The Valpreaux is powered by two 6973s—tubes that were used in several 1960s Valco, Supro, and Gretsch amp circuits, but in little else that guitar players use.
If you run into Richard Goodsell at a gear show—heck, even if you just spend a few minutes perusing his company’s website—you’ll soon find out why he’s famous for being a character who can barely get through a sentence without a double entendre or humorous metaphor. (One of his newest amps is called the Dominatrix, if that tells you anything.) But over the last six years or so, he’s also become pretty popular for his line of tube amps. Players like Sonny Landreth, Peter Buck, Vince Gill, Gilby Clark, Big Head Todd & the Monsters’ Todd Park Mohr, and Billy Gibbons are digging them, so you know something cool is going on inside his boxes.
We first heard the Goodsell Valpreaux 21 1x12 combo at the New York Amp Show last summer, and we’ve been eager to check it out ever since. What first piqued our interest was the fact that the amp is powered by two 6973s—tubes that were used in several 1960s Valco, Supro, and Gretsch amp circuits, but in little else that guitar players use. Once we heard it fired up, that sealed the deal. We knew the Valpreaux 21 was destined to be put through the PG paces.
The 21-watt Valpreaux weighs a very manageable 30 pounds—roughly three-quarters the heft of a blackface Deluxe Reverb—and it’s available in any covering or grill-cloth option listed on Mojo Musical Supply’s website. Ours came in striking red Tolex with a black-and-tan grill. Top-panel features include a delightfully simple EQ section with crème-colored Tone, Volume, and Gain knobs, as well as Reverb, Depth, and Speed knobs for the three-spring reverb and footswitchable, bias-vary tremolo circuit. There’s also a metal vent beneath the handle to help keep the tubes cool so they last longer and operate more reliably. Other Valpreaux features include a 12" Goodsell RGH speaker modeled after a Celestion G12H, three 12AX7 preamp tubes, and a 5AR4/GZ34 rectifier tube that runs approximately 390 volts.
Despite the fact that the 6973 power tube’s historical applications mostly include now-discontinued guitar amps and some hi-fi and juke-box applications, the fear of scarcity need not be a deterrent to guitarists: Electro-Harmonix is manufacturing new 6973s, so Valpreaux buyers will be able to power the amp for years to come. (Tube gurus note that 6973s look like they could fit into an EL84 socket, but using the two interchangeably is asking for mucho trouble.)
The 6973 puts out about the same amount of power as a 6V6—and Goodsell says they can put out another watt or two if they’re fixed-biased. But the Valpreaux is cathode-biased, which means you’ll never have to find matched 6973s for optimal operation. Just plug ’em in and play—woot!
As you probably figured already, “Valpreaux” is a French-sounding (and looking) contraction of “Valco” and “Supro” (“‘Valpro’ was already being used by a European pharmaceutical company,” Goodsell explains). But while the amp’s name and power train are reminiscent of those old designs, its tones are more in the blackface Fender Princeton and Deluxe Reverb camp. I tested the Valpreaux with a variety of guitars, including a ’50s-style Telecaster with alnico 3 pickups, a Reverend Pete Anderson hollowbody with P-90s, a Schecter Ultra III with mini-humbuckers, and a Godin Session with two single-coils and a bridge humbucker.
As I plugged in and twiddled controls, I thought about how some players will see the single Tone knob as a limitation—because it certainly decreases your ability to home in on exact treble, midrange, and bass frequencies.
However, guitarists who are into this sort of simple topography love it because fewer knobs means fewer potentiometers, wires, and other parts to muddy the signal. I don’t have anything against amps that facilitate precision tone tweaks, especially when working with guitars and pickups of varying character and output. But when an amp with a single tone control gets it right, I am totally into it. And with the Valpreaux, I was there almost immediately.
While I loved the tones almost anywhere I set that one Tone knob—from the fat and slightly scooped sounds perfect for Wes Montgomery-style octave excursions at lower settings to higher settings that brightened the Godin’s humbucker and thinned the Reverend’s corpulent neck pickup tones—it didn’t take long for me to find the right setting for my playing: cranked all the way clockwise.
