Emery Sound Spotlight Superbaby 2001 Wood/Plexi

Here is an amazing Emery Sound Spotlight from 2001 that is relative of the Superbaby. Emery Sound amps are super cool because you can play with all types of different tubes without having to do any biasing.

The output ranges between 6 to 12 watts depending on the tube setup. The speaker is a 10" Jensen P10R and these type of cabinets are no longer being made.

A nice set of tubes included:

• GE 5Y3GT Rectifier Tube
• Osram UK KT66 Power/Output Tube // 1950s (Used/Good)
• JJ ECC83-S Preamp Tube

Tubes have tons of life left. I found that rectifiers had the most impact on the sound. Very cool to hear the different sags when pushed hard.

Guitar Shop January 1999:

Emery Sound Spotlight by Lisa Sharken

Petite, vintage-style boutique amps have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Many small manufacturers have recently entered the market with an assortment of their own unique-looking, high-end tube amps. Among the new breed is Emery Sound, run by Curt Emery, a major fan of the original tube amp designs.

Emery Sound's Spotlight is a hand-wired 8-watt all-tube Class A Combo with a 10" ALNICO speaker. The amp's design is based on the classic amps of the 50's and 60's and built to look like a a vintage tube radio. The chassis is enclosed in a triangular, clear Plexiglass box with a carved woodgrain front panel and speaker grille. The back of the amp is completely open. There's also a metal handle on top for easy portability. The chassis is handmade and all of the internal components are hand-wired.

The Spotlight takes a minimalist approach, keeping as short a signal path as possible between the instrument and the speaker. The input jack, on/off switch, and fuse are located on the back panel of the chassis. The controls are as simple as it gets: one volume and one tone control, both located on the front panel. The tone control is flat when set midway, at 12 o'clock. Turning the control to the left rolls off the treble: to the right rolls off the bass.

The Spotlight uses one 6L6 power tube, one 5Y3 rectifier tube, and one 12AX7 preamp tube. The tube recitifier impacts the amp's overall tone and feel, giving it a fuller, richer sound. With the stock tube configuration, The Spotlight reminds me of a beefed-up "tweed" Fender Champ. The sound is very warm, sweet, and smooth, but it has more headroom than a Champ. For more variety in sounds, the power tube can be substituted with a 6V6 (as used in a standard "tweed" Champ) or an EL34 with no further adjustments needed. The Spotlight's preamp tubes can also be substituted for more variety and different levels of gain, a 12AY7, 12AT7 or 12AU7 can also be used.

I tested The Spotlight using a recent Les Paul Standard with stock Gibson humbuckers, and a Tele with single coils. The amp produces very warm, Fender-like characteristics. The sound remained clean until I tweaked the volume knob to around the 10 o'clock zone. Past that, overdrive begins to kick in and increases proportionately as you increase the volume level-positioning the knob between 2 o'clock and 5 o'clock (full volume) makes the distortion much thicker. The amount of gain and distortion will vary, depending on the pickups in your guitar.

Fans of small tube amps will savor the sound of the Spotlight and enjoy its vintage motif. The Spotlight puts out enough power to handle any number of jobs beyond just serving as a practice amp. It's the perfect size for playing smaller combo gigs or recording.