Hand wired boutique amps over production amps

Paul1401

Hi All,
Sorry for another mundane question, but rawling through the posts on this site I see a number of people use hand wired boutique amps over factory production. Are they worth the extra cash ? I was going to buy production, but heard one or two boutique amps and now in in a muddle. Thanks.

Alex2678

I think it depends, the people that have bought them will likely think they were, some people may have decided they’re not and gone with production amps. Not all production amps are created equal, not all boutique amps are created equal, were there any specifically you were looking at? 

ChrisCox1994

- handwired amps are: 

Easier/cheaper to repair
supposedly more hardwearing
likely to be made with higher quality components

they dont:
- sound better (thats subjective anyway)

Paul1401

Alex2678 said:

I think it depends, the people that have bought them will likely think they were, some people may have decided they’re not and gone with production amps. Not all production amps are created equal, not all boutique amps are created equal, were there any specifically you were looking at? 

I was considering Emprize or Gartone over Marshall.

PrecisionGuided

Most of the modern 'boutique' amps are slung together by BAD (Boutique Amplifier Distribution) - high quality bits soldered by a blind man's dog.

A 'hand wired', badly laid out PCB is no better than a machine placed / flow soldered PCB - often they are much worse.

Very few new amps are genuine turret / tag board or point-to-point construction - they use 'hand wired' to mean something else.

Morgan, Tone King, Friedman, Bogner, Egnater, are all made in the same BAD factory - most of the money is spent on the fancy eye-candy casework.

My Magnatone sounds fab but has already been back for one Warranty repair and the soldering is dreadful.

So, some do sound great but build quality and reliability are suspect, plus they are a real pain to get fixed here in the UK.

YMMV

Edit..  My Friedman Runt is very well put together, so it depends...

Winny_Pooh

We've been here before.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3681909

Winny_Pooh

You might be happier trying a bunch of amps in person. 

ICBM

Which Marshall? There’s a very big difference between the vintage reissues - even the standard PCB ones - the modern interpretations of them (eg the Studio series), and the ‘modern’ models (DSLs and JVMs etc).

Alex2678

I’d imagine Emprize or Gartone - properly boutique- amps will be better put together than Marshall’s good stuff (definitely better than their worst stuff) but I don’t know to what degree you’ll notice between Marshall’s higher end stuff and the boutique stuff 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I saw a good (albeit long) video about this sort of thing recently. First half of the vid focuses on Hand-Wired Vs PCB pedals, but the chat specifically about amps is from about 17:30 onwards. 

Vid has expert input from the guys from JHS, Keeley, Friedman and Suhr, so it's not just bedroom YouTubers spouting forth like a lot of vids are.

GoFish

You may not notice in sound or even in feel. They will be better put together with higher quality components and probably more atention to detail. Plus servicing and any changes would be easier in theory. We get Marshalls and Voxes pretty cheap over here in the grand scheme of things. Fender and USA designs are a lot pricier and this may change the value you'd find in a proper "Boutique" build. Of course, these older designs were mostly handwired in the first place, so you'd be paying for a more authentically constructed amp.

Ultimately, if the production amps are brilliant, the differences for the end user will be minimal. It's the care that goes into component selection and construction - knowing that parts haven't been designed and chosen just to minimise costs.

Wazmeister

Winny_Pooh said:

You might be happier trying a bunch of amps in person. 

This is wisdom, every time.

theatreanchor

Don’t just hear them, try them wherever possible, and don’t rush your purchase. I have both boutique and PCB / factory stuff. I like them for different reasons. 

Paul1401

ICBM said:

Which Marshall? There’s a very big difference between the vintage reissues - even the standard PCB ones - the modern interpretations of them (eg the Studio series), and the ‘modern’ models (DSLs and JVMs etc).

I was looking at a Mini Jubilee 2525C

Paul1401

Winny_Pooh said:

We've been here before.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/3681909

Apologies, but I’ve had a lot of valuable info this time. Thanks

Paul1401

In respect to trying loads of amps - Where I live I don’t really have that type of option as the only shops usually only carry the cheaper amps, which is why I ask people in the know.

richardhomer

The only truly ‘boutique’ amp I’ve owned was an early 2000s Badcat Cub IIR. At what it did, it was fantastic but ultimately not for me. 

I would always compromise on an amp, rather than a guitar but as others have said, you really need to try a wide variety of options and properly evaluate them for yourself.

Alex2678

Paul1401 said:

ICBM said:

Which Marshall? There’s a very big difference between the vintage reissues - even the standard PCB ones - the modern interpretations of them (eg the Studio series), and the ‘modern’ models (DSLs and JVMs etc).

I was looking at a Mini Jubilee 2525C

I think most hand wired boutique Marshall amps especially Emprize for example will be 60s plexi type amps rather than silver jubilee type things 

Modulus_Amps

PrecisionGuided said:

Morgan, Tone King, Friedman, Bogner, Egnater, are all made in the same BAD factory - most of the money is spent on the fancy eye-candy casework.

This may be controversial, but non of those amps are "boutique" anymore. It is the equivalent of saying Victory amps are boutique.

Gartone, Rift, Emprize are proper UK made boutique amps and all three of the gents behind those businesses build cracking amps.

Alex2678

I’d agree there 

BowynMadley

Boutique is a word that it is overused these days. Especially in the guitar and amp world. Boutique to me means that they are offering a limited, special and often unique product. Friedman, Morgan, tone king etc are none of those things. They are now mass production amplifiers. If you want a truly Boutique amplifier go to the likes of Cornell, RD Amplification, Gartone, M J W etc. They have the ability to build you a specific an unique amp. However if you want a marshall sound buy a marshall. Similarly with fender and vox (90%  of "Boutique" amplifiers are copies of those anyway)