Ceriatone Forum

Hey guys! Help me out with my dilemma will you? I'm in the market for a fender clone and the 5e3 caught my eye. I know the cleans are great, although it doesn't have a lot of headroom. But what about the overdrive? I read somwhere that Billy Gibbons used these amps on some ZZ top tunes. Can I get a ZZ top sound with this amp (Lagrange, Jesus just left Chicago...)? Maybe with two 12AX7's in the preamp for more gain?

Cheers guys! Keep the forum alive!
  ;D

Billy is a deluxe fan... specially on his early years...

The 5E3 has plenty of gain, if compared with the usual fenders. When cranked up it growls and sweats like a pig..... 2 12AX7s will give you a bit more gain than a 12AX7 and a 12Ay7 (presonally I prefer this configuration .)

I have to warn you about one thing though.. the Tweed´s cleans are great... but.. the tweed deluxe begins to get into overdrive territory quite soon and at low volumes... so.. forget about using cleans when playing with a band (unless the amp is micd)..

Miracle Man -
There is plenty of overdrive in that amp. I think you would be sorry if you dropped a 12AX7 in that amp. It would have no headroom what so ever. Just listen to Larry Carlton on Steely Dan's The Royal Scam. His lead tone just plain screams. No pedals, just him plugged straight in. Take a look at his website (I think it is mr335.com or something like that). There is a video with him showing you exactly how to get that heavenly lead tone from a Tweed Deluxe. You will be glad you checked it out. The only short fall of that amp IMO is that it is just on the border of being a gigable amp if there is no PA. I have one of Nik's 5E3 amps and I can vouch for it whole heartedly.

5E3 is a special amp... once you start playing it, you just can let it go.  8)
Just think of it, did you ever heard somebody bashing these amps?

I tried to maximize the headroom in mine by installing 6L6, GZ34 tubes (bigger trannies are needed for this) and Vol/Tone Mod from Mission amps. Vol/Tone mod also brighten the amp a bit which is good. These amps are really dark sounding, especially if you don't use the right speaker.

After all these mods... let's just say, it'll stay with me forever.
 ;D

Thanks for all the info guys! Sounds like the perfect amp for me. I will mostly use it for recording and rarely in a band (i play in a punk-rock band---my marshalls handle that  ;)). I'm not worried about the cleans either. I usually just set the amp for an overdrive sound and clean up with the help of the guitars volume pot. Do they sound good with greenbacks? I have one of those Marshall 4x12 with greenbacks.

mcinku: je že kar nekaj Slovencev na forumu, kajne  ;D

 ;)
I will use English so everybody can understand...
Greenback is actually the same speaker I use and I love it. For me it's perfect match for 5E3.
You can hear my clip in a 5E3 SoundClip section. I used my 1x12" Greenback cab for that recording.
 ;)

hey there.. new to the forum and to the amp talk.. been considering the 5E3 for awhile now, but still unsure about it..

1. my first tube amp, so i do not know what to expect really
2. looking for an amp that could give me some clean headroom, uses most probably include home (apartment) practice and possibly jam sessions/gigs in the future
3. stingy and hoping to get an amp that i would never need to replace ever
4. im not a very good guitarist and just want to improve the overall tone of my beginner setup
5. tones that i crave for would be kinda like the gilmoury, eric johsonish, srv-ish kinda clean tone, with a smooth overdrive.. im not saying i want the exact tone as them, just something that would have the pristine cleans
6. if it helps, an amp that i really love the tone of is a twin reverb.. who doesnt?

I think 5E3 is not for you. 5E3 is not known for pristine cleans. It has almost no headroom especially when used in band situations. It might be fine for home use.
What you need is smaller BF style amp.
BF Princeton
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/princeton_bf.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/princeton_bf.html)
or
Super Champ
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/champ_super.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/champ_super.html)
or
Deluxe Reverb ( DRRI )
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/deluxe_bf.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/deluxe_bf.html)
even BF Champ might be fine, you can always mod it with 6L6 for more power (like I did  ;) )
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/champ_bf.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/champ_bf.html)

 8)

hey thanks for the reply.. appreciate the recommendations.. however, im based in malaysia, and it is hard to get amps that are going to be priced decently.. ceriatone is one of my top options as nik really offers competitive prices.. where do you think i could get an amp like those mentioned? clone amps too? original fenders will remain out of my reach for a long time it seems..

what power output does that deluxe reverb have actually? that one looks pretty good..

