Ruby Amplification

elvira

I found a bit of spalted maple to play with. Now it's "wrecked!"
More cabinet pics can be seen here, too.
Dave's full review is below...

"I recently felt the urge to be self indulgent and have a guitar amplifier custom built for myself. I have been reading and asking questions in a variety of on-line amp building forums and almost always questions and conversations get to a point where someone will say "ask Paul Ruby." There is a reason for that. Paul knows his stuff. I first dealt with Paul when I was starting to build my first amp, and he helped with supplying quite a bit of advice and lots of small components. I had been drooling at several beautiful amps he had done, especially a gorgeous JTM45 with an exotic wood front. But, alas, I was already building a JTM and couldn't justify more of the same, even though I knew his build quality would be unmatched. Then one day in the Trainwreck builders forum, Paul posted that he had built a great sounding Trainwreck Express clone, and I knew what it was I wanted him to build for me.

For those that are not familiar with the Trainwreck Express, take a look at trainwreck.com for a great slice of info and a few picks of the original Ken Fischer Trainwrecks. In short, they are considered by many as the Holy Grail of guitar tone, and are very few in number. For the last few years, a few circuit diagrams have circulated on the internet and supposedly a few Trainwrecks have been reverse engineered. Original 'wrecks are also *priced* like the Holy Grail.

I contacted Paul and floated the idea of doing a custom Trainwreck Express clone for me. I also sounded him out on doing an exotic wood cabinet that would really make the amp stand out. Paul was enthusiastic about both points and so we started the process of specifying what I wanted. Personally, I think the thing that hooked him was what I wanted for the cabinet - it was not gonna be another generic black tolex cabinet, but rather a fine crafted furniture grade or better work of art using Spalted Maple and dovetailed joints in a cabinet that is reminiscent of the original Cherry 'wrecks. Mine however has a Hiwatt style black with white text faceplate, and vintage Fender style off white knobs.

The electronics also were to be first rate, with test points and bias adjustments located outside the chassis for easy tweaking. We originally had discussed actual bias meters, but in the end discovered they were too costly and ate up too much real-estate. It was also designed to run just about any octal base power tube with only a bias adjustment, but would be set up to run Valve Arts KT-66 tubes. Beefy and smooth.

Paul kept me informed very well all throughout the process, even sending digital pictures from time to time. I do 3d design and animation work by trade, so I could do a mock-up and send it to him, so we were easily able to be on the same page with regard to what I was expecting. Sound wise, Paul plays lead guitar in a weekend warrior type bar band and likes a lot of the same kind of music as I do, so it was easy to discuss tone and distortion characteristics of other players and other amps. I really only asked for a few things. It had to have the lead overdrive tone of a Trainwreck Express, specifically the tone of the clip of Alex Garcia playing "Mississippi Queen" that is out on the web; and it had to clean up really well when you backed the guitar volume down.

Well, I got what I wanted and then some. "Elvira" ('wrecks have names, not serial numbers) was officially christened on Halloween of '03, and I took possession of her about the second week of November. Well packed and double boxed. At 2 on the volume knob it is loud enough to compete with a drummer when hooked up to a 4x12, and well, beyond that it just gets louder. The 'wreck does not have a master volume, much like old Marshalls and Tweed Fenders, you just turn it up to about the half way point and sonic nirvana awaits you. It has a classic overdrive sound, but with a glassy, liquid shimmer in the upper registers. More so than any other amp I own (and I own _several_ classics), this one has a detail and clarity in how it reproduces the notes. Even with the overdrive, every note is well articulated and rings out on it's own. I just love the sound of strumming thru first position open power chords to hear the bell like chime and detail of each string, with no buried or mushy notes at all. Pete Townsend would really enjoy this amp. I also really enjoy that I can roll the volume down to around 2-3 and it is a shimmery, bright, clean sound - roll up to 5-7 and it's a crunchy rhythm sound - and at 10 you are Leslie West on steroids.

Additionally, it has very responsive tone controls, the standard treble, middle, bass and presence, that seem to have a wider range of effect or influence than my Marshalls have. It also has a bright switch, that honestly will about take your head off; personally I find it overkill and may at some point have him modify the value of the bright cap to tame it down, though on a very dark sounding guitar it can add back some useful sparkle. But the funny thing is, that universally, I can take any of my guitars, set all the tone controls to 12'oclock and everyone of them sounds like a million bucks, no bright switch needed. Hot pickups sound best in the low gain input, and stock pickups sound great in either the high or low input. I find that I'm also liking it with higher powered speakers that can handle the detail on the bass notes better. The response on this amp is fast and the best cab I have with it so far seems to be a cab with a mix of EV-SRO 12's and Celestion G12H100. Of course it also sounds fine with my favorite Celestion G12H30's but they roll off the detail in the bass a lot more.

So in a nutshell, I highly recommend Paul as a custom amp builder, regardless of what amp he is building for you. I will continue to have him do other custom work for me in the future. Paul is also very reasonable to work with, and I found that my cost was far more affordable than I was expecting, which allowed me to get a far more impressive amp and head cabinet than any commercial company offers. I firmly believe that even Ken Fischer would have to smile a bit after seeing this one, as I think it embodies the spirit he built into his own."

-- Dave Nix

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