CUSTOM BUILD ORDER – Foundling Rapscallion GSE-5 – Hand-Built Single-Ended Five-Watt 6V6 Tube Guitar Amp

Description

Foundling Audio Labs “RAPSCALLION” – Model GSE-5
Hand Built 5W Single-Ended 6V6 Class-A Guitar Amplifier.

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

Tasting Notes

This is an amp for grownups. Simply put, it does clean tones better than anything you’ve ever played through, and it overdrives like everything you’ve ever wanted. A bold claim, but with its volume set anywhere, 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 we don’t throw that term around willy nilly). You’ll fall in love with its chiming brilliance and shockingly even string balance. At the edge of break up, brisk transients find that perfect extra tier of intensity. Then push the volume even more and you’ll begin to explore myriad shifting ratios between punchy fundamentals and sizzling hairiness.

It just keeps on giving, and yes. It takes pedals extraordinarily well.

We 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, We 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 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.

NEW Optional Built-In Speaker Attenuator

I didn’t think it was possible, but I’ve recently managed to make these amps even more fun with a beautifully uncompromising -14dB attenuator.

As many of you have probably noticed, even a 5-watt tube amp can get LOUD, especially when being driven, so this extra modification is now available on all builds.

Like every other aspect of these amps, I labored endlessly over options until I found something that actually elevates the entire package. My final choices were another vindication of simplicity. Just a particular combination of stout, audio-grade resistors in a classic PI pad configuration. But once discovered, I lost an entire day playing. That’s always a good sign.

And rest assured, this true-bypass circuit is completely safe. It maintains the ideal load for the power tube, delivers a perfectly nominal signal to any 8 ohm cabinet, and preserves every glimmer of your incredible tone. It’s simply glorious sound at an addictively lower volume, activated with the flick of a quality Carling toggle switch.

See demo video above.

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 and/or Vishay Elecrolytic Capacitors
• 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