m.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ampeq]

Ampeq,

Very curious on your thoughts regarding the Chupa's regular VS. buffered loop options.

I also sent you a p.m.

Thanks in advance.

I would say to get it on this new amp, then you will have at least one amp with a buffered loop. This will help you going forward as you will know how good they are for your style of playing. Nik said they are worth getting when I asked him for me.

 

[Skotosynthesis]

sigh... ONEADEEZdays I'm gonna get it together and do a proper demo of my Ceriatones.
The first one I got was the JTM 45/100 clone, about 12 years ago. Love it to death. Would never part with it.
The second was the 2202 HW combo... except not, because he put a JTM preamp in it instead of a JCM... so it's like a little 20 watt mini-bluesbreaker with a Vox power amp, kind of. Or something like that.
Anyway, it rocks your face off. They both do. Here's an awful, awful demo of the big JTM from forever ago, phone camera mic clipping and everything.
Edit to say: I cannot endorse Nik enough, and I'm glad to see he's finally getting his due. He earned it the old fashioned way- quality product, reasonable price, and possibly the best customer service I've ever encountered, anywhere.

 

[ampeq]

sigh... ONEADEEZdays I'm gonna get it together and do a proper demo of my Ceriatones.
The first one I got was the JTM 45/100 clone, about 12 years ago. Love it to death. Would never part with it.
The second was the 2202 HW combo... except not, because he put a JTM preamp in it instead of a JCM... so it's like a little 20 watt mini-bluesbreaker with a Vox power amp, kind of. Or something like that.
Anyway, it rocks your face off. They both do. Here's an awful, awful demo of the big JTM from forever ago, phone camera mic clipping and everything.
Edit to say: I cannot endorse Nik enough, and I'm glad to see he's finally getting his due. He earned it the old fashioned way- quality product, reasonable price, and possibly the best customer service I've ever encountered, anywhere.

I agree 100%, I like Nik's stuff so much I don't even look at other amps anymore. I've got a 2202 with both cabs, 100w King Kong, and a 100w Chupacabra. (I had the Chupa in a 50w 1st.) Last time I talked to Nik it was about a year wait and he had over 800 amps to build.

 

[solarburn]

sigh... ONEADEEZdays I'm gonna get it together and do a proper demo of my Ceriatones.
The first one I got was the JTM 45/100 clone, about 12 years ago. Love it to death. Would never part with it.
The second was the 2202 HW combo... except not, because he put a JTM preamp in it instead of a JCM... so it's like a little 20 watt mini-bluesbreaker with a Vox power amp, kind of. Or something like that.
Anyway, it rocks your face off. They both do. Here's an awful, awful demo of the big JTM from forever ago, phone camera mic clipping and everything.
Edit to say: I cannot endorse Nik enough, and I'm glad to see he's finally getting his due. He earned it the old fashioned way- quality product, reasonable price, and possibly the best customer service I've ever encountered, anywhere.

Too fun man.

 

[Mjh36]

I

IMO the gain has a different texture. I dont know if it comes down to the kk having cascaded gain controls, And the AH having just a single gain control. But it has a different texture to it.
Keep in mind though I didn't get a ton of play time on the AH yet. My opinion may change after I get a little more time with it.

Hey how do you like your AH now that you've had it for a little bit of time? Curious to know, I'm still waiting on mine.

 

[Skotosynthesis]

I agree 100%, I like Nik's stuff so much I don't even look at other amps anymore. I've got a 2202 with both cabs, 100w King Kong, and a 100w Chupacabra. (I had the Chupa in a 50w 1st.) Last time I talked to Nik it was about a year wait and he had over 800 amps to build.

Gotta admit, that King Kong thing looks interesting! Seems like it was made to be versatile.

 

[ampeq]

Gotta admit, that King Kong thing looks interesting! Seems like it was made to be versatile.

It's very versatile. I had Nik wire the drive ch to be like the Chupacabra, which is my favorite. It's not perfect but it's close, and it's real nice to have 2 ch plus the lead boost. The boost even has one of those ERA switch's so it can be the same or different when switched on. Lot of nice little touches on this one and a blast to play around with just trying new stuff.

