Goodsell Super 17 Black Line
Specs
Format: 1x12 combo
Watts: 17
Preamp Tubes: Three 12AX7s
Rectifier: GZ34
Controls: Volume, tone, gain,
reverb, depth, and speed knobs
Speaker: RG-65
Price: $1,499 street
superseventeen.com
Richard Goodsell knows how to build great
low- to medium-wattage amps, and though he’s
made the most waves building unique interpretations
of unusual circuits by Watkins, Valco,
Supro, and Univox, the Super 17 trades in more
familiar vintage-AC15-like tones.
Locke: This sounds a lot like a real vintage
AC15. It’s very tight sounding. One of the
things that you look for in an EL84 amp is
the compression—the way that, when you hit
it, it sort of attacks and then clamps onto what
you play and blooms like a compressor in the
studio would—and this amp is very good
at that. With my hollowbody Gibson 330,
there’s a lot of contrast between pickups without
getting too bright or muddy on either.
The tremolo is a nice footswitchable
feature. I only had the depth about halfway
up, and it was really deep—there’s quite
a sweep on the depth and speed knobs. I
don’t use reverb amps very often—and you
don’t often see reverb on EL84 amps—but
it’s cool to have and you can get a cool surf
sound out of it. It also packs a lot of punch
for its physical size. It’s a very efficient
little amp—a very powerful 17 watts and a
good buy.
Derrico: I think what I like most
about the Goodsell is the tremolo, it’s really
organic sounding. I like how deep it is.
Even though I didn’t have the depth all
the way up, it was nice. It reminded me
of something I could use if I were doing a
Norah Jones song. The reverb is really nice
and natural, as well. It’s a tiny
amp, and it’s really loud for
how small and light it is—
and it looks killer, too.
Trovato: This
small amp has a gain
stage and a volume that
I tend to push to the
maximum. And the gain
has to go way up before
things really distort, but
it sounds really good. I
always like to set an amp
up for the best clean
sound and add any kind
of gain or distortion
using a pedal, so this amp
would work well.
When I turn off the
tremolo, I can hear this
subtle pulsing through a
hum on the amplifier. I
think this amp is a little
light or small sounding,
and might not be quite
loud enough or powerful
enough to get over a drummer
in a live band situation.
I think it’s perfect for
home recording, though.