Peter Stroud is a modern renaissance man; in addition to being Sheryl Crow’s guitarist, he and his business partner Dan Boul are the proprietors of 65Amps. He is also
Peter Stroud is a modern renaissance
man; in addition to being Sheryl Crow’s
guitarist, he and his business partner Dan
Boul are the proprietors of 65Amps. He
is also a Premier Guitar contributor, writing
our popular “Tone Tips” column. This
presented me with a good old-fashioned
quandary, although the potential conflict
isn’t what you might be thinking.
I have just taken care
of those journalistic
concerns by telling
you “Peter
makes this amp,
and writes for us,
too.” What was
bothering me was,
before doing this
review, I had never
spoken to to the man
himself, but everyone
here who has had even
the smallest of interactions
with him openly
sings his praises as “the
coolest guy ever.” In fact,
the ball started rolling on
this review via a conversation
with a member of our
sales team. I casually asked him what he
thought of 65Amps, and was met with
a rollicking, “Dude! You would (expletive
deleted) love them!” And so it began.
A few weeks later a 65Amps SoHo shows
up, and I suddenly get all chickenshit about
everything. What if I don’t like the coolestguy-
on-earth’s amp? I had the potential to
become the rock n’ roll equivalent of Steve
Bartman, to Peter’s Moises Alou [Our
offices are about three hours southwest
of Wrigley Field – Ed.]. Fortunately – due
to the SoHo being one of the best sounding,
most flexible, low-wattage combos
I’ve heard – the beer and insult hurling
will have to wait for when various exgirlfriends
catch sight of me at the local
tavern.
The SoHo cranks out 20 watts, and is
equipped with a Celestion G12H 30-watt
70th Anniversary speaker. The chassis
mounts in the cabinet like an AC30, with
the top-mounted controls consisting of
a defeatable Master Volume, Volume,
Treble, and Bass controls, and a unique
Bump feature, with Tone and Level controls,
as well as a switch taking it in and
out of the circuit.
The SoHo’s appearance is anything but
shy, with two chrome-plated grills being
the line’s most recognizable feature.
That, coupled with the two-tone tolex,
prompted everyone around the office to
comment on the obvious good looks of
the SoHo. That is also
the basis for an isolated
criticism of the
amp: it’s almost too
pretty. While this follows
a trend started
a while back by amp
makers like Matchless
and Tone King, I question
the logic, particularly
for the types of
gigs the majority of
guitarists play. Unless
the SoHo is being
purchased strictly for
bedroom/living room
use, budget for a flight
case – and even then
kid gloves are in order. I
am in no way inferring it is
not built solidly, because it
is, but I’d just hate to see it
after a few years of gigging
without adequate protection.
Continuing with this theme of full disclosure,
I prefer to remain incognizant of the
products I review beforehand, so I’m not
swayed too much by preconceptions.
That, coupled with the way the chassis is
mounted in the 1X12” cabinet, made me
scramble a bit, wondering if maybe it was rocking some oddball
power tubes I hadn’t heard of before. I was certainly in no mood
to pretend I know what a KT96 is. But once I determined the
SoHo was equipped with EL84 power tubes, and had an EF86
running in pentode mode up front, I assumed this amp would
have a vintage, Vox-y vibe. Boy, was I wrong. The best way to
describe the overall vibe of this amp is Class A EL84 until things
start breaking up; that’s when it begins imparting more of an
EL34 vibe while retaining the EL84 chime.
The SoHo alternately has tons of clean sparkle and headroom
or convincing, musical crunch at baby’s-in-bed volumes with the
Master switched in. It’s even capable of old school, crank-it-up
raunch, no Master Volume needed, thank you. In fact, this is where
the SoHo and I got along best. Rolling in the Bump’s Tone control
adds even more schizophrenic prowess to the SoHo, going from
various English-flavored tones to a more brown, then eventually
blackface, vibe. The Level control is included in the Bump circuit to
add even more tonal flexibility, giving you the option of how much
of the circuit is fed into the signal. There seem to be enough tonal
options to hang yourself, but even I was unable to create any
truly crappy sounds, regardless of where the knobs and switches
landed, which I consider to be a laudable achievement.
P-90s and humbuckers both sounded great through the SoHo,
but, to my ears anyway, this thing seems tailor-made for Strats. It
can create a wicked sound at any range of the gain settings, from
sparkly-but-never-hurtful chime to a delightful medium grind, all
the way up to full-on thick and tasty crunch. The clean sounds
have an appealing thickness about them, never allowing the
bridge pickup do that thin, brittle thing Strats are wont to do, and
the medium grind tones are amazing; great, thick textures that
are responsive to volume knob input, cleaning up better than Nick
Nolte after a weekend stay at the L.A. county jail. Strats aren’t my
first choice for balls out distortion, and the most distorted sounds
from the SoHo are about a thousand miles away from typical
modern, high-gain fare, but will do quite nicely for that slightly
ironic cover of “Woman from Tokyo.”
To put it another way, I am unable to comment on how the SoHo
deals with pedals. Why? I never even thought about using them
while reviewing this amp. The clean sounds were thick and sparkly
enough to keep me from ever contemplating plugging in a
compressor or my trusty CE-2. The overdriven sounds were so
dynamic and toneful that placing an overdrive pedal in front would
have been unconscionable, like slapping a coffee-can exhaust on a
Lamborghini.
The Final Mojo
If you play alt-country, originals, or classic rock tunes in a band
graced with a either a reasonable drummer or competent sound
guy, this could be your next amp. If you’re ready to step up to a
boutique amp, but it needs to cover home, recording, rehearsal
and gig duties, this is your next amp.
65 Amps
MSRP $2895
Our expert has stated his
case, now we want to hear
yours. Log on to premierguitar.
com, click on “Forum” and share
your comments and ratings.