 

[paul-e-mann]

@ampeq which Ceriatone models are Mesa knock offs if any?

 

[ampeq]

@ampeq which Ceriatone models are Mesa knock offs if any?

Not sure, email Nik and see what he has to say. He can also wire different amps to get even closer to what you are looking for.

 

[Rotorcraft230]

Just some praise here for Nik. Like others have said, his customer service is top notch. He emails back quickly. Shipping is fast and the packing is excellent as well. We have only built his kits and when I order and pay for them they are here at my house in a week, I’m serious 1/2 way around the world and here in a week, that’s insanely fast. All the parts are very good. His power transformers are huge, they don’t get hot they must be over speced. After my son gigges a new amp I always feel the power transformer to see how hard or not it’s working and they are always just warm. Perfect in my book. Fitment of the parts is perfect, everything goes together well.

We have these from Ceriatone
2555 Silver Jubilee
Plexi51
Overtone Special (Dumble)
AH 50 Deluxe is next (very soon)

Here is the Jubilee top 2 and the Plexi51 bottom. Don’t have a gut shot of the Dumble(my son built that one)


We don’t even look at anything else anymore we just get Niks stuff, it’s that good. For the price you can’t do better. These amps will run for decades, they are built that well.

Nik’s amps rock

Thanks Nik!!!!!!!!

 

[ampeq]

Just some praise here for Nik. Like others have said, his customer service is top notch. He emails back quickly. Shipping is fast and the packing is excellent as well. We have only built his kits and when I order and pay for them they are here at my house in a week, I’m serious 1/2 way around the world and here in a week, that’s insanely fast. All the parts are very good. His power transformers are huge, they don’t get hot they must be over speced. After my son gigges a new amp I always feel the power transformer to see how hard or not it’s working and they are always just warm. Perfect in my book. Fitment of the parts is perfect, everything goes together well.

We have these from Ceriatone
2555 Silver Jubilee
Plexi51
Overtone Special (Dumble)
AH 50 Deluxe is next (very soon)

Here is the Jubilee top 2 and the Plexi51 bottom. Don’t have a gut shot of the Dumble(my son built that one)
View attachment 119332 View attachment 119333 View attachment 119334

We don’t even look at anything else anymore we just get Niks stuff, it’s that good. For the price you can’t do better. These amps will run for decades, they are built that well.

Nik’s amps rock

Thanks Nik!!!!!!!!

I’m the same way, I don’t even look at other amps anymore. Nik‘s are so good and such a good price why bother. Plus you can customize anything they make, sure wish I found them a long time ago.

 

[Rotorcraft230]

How long has Ceriatone been around for?

 

[chocol8]

How long has Ceriatone been around for?

More than 15 years.

 

[Rotorcraft230]

More than 15 years.

Wow ok

 

[Springfield Scooter]

Rotorcraft, your craftsmanship is absolutely top notch!

I wish all Ceriatone kits were assembled your way!

Unfortunately, that is NOT the case!

And because of this, I would like to mention a few things that I feel are very important things to consider before buying a Ceriatone product.

There are 2 types of Ceriatones....kits built vs. in-house built products.

VERY SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE!

Due to the craftsmanship, quality, price, and great tone, the Ceriatone in-house built waiting list can be a year long on certain products that are truly built in-house.

Because of this wait, there is a strong market for Ceriatone kits that can be acquired quickly, and then assembled by unknown electricians.

I've always avoided purchasing any Ceriatone amplifier (or any Ceriatone product) that was NOT built by Nik and his in house team. If you follow Ceriatone on facebook, you will soon see why. There are many people buying his kits, assembling them, and then flipping for profit, due to the long waiting list on the in-house built products. ......I see many questions being asked on his facebook page. Mistakes , re-work , and more importantly, there are deviations being made, when compared to his standard schematics. Ive seen where someone complained that a Ceriatone did not sound proper (Friedman copy as I recall) , and after conversing back and forth, and finally posting gut shot photos, it was determined to be a scratch built kit, that was assembled improperly, with components of incorrect values.

