Foundling Audio Labs Rapscallion GSE-5 w/ Attenuator - 5 Watt Point-To-Point Wired Single-Ended 6V6 Tube Guitar Amp

Foundling Audio Labs "RAPSCALLION" - Model GSE-5
Hand Built, Point-To-Point Wired, 5W Single-Ended 6V6 Class-A Guitar Amplifier.
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NOTE: This amp will be built to order, so many customization options are available. These can be viewed at our website. Turnaround time is generally within two weeks. Photos are of previous builds. Please feel free to DM with any questions at all.
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The GSE-5 "Rapscallion" is a handmade miniature guitar head / tabletop tube amp designed to drive any 8-ohm speaker cabinet via its 1/4" output jack. For best results, an open-back 1x12 cab is recommended. It will piggyback wonderfully on many common combo amp cabinets giving amazing new voice to something you may already have sitting around.

The Rapscallion is:
• Hand built with meticulous care in the USA
• 100% point-to-point wired with absolutely no PCBs
• Comprised of top-quality parts and components, exhaustively chosen and artfully combined
• Unapologetically overbuilt for a solid, substantial feel of intrinsic quality

It is a faithful reproduction of the amp I designed and purpose-built for everyday use in my own recording studio. Frankly, I never planned on building more than that original one, but after such lengthy experimentation and countless reconfigurations, my results were too good not to share. I knew other players would love this mighty little tone pusher as much as I do.

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Tasting Notes

This is an amp for grownups. Simply put, it does clean tones better than anything you've ever played through. A bold claim, but with its volume set at 9 or 10 o'clock, I dare you switch to your neck pickup, dig into your strings, and try not to smile.

You're gonna' smile.

What you'll immediately notice is an irresistibly slinky, chewy string feel that makes every song you know seem easier to play and every sustained bend sound positively Gilmourish (and I don't throw that term around willy nilly). You'll fall in love with its chiming brilliance and shockingly even string balance.

If that isn't enough, it can also crank up and deliver real, honest-to-goodness tube crunch that's thicker than a drummer's skull during a theory exam. At the edge of break up, brisk transients find that perfect extra tier of gritty intensity. Push the volume even more and you'll begin to explore myriad shifting ratios between sparkling fundamentals and sizzling hairiness.

I take particular pride in the fact that this amp produces totally useable sounds at every point on its volume control (often not the case with small, single-ended amps). This is due in large part to the unique way in which the Rapscallion is voiced. By asserting aggressive control of low frequencies early, I could safely enrich and embolden the guitar signal with unusually full-throated gain stages further downstream. No muffling pillow of low-end buildup, no muddy blocking distortion, and the only thing that's been sacrificed are frequencies that any decent sound engineer would lob off with a high pass filter anyway.

For this and other reasons, players with extensive recording experience will particularly love the GSE-5's simple immediacy. Much like the very best vintage microphone preamps, one knob is all any decent piece of gear truly needs. No nonsense here. Just decide how hard you want to drive it, and get to work.

Built-In Speaker Attenuator.

As many of you have probably noticed, even a 5-watt tube amp can get LOUD, especially when being driven, so a -14dB attenuator is now a default option on all builds. Uncompromised tone at an addictively lower volume, activated with the flick of a quality Carling toggle switch.

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More nitty gritty. Builds with standard appointments include:

• 12AX7 dual triode (two-stage pre-amp) with a single 6V6 power tube.
• Heavy-duty Hammond transformers
• Belton tube sockets
• Switchcraft jacks
• Tocos Potentiometer (single volume control)
• Sprague Atom, Kemet, Vishay, and/or MOD Elecrolytic Capacitors (dep. upon availability)
• Cornell-Dubilier Film Capacitors (coupling)
• Metal film resistors with 5W wire wound cathode bias resistor
• Shielded input leads
• Jewell-type pilot light
• 6′ braided cloth power cable
• Chrome-plated steel handle
• Precision, High-Watt, Audio-grade Resistors and Carling toggle switch for attenuator-equipped builds
• Dimensions: 11″ L x 5″ D x 6″ H 
• Weight: 6 lbs.
• 5-Year Limited Warranty