People tend to think of Steven Fryette of Fryette Amplification as a high-gain guy, but his beautiful new Aether amp proves quite the opposite. Not only is it one of the most unique amps we've seen at NAMM, but it's also one of the most gorgeous-sounding vintage-style amps we've heard, with a fantastically dynamic tremolo circuit and super lush reverb. It also has a brand-new vintage-voiced speaker developed with Fane.

So what's up with the '50s lunchbox-looking thing? The power tube section is housed in there to prevent interference with the preamp (which is in the main cabinet) as well as to protect internal tube elements from being excessively vibrated by bass frequencies. It might seem like tone-nerd hoodoo, but hearing Fryette describe the process and then hearing the amp made us wonder if he isn't one of today's foremost tube-amp gurus.