Commercially Available TWreck Style Amps

[Darkbluemurder]

Who offers TWreck style amps on the market? I know of Komet, the Fuchs Train 45, Blackjack 21 and Lucky 7, the Two Rock Ruby (discontinued), and possibly Allessandro, Bruno and Callaham build such amps as well.

As always any help would be very much appreciated.
Regards,
Darkbluemurder

[martins3325]

I think Callaham is probably the closest from what I hear..not terribly priced im comparison to other amps either. I cant understand the Fuchs train of thought..a Printed Circuit board Express just seems to defy the the whole idea of a an Express --ya know the move one wire makes a ton of difference thing. And I have never heard that an Alessandro was even close..though the cab looks similar.

[ampdoc1]

I built two TW clones on ExpressPCB circuit boards. They both had essentially the same sound,.. every bit the equal of the videos recently posted here by geetarpicker. Lots of dynamic range, "touch" sensitivity, and killer tone! The trick, I believe, is not so much as moving things around to get the best sound, but simply getting things laid out correctly so that the amp performs as designed. I've built amps both ways, and PCBs are just easier to lay out neatly. But the cost......?
DEH

[chimeboss]

If you want a Trainwreck in todays world it would be the Komet 60, Komet 80 or the Komet KF50.
All three of these amps are Trainwreck Engineered which translated means Kenny designed the circuits for ALL of these amps. The closest to Wreckland will be the KF50.
Future classics.

[Allynmey]

If you want a Trainwreck in todays world it would be the Komet 60, Komet 80 or the Komet KF50.
All three of these amps are Trainwreck Engineered which translated means Kenny designed the circuits for ALL of these amps. The closest to Wreckland will be the KF50.
Future classics.

Chimeboss, helpful in a amp building forum

Allynmey

[tubedogsmith]

Actually the closest to Wreckland would be the K60 not the K50. The 50, while a great amp has more bottom than any wreck and really sounds closer to a great old Marshall. I prefer the K50 myself but the K60 sounds more like a wreck. The Constellation 30 can also probably be dialed in for a closer Wreck type sound as well.

[Allynmey]

Maybe Chimeboss will post a layout so we can compare them all

After all he is KF best friend.

Allynmey

I'm sorry for the continued rant...I'm just tired of stating the obvious. This is an amp building forum, not the First Church of Ken. Let's start with the name "Trainwreck Forum" That means that we discuss Trainwrecks. We are a amp building forum, so...we build Trainwreck style amps. How can we build Trainwreck style amps without building Trainwreck style amps? we can't!!!! So I say again...add something Chimeboss constuctive....please!!!! Second thought...don't!

[Richie]

many thoughts here.. first.... only an amp Ken built,would be a 'real' wreck.
Even he said a few guys tried to help him build his amps, when he first got sick, as was in the phone conversations with Ken,..and with his parts solder and guidence etc,the other techs could not make an amp that Ken thought sounded like his...

So i believe just because Komet builds an amp designed by Ken, many things can make it not exactly like one of Kens amps.
The Komets use many different parts,and voltages are different.. but i don't think they are cloning,but yet trying a new designs.
As for the thing of obsolete design.. i'd love to have a 1.00 for every obsolete amp people pay big bucks for. But to think that no one can build an wreck amp and it not sound as good or better,is something i don't believe in. Besides that, its just fun to build the amps and try different things. As many have seen in these amps, even a resistor or cap value out of tolerence a little bit in some spots can change how the amp sounds..
Richie

[guittguy1]

And I have never heard that an Alessandro was even close..though the cab looks similar.

I believe I have an old issue of VG mag where Ken is quoted as saying that one of The Alessandro models is "closest to a Wreck" in an Alessandro ad. Of course He later recanted in a letter that was posted on this site.