NEW FOR 2009!  Just in time for the fall building season…

GDS introduces the new 18W Single Channel chassis known simply as the S/C chassis.  This chassis is aluminum like all of our 18W chassis and it has provisions for a typical single channel 18W amplifier with a volume and a tone.  There are also extra holes in the chassis in case the builder wishes to add a TMB (treble/middle/bass) tonestack in place of the tone control.   Chassis features include prepunched holes for:

• Two EL84 power tubes
• Two 12AX7 preamp tubes
• One EZ81 rectifier tube
• One can-type capacitor w/ clamp
• One Cliff input jack
• up to four potentiometers
• Classic 18W indicator lamp
• Power switch
• GDS 18W transformer set (standard or Vintage)
• IEC socket on back panel
• Standard fuse holder
• Impedance switch
• Two Cliff output jacks

All tube socket holes are punched for 7/8″ tube sockets which accomodates all of the most desireable tube sockets on the market currently.  Furthermore, all major holes include threaded inserts so that assembly is greatly simplified.  No messing with those tiny 4-40 nuts to attach tube sockets!

This chassis is available now on the GDSAmps parts page.  Pricing is $70 (inc S&H within USA) for the chassis and plexi panels (item #6)  and paired with a GDS 18W transformer set, the cost is only $225 (inc S&H within USA) This is item #5

Foreign orders are welcome.  There will be a small amount of additional shipping.  Remember, all of our 18W power transformers have a 240VAC primary tap.

For some photos of a beautiful build by our own Dan using this new chassis, check out the thread at 18watt.com

Let me know if you have any questions.

Well we have a few new clips for your listening enjoyment today.  First up is our friend Jon Herington who recorded these two songs with drummer Takanori Niida www.takanoriniida.com  The first is called “Tokyo – New York Express” and it does get the feeling of a bullet train from Tokyo to NYC!  Listen to it here…  www.gdsamps.com/audio/Tokyo – New York Express.m4a

Here is the second one called “Slow Jam” www.gdsamps.com/audio/Slow Jam.m4a

We also have a couple clips from our own Guytron employee, Dan Medawar.  Check them out – he’s hot!

www.gdsamps.com/audio/GT20Demo1.mp3  and

www.gdsamps.com/audio/GT20Demo2.mp3

Dan & I have been working on GT100 F/V heads this week.   Here is S/N 519 as it just completed final assembly.  It needs to be burned in to make sure nothing is going to break down.

Here is another cool photo of Dan who built most of this amp.

And now for details of the rebate.

If you buy a GT100 F/V with one or two of the classic 2-12 cabinets that go with the GT100, you can send your warranty card in to us and we will issue you a rebate.  If you buy one 2-12 cabinet, the rebate is $200.  If you buy two 2-12 cabinets, the rebate is $300.  Our recommendation is a closed back 2-12 and an open back 2-12.  That way you can use which ever cab suits your particular gig each night.  Then for larger venues, you can stack up both cabs for a huge composite sound that combines both the open and closed back tones.  Dan says this is a “complete out of body experience.”  See your local dealer for details.

We went through our first order of shirts, polos and sweat shirts very quickly.  So, I made a big order and now we have all of the Guytron shirts in most of the popular sizes in stock.  I’ll get them on the website soon but in the meanwhile if you would like to show off your great taste in guitar amplifiers, email me to order a shirt.  Or you can just go ahead and send paypal to my email address for the amount below and include your address and I’ll send one right out.  As in all Guytron products, the prices include shipping within the continental USA.  if you want more than one, email me and I’ll come up with a better price that accounts for one shipping charge.

T-shirts (M, L, XL 2XL) – $25

Polo shirts with salt-n-pepper collars! (M, L, XL 2XL) – $35

Sweat Shirts (M, L, XL 2XL) – $45

Hoodie sweat shirts (M, L, XL 2XL) – $50

Guytron key fob lazer cut from stainless steel (also works great to adjust the GT100 impedance switch)- $15

I also still have a couple CD cases ($10) and small gig bags ($15)

Stay Tuned!!!  – GDS

We finally got an order of T-shirts and Polo shirts with a cool Guytron logo on the left breast.  The polo shirts have a fancy trim around the collar and sleeves which actually looks a little like our grill cloth (except for XXL – no fancy trim on that big guy!  Sorry.)  Here is our multi-talented Brandon showing off the polo shirt.  (We didn’t shoot the t-shirt since a t-shirt is a t-shirt.  Who doesn’t know what a t-shirt looks like?)

