Showing posts with label ceriatone amplifier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ceriatone amplifier. Show all posts
Friday, May 14, 2010
Ceriatone JTM45 with VVR Mod, Demo I
I was looking through old footage on the videocam the other day and came across a couple of clips from my Ceriatone factory visit in September 2009 -- clips which I was telling myself to post up ages ago but never got around to.
In this vid I'm playing Ceriatone's in-house tester guitar, a Fender American Standard Stratocaster, which I might add, was really well set up.
I used the rhythm pickup with the guitar straight into the amp, in this case a Ceriatone JTM45 head into a Ceriatone 1 x 12 cabinet. The EQ was set flat, more or less, with no reverb or additional pedals.
This is all I could want in a clean tone, really. This thing sounded really juicy with glassy overtones and the Variable Voltage Regulator (VVR) mod added a natural compression to the notes. This amp had a lot of 'sponginess' or 'give' to the tone, and the notes seemed to get bigger after the initial pick attack. Really easy to play through.
Stay tuned for a couple more Ceriatone clips soon.
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Visit to Ceriatone Amplifiers -- Part 3
Just found a few more Ceriatone pics in my camera which I thought might be interesting to post up.
I'll follow this up with a video demo of the Ceriatone JTM45 soon.
After the letters are silkscreened, a hard matte clear coat finish is applied to protect the lettering.
Left: A tech solders on the components using point-to-point wiring. All circuits have to be hand-wired as no PCB's are used.
Right: Miles of color-coded, teflon-coated wire.
I'll follow this up with a video demo of the Ceriatone JTM45 soon.
Left: Aluminum chassis awaiting assembly -- which gives us an idea of the sheer volume demand worldwide for Ceriatone amps.
According to Ceriatone boss Nik Azam, the company is now shipping out about 100 amps a month.
According to Ceriatone boss Nik Azam, the company is now shipping out about 100 amps a month.
Right: Stacks of amp faceplates. Ceriatone uses a traditional silkscreen process for the lettering on their faceplates.
After the letters are silkscreened, a hard matte clear coat finish is applied to protect the lettering.
Left: A tech solders on the components using point-to-point wiring. All circuits have to be hand-wired as no PCB's are used.
Right: Miles of color-coded, teflon-coated wire.
Left: Every kind of amp fuse known to Man. Almost.
Right: Power transformers awaiting assembly. Note the 120V and 240v varieties.
Left: A Ceriatone Tweed Twin with a one-off custom color faceplate.
Right: An amp being prepped for shipping. Amps are shipped 'glass-on-board' (tubes installed) hence the need for bubblewrap to protect them during transit.
Left: Clinton and Nik Azam, Ceriatone founder.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
A Visit To Ceriatone Amplifiers Part II
The following interview with Ceriatone's Nik Azam is excerpted from my hour-and-a-half long visit:
The Guitar Column: I see you use a lot of orange capacitors on your circuit boards. Some have been labelled 'Holy Grail'. Care to share with us what that's about, or is it a trade secret?
Nik Azam: They're no secret -- the orange capacitors are made by Sprague. They are the only ones that will give the proper sound. The Holy Grail electrolytic caps are made locally in Penang (to Ceriatone's specs). It's an availability issue for these if we have to order it everytime from the US.
TGC: I see from your website that you also offer your amps in kit form. Of course putting an amp together from scratch is no simple matter.
NA: Yes, a certain amount of (electrical) knowledge is presumed on the part of the builder. It's an experience for the beginner who wants to learn to put together their first amp.
TGC: Then there is the issue of tube biasing. From what I know it can be dangerous if you're not sure of what you're doing.
NA: Biasing is easy once you know how to do it. And if the customer needs it, I will give them step by step instructions so they can (safely) do it themselves. And it's really not that difficult.
TGC: Do you think there is a difference in tone between amps with printed circuit boards (PCBs), and handwired amplifiers with point-to-point wiring?
NA: No there shouldn't be any difference. But the reason the big manufacturers use PCBs is that they are trying to squeeze in as many features as they can. This means that they have to substitute parts with smaller (alternative) components and that can affect the sound.