Why? I favor a full, fairly bright amp sound because I tend to use my bridge pickup and shape my tone by varying picking-hand attack.
For instance, I love being able to use one amp and pickup setting to really lay into a taut E-string riff that works for punk and hardcore or lean “Helter Skelter”-style rock, switch to hybrid picking for twangy Junior Brown- or Danny Gatton-style licks, or sandwich the pick between my index finger’s first and third knuckles and use the rest of my digits to fingerpick Brian Setzer-esque chords or rhythms where I use the edge of my picking hand for percussive syncopation. With the Valpreaux, I was able to do all that and more with Tone all the way up.
What’s interesting about the Valpreaux’s Tone knob isn’t just that maxing it removes it from the circuit and yields a full sound with eble and a midrange that’s present but not strident—it also brings in glorious texture, character, and gain.
Speaking of gain, after a few weeks of playing the amp with my band, Goodsell emailed me to mention that he felt the Valpreaux really shines with the Gain control near 3 o’clock. He also said the amp was “consistently remarkable” with old Teles that have brass saddles.
Interestingly, I had already arrived at both conclusions on my own. Though I enjoyed playing all my test guitars through the amp, I have never heard my Tele sound better than it did through the Valpreaux with Tone maxed and Gain and Volume a hair under 3 o’clock.
The treble response was among the sweetest I’ve ever heard, and I really can’t imagine a better gamut of tones being available using the various picking techniques I mentioned earlier. Even when I was thrilling to meaty chord inversions, the Valpreaux and Tele somehow sounded scathingly mean and gorgeously refined—not unlike Page’s tone in the middle section of “Carouselambra.”
Likewise, the Tele’s middle-position tones sounded lusciously bell-like, while neck-pickup tones sounded fat and juicy—perfect for anything from bluesy bends to Tom Morello-style riffery. With the Godin’s humbucker and the Reverend’s fat-sounding P-90s, the Valpreaux had a little less of that sparkling magic, but both still sounded quite good. I preferred splitting the Schecter’s mini-humbuckers to decrease the midrange and get a little more spank.
How about the tremolo? In a word, it’s incredible. My Demeter Tremulator pedal has been the one constant on my pedalboard for the last 11 years, and I’ve owned a vintage Vibro Champ and Twin Reverb and Deluxe Reverb reissues—all of which have fantastically lush tremolo. But I’ve never encountered a warble that sounded so fat and three-dimensional. One of my favorite sounds was the Reverend’s soloed neck pickup with Speed at about 10 o’clock and Depth cranked—it was like Hendrix playing “Machine Gun” through a Leslie!
The Goodsell Valpreaux is one of the most enjoyable amps I’ve played in years, and I’ll probably cry when it leaves our office. That said, it wasn’t without its shortcomings: The delightfully long power cord never fell out during use, but it was loose enough that I lost power a few times when I adjusted amp position. And though the reverb was beautiful, it couldn’t touch the depth and sloshiness of a classic Fender tank. Reverberations sounded distant and subtle even when it was all the way up. I preferred my Strymon Blue Sky Reverberator, which sounded like liquid heaven through the amp.
Even with these slight niggles, the Valpreaux earns huge kudos. A lot of affordable 6V6 designs are coming onto the scene these days, so it’s easy to look at this box’s price tag and think its steep. But when you compare the Valpreaux against the more accessible 6V6 options—and I have, side by side—you quickly hear the difference. It’s like fast food vs. a spread cooked by an Iron Chef:
Both fill the empty space, but only one incites ecstasy that stays with you forever.
Video Review - Goodsell Valpreaux 21
Buy if...you crave delectable blackface tones, amazing tremolo, and ecstatically sweet high end.
Skip if...you prefer more precise EQ-ing and surfable reverb.
Street $1999 - Goodsell Amplifiers - superseventeen.com
Hand-crafted in Petaluma, California, this amp features upgrades while maintaining the original's legendary tone.
The Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head’s arrival in 1992 was a watershed moment for alternative rock and metal that changed everything; heavy music would never sound the same again, and the Dual Rectifier’s crushing, harmonically rich tone became the most sought-after guitar sound of the era. With a feel as empowering as its sound, the Rectifiers provided an ease of playing that supported and elevated proficiency and was inspirational, rewarding, and addictive.
Its sound and impact on the generation that used it to define what rock music would become were as sweeping as they have been lasting. And it remains arguably the most modeled in today’s digital amp landscape. Now, the 90s Dual Rectifier is back with a vengeance, built in Petaluma, California, by the same artisans who made the originals the most desirable high-gain guitar amplifier of all time.
For more information, please visit mesaboogie.com.
MESA/Boogie 90s Dual Rectifier full demo & tutorial ft. Doug West & Tommy Waugh - YouTube
Mesa/Boogie '90s Dual Rectifier 100-watt Tube Head - Black Diamond Faceplate
2 Channel HeadJohn Bohlinger gets the run-around from Keeley with their new, deep-and-watery chorus and Leslie-like modulator.
Rotary speaker cabinets impart a one-of-a-kind type of chorus effect. This pedal faithfully recreates the swirling textures and vintage warmth of those rotary cabinets. Tucked inside Keeley's laser cut aluminum case is a brand new set of circuit boards delivering the finest tone we've ever achieved.
KEY FEATURES:
- Sculpt your rotary tones with our finest sounds to date
- Updated circuits for maximum fidelity
- Simple and intuitive controls for live and studio use
- New LED speed indicator - Become one with the sound
- True Stereo for perfect integration in modern rigs
- True or Buffered Bypass - Switchable on the fly
Featuring Bluetooth input, XLR inputs, and advanced amplifier platform, the KC12 is designed to offer exceptional sound quality and versatility for a wide range of applications.
The KC12 is a first-of-its-kind, 3-way, 3000-watt active loudspeaker system encompassing the visual aesthetic of a column loudspeaker while surpassing the acoustic performance of conventional designs. Simple and easy to deploy, the elegant KC12, available in black and white, is ideal for a wide range of customers and applications from solo entertainers, musicians and bands, mobile entertainers and DJs to corporate AV, event production, and static installations.
Column-style portable loudspeaker systems are most often put into service due to their unobtrusive form factor. However, typical designs lack clarity and definition, particularly when pushed to high output levels, forcing the user into a form-over-function compromise. Solving this common dilemma, the KC12 cleverly utilizes a 3-way design featuring QSC’s patented LEAF™ waveguide (first introduced in L Class Active Line Array Loudspeakers) combined with a true 1-inch compression driver, two 4-inch midrange drivers, and a high output 12-inch subwoofer, while still maintaining the desired, elegant appearance of a “column” system. The KC12 produces an outstanding full-range horizontal coverage of 145 degrees and 35 degrees of audience-directed vertical coverage with clean and natural sound at all output levels.
The system features three inputs: a Bluetooth ® input combined with a 3.5 mm TRS stereo input, as well as two combo XLR inputs (Mic/Line/Hi-Z and Mic/Line/+48 V), with independent, assignableFactory Presets for each XLR input, making it ideal for small events where two microphones are needed for different uses. The rear panel incorporates a multi-function digital display, offering control and selection of several loudspeaker functions, including Global Parametric EQ, Subwoofer level, Presets and Scenes, Bluetooth configuration, Delay (maximum of 200 ms), or Reverb. Bluetooth functionality also provides True Wireless Stereo (TWS), which ensures low latency pairing between the music source and both left and right loudspeakers simultaneously.
Additionally, the KC12 can be deployed with or without its lower column pole, making the system ideally suited for utilization on a floor, riser or raised stage. The system is backed by a 6-year Extended Warranty (with product registration).
“The KC12 exquisitely resolves the form-over-function compromise that has frustrated users of this category of products since they made their market introduction over 20 years ago,” states David Fuller, VP of Product Development, QSC Audio. “With the benefit of time, experience, extensive customer research, and cutting-edge innovation, our talented design team has truly created something very different from the status quo – not simply a differentiated product, but an overall better solution for the customer.”