Another popular trend is where people build a Ceriatone kit without Ceriatone transformers. Then they assemble it using what they feel are "upgraded" transformers. Nik has Ceriatone transformers built to his exact specifications. Heyboer , Classic, Hammond, and Mercury all make great transformers, but using them will probably alter the sound. I have never witnessed where Nik thought using another brand was truly an "upgrade", and I bet if you emailed him, he would suggest avoiding them. Apparently, it happens often enough, that Nik does his best to inject some humor in the situation.

My point is to be aware, that a used Ceriatone product you see for sale on Reverb, Ebay, or facebook marketplace, may not be the same, as a true , in-house built Ceriatone.

Now if every amp builder had Rotorcrafts standards, and attention to detail, there would be no concern!

Unfortunately, thats just not the case!

 

[Rotorcraft230]

Rotorcraft, your craftsmanship is absolutely top notch!

I wish all Ceriatone kits were assembled your way!

Unfortunately, that is NOT the case!

And because of this, I would like to mention a few things that I feel are very important things to consider before buying a Ceriatone product.

There are 2 types of Ceriatones....kits built vs. in-house built products.

VERY SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE!

Due to the craftsmanship, quality, price, and great tone, the Ceriatone in-house built waiting list can be a year long on certain products that are truly built in-house.

Because of this wait, there is a strong market for Ceriatone kits that can be acquired quickly, and then assembled by unknown electricians.

I've always avoided purchasing any Ceriatone amplifier (or any Ceriatone product) that was NOT built by Nik and his in house team. If you follow Ceriatone on facebook, you will soon see why. There are many people buying his kits, assembling them, and then flipping for profit, due to the long waiting list on the in-house built products. ......I see many questions being asked on his facebook page. Mistakes , re-work , and more importantly, there are deviations being made, when compared to his standard schematics. Ive seen where someone complained that a Ceriatone did not sound proper (Friedman copy as I recall) , and after conversing back and forth, and finally posting gut shot photos, it was determined to be a scratch built kit, that was assembled improperly, with components of incorrect values.

Another popular trend is where people build a Ceriatone kit without Ceriatone transformers. Then they assemble it using what they feel are "upgraded" transformers. Nik has Ceriatone transformers built to his exact specifications. Heyboer , Classic, Hammond, and Mercury all make great transformers, but using them will probably alter the sound. I have never witnessed where Nik thought using another brand was truly an "upgrade", and I bet if you emailed him, he would suggest avoiding them. Apparently, it happens often enough, that Nik does his best to inject some humor in the situation.

My point is to be aware, that a used Ceriatone product you see for sale on Reverb, Ebay, or facebook marketplace, may not be the same, as a true , in-house built Ceriatone.

Now if every amp builder had Rotorcrafts standards, and attention to detail, there would be no concern!

Unfortunately, thats just not the case!

Huh, wow, I didn’t think that his kits would be purchased and then sold on the used/maybe new market like that. That sure would be hard to keep selling kits and ruin it for those of us that actually do honest quality work. I don’t sell my stuff, even if I’m not using it, that’s just who I am I keep everything, my wife sometimes gets frustrated with me for that. Well anyway I don’t follow social media and I’m surely not on it, just a few forums.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to write all that, and thanks for the compliment

Cheers
Mark

 

[Springfield Scooter]

Huh, wow, I didn’t think that his kits would be purchased and then sold on the used/maybe new market like that. That sure would be hard to keep selling kits and ruin it for those of us that actually do honest quality work. I don’t sell my stuff, even if I’m not using it, that’s just who I am I keep everything, my wife sometimes gets frustrated with me for that. Well anyway I don’t follow social media and I’m surely not on it, just a few forums.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to write all that, and thanks for the compliment

Cheers
Mark

Keep up the great work!
Your son is a very lucky guy!