Colby Amps Announces dtb50 and dtb100 Amps

City Island, NY (April 3, 2013) -- COLBY Amps, a new line of boutique guitar amplifiers created by accomplished guitarist, amplifier aficionado and industry veteran Mitch Colby and renowned guitarist Jim Weider (The Band), announces the launch of its product line. The first two offerings are the dual-channel dtb, “dual tone booster”™ heads, the dtb50 (50 Watts) and dtb100 (85 Watts), along with two matching speaker cabinet options. These heads, with their pure tube and meticulously prepared signal path, have a rich feature set that will rightly place COLBY Amps at the peak of a short list of boutique amp manufacturers from around the globe.

When designing the new dtb50 and dtb100 heads, Mitch Colby drew upon his 30+ years of experience in the industry, where he helped guide the direction of two legendary amplifier brands, VOX and Marshall. As a collector, gear expert and technician, he has stayed at the forefront of the state of the art of guitar amps his whole life, with an insatiable curiosity and drive to search high and low for the perfect tone. And as a set of ears, he is second to none. COLBY Amps are the result of his lifelong pursuit of the ideal amp (aesthetically, structurally, feature-set-wise, and of course, tonally), which led him to create this new line of uncompromising hand-wired boutique units.

The two models took over two years of tonal development before they were finalized. The main goal was to build (in Colby’s words) “tone-to-the-bone” channel switching amps with two channels, each with its own dedicated tone controls suitable for any playing situation, whether recording, live or at home. Colby and Weider carefully sourced and selected components critical to the tone including resistors, capacitors, transformers, chassis and tubes, so that the amps perfectly reflect the sounds of sparkle, fullness, compression, body, focused gain, smooth feel and touch sensitivity that they had in mind. Weider’s involvement was so crucial that Colby decided to have him put his signature on the back of each unit.

COLBY Amps are built to the absolute highest quality standards and are 100% hand-built and reflect the highest quality in amplifier design and manufacturing.

Dual Tone Booster Feature Set:

• Two channels with independent tone controls, so you can dial in your sound for each channel
• Separate tone shift switches for each channel
• Separate bright switches for each channel
• Two boosts on channel 2, full range and mid focused
• Tube buffered FX loop with Send and Return level controls (Colby: “Forget external loops! This loop is voiced specifically for the amp so that your effects work perfectly and the tone is not compromised.”)
• Three-way footswitch with detachable and easily replaceable cables, control Channel selection, Boost 1 and Boost 2 for five gig-ready tones
• Front panel LEDs so you always know which channel is selected
• Clean channel, full bodied and clear, works perfectly with pedals
• OD channel goes from a bold, full bodied clean to articulate and focused gain, to mid boosted mean
• Two speaker outputs with 4 and 8 ohm selectable impedance (8 and 16 or 4, 8 and 16 also available)
• Available with two (dtb50) or four (dtb100) 6L6GC output tubes depending on your requirements and preferences, as the circuits are voiced differently (also available with appropriately tweaked circuits for EL34s or 6550s for different tonal and power options)
• Back panel bias jacks and trim control so you can easily keep the output tube biased at the optimum setting as your tubes age
• Custom power and output transformers
• All components selected for TONE!

dtb50 Head Specs:

• All components selected for TONE!
• Power: 50 watts with 6L6GC
• Tubes: five 12ax7, two 6L6GC
• Front panel controls and switches:
• Clean channel: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright, Mid Shift
• OD channel: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Gain, Master, Bright, Mid Shift, Bass Boost, Gain Boost 1, Gain Boost 2
• Common: Channel Switch, Presence
• Back panel controls and switches:
• On/Off, Standby, Bias jacks, Bias trim pot, Impedance selector, two speaker outputs, FX send and Return level controls, FX Send and Return jacks, Foot switch jacks
• Dimensions: (W) 21.5”, (H) 10”, (D) 9.5”
• Weight: 40 lbs.

dtb100 Head Specs:

• Power: 85 watts with 6L6GC
• Tubes: five 12ax7, four 6L6GC
• Front panel controls and switches:
• Clean channel: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Bright, Mid Shift
• OD channel: Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Gain, Master, Bright, Mid Shift, Bass Boost, Gain Boost 1, Gain Boost 2
• Common: Channel Switch, Presence
• Back panel controls and switches:
• On/Off, Standby, Bias jacks, Bias trim pot, Impedance selector, two speaker outputs, FX send and Return level controls, FX Send and Return jacks, Foot switch jacks
• Dimensions: (W) 21.5”, (H) 10”, (D) 9.5”
• Weight: 45 lbs.

Companion Speaker Cabinets:
The companion 1x12 and 2x12 speaker cabinets were developed and voiced at the same time as the dtb heads so that they work together to produce the ultimate tone. The speakers were chosen specifically for the sound the amps produce. The 1x12 is appropriate for the dtb50 and the 2x12 will work with both the dtb50 and dtb100. The 2x12 can be used horizontally or vertically. Colby adds, “We chose pine for its tonal properties and light weight. The sizes make them easy to transport, but big enough to produce big tones.”

Companion Speaker Specifications:
1x12 Cabinet

• Speaker: Celestion G12-65, 8 ohm
• Dimensions: (W) 21 5/8", (H) 19", (D) 10.5"
• Weight: 33 lbs.
• Wood: 3/4"; pine, 1/2"; birch ply back panel, 1/2"; birch ply baffle

2x12” Cabinet

• Speaker: Two Celestion G12-65s, 16 ohm each, wired in parallel for a total of 8 ohms
• Dimensions: (W) 21 5/8", (H) 30", (D) 11" (vertical orientation); or (W) 30", (H) 21 5/8", (D) 11"; (horizontal orientation)
• Weight: 45 lbs.
• Wood: 3/4" pine, 1/2" birch ply back panel, 1/2" birch ply baffle

For more information:
Colby Amps