Deluxe Reverb has 22W.
Nik build me a BF Champ... you can ask him to mod it with 6L6 for more power.
...or you can go with 5F4 Super, that one has a lot more headroom compared to 5E3.

hmm.. thanks for listing the possible options.. the super would be terribly expensive for me unfortunately.. is there any other tube amps below 600usd and below as a combo that you would recommend me? if this is kinda off topic, i dont mind pm-ing you for further advice

edit: your champ.. mind listing the specs for me? besides the owner bias (we all have them lol) you may have, you sure its really suitable? heard your demo and it sounds good

In that case I would go for BF Champ and mod the hell out of it. I think it's possible to get around 18W with 6L6, 5V4 tubes, appropriate bias resistor and PT,OT.
I would say mine has about +8W with 6L6 but I use the stock 5Y3 rectifier.
And don't forget to buy a speaker with high sensitivity (something around 100dB), maybe 12" ceramic speaker would be a good choice.
I think you would be fine with such an amp.

 ;)

ahhh..sounds great! yet complicated.. im sure nik would know what to do right? thanks again you've been super helpful.. looking forward to tubey goodness hopefully by christmas! maybe for once i'd get a cool gift, even if its from myself!

to steal a smiley from you,  ;)

Nik will definitely know what to do.

Let us know how it goes.
 :)

champ deal is on hold for now.. gonna have to save up for something else.. nik tempted me with a new upcoming amp.. lets just say, its 'american'.. and its brown..  ;)

he also said 'save up'.. this one's gonna be good

Hey, you can't do that, this is not nice thing to do.
You must tell us which amp is Nik planing to do.... must.

OK I'll try to guess...

this one http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/deluxe_brown.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/deluxe_brown.html)

Did I get it?
 ;)

close.. but not quite.. its one that both jeff buckley and srv used at one point in their career.. darn.. both very big influences on me.. go look it up and see..  ;)

is it ethical to reveal it actually?  :-X

Damn, I knew you would say something like that.

Well at least I tried.
 ;D

I'm "vibrating" with anticipation, hint hint....lol

my last try
http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/vibrolux_brown.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/vibrolux_brown.html)

Oh,,,so close...

'cmon you are not talking about vibroverb,.... or are you  8)

http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/vibroverb_brown.html (http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/vibroverb_brown.html)

Well, unless Nik had a typo in his email to me.......yup. 

im not sure if that's what we're supposed to say.. haha but yups! that's one hot amp.. had some financial setbacks, and it seems if im going to ever obtain one of those, i would need at least two more years.. hope you guys would keep me posted on it, and how it sounds and feels when you guys purchase it..

Is it gonna be start with V*******?   ;D

add another letter to that, V********..

im still confused over my possible choices of an amp.. especially when i decided the 50s strat would be worth the extra cash over the standard.. leaves me on a tighter budget

get a bf champ (unmod/mod?) or wait for this brown sound monster which i would probably never get to bring out the best of in my bedroom and unlikely to use for jamming and gigs.. is it wiser to just use those amps they have in the cheap studios and gigs? and just settle for a bf champ for home use?

BF Champ for home use... trust me on this... MORE THAN ENOUGH.
How do I know you ask?

My wife tells me all the time .... KEEP IT DOWN!!!   ;D
...and that's me playing it in the basement.  :o
go figure

 ;)

haha yeah i know that's major volume for home use but im just wondering if its worth saving up for that particular brown amp which is at a gigging wattage.. i know most people still use their major wattage amps at home but im worried that i'll feel bad not fully utilizing it..

the issue is that im not sure if i would be gigging or not, and the jam studios usually have an amp there which may not be good.. can the champ go over the drums and remain clean?

im just wondering which would be the cleverer investment..

Depends on the drummer but probably not. Not even with 6L6 mod. For something like that, you would need at least 15W-20W and I'm not talking tweed 15W. With tweed design you need even more.

IMHO

mr brown sound, here i come.. looks like im going to be saving up for that brown amp after all..

american classic 'brown' amp clone by ceriatone = 1200 usd
mexican strat 50's classic = 1090usd

im going to have a long fasting period til next december


 :'(

 Howdy Folks, New to this forum, I have been scoping Ceriatones for bout six months now, The 5E3  was and is one of the first I looked at. Since I primarly play blues and blues based rock, My main guitars are Les Pauls with handwound pickups and vintage wiring with Sprague PIO Caps, Though I have 2 MIJ Squire Strats as well.
 My local amp guru helped assemble a 18watt TMB into a cab, and said the tones were so outrageously sweet.
 What I wish to attain from Niks 5E3 is some sweet brownsound to some nasty blues overtones at the 7 -15 watt range, as the Blues places I jam at, this is about the volumes acceptable, Suggestions, am I barkin up the wrong tree?

I think you found your tree.
 ;)

 ;D

Thanks Mckin I think even if I let Nik assemble the amp, I can get this done for under $750 with a decent speaker and cab from ampcabco, $200 Complete cab  and they are pretty close distance wise as well

If anything, 5E3 is a blues amp all the way. Can't go wrong with it.
...and as far as the Ceriatone quality, they are right there with the best of them.

 ;)