 Price $30 (including S&H within the continental USA)

The t-shirts will be $25 (including S&H within the continental USA).  To purchase, just send the correct amount to my paypal address with a note telling me what it is for and what size you would like.  We have L, XL and XXL in both t-shirts and polo shirts.

We can also get sweat shirts with a hood and a pouch in the front which you can see in this photo…

 Price TBD

As in early Ford Model Ts, you can have any color you like as long as it is black. 🙂     -GDS

We are shipping a few amps this week.  We have a new GT40 combo going to Colin Hay (Men At Work) and another GT40 head with a lightweight 2-12 cab going to Music Gear Guys, our dealer in Colorado for a customer named Steve. http://musicgearguys.netWe are also welcoming our newest dealer, Allstar Music Academy in Flemington, NJ with a new GT20 combo.  If you live near Flemington, please stop by and talk to Anthony at Allstar.  Don’t forget to check out the new Guytron (if it isn’t sold already!) http://www.allstarma.net/

Our good friend, solder jockey and Guytron builder, Dan Medawar is also finally taking delivery of his very own GT20 head.  He gets the extra special satisfaction of having built his own Guytron.  If you have a new GT40 or GT20, there is a very good chance that Dan put much of it together.

November 21, 2008

The newest model in the Guytron lineup, the new GT40 is now shipping!  I completed two of the new GT40s this week.  I built a head and a combo.  These two amps were intended as saleable prototypes meaning that they were built entirely with production parts but being the first to be so, they would be subject to some testing and evaluation before being approved for sale.  In particular, I had to do some testing on the new GT40 transformers.  They worked great so we have placed an order for transformers at a production level and hopefully within 3-4  weeks we’ll be building GT40s with more regularity.  This first combo (Serial #001!) is going to a customer in Kansas City, MO while the head is going to a customer in France!  Bon Jour Nicolas!  Here are a couple photos of the head.  I’ll post more later.

A-Channel    B-Channel (Hint; open both photos and then hit alt-tab to swap between the two photos to see what happens when you change channels!)

Here are the specs for the new GT40 (subject to change of course):

• Power tubes – two El34s for roughly 40 watts
• Preamp tubes – four 12Ax7s
• Preamp – Guytron two channel preamp (protected by patent #6111961) with Gain, Tone and Volume in each channel.
• A channel has the classic Guytron clean tones with the tone stack before gain for those classic clean to low-gain overdrive tones.
• B-channel has the tone control post-gain plus it has two extra gain stages for a range of tones from a pushed clean to a raging all-out hot-rodded superlead distortion tone.
• Transformer-driven balanced line out, post-output transformer for a natural amp sound to the mixing board or to your slaved high powered amplifier.
• HLBâ„¢ microphone output (on combos only).  The Sennheiser microphone element is permanently mounted in front of the speaker exactly where it should be mounted.  The output is in a small panel on the rear of the combo where you can quickly and easily plug in your mic cable.  No fumbling with mic stands and microphones, and no dealing with the variance of mic position night after noght.  With the HLBâ„¢ the mic is always in exactly the same spot every night for a consistent mic’ed tone every time.
• Lighted top panel, lighted back panel, lighted logo and as a matter of fact, there is so much light that the whole inside of the amp is lit so you can see where that guitar cord is hiding.
• front panel lighting changes from blue (A-channel) to red )B-channel to instantly indicate which channel you’re on.  Of course it will be pretty obvious from the gain and the attitude but everyone will think it is very cool.
• Guytron Bigtoneâ„¢ 55 speaker in the combo.

All Combos and heads will be shipped with a custom embroidered Guytron cover and heads will als0 ship with a Guytron Bigtoneâ„¢ speaker cable.

Send me an email if you are interested in this new GT40 or just to talk.  I’d love to hear your opinions.

