The Tweed 15 from Rift Amplification is a combo all about touch. Only once you've learned the tonal palette do you get the full expression out of this vintage amp. This is the dream for tube purists. Finished in a retro brown tweed to match your slippers and flat cap.
Rift Amps are hand built one at a time in the heart of England. If you would like your amp in a particular colour or with a different speaker, please contact us & we’ll get in touch with Rift to see if your request is possible.
Tweed Circuitry
Neither blackface or brownface circuitry quite fill the same rhythmic hole as tweed. The former is chimey and full range, while the latter is punchy and midrange heavy. Leo Fender originally tinkered with tweed circuitry in the 1950's. This is the technology all early Fender amps were based on. Rift Amplification captures the magic of naturally overdrive tones and reverb in the Tweed range.
Expect a dark, percussive tone that's great for blues, early rock and folk music. The 15 watts is plenty for a boutique studio sound and enough for pub gigs.
About Rift Amplification
Based in Brackley, England, Rift Amplification is a boutique brand that specialise in vintage-style amplifiers. Hand-wired and built with the utmost attention-to-detail, Rift faithfully recreates some of the world's most desired traditional amps from the '50 and '60s.
Originally modifying Fender amp circuits, the company now produce their tweaked designs under their own moniker. While retaining the classic styling that you know and love, Rift's time-honoured offerings have the trusted reliability you'd expect from modern valve amplifiers, and can serve as perfect workhorses for live performances or session work.
Here's what Rift Amplification say about the Tweed:
The Tweed Deluxe was produced from 1955 to 1960. More expensive than the Tweed Champ, the Deluxe is more powerful with 15 Watts of 'clean' power and 20 watts cranked up all the way. I remember the first time that I heard a Tweed Deluxe being played, it had this natural resonance that I hadn't come across before. The guitarist playing it said he didn't have to use any reverb with this amp, it produced enough on it's own!
Playing these amps is all about touch response, varying your pick attack along with your volume and tone controls to get a wide range of tones from the amp. The longer you spend learning the intricacies of the tonal palette, the more it gives you back. This is one of my favourite Tweed amplifiers, just the right amount of power for small pubs and clubs and very easy to mic up for bigger venues.
Available in three circuits, from the earliest TV Front through to the later Narrow Panel. Mix and match different circuits with cabinet designs! My version of this amp, the Tweed 15, is a nod to the original design. You can now run your Tweed 15 with 6L6 power valves and a GZ34 rectifier for an increase in power to 20w!
Specifications
- Preamp Valves: 1 x 12AY7, 1 x 12AX7
- Power Amp Valves: 2 x 6V6GT
- Rectifier Valve: 1 x 5Y3
- Lacquered Tweed Covered Pine Cabinet
- Custom Wound Transformers
- Jupiter Vintage Yellow Tone Capacitors
- Hand wired circuitry
- High quality valve sockets, no rattling like the NOS ones
- WGS G12Q 8ohm Speaker
- 16.5" x 20" x 9.5"
