hand built

Asheville, North Carolina’s Port City Amplifiers first found wider success with its ported Wave extension cabinets. But a lot of guitarists are unaware that this company also makes outstanding, hand-built tube amps. In fact, tube amplifiers are where founder Daniel Klein got his start, and his reputation for simple, functional, and toneful designs won many notable followers. Among them is popular guitar vlogger Rhett Shull, who has worked as a touring and recording artist with Noah Guthrie, Jessy Wilson, and others. Shull acquired his first Port City amplifier some 10 years ago. Now Klein and Port City's relationship has yielded their first collaboration, the Grandville, and it’s a real breath of fresh air in an amplifier marketplace that typically draws upon a few familiar vintage amps as templates.

Port City’s designs tend toward simplicity, and the 30-watt Grandville looks pretty old-school inside and out. Just five knobs grace the front panel, and the preamp sections are populated by tubes that most conventional makers gave up on nearly 70 years ago. The inspiration for the design comes from Shull’s beloved 1950s Gibson GA-50, so nothing but the fat octal preamp tubes of the day would do. And while the Grandville isn’t the only amp being made with these bottles today, it is in rare company.