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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:29 pm
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Budglo, how you doin buddy!
I did the Tube Depot Tweed Deluxe and loaded it with a Weber 12A125 Alnico. Mine has Classic Tone Trannies and sounds really nice. I've been gigging with it for a while. Rob Hull who designed the kit said it puts out close to 18 watts. It's on a PCB and there's full step by step instructions and a video on the website. I've been real happy with it. My next build is going to be a 60 watt true point to point from Mod Kits DIY. I did their 5 watter and it turned out to be a really sweet amp.

If I can do it, anybody can.

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:40 pm
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63supro wrote:
Budglo, how you doin buddy!
I did the Tube Depot Tweed Deluxe and loaded it with a Weber 12A125 Alnico. Mine has Classic Tone Trannies and sounds really nice. I've been gigging with it for a while. Rob Hull who designed the kit said it puts out close to 18 watts. It's on a PCB and there's full step by step instructions and a video on the website. I've been real happy with it. My next build is going to be a 60 watt true point to point from Mod Kits DIY. I did their 5 watter and it turned out to be a really sweet amp.

If I can do it, anybody can.
Supro, so good to see ya! I am gonna check out the Tube Depot version. I have been looking at the Mojotone version as well. I have been repairing antique radios once in a while , so building amps got my interested. I think I can build an amp thats as good or better than most amps out there and save money in the process.


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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 4:26 pm
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Hi, here's my review. I have owned a Ramparte for about 2 weeks. For reference, I have previously owned several small transistor amps and currently own a Mustang I. I was looking for a small, simple retro-styled all-tube amp and when I read about the Ramparte I was very excited. Bottom line is, if the new Fender video ad appeals to you, then you'll be satisfied with the Ramparte.

I am running a Les Paul Studio, a Standard Tele and a Standard Strat, all sound great in the Ramparte. My Ramparte came with Ruby tubes including the well-regarded Ruby 6L6GCM-STR power tube. I am not planning to mod this amp.

As far as the sound quality, I don't have any other Tube amps to compare it to so no frame of reference, but it sounds fantastic both on the Cool and Hot channels. Cool is very clean, I use that input when I plug in through my Zoom multieffects pedal. When I want a bit of distortion, I plug the guitars into the Hot channel. Setting the input on "4" (about 9 o clock), this amp is about as loud as I can handle in a small living room. My feeling is that lack of volume is not an issue (but too much might be an issue for some folks). There is plenty of power and headroom here, unless you are gigging. 9 watts is more than I will ever need.

I wouldn't recommend this amp for gigging since it doesn't have corner protection and the handle is a little weak for heavy usage. Not a problem for me, and I love the look of this box. Construction and build quality is excellent.

For folks like me that are newbies to Tube sound, the main features are the quality of the overdrive effect, which is very sensitive to pickup type, guitar output and the volume control on the amp. Also, the tube tone has powerful transients (i.e. the sound of the initial string hit) with a subtle "sag" and buildup during the sustain. Sort of like a compressor but not exactly like any digital simulation of a compressor that I have heard. Basically you need to treat it like a musical instrument, it will take some time to master the sound, even if you're a decent player like myself. There is a lot of depth to mine here, it will take me many months to coax the optimum tone out of this amp.

Bottom line is I am very happy with this purchase and plan to get many happy years of service from it. However I am not going to assign a number or letter grade to this product since I don't have any frame of reference for comparison.


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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:48 pm
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The Captain driving a Fender Rampartay amp with a love pedal...

[youtube]http://youtu.be/EHA67g1hP_o[/youtube]


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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:48 am
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I've finally heard it for myself, and there won't be a sale, alas.
If I were to describe the amp succinctly, it would be "limp handshake".
It does what's advertised, and it's very affordable, but it doesn't excite in any way.

Unlike others, I didn't find it boxy. Just uninspired. Like macaroni and cheese. Without cheese.


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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:36 am
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Tried one too. Not impressed. I found it to be a cool looking, boxy sounding amp. It sounded like its price tag. Oh well. In amps with stripped down/limited features, it's important to use quality components to get a good tone. That's why the old Champs sound so great. Stripped down features, but nice components. I just hope we as musicians don't get too used to meh sounding amps and thing they're great. For now, still going to build my own. :|

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 3:26 pm
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63supro wrote:
It sounded like its price tag.