(Of the boutique amps) Fuchs uses PCBs -- they go for around US$3,000; Two-Rock amps are hand-wired, they're about US$8,000. People see our Overtone Special, which is modelled on the Dumble for US$1,000 and they go 'why not?' The Dumble amp is US$40,000.
TGC: How did you happen to come across the Dumble circuit? Dumble would put black epoxy over his circuit to conceal the parts.
NA: A couple of Dumbles were actually 'de-gooped' a few years ago, probably using some chemical agents to remove the epoxy. The parts were revealed and their values measured. After that it became public knowledge on the amp forums in the States.
TGC: What is the Overtone S&M Special?
NA: It's based on our Overtone Special. There are some mods in there that were created for two very early customers of mine, friends really -- Sami and Marin. Of course there's the double entendre of 'S&M'..
TGC: What is your view on transformer ratings? There is the opinion that it is better to use a 110v transformer like they use in the US, and then use an external step-up transformer if you're in a country where the mains are not 110v. I had this experience with Matchless amps myself. I thought Matchless didn't sound very good at all, rather dull and lifeless --the ones with the 220v transformer. Then I tried the 110v Matchless amps in the States and they were amazing. What's your view on this?
NA: Technically there should be no difference -- you're just using different leads on the transformer to adjust for the different voltage coming in to the amp -- 110, 120, 220 and 240v.
The change in sound in those Matchless amps may be because of some minor damage during shipping -- things can get moved around inside during shipping, altering the tone.
TGC: What do you think of the opinion that birch ply is the best wood to use for amp cabinets? Some people swear that birch plywood is the only way to go for the tone.
NA: Marshall started using birch ply simply because it was available and it wasn't expensive. Wood availability is a function of geography. In Malaysia of course, birch is not available. We use marine-grade ply made of local hardwoods.
TGC: I notice on your shelf over there that you have several face-plates marked with the word 'reject' on them. To be honest, I can't spot anything wrong with them -- your quality control standards must be very high.
NA: All our face-plates use the traditional silk-screen method for the lettering. Sometimes there is a little smear or imperfection somewhere (on the lettering) so we reject it. Because we're in Asia and we sell amps around the world, sometimes a small imperfection can get amplified. And nowadays with the internet, word spreads quickly.
We went through seven different vendors before we settled on one who could make our face-plates with a low rejection rate.
TGC: What about the grille cloth on your amps? They look good -- are those from a local supplier?
NA: I get them from China. I have to purchase a minimum of 10,000 meters of fabric before they will sell them to me. The best time to purchase parts from China is at the end of the year when vendors are trying to sell off their stock for the year.
TGC: Do you make your amp cabinets in-house?
NA: I get the cabinets made (by a vendor) -- a two-man operation makes them. No CNC machines. They build the cabinets by hand using marine ply and regular dowel joints and then cover the cabinets with black Tolex. We do get requests for other colors but I try to keep it simple -- it's available in any color as long as it's black!
We have only four basic cabinet types for our amp heads -- we try to streamline operations.
TGC: What speakers options do you offer? And what about speaker ohms -- does that affect the sound?
NA: We use Celestion speakers mainly, or Jensens. Based on the output of the transformers, 16 ohms will give the fullest sound. But it also depends on the number of speakers you're using, the type of speaker, whether they're wired in series..
TGC: Which is your most popular amp model?
NA: It depends on the flavor of the month. One month it may be the JTM45, another the TrainWreck clone. But for the last couple of years the Overtone Special has been hands-down the most popular.
TGC: I have to ask -- of your entire line, which amp are you most proud of?
NA: I'm proud of all of them.
TGC: To be more specific, given your entire amp range, which one would you choose to take to a gig?
NA: I would take the JTM45.
The Guitar Column: I see you use a lot of orange capacitors on your circuit boards. Some have been labelled 'Holy Grail'. Care to share with us what that's about, or is it a trade secret?
Nik Azam: They're no secret -- the orange capacitors are made by Sprague. They are the only ones that will give the proper sound. The Holy Grail electrolytic caps are made locally in Penang (to Ceriatone's specs). It's an availability issue for these if we have to order it everytime from the US.