The feature set and performance characteristics of the KC12 are complemented by a new, advanced amplifier platform, first incorporated into the L Class LS118 subwoofer released this past October. Fuller adds, “Among the platform’s key attributes are layers of real-time telemetry and protection to ensure uninterrupted performance day after day, which is a foundational QSC brand attribute.”
“Just like our first K Series reset the bar for powered loudspeakers, elevating customers’ expectations for performance, quality, reliability, usability, and professional appearance, the K Column offers a compelling, new approach to a familiar category and is destined to redefine the whole notion of what a ‘column’ is for users of portable PA products,” states Ray van Straten, VPBrand, Marketing & amp; Training, QSC Audio. “The product is simply stunning in its sleek and elegant appearance, but with the marketing tagline, ‘Just Listen’, we’re confident that once again, QSC sound quality will ultimately be the reason customers will quickly embrace the K Column as the next ‘New Standard’ in its category.”
The QSC KC12 K Column carries a MAP price of $1,999.
For more information, please visit qsc.com.
This pedal is designed to offer both unique distortion qualities and a tonal palette of sonic possibilities.
At the heart of the Harvezi Hazze pedal is a waveshaper designed around a unijunction transistor - a relic from the early days of the semiconductor industry unearthed from the e-waste bins of flea markets in Tbilisi, Georgia, the Eastern European country's largest city.
The unijunction transistor offers unique properties allowing one simple component to replace a number of very complex devices. Therefore. depending on the operating mode, users can access a distortion, a limiter, a waveshaper and a generator - with smooth transitions among each of these.
The name "Harvezi Hazze" translates from Georgian as "a fault on the transmission line" or "signal jamming", and both the semantic and phonetic nature of these translations imply what users can expect: an impediment to the input signal, which can range from pleasant harmonic distortions to complete obliteration. The signal chain of Harvezi Hazze consists of an optical compressor with fixed parameters; a dual-mode distorting amplifier with either softer or harsher clipping; a waveshaper built around a unijunction transistor; and a tone stack section designed to tame these sonic building blocks.
Signal flow and controls
Following the input, the signal goes to the Compressor, Distorting Amplifier, Waveshaper, and then to the Tone Stack and output stages. Harvezi Hazze features six control knobs, a three-way switch and a footswitch.
- Gain Control: This controls the output amplitude of the signal in the distorting amplifier section. Depending on the position of the switch, the distortion introduced by this section is soft (with the switch in the left position) or more aggressive with an abundance of high harmonics (with the switch in the middle position).
- Spoil and Spread: This knob controls the operation of the unijunction transistor (waveshaper section). Spoil sets the point on the amplitude axis at which the wave will fold, and Spread sets the amplitude of the folding. The higher the Spread value, the more severe the distortion will be, while Spoil will change the timbre and response threshold. By adjusting Spoil, users can achieve various gating and cutoff effects; at low Spread values, distortion sounds are mixed into the clean sound.
- Tone: This knob adjusts the brightness of the sound. With higher values, higher harmonics become present in the signal.
- Three-way switch. This feature regulates either the distortion mode in the amplifier section (left and center positions), or turns on the total feedback mode (right position) when the values of all knobs begin to influence each other. In this position, effects occur such as resonance at certain frequencies and self-oscillation.
- Level knob: This controls the output volume of the signal.
- Footswitch: This routes the signal through the effect circuitry or from input to output directly (true bypass).
The array of switches on the side of the unit provides even further tonal options; the lower position of the switch enables the specific function:
- Tone Stack: Routes the signal through the tone stack section (Tone knob).
- Bass Boost: Enhances bass frequencies.
- Tone Mode: Changes the behavior of the Tone knob (tilt or lowpass).
- Notch Freq: Changes the central frequency of the filter.
- High Cut: Attenuates high frequencies.
- Compressor: Routes the signal through the compressor.
Harvezi Hazze is priced at €290. To learn more, please visit https://somasynths.com/harvezi-hazze/.