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



 

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!

Nik,

The faceplates are sweet and about time.

haha.

I'm where you were when you were researching amps/solutions for playing with great tone at low volume and I too have arrived at Ceriatone.
Your finished product is what I'm looking for.
Where did you buy or who built your cabinet?
Any problems to date?
Please advise,