TGC: I see from your website that you also offer your amps in kit form. Of course putting an amp together from scratch is no simple matter.
NA: Yes, a certain amount of (electrical) knowledge is presumed on the part of the builder. It's an experience for the beginner who wants to learn to put together their first amp.
TGC: Then there is the issue of tube biasing. From what I know it can be dangerous if you're not sure of what you're doing.
NA: Biasing is easy once you know how to do it. And if the customer needs it, I will give them step by step instructions so they can (safely) do it themselves. And it's really not that difficult.
TGC: Do you think there is a difference in tone between amps with printed circuit boards (PCBs), and handwired amplifiers with point-to-point wiring?
NA: No there shouldn't be any difference. But the reason the big manufacturers use PCBs is that they are trying to squeeze in as many features as they can. This means that they have to substitute parts with smaller (alternative) components and that can affect the sound.
(Of the boutique amps) Fuchs uses PCBs -- they go for around US$3,000; Two-Rock amps are hand-wired, they're about US$8,000. People see our Overtone Special, which is modelled on the Dumble for US$1,000 and they go 'why not?' The Dumble amp is US$40,000.
TGC: How did you happen to come across the Dumble circuit? Dumble would put black epoxy over his circuit to conceal the parts.
NA: A couple of Dumbles were actually 'de-gooped' a few years ago, probably using some chemical agents to remove the epoxy. The parts were revealed and their values measured. After that it became public knowledge on the amp forums in the States.
TGC: What is the Overtone S&M Special?
NA: It's based on our Overtone Special. There are some mods in there that were created for two very early customers of mine, friends really -- Sami and Marin. Of course there's the double entendre of 'S&M'..
TGC: What is your view on transformer ratings? There is the opinion that it is better to use a 110v transformer like they use in the US, and then use an external step-up transformer if you're in a country where the mains are not 110v. I had this experience with Matchless amps myself. I thought Matchless didn't sound very good at all, rather dull and lifeless --the ones with the 220v transformer. Then I tried the 110v Matchless amps in the States and they were amazing. What's your view on this?
NA: Technically there should be no difference -- you're just using different leads on the transformer to adjust for the different voltage coming in to the amp -- 110, 120, 220 and 240v.
The change in sound in those Matchless amps may be because of some minor damage during shipping -- things can get moved around inside during shipping, altering the tone.
TGC: What do you think of the opinion that birch ply is the best wood to use for amp cabinets? Some people swear that birch plywood is the only way to go for the tone.
NA: Marshall started using birch ply simply because it was available and it wasn't expensive. Wood availability is a function of geography. In Malaysia of course, birch is not available. We use marine-grade ply made of local hardwoods.
TGC: I notice on your shelf over there that you have several face-plates marked with the word 'reject' on them. To be honest, I can't spot anything wrong with them -- your quality control standards must be very high.
NA: All our face-plates use the traditional silk-screen method for the lettering. Sometimes there is a little smear or imperfection somewhere (on the lettering) so we reject it. Because we're in Asia and we sell amps around the world, sometimes a small imperfection can get amplified. And nowadays with the internet, word spreads quickly.
We went through seven different vendors before we settled on one who could make our face-plates with a low rejection rate.
TGC: What about the grille cloth on your amps? They look good -- are those from a local supplier?
NA: I get them from China. I have to purchase a minimum of 10,000 meters of fabric before they will sell them to me. The best time to purchase parts from China is at the end of the year when vendors are trying to sell off their stock for the year.
TGC: Do you make your amp cabinets in-house?
NA: I get the cabinets made (by a vendor) -- a two-man operation makes them. No CNC machines. They build the cabinets by hand using marine ply and regular dowel joints and then cover the cabinets with black Tolex. We do get requests for other colors but I try to keep it simple -- it's available in any color as long as it's black!
We have only four basic cabinet types for our amp heads -- we try to streamline operations.
TGC: What speakers options do you offer? And what about speaker ohms -- does that affect the sound?
