Hot Rod CeriaTone British Style 2202 - 20 Watt Hand Wired Guitar Tube Amp Head 2024 - Made in USA (Friedman)

Hot Rodded CeriaTone British Style HR2202, 20 Watt Tube Amp Head

Hand Wired by a Custom Amp Builder in the Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Made in USA.

We got the amp on a special trade in, and we really like it. To our ears, it sounds like a Marshall Plexi, but with reasonable volumes and in a manageable size.

Custom Build: This amp was hand-built over several months from October 2023 to January 2024 by an custom amp builder. After he built it, he tested it, and made some minor mods to make it even better.

Mods include:

• Three-way gain switch below the preamp volume knob
• Push-pull bright switch in the preamp volume knob

With these mods, the amp is similar to a Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley, but uses 6V6GT power tubes instead of EL84’s. We have daily build diaries showing the daily progress, and explaining every decision in the process.

CeriaTone: If you haven’t heard of CeriaTone, they design and build boutique hand-wired tube amps, many of which are modeled after Marshalls. The amps feature top quality components and the wait time for them to build you one can be up to a year.

They get excellent reviews for sound, features, and build quality.

They also sell the components so you can build your own custom amp. This is what was done on this particular amp.

Matching Speaker Cab: Listing is for head only, but we have a matching 1x12 speaker cabinet we can add for $195 for the empty cab or $275 with a Jensen, Eminence or ElectroHarmonix speaker, or $325 with a Made in UK Celestion Vintage 30, plus shipping. Cab measures 22”x18.5”x12”. Made in USA by Avatar with nine ply Baltic birch, white Tolex, black grill cloth, heavy duty rubber feet, black Fender style handle, metal corner protectors, and recessed Switchcraft 1/4” jack.

Description: The Ceriatone British Style 2202 HW Amp is a low wattage, feature-laden champion of tone and value.

The 2202 started with the preamp of our 2203HW and 2204HW, but we added some features to make a timeless design even more flexible.

In the preamp, we added a 3-way Bright switch, which not only helps dial in the high frequency, but also adds another means of sculpting the gain structure of the amplifier.  Next, we added a powerful Boost switch, which defeats the tonestack and adds some serious gain and harmonic complexity.  If that wasn’t enough, we added a Fat switch that was inspired by our OTS series.  This changes the frequency of the Treble control, vastly thickening the midrange.

The power amp wasn’t safe either.  We added a specially tuned Resonance control to help add thump and authority. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we added a Post-Phase Inverter Master Volume that is so good, you can sell your attenuators!

This all comes in a small chassis using 6V6s to put out 20W of power.

Like other Ceriatone amps, we have labored carefully to select the finest components to suit the design, and the 2202 uses our specially designed, custom transformers for superior reliability, frequency response, and feel.

Dimensions: 15.75“ x 9.35“ x 10“ (head)

Weight: 33 lbs (head)