I'm curious to hear any opinions from people who have either built or bought a 5E8A from Nik. This part of the forum is dead so I'm guessing not many have yet, probably because it is still pretty new.

I just received my head kit from the postman today so I'm mainly just looking for pointers and tips from anyone with prior experience. How well does the half-power switch work? Does it affect the tone in a negative way? How's the clean headroom at full power? When does it start to get dirty? Any potential pitfalls and hazard I should look out for before I start soldering?

The kit came with a mix of JJ & Electro-Harmonix tubes, are they good enough or should I start looking at some NOS tubes? Any recommendations?

I jumped straight into it when I saw the package waiting for me after work. I just finished putting together most of the components and will start soldering tomorrow.

This is my second Ceriatone actually, I built an 18w TMB EF86 earlier this year and I've caught the bug. I'm sure you guys can empathise with me, it's hard to stop at one once you've had a taste.

Any fellow 5E8-A owners out there?

The 5E8A is, well, the late 50s tweed twin.

i think fender also reissued it.

I like it, the dual 5U4 recto is indeed something special, feel wise.

The cleans is really nice, but it reminds me of SRV tones quite a bit if goosed up with a good OD pedal.


Thanks!

Nik