NAD: Brunetti Singleman 16

Limehouse_Blues

Recently took delivery of a Brunetti Singleman 16. It's a fantastic amplifier and Brunetti's customer service and communication has been excellent throughout the order process.

This combo is beautifully constructed and is a decent size, giving the 12 inch speaker (a V30) plenty of room. Reviewing what I've been through in amp terms since 1991 in the 'amp journey' thread I realise that this is the first time I've owned a non-master volume amp.

The Singleman has 3 power modes (full, moderate and quiet) that allow you to crank the volume and overdrive the amp at lower volumes. However, even on the 'quiet' mode, with the volume cranked this amplifier is sure to upset the neighbours! Nevertheless, the power amp overdrive sounds that are produced are absolutely glorious. My Les Pauls (particularly the P90 equipped gold top) snarl like untamed beasts through the cranked Singleman.

Happily, the amplifier seems to take pedals extremely well, so for home practice I can shove an OD in the front and get ample dirt at home volumes as well. The FX loop is also great. I'd stopped using my cheap Joyo tremolo because of a noticeable volume drop when using it with previous amps I've owned. However, through the Singleman that volume drop seems to have disappeared and the Joyo trem is back on my board. My reverb pedal will be on the block though as the Singleman's reverb is sublime.

In all my time playing I've never really been one for pedals but with the Singleman I can see it being a perfect pedal platform. That said, I'm sure that no pedal could give me the wonderful bark this thing produces when cranked so I'm looking forward to taking it down to my local rehearsal space and really opening it up.

If vintage crunch is your thing or you're just looking for a very well put together clean amp that will reveal the nuance of any guitar (and guitarist) playing through it, the Singleman is well worth a look.

rico

Erm...pics?

Mickeyji

Congrats! The Singleman is a fine amp indeed - I have the head version and as you say it's a very good pedal platform. And anyone looking for those classic Fender cleans should give these a try.

Zoolooter

Very envious! Was looking for a used one for ages but they just dont resurface on the used market.

sm55onl

L_B, There used to be a Brunetti (UK) distributor - run by Mark (surname ?), who was based north of Leeds (iirc). I used to get regular e-mails from them but seen now't for a while now.
Thus i assume that you probably bought via the actual Brunetti (Italy) company ?

RandallFlagg

Nice one, any pics?

Limehouse_Blues

Some photos at last. I did buy directly from Marco in Italy. I'm in mainland Europe myself so was happy to buy in euro and saved a fair bit compared to what the UK retail price in sterling would have been. 

The Singleman is a nicely finished amplifier. It really does take pedals extremely well. I've been impressed with the Boss DS1X in particular. I know it's a digital pedal but at lower gain settings it sounds very amp like with a definite Marshall flavour. I wasn't sure I'd get on with the V30 in the Singleman and I could have had another speaker of my choice in there (I was thinking about a WGS Veteran 30) but I'm glad I went with the stock configuration - Marco was happy to put anything in there but recommended the V30 as the best match for this amp.

I have little use of the Bad Monkey through the Singleman at home as that's really a pedal that wants to go into an amp that's already reasonably close to overdrive and even with the low power setting on the Singleman I can't really get away with that at home! This is a loud amp.

I've also been able to link up the Singleman with my Laney IRT-X which really does 'do what it says on the tin'. I know that people are probably mostly using them to run Helix, Axe FX and Kemper but used as an 'extension cab' per the Laney marketing, the IRT-X really does bring an amazing sonic lift to any combo. Very clever bit of kit and easy to set up a wet-dry rig.