Alessandro High-End Redbone Special w/ Rare NOS Tubes and Custom Studio Slips Case

Here is a "closet classic" Redbone Special built in the year 2000 in like new condition.  It has only a few hours of play at home on it.

These amps are highly coveted and hard to find with only a few dozen in existence.  George Alessandro individually hand makes each of these amps and many are owned and used by artists like David Gilmour and Derek Trucks.  David Gilmour has toured with two Redbone Specials along with his vintage High Watts for the past several years.  This is for good reason, it is a extraordinarily touch sensitive amp with fantastic dynamics and high fidelity rich complex harmonics.  The last picture above is Gilmour on stage with his Redbone Specials.

This particular model has two very expensive, American made, NOS Phillips 5691 octal preamp tubes (higher quality, lower microphonic version of the 6SL7) and NOS American made 6SN7.   It also has two NOS Svetlana "Winged-C" 6550 power tubes made in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was also constructed of the highest quality components that were only available at any reasonable cost 20+ years ago. The same quality of components used in the original Trainwrecks.

This unit also comes with a new double padded custom-made Studio Slips case.

The Redbone Special is 55 watts with 6550 power tubes and has a bigger, fuller more rounded tone with deeper tighter bass, fatter mids and smoother highs than most amps. The Redbone Special has an extremely dynamic tonal range that covers Rock and Blues all the way to Country music. The combination of the wide band 6550 or similar power tubes and the all Octal preamp section allows the amp to deliver a big, bold, articulate and bell-like clean tone and an ultra-rich, buttery-thick distortion.

You can also change one or two of the higher gain 6SL7s to lower gain 6SN7s for even more beautiful clean headroom and the amp then goes into overdrive more slowly. This lower gain setup is a great choice for someone who wants an amp that has fantastic clean and semi clean tones and will use the amp as a pedal platform to get their overdrive tones at any volume. It is also amazing lap or pedal steel amp when you want less gain in the tone. The higher gain setup still has very good clean headroom but will start to overdrive sooner than the low gain setup and will go into overdrive even without pedals. That said the higher gain setup is still a great pedal platform amp as well.

Here is the description from the Alessandro website:

Redbone Special

A 55 Watt, 2×6550 based amp based on an all octal preamp, for studio and larger / outdoor gigging. This amp has an extremely dynamic tonal range that covers Rock and Blues all the way to Country music. This amp was optimally designed to work with a Celestion loaded 4×12 for that classic late 60’s / early 70’s Rock sound.  Utilizing the 6550’s voicing and the Octal preamp section, this amp delivers a big, bold, articulate and bell-like clean tone and an ultra-rich, buttery-thick distortion.