Gartone Bluesman 18

joehindley103

Wow. Had a go of one of these today...jesus... these are awesome!! Best tweed I've ever played. Nearly ended up divorced as last time I saw martin I came away with a gartone Ace..I seriously need to stay away!

Anybody else got one? If you ever decide to sell i'll be raiding that piggy bank no doubt haha. And living on my own too...

Ossyrocks

I don’t have one...

I have two.

Best 5E3 I ever heard.

They come up occasionally on eBay and on here.

Rob.

Bridgehouse

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Dominic

Yes I have ..........Monster thing.......best amp I have ever played by far;I was underwhelmed by my Lazy J
They are absolutely ripping and a quietly understated marketing keeps them a little known secret....just superb

joehindley103

Bridgehouse said:

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Was that at Birmingham? Do you mean somebody was playing sweet home through one of these amps?

JohnPerry

Curious about these. How do they differ from a standard tweed deluxe? 

joehindley103

When you say standard deluxe what do you mean? Fender 57 reissue or vintage originals?

Bridgehouse

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Was that at Birmingham? Do you mean somebody was playing sweet home through one of these amps?

Yes. The guy on the stand..! 

JohnPerry

joehindley103 said:

When you say standard deluxe what do you mean? Fender 57 reissue or vintage originals?

The original design. Am wondering what changes he has made, as Jesse Hoff did for the J20. 

joehindley103

Bridgehouse said:

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Was that at Birmingham? Do you mean somebody was playing sweet home through one of these amps?

Yes. The guy on the stand..! 

I was there for an hour or so..Martin doesn't play his amps on the stand, never has when I've been there.. There was a guy on the stand opposite with a rift amp playing sweet home etc when I was looking around. I'm pretty sure that sound burned in your brain wasn't a gartone! :-)

ThorpyFX

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Was that at Birmingham? Do you mean somebody was playing sweet home through one of these amps?

Yes. The guy on the stand..! 

I was there for an hour or so..Martin doesn't play his amps on the stand, never has when I've been there.. There was a guy on the stand opposite with a rift amp playing sweet home etc when I was looking around. I'm pretty sure that sound burned in your brain wasn't a gartone! :-)

Gartone brought a guitarist to play his amps this year.  I had a rift amp on my stand and was opposite.... no sweet home from me!

Bridgehouse

ThorpyFX said:

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

joehindley103 said:

Bridgehouse said:

Well I can safely say I know exactly how they sound. Being 2 stands away from ours and having sweet home Alabama on repeat all day has seared the sound into my brain...

Was that at Birmingham? Do you mean somebody was playing sweet home through one of these amps?

Yes. The guy on the stand..! 

I was there for an hour or so..Martin doesn't play his amps on the stand, never has when I've been there.. There was a guy on the stand opposite with a rift amp playing sweet home etc when I was looking around. I'm pretty sure that sound burned in your brain wasn't a gartone! :-)

Gartone brought a guitarist to play his amps this year.  I had a rift amp on my stand and was opposite.... no sweet home from me!

Yep was definitely the hired gun on the Gartone Stand.. 

Ossyrocks

His amps are more a sum of the parts. He uses the best of everything and builds them with meticulous precision. Even the cabinets are made from antique victorian pine. 
I compared two pieces of pine in the workshop, one new, one Victorian, the new one was more than twice the weight. Even the cabs play a part in the tone, they are really resonant. 
He’s just five minutes drive from me, so I’m very lucky. 
Rob

joehindley103

@Bridgehouse @ThorpyFX ;; haha I stand corrected! I only made a passing visit and didn't realise there was a demo guy! Playing sweet home does not do that amp justice!

I loved it from my short blast, and I don't usually go for tweeds.

@ThorpyFX how do you find the rift? Sounded nice when I passed today!

joehindley103

JohnPerry said:

joehindley103 said:

When you say standard deluxe what do you mean? Fender 57 reissue or vintage originals?

The original design. Am wondering what changes he has made, as Jesse Hoff did for the J20. 

@Ossyrocks sums it up. No idea what his specific mods are but being an owner of an Ace 20 the component selection and build is superb..only downside that kind of quality costs so his amps are pricey (for a custom builder)..but still cheap compared to imports or fender reissues with cheaper components

ThorpyFX

joehindley103 said:

JohnPerry said:

joehindley103 said:

When you say standard deluxe what do you mean? Fender 57 reissue or vintage originals?

The original design. Am wondering what changes he has made, as Jesse Hoff did for the J20. 

@Ossyrocks sums it up. No idea what his tweets are but being an owner of an Ace 20 the component selection and build is superb..only downside that kind of quality costs so his amps are pricey (for a custom builder)..but still cheap compared to imports or fender reissues with cheaper components

This is an interesting price comparison quip. It seems that we expect smaller builders to offer their wares cheaper than the big players. When I’m reality everything is much more expensive for th smaller builders. Fender’s buying power and distribution network means they can bring the cost of their amps down to make more money (divvied up between distributors, shops and themselves). The smaller builders actually makes less profit than the bigger players, but they still tend to bring their products in around the same price or less.

quality does cost, but the benefits are often worth more than the £ dictates. 

joehindley103

I think you're missing my point. I agree.

I'm comparing gartone with other custom builders. The gartone prices are on the high side for a custom (relatively unknown) brand if you compare with others. E.g deluxe tweed based amp 1700? I could get another uk custom builder do that for probably a few hundred less..However I know the quality of the overall product so I don't have an issue with the price.

An no point in my post did I infer smaller builders should offer their products less than the big fish. The only advantage of the big players is easier resale value to the mass second hand market. I'd pay twice as much for a custom build than say a fender, especially if I plan to keep it so resale no issue.

hotpickups

One got sold on here a couple of weeks ago 

joehindley103

Really? I'm skint at the moment so no bad thing I guess. I'll be back in for one at some point though I have no doubt! :-)

hotpickups

joehindley103 said:

Really? I'm skint at the moment so no bad thing I guess. I'll be back in for one at some point though I have no doubt! :-)

It'll be up here again I'm sure

hotpickups

@fretfinder ;