That's about as succinct as it gets.

:lol:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 1:23 am
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When I see one I will try it out.
It interests me.

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 11:57 am
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Couple of new thoughts on the Fender Pawnshop Ramparte amp since my previous post.

First, people have referred to the Ramparte sound as "boxy". This is correct, in that there is box resonance that's endemic to a box-shaped enclosure with a large speaker and an open back. If Fender wanted to improve the sound my first suggestion would be to redesign the box with the baffle leaning back at a 15 degree angle. This would reduce box resonance and also help high frequency response due to directionality. I verified the resonance by playing my Roland FP-9 electric piano through the "Cool" input and playing scales. I also tried hooking up a small JBL home speaker to the speaker output and disabling the internal speaker. My experiments showed that there are flaws in the sound quality of the speaker/enclosure design, and that the cool channel is not perfectly clean even at moderate volumes.

In the defense of this amp, I still really like the way my guitars sound, warts and all. Some folks will like it and some will not, but that is subjective. One improvement I made was to put a book under the front of the amp and lean it back about 12 degrees. This helps aim the high frequencies up into the room, and greatly reduces muddiness.

My review of this amp should have emphasized that I adore the Ramparte look... it does match my living room environment much better than my Mustang I. Since it's just sitting there turned off for most of the day that's a big deal for me. Also it's a great value. Finally anybody auditioning this amp should know that the typical music store demo room is acoustically darker and larger than the normal living room, so if you want to know how it sounds you may have to take it home.

Hope this info is helpful to some of you shoppers...


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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:22 pm
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An easy solution to the boxiness would be either run a good extension cabinet or just make the cabinet a bit deeper. Everybody want's a grab and go amp but small boxes with big speakers equals boxy tone period. You can change all the speakers and do all the mods you want, but it's still going to be boxy. I was playing a gig last night with my Tweed Deluxe clone and all I got were great comments about the tone and musicians saying how great it sounded compared to their Blues Jr's. The difference isn't the weight, my amp has a void free pine cabinet and is light anyway, but the cabinet is larger. They also thought it was really, really loud for such a small amp. My 5e3 clone was keeping up just fine with a Marshall 18 watt amp running two 12's. My amp only cost me $600 to build and it sounds awesome. I considered a Blues jr. as a grab and go until I spent some time with it.

The Ramparte would be a really cool sounding amp if that cabinet was a little bigger or better designed.

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 1:17 pm
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63supro wrote:
My 5e3 clone was keeping up just fine with a Marshall 18 watt amp running two 12's.


Not surprising at all, Supro.

I've had my silverface Princeton 2 x 12 piggyback conversion stacked up on stage against a Custom Vibrolux Reverb, an AC30TB, even a SRRI, and the little 12-watt terror fared quite well. The big Showman cab with a pair of K120's really does sonic wonders with such a diminuitive amount of power driving it. And the curious never fail to ask how extensively I modded the head to wring such an unholy amount of volume from it (it's dead-stock).

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:15 am
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Yeah man. Small amps just tear it up. No pedals required, I just jumped the channels cranked it up and and controlled it with my guitar. I was told it made the other guitarists HRdlx sound like arse. He wants me to build him one. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:12 am
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If you look at Mojotone's site, they should have one up.

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:55 am
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63supro wrote:
I was told it made the other guitarists HRdlx sound like arse. He wants me to build him one. :lol:


I get that a lot whenever I show up with one of my Spankmaster Reverb's (Deluxe Reverb upgraded to a 15-inch speaker).

I've built four of them for clients.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Pawn Shop Ramparte, anyone?
Posted: Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:42 am
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I like the Excelsior (with a added tone control and better power tubes), buy this one doesn't sound too good in the demos. The hot input sounds very dark and muddy even with a strat bridge pickup. There is no detail in the midrange.

It could be the speaker. I didn't like the Greta either, but it sounds good through a cabinet.


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