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Fretted Americana Releases First Amplifier, the Evil Robot

The Evil Robot is inspired by the 1959 Tonemaster Troubadour 214
Calabasas, Ca (October 20, 2010) – Vintage guitar collector and reseller Fretted Americana is now in the electronic production business with the release of its new Evil Robot guitar amplifier. The first production run of 100 pieces, all made by hand in the USA, are now available for order.


Inspiration for the new Evil Robot comes from the 1959 Tonemaster Troubadour 214 amplifier, built by the Chicago-based Accordion Company. Originally produced for accordion amplification, it quickly became a favorite of guitar players, sought after for its tone and its ability to create a controllable vibrato. An original Troubadour found its way to Fretted Americana through guitarist Phil X and it quickly became a favorite of customers. After receiving countless offers on the amp, Fretted Americana made efforts to not only to duplicate, but to improve upon the original. This work led to the creation of what is now, the Evil Robot.

The Evil Robot is a Class A, 18-watt, 1x12 combo guitar amplifier constructed of Baltic Birch. The cabinet is a semi open back and houses a 16 gauge steel chassis and one 12” 8 ohm handmade speaker. Internally, all assembly is point-to-point handwiring and includes handwound, ear-tuned transformers made exclusively in the USA. Cosmetically, the amplifier features a custom vintage brown vinyl, classic gold mesh grille cloth and a heavy-duty, vintage style black handle.

Keeping with the vibe of the original, the instrument control panel has two separate high and low gain inputs with individual loudness controls and a master tone knob. The foot switchable vibrato utilizes two separate potentiometers: one controls the speed and a second controls the intensity. Completing the panel is the on/off switch, red LED power light, remote speaker jack, screw cap fuse holder and a three way slide switch for additional tone control. MSRP $1595.00 USD

As acknowledgement for his contribution, each Evil Robot bears the name of Phil X, silk screened onto the control panel. Phil works extensively with Fretted Americana as the host of over 250 videos produced to demonstrate, promote and sell the inventory of Fretted Americana. As with the walk-in customers, viewers were often inquiring about what amplifiers were used in the videos and where they could get one for themselves, further prompting the development of the new Evil Robot.

Fretted Americana is now seeking to establish domestic retailers and international distributors.

For more information
Fretted Americana

Source: Press Release

     

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Comments

 (11 comments) display by
UsernameComment
treblejunkie
on 03/01/2013 		I bought a 2011 Limited Edition GIBSON Les Paul for $2700 new, a 2005 Fender American Deluxe Telecaster new for over $2000, a 2011 Fender American Deluxe Strat HSS for near $2000 and a 2010 Carparelli Ba-Dasse for $800 total including taxes and a nice hard shell case. That Carparelli is as nice as any other electric guitar I've got but it certainly was cheaper. You pay for the name quite a bit more than folks think. The same goes for any product with a famous name.
dcpiers
on 11/05/2012 		relax boys and girls, soon these too will be selling "used" and the price will drop. In the meantime, go look at what was all the rage 10 years ago and look at the price of that former must have. Be realistic even Duane Allman bought used stuff, and beat up at that. Look at the photo of the band playing out-doors in LA. Their stuff was crap. And always consider, renting!
lrv
on 07/21/2012 		You want guitars for nothing, and amps for free. Stop complaining. It is good and worth the price. End of story.
Lex
on 12/15/2011 		You need to call them or e-mail Tone Americanna directly. I just bought one yesterday. I live in the UK so I imagine it will be a similar deal for Norway. The 18 watt combos are currently on a 12 week lead time & they will stop producing the 18 watt combo this year. After that they will be going with a 18/30 watt version or head / cab. You also pay 100 bucks for the dust cover. Don't forget the postage & importation tax. Also note that they told me the price will be increasing after the new year too. Note that they will wire the amp for you to suit your local mains power supply for no extra cost. The amp is supplied with an American plug but you can just get a travel adaptor to suit your local pin type; or cut the us plug off & fit one that suits your needs. I'm getting my set up for 240V-50Hz which is the standard for UK. This is very important or else you need an external transformer & could face mad issues with earthing & hum.
Chris
on 06/15/2011 		I want this amp so f... bad! how can i get one?
btw I live in Norway.
Geno
on 02/28/2011 		You'll go broke if you do people favors by reducing your profit margin based upon complaints about the cost of your products. It's supply and demand. If product is moving at a sufficient rate, don't expect any blue-light specials. Low supply + high demand = increased cost. Large supply and low demand makes the cost drop.
Drew
on 12/18/2010 		You can't make this kind of amp for 800 and make a profit. If you price all the parts: American made transformer, speaker, birch cabinet, knobs, heavy duty capacitors and tube sockets, they will come to nearly 800. Then add the time and labor to make them, and it wouldn't be worth their time to sell one for 800 dollars.
ShanMack
on 12/06/2010 		Why does a Les Paul sell for $2300? Why not make it affordable to most at $1000? Same with a Corvette, a Tiffany lamp, or a bottle of 18 year old Scotch? You price your product to what the market will sustain. If they don't sell at $1600, then they will come down to adjust to the market. If they sell out quickly, the next run will be $1800. That's how it works.
Nikrok1
on 11/24/2010 		Exclusivity my man.
Bubble Burster
on 11/16/2010 		Why destroy a reputation of being an overpriced swill merchant, now? That's why.



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