The Return of an Old Friend (or NOAD!)

IvisonGuitars

It's a funny thing GAS isn't it?

6 years ago I traded this perfectly good amp, a Top Hat Club Royale, which I totally loved, for another amp which I thought I would totally love even more....turns out I didn't and I shifted it on ebay less than a month later.

This was one of those trades which I always regretted. It was the amp that got me hooked on the whole handwired, boutique vibe. I picked it up off eBay 8 or 9 years ago for a song and didn't have a clue what it was or how it sounded, it was my first foray into the boutique word and, unfortunately for my wife, wallet and bank balance, I have not looked back!

There is something very special about this amp, 3 x 12AX7, 2 x EL84, military spec wiring, don't ask me what but it just has a 'vibe' about it and I bloody kicked myself weekly for letting it go, even more so as the new owner would not budge on selling it back to me.

Anyway, just last week I found myself lamenting its loss to a member in the classifieds who has another Top Hat, an Emplexador head, for sale.

Then, out of knowhere, the guy I traded it with emailed me to say he was thinking of selling it and would I like first refusal. A refusal was not on the cards, I snapped his bloody hand off! I'll admit I paid far more for it than I originally did but I think it's worth it!

We're a funny bunch, us GAS aflected aint we?!

And, you know what, after maturing for another 6 years, it sounds better than I ever remember it did! ;-)

**Disgregard most of this if it appears in the Classifieds in 6 months time...**

Anyway, here she is:

JohnPerry

dibs

IvisonGuitars

Haha!

steveh

Looks to me like your Royale has the solid state rectifier circuit that Dave Hunter went mental about in the April 2003 issue of "Guitar". He reckoned this version of the amp slayed Matchless, Bad Cat, Cornford etc. 

I'd love to hear this amp - they are like Hens Teeth over here. I'm betting the only problem is that it weighs a ton - Top Hat amps are incredibly well built. One look at your guts shot proves that.

IvisonGuitars

Actually @steveh, it's suprisingly light, compared to my Bad Cat and the Matchless DC30 I had. Infact, i'd wager that the Bad Cat would be heavier than the Top Hat and my J20 put together!

I'm going to give it a serious A/B test against the Bad Cat next week and see which one comes out on top...i.e. which stays and which is up for the chop! ;-)

BluesyDave

Looks great.....congrats on getting it back.   Is that the power transformer under the speakers?

IvisonGuitars

No, it's a stepdown transformer @BluesyDave, the amp is running 110v and it was like it when I got it.

JohnPerry

miserneil said:

Actually @steveh, it's suprisingly light, compared to my Bad Cat and the Matchless DC30 I had. Infact, i'd wager that the Bad Cat would be heavier than the Top Hat and my J20 put together!

I'm going to give it a serious A/B test against the Bad Cat next week and see which one comes out on top...i.e. which stays and which is up for the chop! ;-)

V interested to hear that verdict, as a Black Cat 15 owner myself

BluesyDave

miserneil said:

No, it's a stepdown transformer @BluesyDave, the amp is running 110v and it was like it when I got it.

Ah......interesting.  

pmg

Don't make the same mistake twice!!

ICBM

I think I know that amp - if so it was me that fitted the stepdown transformer, which when a friend of mine got it, was a separate external one.

If so… oddly, when he got it, it didn't sound good - for some unknown reason the speakers were wired incorrectly, in parallel when they should have been in series I think. At first I couldn't work out what was wrong with it but on a hunch from what it sounded like I checked the output impedance and discovered it was 4:1 mismatched from the speakers! It sounded fantastic when it was put right. He didn't buy it new either so don't know what the story with it was.

steveh

miserneil said:

I'm going to give it a serious A/B test against the Bad Cat next week and see which one comes out on top...i.e. which stays and which is up for the chop! ;-)

You have some killer amps. There are a ton of us waiting to hear what you think. I'm particularly interested in the Royale vs. J20. I know they'll sound different, I'm just interested in what way.

IvisonGuitars

That's interesting @ICBM. I have no idea of its origins either. I picked it up on eBay around 2007 after deciding I needed a 'boutique' amp and this popped up in the search. Can't remember who or where it came from. It's a 2000 model.

If it is the same amp, it's Interesting about the speaker wiring. I would imagine someone had been messing with it post factory as I very much doubt Brian would let it leave the factory sounding any less than stellar.

@steveh Yes, I'll do that, will be interesting for me too. I'll try and do a comparison with all of them, gratuitous family shot below...