-GDS

[EDIT – The new GT40 output transformers have arrived so we’re building GT40s this week! -GDS]

October 7, 2008

Monday was a gruelling day.  I had two amplifiers to ship to Maken’ Music in Chicago, a GT20 combo and a GT20 head with a 112LT cabinet.  Teddy at Maken’ ordered these amps back when I first bought Guytron and now that they were ready to ship, I found myself with an option.  I could ship them via UPS or drive to Chicago with the amps in the back seat.  The kicker that made me pack ’em up in the car and drive 4 hours there and four hours back was that Teddy had arranged for a clinic with Johnny A in the store Monday night.  I have been a huge fan of Johnny A since I purchased his first album (“Sometime Tuesday Morning”) on CDBaby back in ~2000 timeframe.  I have since purchased his sophomore album, “Get Inside” and I even picked up his instructional DVD which is excellent.  For years I had been bemoaning the fact that Johnny never came to the Detroit area and then when he did come to Auburn Hills in 2007, I had prior commitments that precluded my attendance.  The same thing happened when he again came to Auburn Hills last month.  The opportunity to see him in a clinic setting, up close was just too much to resist so I dragged my good friend Jeff Dec (another great guitarist and megagearhound) with me and made the trek to Chicago.

It was a really good trip.  Traffic going into Chicago was the lightest I have ever seen (I’m still not sure why) and of course leaving at nearly midnight, traffic was light on the way out as well.  Teddy and his sales guys loved the new Guytrons, and a couple customers who happened to be in the store also loved the GT20.  It was a good time to check out a huge array of high end guitars and amps.  (There was a Collings guitar that was like a mini-335 that was absolutely gorgeous!)  Johnny A and his band were great.

I do not know if Teddy has the GT20s sold already but if you are interested in a GT20, Teddy has two on the sales floor right now.  Call him at (312) 455-1970 or go to his website at http://www.makenmusic.com/

Check out this GT20 “1/4 full stack”…

Stay tuned…

-GDS

July 30, 2008

Earlier this month, we purchased the assets of Guytron.  Many of you know Guytron already because they are well known for their innovative, patented circuit and their forward thinking design that is reminiscent of many great vintage amplifiers while being a “clone” of none.  In these days of cloning to get the tones of the past it is unusual and rare to find a company that is successfully promoting a design which is as unconventional as a Guytron.  We are very excited to begin production of Guytron amplifiers in our shop and have spent considerable amounts of time and money to prepare to do so.  There are pallets of speakers, cabinets and transformers and boxes and boxes of electronic parts arriving daily to replenish the stores on the shelves. 

Guytron also came with designs for two excellent speakers, known as the Bigtone 35 and Bigtone 55.  I have these in stock now and they sound great.  The Bigtone speakers are available individually in both 8 and 16 ohms for your own cabinets and they will be standard in all Guytron and GDS Amplifiers.

Currently, we expect to begin shipping new Guytron GT100 FVs and GT20s (heads and combos!)  late in August or early September.  Very soon, we also expect to begin shipping GT40s in both heads and combos.  Many of the first batch of Guytrons are already spoken for so if you want one, contact me ( or your nearest dealer) soon.  Check out the website for more details.  www.guytron.com 

-GDS

Hi Guys,

I wanted to add a blog entry here even though I don’t really know much about this blog system just to let you know I’m here and we are active.  My personal blog has a new entry.  Check it out if you’re into Ducatis.

We have an intern this summer who is an Electrical Engineering student at Bob Jones University.  His name is Ben and he is a great kid.  He is smart, handsome (so I hear!  Guys don’t really pick up on these things)  and eager to learn.  He is also doing a great job learning how to build GDS Amps.  Stay tuned for more details and maybe an introduction from Ben right here in this blog.

There are some _really_ big developments in store for GDS Amplification which will hopefully be announced later this summer.  I can’t say anything more but trust me, this is going to be fun.

We are awaiting a shipment of the Vintage 18W output transformers from Heyboer.  (the one on the right below)

They have been very popular lately so they sold out recently.  You can still purchase through the parts page, but beware there will be a short delay for the Vintage OT only.  The rest of the transformers that we sell for all of the 18W amps are currently in stock.  Go here for the parts page

Well, how’s that for a first blog post?  Email me if you have any questions or make comments on this blog in the space below.

-GDS