manu_zitnik's Music Gear Setup

I've had this amp for about a year and a half now. Mine's from 1969 or 1970 judging from the codes written on the pots (dated '69), built in England, point-to-point construction with huge transformers and all the "magical" components you can expect from an amp of that era: mustard & tropical fish Mullard capacitors, piher carbon comp resistors. I had the original Erie filter caps replaced for some nice F&T ones.

This is an amp that is built just as good as the other famous British amps of the time (Marshall, Vox), but Carlsbro couldn't compete on the marketing level and thus got completely forgotten afterwards.

It's a 50 watts monster with no master volume. Having an attenuator is a necessity. Two channels: Treble & Bass. Tons of lows, a super precise presence control called "Tone Cut". I would describe the sound of this amp as a nice in-between Vox and Marshall: not as chimey as a Vox, not as grungy as a Marshall, yet it still retains lots of character and packs some mean punchy tones. I use it with a Hiwatt cabinet which is a great combination IMO.

If you stumble upon one, be aware they can be quite hard to find, yet they are usually not expensive at all because most people who are unaware of the quality think they must be some crappy amps, being not as famous as Marshall. How wrong they are! :)