NA: We use Celestion speakers mainly, or Jensens. Based on the output of the transformers, 16 ohms will give the fullest sound. But it also depends on the number of speakers you're using, the type of speaker, whether they're wired in series..
TGC: Which is your most popular amp model?
NA: It depends on the flavor of the month. One month it may be the JTM45, another the TrainWreck clone. But for the last couple of years the Overtone Special has been hands-down the most popular.
TGC: I have to ask -- of your entire line, which amp are you most proud of?
NA: I'm proud of all of them.
TGC: To be more specific, given your entire amp range, which one would you choose to take to a gig?
NA: I would take the JTM45.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
A Visit To Ceriatone Amplifiers Part I
I had the opportunity to visit the Ceriatone amplifier shop on Thursday 3rd September.
In two rows, on opposite sides of the shop floor, eight technicians were hard at work soldering point-to-point wiring on several Ceriatone amp models. Each tech worked on one amp chassis at a time, assembling every component for that particular amp. This was a cottage industry at its finest.
The floor to ceiling wall shelves, well stocked with amp face plates, tubes, transformers and miscellaneous parts, were testimony to the considerable output of amplifiers Ceriatone was producing to meet market demand.
Ceriatone, in case you haven't heard, is a boutique line of hand-wired amplifiers that is fast catching on internationally. Although the company produces a variety amp models, Ceriatone is most famous for their Overtone Special which is modelled on the Dumble Overdrive Special, the Holy Grail of guitar amplifiers.
They are also the most reasonably priced of any boutique amp -- although that may all change very soon, if guitar gear industry trends are anything to go by. But I doubt if they will be anywhere in the ballpark of what an authentic Dumble goes for these days.
Ceriatone is located on the second floor of an inconspicuos shop-house in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As we made our way up the flight of stairs I was half-expecting to find Ceriatone's intrepid founder, Nik Azam, hunkered over a workbench strewn with assorted amp parts and miles of copper wire.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
In two rows, on opposite sides of the shop floor, eight technicians were hard at work soldering point-to-point wiring on several Ceriatone amp models. Each tech worked on one amp chassis at a time, assembling every component for that particular amp. This was a cottage industry at its finest.
Nik Azam was the perfect host, graciously taking the time to show us around, patiently answering every question while sharing with us his vast knowledge of amplifier history and design.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Ceriatone Overtone Special | Dumble In Disguise?
I was turned on to Ceriatone amps a couple of days ago by a musician friend. He's from the older school 'Fender is king' generation and he was hipping me to this amp builder in Malaysia who made brilliant Fender copies. And at less than two-thirds the price.
A quick Google search revealed this: http://www.ceriatone.com/
Interesting. A Malaysian amp builder going toe-to-toe with Marshall and Fender, not to mention the big boys of boutique American amps -- Fuchs, Trainwreck, Matchless. And yes... even Mr Dumble.
Granted, Ceriatone is still at the 'copy' stage. But remember Peavey's Fender tweed-style design on their Classic series amps (complete with chickenhead knobs) of a few years ago? Peavey resurrected tweed when Fender had put it to bed. It was good marketing and a good way to get noticed.Check out the Dumble-like font on the Ceriatone Overtone Special at right -- it sort of reads like 'Overdrive Special' from five feet away. Surely to be a nifty conversation piece for the owner.
But fortunately the similarities are not merely cosmetic. Ceriatone has also added new, useful features to the original amp design, giving the user more tonal options and flexibility.
And listening to Jack Zucker's clip above, it sounds great.
Based on Zucker's description, the front panel controls from left to right are:
FET input jack
Normal input jack
Input control
Bright switch
Deep switch
Jazz/Rock switch
Treble
Mid
Bass
Level control for overdrive
Ratio control for the overdrive, for controlling relative volumes for lead and rhythm sounds
Master volume control
Presence control
On the back panel:
Mid-Boost switch that defeats the tone controls (for manual switching)
Lead and Rhythm switch (for manual switching)
Footswitch jack for controlling Rhythm/Lead and Mid-Boost controls
Passive effects loop
I'm real curious to try one of these out for myself.
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