It was worth the 10 week wait!

I share your pain.  This waiting is awful!  I'm into my 9th week waiting for my HRM Bluesmaster.  I have the cabinets and speakers ready to go for weeks.  I'm expecting the amp to ship this week.

I had these cabs built by Sourmash Cabinets.  I think the blond Nubtex looks very cool, although I realize it's not for everyone.  The grill cloth is black/silver matrix.  The speakers are Weber Vintage Series 12A150 alnicos.  I lined the speaker cab with foam acoustic insulation.  I still have another four weeks before Nik ships the amp.

Two months is a long time to wait patiently!  My speakers shipped from Weber yesterday and I hope the head and speaker cabs to ship next week.

I decided to go with a vintage looking closed back speaker cab.  The head and speaker cab will look exactly like the Dumble pictured below except they will have blonde nubtex and black/silver grill cloth. 

Last week I ordered an OTS and now have to impatiently wait 8 weeks.  Thought by posting here I'll get a bit of sympathy and help pass the time.  I've ordered a pair of 12" Weber Vintage Series 12A150 alnico speakers to go in a 2x12 extension cab that I'm having built.  The speaker cab is dimensioned like a Fender Bandmaster and the head cab is a standard Dumble style.  Both have nickle corner protectors, blonde nubtex and black/silver matrix grill cloth.  The speakers have a 4/5 week lead time and the cabinets have about a 3 week lead time.

Below is a picture of the head cab.  Speaker cab will match.  Mine will have different grill cloth.

check out my tweed build:  http://ceriatoneforum.com/index.php?topic=1010.0

I had a cab built by "Sourmash Cabinets" because of the unique dimensions of the Ceriatone chassis.

You may want to consider a 2x10 speaker configuration.  It works very well with these small amps.  Weber speakers are fantastic!  They are what I used.

Thanks tumka and welcome to the forum.  I don't believe any of us have been around for too long.  You won't regret buying a Ceriatone amp.  I recommend them at every opportunity.  Nik has an amp for any requirement.  I also have a highly modified '72 Traynor YRM-1 with a 1x12 JBL D120.  For all practical purposes it's a plexi.  I love the tone for rocking.  However, the Ceriatone has the most incredible tone for blues and clean.  You should hear it with a Dyna Comp pedal when I play "Still Got the Blues For You"; it's almost hypnotic!

Ok, I'm in.  2008 special order wine red flame top Classic Antique.  It's chambered, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

When I decided to get a new amp I had several criteria.  Had to have the Fender blackface tone, tube rectifier, low wattage, 10" speaker, and reliability.  I didn't want a 40 year old amp (I'm not a collector.  Just a guitar player) with tired components,  Not to mention there have been improvements in cap and resistor technology over the years.  This amp is for my home office.  Had to be physically small.  I wanted the big Fender overdrive tone but at a volume that wouldn't get me thrown out of the house. 

I began looking at old small Fender amps on ebay, and researched clone manufacturers on the web.  Ultimately, I ended up at the Ceriatone website.  I spent a couple of weeks researching Nik's products, support, and reputation.  I then ordered the BF Vibro Champ with the tone stack bypass mod.

My first impression of Ceriatone was their outstanding reputation all over the web.  Second impression was Nik's attentiveness to my emails.  Third was the amp's quality of construction.  And finally the perfection of the tone!

This is the amp for anyone that wants the unique Fender tone in a small package and at volume levels that won't make your ears bleed.  My son has a '65 BF Superreverb.  The problem is that he has to crank it to unpleasant volume levels to get the same tone I have with the Vibro Champ at a comfortable level.  The amp is ideal for home and small clubs.

I designed mine as a combo cabinet with 2 10" speakers.  Initially I had two Weber 10" Signature Series alnico speakers.  The problem was this little amp was actually able to distort them.  I love the tube distortion sound, but dislike distorted speakers.  I upgraded to two Weber Vintage Series and am thrilled.   I used tweed tolex to give the little amp a vintage look to go with its sound.

This is the amp for Fender aficionados.  It has the pure warm clean tone, but when cranked you would think you're listening to a mini Dual Showman.  I am actually quite surprised at how loud the amp is - quite a bit more than I expected.  I don't know if this is due to the speaker configuration.  The original Vibro Champ only had a single 8" speaker - and not a very good one at that.   Don



 

Practice soldering before you build the VC.  Bad solder joints is a common build problem.  Often beginners use to much solder and end up with sloppy looking (yet functional) construction.

A Variac, signal generator, and scope are good tools for testing and debug.

I'm new to the forum.  This is my two week old VC.  built it for two 10" Weber Vintage Series speakers.  I thought the tweed look was appropriate.  Nik included the tweed tone stack mod.  Fantastic amp for Fender guitarists.  I'm adding a master volume and am very interested in a face plate.