Amplified Nation Products
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About Amplified Nation Amps and PedalsSweetwater is proud to bring you the full line of handcrafted heads, combo amps and cabs from Amplified Nation — perfecters and preservationists of the D-style amp sound. Amplified Nation brings master builder Taylor Cox’s years of firsthand amp-building experience to bear on its boutique line of exotic-finished amplifiers and guitar cabinets. The Amplified Nation StoryAmplified Nation's founder, Taylor Cox, isn't just another tone chaser. He's a well-known boutique amp builder with extensive hands-on experience working with actual D-style amps. Taylor and his team have dedicated years to understanding and re-creating the boutique amp sound in today's Amplified Nation amps and cabs. Taylor says his passion for building boutique amps began when a customer sent him a D-style amp clone to mod. The connection was instant. From that moment on, Taylor began challenging himself to build his own creations, asking himself: "How close can I get to the real thing?" "You start developing an ear for it," Taylor explains. "That becomes more important than the circuit in the end. You develop your own sound and style. I can't say any of my amps are exact clones anymore. I know they sound great to me, and people like them. As a result, certain Amplified Nation amplifiers, such as the Steel String Singer, "sound an awful lot like Stevie Ray Vaughn and John Mayer," Taylor continues. "But they're my interpretation." Then you have creations like the Ampliphonix & Gain, which expand on the amp legacy to deliver tones never possible with a true classic. Clean or mean, whatever tone you're chasing, if it's a spares-no-expense approach to sound sculpting you're after, you'll find your flavor in Amplified Nation amplifiers and cabinets. Amplified Nation Amp Models ComparedHere's a breakdown of each amp's tones and features from the man himself, master builder Taylor Cox. Special thanks to Phil McKnight for the Amplified Nation interview! Dirty Wonderland“The Dirty Wonderland is a single-channel clean amp — no overdrive — that’s got a beautiful two-knob reverb and an EQ like a [black-paneled 4x10]. It really does the John Mayer clean sound. It’s got some additional power filtering to give it some beefiness. I added some Dirty switches in the back that allow the amp to break up at lower levels.” Wonderland Overdrive“The Wonderland Overdrive is an amp I designed after the Dirty Wonderland. I kept the clean channel the same but added an overdrive onto it, which is still in that Overdrive Special realm. It’s raw and uncompressed. Throaty. It’s got reverb built in and half-power. It’s one of [Rhett Shull’s] favorite amps and has been my best-seller by far.” Bombshell Overdrive“The Bombshell Overdrive is our version of the late-‘80s Overdrive Special. It’s a straightforward, 3-preamp-tube amp with a clean and an overdrive. It’s footswitchable and has a preamp boost that hits both channels. It’s got more of the Robben Ford or Larry Carlton sound than the Wonderland. It’s chewy and has a little more compression. It kind of sounds like a saxophone when you get into it. Great amp. Fantastic.” Steel String Singer“The Steel String Singer is another single-channel clean amp. It’s kind of based on the Steel String Singer that Stevie Ray Vaughn made so popular. It’s more of an aggressive clean — like a 'clean lead' sort of sound where the amp exhibits some overdriven qualities without the overdrive. You get more sustain and touch sensitivity. You can hear the flesh in your fingertips and the slightest pick attack. It’s a great amp. More biting, aggressive, and hi-fi than the Dirty Wonderland.” Ampliphonix & Gain“The Ampliphonix & Gain is completely different. It’s got two independent preamps that aren’t cascading. So, if you plug into the Clean or the Drive, you’ve two completely different amps sharing a power section. The gain side is like a modded [British amp]. It’s super high-gain, really beefy, and does everything from classic rock to metal. The clean side is based on an amp called the Ultra-Phonix. It’s the best [tweed-covered 4x10] clean you’ve ever heard. It’s got a little more gain and breaks up earlier, but it still has a good amount of headroom. Both sides do this thing where they breathe like they’re alive. The Ampliphonix & Gain also has channel switching and reverb.” Overdrive Reverb“The Overdrive Reverb is the best of everything: great cleans, great overdrive, huge reverb. But there’s very little known about the original circuit. I was given the chance to check one out, reverse-engineer it, and add my own flavor. There’s a breath and brilliance to it you don’t get with some of the other models. Each channel has a gain knob and a master (Ratio) control. The amp also has a Level control in the front, which is the global master, which allows you to scale and determines how much of your preamp is sent to your power amp. The amp is cascading, so the clean channel is always on. So, the louder you have the clean, the more saturated your overdrive becomes. You can dial in so many different gain structures and tones. There can be a bit of a learning curve. But once you master it, it’s easy. I sent one to Joe Bonamassa a few years ago, and he absolutely loved it.” You've Gotta Hear These Amps!To hear Amplified Nation products in action, check out Sweetwater's full interview with Taylor Cox below, complete with sound samples from Mitch Gallagher and R.J. Ronquillo. For more information, contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineers at (800) 222-4700. |