Kitty Hawk Custom Series Upgraded Combo Amplifier 100 Watt 1983 - Natural

Here is a rare opportunity to buy a Kitty Hawk Series 2 Channel Upgraded Valve 100 Watt guitar amplifier without the huge Dumble price tag.

Sounds absolutely epic - amazing amp with Dumble schematics. Also has a number of upgrades, which have really improved the sound!

Improvements made:

• Replaced original speaker with Celestion G12 H Gold
• Channel separation mod including fitting additional relay
• Reverb balance / output mod
• Change 9 x control pots
• Replace 4 x power supply capacitors
• Full amp service
• New footswitch to include boost and channel buttons

The amp now sounds better than the standard series edition and has the advantage of being 2 channel! This is an incredible amp and easily competes with the Dumbles and Mesa Boogies of the late 70s without the massive price tag.

INFO ABOUT KITTYHAWK / DUMBLE / MESA BOOGIE

In the late 1970s, two German brothers, Wolfram and Gundolf Roy, had a company called Applied Acoustics located in Bochum, West Germany. Applied Acoustics was the authorized importer/distributor for Mesa Boogie and Dumble amplifiers for the European market at the time and had access to the Dumble and Mesa Boogie schematics and parts. In the early 1980s, the high U.S. Dollar rate and even higher shipping costs created very expensive prices for Mesa Boogie and Dumble amps to be distributed in Europe.

Applied Acoustics made an agreement with Howard Dumble that he would ship amplifiers without a cabinet and speaker to save on shipping costs. Then, the combo-cabinets were hand-made in Germany. At that time, a Mesa/Boogie Mark I was even more expensive than a Dumble Overdrive Special!

Also, if customers wanted an added reverb or effects loop, Applied Acoustics was authorized by Dumble to make these adjustments. Therefore, a lot of technical details and schematics regarding Dumble amps were shared with Applied Acoustics.
Dumble hand-built each amp himself, and as Dumble amps gained popularity worldwide lead-time for a completed amp increased dramatically. With a lead time of six to nine months, Applied Acoustics decided to build their own amp, the Kitty Hawk Amp.

The first Kitty Hawk Amp is an exact copy of a silverface Dumble Overdrive Special, even using the same U.S.-made components and original spare parts from Alexander Dumble!
When Dumble realized his amps were being copied, he immediately began to cover the preamp circuit with a thick layer of epoxy to protect his circuits so no one could see exactly what components he was using. He also halted distribution to Applied Acoustics.

So this is as close as you can get to an original Dumble, without spending too much money. Kitty Hawk was using the same parts, schematics and original spare parts from Alexander Dumble. Today it's nearly impossible to find this parts to build an amp like that today! Most of the parts are not available.

This amp is super rare, super desirable and sounds absolutely incredible!