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Heritage Owners Club

The 633 Drive King gets a service


bobmeyrick

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One of the nice things about owning an amp from a small maker is the after sales service. Cliff Brown of 633 Engineering emailed me recently asking me to pop the amp in so he could check it was functioning as it should, so this afternoon I made the trip down to his new facility in Northampton. Increasing demand has meant a move from his home to a unit in a business centre, where he has taken the cabinet building in house (after being let down by his previous supplier) and added carpentry to his electronics skills.

 

The Drive King was removed from its cabinet, given a thorough check and pronounced fit and healthy. While it was on the bench I asked Cliff to reduce the gain in the drive circuit just a fraction, which he did. We then did a comparison with a new Drive King which he has voiced slightly differently to match a 4x10 cab. Both sounded great.

 

Cliff's facility now includes a proper demo room, which you can see below (panoramic pic from my phone). After that it was back to Nottingham, braving the Friday afternoon traffic on the M1 motorway...

 

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Did he use chopsticks to check the tubes?

Didn't see any chopsticks, but there were a couple of oscilloscopes and various meters...

 

Actually while Cliff was looking at my amp I was in the demo room checking out the new Drive King and the Jazz & Blues combo (on the right in the photo). :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, JeffB said:

Thats a good review.

 

Just curious, in your opinion is there a yt vid or clip somewhere online that does the amp the most justice?
 

There aren't that many but this one shows both clean and overdriven tones. This amp would be the prototype, which I tried out a few months later and promptly decided to order one!

I gigged with mine last Saturday and recorded the gig with a Zoom Q8. I was using my H535, so when I get round to selecting a suitable tune I'll post it here.

 

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5 minutes ago, bobmeyrick said:

There aren't that many but this one shows both clean and overdriven tones. This amp would be the prototype, which I tried out a few months later and promptly decided to order one!

I gigged with mine last Saturday and recorded the gig with a Zoom Q8. I was using my H535, so when I get round to selecting a suitable tune I'll post it here.

 

Lots and lots of delightful things happening with that amp in this video, Bob, but...tone on the bridge at 1:56...THERE it is!  I have two good friends, both terrific builders, both of whom are about two miles from me.  I have several amps from the two of them.  Nothing more fun than going to their shops and going "tone mining."  That 633 is certainly the business!

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Again, the great thing about builders like Cliff is the personal service, getting the amp exactly as you want it. The Jazz & Blues combo was built for Kirk Fletcher to use at the Bristol Jazz and Blues Festival back in March, and he's currently touring the UK with that amp. A different animal compared to the Drive King, single channel with no frills.

Here's Kirk from a couple of days ago, with guest guitarist Denny Illett. If your feet aren't tapping while you watch this, check your pulse to make sure you're still alive!

 

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35 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Nice work Mr Meyrick.

Great sound, tasty licks. 

Why, thank you! We've played at the Lion numerous times and always had a good time. The curtain around the back is a new addition and has really improved the sound - previously it was exposed brickwork. Incidentally I recorded the video with a Zoom Q8, which gives the option of separate audio tracks in addition to the video sound.

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Nice, Bob!  Stage volume seems really appropriate, and you have fine, fine tone.  Mighty swell chops, too.  And that rhythm section...!  Thanks for posting the video.  I really enjoy seeing forum cats playing out!

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Very nice set of D-tones...I could hear the differences in guitar/amp tones even through my laptop...because your cab was on the floor, as well as the native guitar/amp tone set, you had bass in your tones, Dumble proper, the other amp lifted off the floor on the tilt back stand didn't.   Not a criticism...Contrast between two tone sets is better than two identical sounding guitars.   All great players, was a real treat to see polished professional performers!  The 633 delivered a huge palette of tonal width on just that one tune because it had a reeeeally nice guitar being played by a very skilled operator's fingers feeding it!  Both amps sounded great, there was a lot of energy in the audience, yet the musicians were playing in a restrained, well controlled manner. 

Tone is subliminal, when an instrument sounds pretty, you get a sonic synergy upon combining two or more that relentlessly wrestles hips to wiggliing, feet to moving, and faces to smiling and more.  It takes a lot of effort to put together a great sounding tone chain.  Very well done!  This clip plays living proof of the refrain once again:

Boutique amps for boutique guitars!

Boutique guitars for boutique amps!

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Thanks for the kind words! The Lion is a fun place to play - they have music on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday lunchtime. Friday and Saturday is rock/blues while Sunday is jazz. There's also a wide range of hand-pumped cask-conditioned ales... :drink_mini:

The pub is small enough that only the vocals go through the PA. Pete (the other guitarist) was using an Epiphone Casino Guy Clark model (Chinese made, but with American pickups) plugged straight into a Hot Rod Deluxe. He's not a gear obsessive like me! I was using a few effects - Ernie Ball wah, Strymon Lex, Voodoo Labs Tremolo, TC Corona Chorus and Flashback Delay - so that the two guitars have distinctively different sounds. Ferny (the bassist) was putting his Music Man through a Markbass amp and EBS 1x10 cab, which gives a surprisingly big sound.

It's nice to play your guitars at home, but it's even better to play them in front of a lively crowd having a good time on a Saturday night. Inevitably we finished the evening with Mustang Sally. It would have been rude not to...

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