My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

[wahwah]

I picked up my custom made Ulbrick Verbovibe 30 from the factory last Friday, so I thought I would share some details and pics with you all. It's a Class A 30w, single channel, single 12" open back combo, powered by a pair of mid 60's RCA blackplate 6L6GC's. It has dual parallel preamps, one voiced "Bright," driven by an early 60's Mullard ECC83, and one voiced "Deep" running a late 50's RCA blackplate 12AX7. These two preamps run simultaneously in parallel, and can be dialed in any amount, making for a very versatile preamp stage. The Master Volume has a New/Old switch, which reconfigures the rectifier to add a vintage style sag in Old mode. The Master also has a pull pot which drives the power stage harder when pushed in, and can be pulled for a cleaner, high headroom signal to the power tubes, effectively operating as a low power mode. It has a full all tube Accutronics parallel mixed reverb, and an all tube "true grid" tremolo. Dave Ulbrick also builds his own paper bobbin hand wound transformers, and the entire circuit is mil spec point to point hand wired.

It's a beautiful sounding and incredibly versatile amp, voiced around the beautiful old tubes I provided to Dave from my collection. Over the next few days I will record some clips, albeit at home levels, which will at least give you some idea of the amp's clean tones. Here's some pics...

Here's the view of the controls from a darkened stage!

Cheers.....................................wahwah

 

[Tor]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

At least it looks really sweet! Looking forward to hearing your clips with it. Is it a complement to your Super Champs, or is it a "new step"?

 

[darnright]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

That's a beautiful amp. I think it's cool thet you provided the tubes to really get the sound you want! Very cool! I would love to hear some clips.

-dave

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Is it a complement to your Super Champs, or is it a "new step"?

Same question I had. I love the backlit control panel. Can't wait for those clips, Geoff! I'm sure they'll be great. (Don't forget to include tremolo clips.)

- Keith

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Dave Ulbrick and I have been discussing this amp for quite some time. He was my guitar/amp/pedal tech for 15 years before he went exclusively into the amp building business. He's had quite a bit of success with his amp range, the peak of which so far being the fact that both Robben Ford and Larry Carlton left Australia with Dave's amps after a recent tour here. I had a non-contractual endorsement deal with the distributor of Framus here, and I needed to let that run its course before I could go with Ulbrick in good faith. This amp is the result, and I'm looking at it specifically for a side project I'm working on involving a band to play the music that inspired me to play in the first place, including Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Free and Jeff Beck. The band is already in rehearsal, and I wanted an amp that could be a good clean platform for a wide variety of sounds, deriving a lot of the drive from various pedals which I have found to fulfill the various roles.

The Super Champ will still do the majority of the touring as a matter of practicality. There aren't many amps that you can fly around without incurring horrendous freight charges and still get a great, consistent sound. The Super Champ fills that role perfectly. But the Ulbrick will be doing everything else, including recording sessions, live TV stuff and local metropolitan gigs. Sonically and power wise, it sits somewhere between the Super Champ and my other custom amp, the Rockbender, and is capable of covering both! Its first test under battle conditions will be in rehearsal with my new band, followed by a TV appearance in two weeks with my main employer. I can't wait to hear how it works in context!




Cheers...................................wahwah

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

No wonder you didnt want to buy my blue!!! Ulbrick's are awesome!! Good classic aussie rock sound. Better then a Vox in my opinion. And i own a Vox!

 

[d1dsj]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Hey Geoff, looks cool and I'm looking forward to the clips to see how it sounds. Until then all the best.

 

[Tor]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Very cool! Glad you seem to be perfectly satisfied with your new acquisition.

 

[Animal]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

followed by a TV appearance in two weeks with my main employer. I can't wait to hear how it works in context!

What show are ya gonna be on? I'll have to catch it if it's on free-to-air.

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

What show are ya gonna be on? I'll have to catch it if it's on free-to-air.

I'm doing a couple of spots with Daryl Braithwaite for "Singing Bee" on Channel 9. We're taping on June 18th, not sure when it will be airing. They tape the whole series before it airs, so just keep an eye out for their 70's and 80's specials, we'll be doing one song on each of those.



Cheers.................................wahwah

 

[jerryjg]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Congratulations on that ! That Ulbrick looks like just about the perfect amp to have!
Id like to know how much those things would cost, maybe ill try and find his site. Good reason for a vacation to Australia to pick up one someday.

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Congratulations on that ! That Ulbrick looks like just about the perfect amp to have!
Id like to know how much those things would cost, maybe ill try and find his site. Good reason for a vacation to Australia to pick up one someday.

You can find Dave's website here... http://www.ulbricksound.com/

He ships them all around the world, but you can still use it as an excuse to visit Australia!



Cheers....................................wahwah

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Dave's an awesome dude to speak with! For a taste, pick up one of his pedals

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

I'm sure that's a killer amp. I'm not a huge fan of his stock look, but he dressed yours up real nice. The sav will not have been fairly sucked until we hear clips...

 

[J Moose]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Lookin' good...

Probably not as good as it sounds though!

How long you think it'll be before that virginal white tolex is as funky as Curtis Mayfield?

How long was the build? I know you had this in the works for quite a while...

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

So tell us Whah, how are you gonna make that thing sound like a Marshall Major? I am seriously demanding clips of "Fireball," "Black Night," "No, No, No" oh wait ... that ws AC30 ..... :wink:

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

Lookin' good...

Probably not as good as it sounds though!

How long you think it'll be before that virginal white tolex is as funky as Curtis Mayfield?

How long was the build? I know you had this in the works for quite a while...

The tolex is a kind of vintage bone, but I give it about a dozen gigs before it develops the funk.

Dave had a backlog in his transformer production, but all up it took about a month to get mine done from scratch.



Cheers...............................wahwah

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

So tell us Whah, how are you gonna make that thing sound like a Marshall Major? I am seriously demanding clips of "Fireball," "Black Night," "No, No, No" oh wait ... that ws AC30 ..... :wink:

That's right Dr, there's no Marshall Major on any of those tunes!

The not-so-secret weapon for my Blackmore tone is a white Lovepedal Eternity...it does a great job of it. It's got that "Hornby Skewes into a Vox" thang goin' on!



Cheers...............................wahwah

 

[jeremy]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

how do you like the celetsion gold in there? the amp looks great but ive tried that speaker in a few things and never bonded with it

 

[wahwah]

Re: My New Ulbrick Amp...Pics

how do you like the celetsion gold in there? the amp looks great but ive tried that speaker in a few things and never bonded with it

Yeah, I'm not sure. That was a surprise for me from Dave, he said he wanted to put something special in it that doesn't normally go in his amps and won't be in any others. I don't have a point of reference at this stage coz I've only heard this amp with this speaker, but it seems to be ok. I need to get this thing into a rehearsal room and drive it at stage levels to hear how it responds.



Cheers.....................................wahwah