Ceriatone Amps

Has anyone of you made experiences with Ceriatone? If yes, which of their amps can you recommend? There are so many, I don't even know where to start... Also is there a list which of them is a replica of which original?

Hi Alex,

I've made Ceritone stuff, but not amps. From what I see the stuff is top notch: Nice chassis, good parts, good instructions.

As for which one... Hell man - depends on the tone you're looking for. If it were me it would be an AC30 style head.

For fun I just had a look at Nik's new site. He's got some pretty amusing names for the products;

Hey What - Hi Watt
Muchle$$ - Matchless
Overtone - Dumble Overdrive Special (I think)
TW Clone - Trainwreck

a Trainwreck express would be a fun build IMHO

I have transformers, chassis, turret board and face plate for a 2204 build that's in danger of becoming vintage before I get it put together.
I'm mulling making it into a JTM instead of a 2204.

mayfly said:

For fun I just had a look at Nik's new site. He's got some pretty amusing names for the products;

Hey What - Hi Watt
Muchle$$ - Matchless
Overtone - Dumble Overdrive Special (I think)
TW Clone - Trainwreck

a Trainwreck express would be a fun build IMHO

Click to expand...

Overtones are Dumble type variants.

British Style - various Marshall types
American Classics - mainly Fender types

I've owned two, the JCM800 2204 clone, and the Molecular. Sold both in fairly short order. I've also got experience with the Yeti 50 watt.

I immediately knew the Molecular was not for me, and resold it. The 2204 I kept around awhile but also eventually sold. The only one I would keep is the ironically the only one I have not owned: the Yeti.

They were all very well built. I just have very nitpicky tastes.

I won't order anything from Nik at this point because of the wait list. Is it less than a year yet?

EDIT: ah....I see that wait times are reasonable again. Hmmm.......

Their combos are heavy suckers.

Hey Aaron - what did you like about the yeti?

A guy who runs a site about gear, has his own studio and a bunch of amps got an ”all access Plexi51” (or something like that), basivally a very versatile plexi. It is his main amp nowadays.

I've owned a few and currently have a couple of their Matchless types. Great amps - wiring is some of the cleanest I've seen. I wasn't a massive fan of their modified Marshall type amps. They didn't sound bad, but were a bit over the top for me

Not sure what I'd recommend. Hard to go wrong with a 2203/2204 type amp though.

I have the molecular. I love it but it's too much for me. Really good tone, just too aggressive. I'm selling it and getting their 2203 with some switchable mods from their JCM102.

They are top shelf boutique products.

I have some limited Ceriatone experience with an AH-50, which is a clone of my current main amp the BE-50D. Based on what I saw and heard of that one amp I'd have had absolutely no problem going with one of theirs & probably would have had it been reasonably available at the time I was buying. I nearly snagged one on Reverb but it was owner-built...may have been perfectly fine but eh

Yea buying a used kit amp is kinda like buying a 2nd hand Warmoth: You know you need to go through it and fix the various issues...

With Warmoth stuff I at least know what I'm looking at and know I can address almost any issue, amps not so much. And it definitely gives me some pause to see that some guy put all that time and energy into wiring it all up and then is looking to break even in on it less than a year later. I can live with missing on a good deal I'm not sure about.

Waiting forever on an AH-50 built by Ceriatone would have been smarter than spending Friedman money, but sometimes you just gotta. Can't say I regret it though the Friedman is perfect. I've owned some pretty awesome amps but it's such a complete package and missing the handful of little minor faults my other fav amps have. My Mesa clicks when changing channels until it warms up a lot, and matching clean volume is a challenge. Others the loop isn't as good but there's always something, except not with this amp. My old Marshalls I have soft spot for but they come with all kind of practical drawbacks too. Biggest complaint with the BE-50D, there's a usable switch or two on the back I'd like on the front, but even then that's not a meaningful issue and irrelevant while playing. I can even get it sounding great at low volumes without attenuation.

I guess I'd like a 3 channel version with this clean, the BE, and a Plexi channel all in one amp, but short of that I can't complain. The HBE channel I could sacrifice as I can get there other ways.