Finally...

Well, I finally bit the bullet and got myself a true 'boutique' amp setup. I bought the handwired 1965 Marshall JTM 45 head from CeriaTone and had Reason: amps build me a head cabinet and matching Bluesbreaker-style 2x12" speaker cabinet in green with gold piping.

As you can see from the picture, the setup is rather easy on the eyes. I had considered ordering the head and speaker cabs in black tolex with white piping which is the status quo for Marshall amps, but I always like to be a bit different from the crowd so I went with the green tolex with gold piping. I'm considering replacing the CeriaTone badge with a retro-looking Marshall badge with block lettering, but I'm still undecided. The amp was manufactured by CeriaTone to the same specs as the 1965 Marshall JTM 45 schematics. The Marshall badge would be a nod to the designer, not the builder.

As for the sound.....it's awesome! I'm hoping to post some sound clips of this baby as soon as I figure out how ;) True to the original, this amp came with KT66 power tubes, a GZ34 rectifier tube and 3 ECC83's. The supplied KT66's were Shuguang and all the rest were JJ tubes. I replaced the KT66's with the newly released JJ Tubes KT66 and am pleased with the results. I have yet to try out EL34's or 6L6's but I will soon enough. I'll be posting some more pictures pretty soon of the chassis and wiring for those of you interested in amp porn ;)

Until then...