AMT ELECTRONICS SS-11A TUBE PREAMP

Made in Siberia, RUSSIA

Been spending most of my life playing in an apartment with no tube amp, sounds coming straight to mixer in my home and hear all the sounds using headphones or cheap solid state amp. Digital effect board seems the only logical solution to my limited rig but digital world seemed to lack the tone that I praise so much. I've been longing for a very warm tube amp sound that has some nice smooth clarity from a tube with the ability to get multiple channel from my amp for quite some time last year. I finally got the answer: THE AMT SS-11A.

Tube Preamp?

Yep. Not just your average preamp stompbox, this one is meant to be a true preamp or even an amp replacement. This box packs two 12AX7 tubes that are usually used in the preamp stage of popular tube amps. 3 channels: clean, crunch, lead with the crunch and lead channel share the same EQ knobs; 2 output: regular output to an amp, cab simulator to mixer for recording; an FX loop for placing your sensitive chorus, delay or reverb pedals. GOSH, THIS PEDAL PACKS SO MUCH FEATURES I DON'T EVEN WANT TO CALL IT A STOMPBOX !!!! I truly love the fact that it has a nice cab simulator output, the sound is very close to a mic'ed cabinet.

This box wants to be placed at the very end of your signal chain because it replaces rack preamp, amp head, or any other preamp/amp devices that eats tons of space. Hence, don't ever think to use this as a boost pedal like Tube Screamer or BB Preamp; this is a densely-packed-feature-rich multichannel amp in a form of a stompbox slightly larger than an average MXR pedal, not your average distortion pedal with true bypass output.

The mighty tube amp classic sound

The clean channel: Sounds very great. You won't get break up sound by cranking the gain knob all the way though, this is strictly clean sound. Think of a Vox AC15 or something similar, you'll get the idea of how it will sound. Put some boost pedals or overdrive before this box and you'll get Stevie Ray Vaughan with some adjustment on the knobs.

The crunch and lead channel: Both sounded great, the lead channel sounds a little different although using the same setting, it has some kind of boost somewhere in the EQ that I haven't been paying attention. Sounds between cranked Fender and Marshall, not too much crunch but has enough warmth and sustain that I really want(think of AC/DC or Queen). Crank up even more with an overdrive and you'll get the tubes over the top producing warmest sound I've ever heard from a non full sized amp.

Different level and gain adjustment for clean, crunch and lead so you can choose which one is louder and which one has more saturation compared to the others, very flexible. Full gain knob with a mid scoop and the help of a distortion pedal will bring this amp to the hairy metal world, but it's not intended to achieve that(they have AMT SS-20 for that).

Seemed to like it so far.....

But I think it still has some problem. The tubes won't last forever and the site mentions that the tubes aren't just regular 12AX7, they are called 12AH7 and I don't know who sells these tubes either in U.S. or worldwide.

In addition, the form factor is also small and that is also problematic (aside from helping you to get extra space on your pedal board). The knobs and switches are placed closely to each other, and I am having some trouble hitting the right switch. Definitely practice your switching skill before using this box on a live gig.

Worth?

Price is around $399.99. Expensive and seemed overpriced, but considering how it sounds compared to a real tube amp, this thing is still worth every penny.

From 0 to 10

I will give this box a 9.0, price is definitely a big obstacle and for a stompbox with $400 price tag, this item won't be competing with other pedals. But once again, this is not your regular stompbox, this works as an amp replacement and you should consider that this thing works even better than what it's advertised for.

www.amtelectronics.com or www.amtelectronicsusa.com

Sound clip : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12709731/sound%20demo/AMT%20SS-11A.mp3, it goes from clean to crunch to lead. They're not on their maximum gain setting but I hope you can sort of feel how strong they are!

Cheers and God bless :)