Kendrick New JoyZee amp

[LOUDthud]

I was talking to Gerald Weber last weekend at the Dallas Guitar Show. He had one of the New JoyZee amps there. We talked about it for a while and I discovered where he got the name. I always thought the name was kind of gay. The name is actually "New Jersey" spoken with a heavy East coast accent. The guy has a sense of humor. Sorry if some of the international readers don't get it.

[jelle]

Hey I get it, but then again I'm living in NY for a year already.



Nice name. How did the amp sound?

[CaseyJones]

The N.J. amp is a culture clash of Ken Fischer's ideas and Gerald Weber's. In particular the 12AT7 P.I. makes it more a Fender and less a Trainwreck. Apparently Ken was pissed at the liberties Gerald took with "his" design. It was supposed to be a collaboration but like I said it became more a Kendrick and less a Trainwreck. I suspect the New JoyZee monicker is Gerald thumbin' his nose at Ken. It seems kinda rude now but Gerald came up with it when Ken was still alive. Who the hell am I to say what's rude anyway?!!!

Oh yeah, Gerald was offerin' it as a kit for around $900 for a while. The gist of the ad copy was "here's an amp I designed for a guy in New Jersey".

So I looked. The ad copy has changed and the price has gone up, that's what "they" call "progress":

http://kendrick-amplifiers.com/Merchant ... _Code=0803

If I remember correctly the schematic is available in Aspen Pittman's Tube Amp Book. And... HOT DAMN! Right here:

https://tubeamparchive.com/files/climax_schematic.pdf

[Bananafist]

Well now, after reading the blurb on the Kendrick site, its clear this amp will do everything..............................................!
So why haven't I heard of it before? No famous endorsees?

If what is said above by Casey Jones about GW/Ken Fischer is accurate, I know where my sympathies lie.

[CaseyJones]

Well now, after reading the blurb on the Kendrick site, its clear this amp will do everything..............................................!
So why haven't I heard of it before? No famous endorsees?

If what is said above by Casey Jones about GW/Ken Fischer is accurate, I know where my sympathies lie.

Like I said it's a mix of Kendrick and Trainwreck. It looks like Mr. Weber had a cool clean channel and he wanted a scorching lead channel so a 'Wreck preamp got the nod. It's the old "chocolate in my peanut butter" thing though because the signal path isn't entirely Trainwreck. Having said that Weber's slight gain reduction is a handy way to sidestep the sensitivity issues of a real Trainwreck. It wouldn't be the first time that lead dress issues got the better of a builder, less gain is the quick way to make the amp work correctly on the first try every time.

Gerald Weber almost singlehandedly started the boutique amp trend we see today. Weber's fare was and is tweaked and updated versions of vintage Fenders. He's been at it long enough that some of his amps can be considered "vintage" by now, what comes around... goes around.

[Ears]

I listened to the Kendrick clips for the above amp. First up - I'm not a high gain fan and realise none of the clips pretend to be that (the "Marshall" clip being closest). But man: the "tweed" clip was horrible. Are they deaf? Is it me, or can't anyone else hear the "gravel in a tin can" noise that sits underneath the signal in that clip. That's not "tone", the poor amp has phlegm in its throat.

You'd be stuffed if you needed a clean sound.

[Firestorm]

When this amp was first offered as the limited edition "Trainwreck Climax" amp (yeah, it was supposed to be a joint venture of sorts -- Ken and Gerald were friendly in those days), it had some pretty sigificant oscillation problems (on the Clean channel oddly enough -- well maybe not so odd considering that Gerald dumped half the gain of the "Trainwreck" channel). They wound up moving all the tone caps off the board onto the pots (which you can see in the pic on the Kendrick website). Since all the boards were already built, this added significant manufacturing/support costs to the line (as did Gerald's fascination with Canarywood and Fane speakers, which ain't cheap) so the whole thing became financially tenuous. I think money problems ended Gerald's relationship with Ken, but there were tone issues, too. I seem to remember Ken complaining about the use of double-insulated wire (PVC and cloth) -- the outer cloth covering can build up a huge static charge on it (according to Ken), which just wreaks havoc on everything. I actually have one of these bought in kit form about 10 years ago -- one of the original ones -- and still haven't got around to building it. By the time I figure out how to fix the circuit, it'll probably be a different beast altogether.

[Ears]

I listened to the Kendrick clips for the above amp. First up - I'm not a high gain fan and realise none of the clips pretend to be that (the "Marshall" clip being closest). But man: the "tweed" clip was horrible. Are they deaf? Is it me, or can't anyone else hear the "gravel in a tin can" noise that sits underneath the signal in that clip. That's not "tone", the poor amp has phlegm in its throat.

You'd be stuffed if you needed a clean sound.

Just re-read this. My comment seems a little strong. The tone is just a little raw to my taste, but that's how it is advertised. So apologies to Kendrick et al. The sound just reminds me a little of piezo pickups on "acoustic gtr" which many people like, but I don't.

Yet the piezo sound is so pervasive that now many now expect to hear its signature buzziness when they listen to recordings or go to dial up an acoustic guitar sound on their modeling toys. That subject may be worth a thread in GTalk on its own.

[loctal]

Trust your ears! 17 years ago, I had five of Gerald's amps. Two basemans, two reverb tanks, and a hot rod special (I can't even remember what he called it). Although somewhat rich sounding, they all had flabby bottom ends. I heard he called that attribute "the Texas drawl". The basemans were unreliable with problems with the bias circut. The hot rod amp was ordered with EL34s, but when it arrived, it had 6L6s. The tolex and grill cloth looked as if applied by a first timer. I believe he is hard of hearing or refuses to listen.

I knew that Ken's involvement would end in a Texas-sized car crash.

[dartanion]

No worries ears, you gotta trust your ears and know that not everyone is going to agree. They may sound better in person too, who knows. I've not played them before so I can't really comment. With that said, the clips were not very characteristic of the descriptions. Was that the amp? Microphone? Mic placement? Levels? Whatever?

I heard a looseness to the bass that I didn't care for, but that works for some folks. To some, that is great tone. The clips generally missed the mark to me, and again that could be attributed to numerous things as well as this is just my opinion.

[tonelab2]

I listened to the Kendrick clips for the above amp. First up - I'm not a high gain fan and realise none of the clips pretend to be that (the "Marshall" clip being closest). But man: the "tweed" clip was horrible. Are they deaf? Is it me, or can't anyone else hear the "gravel in a tin can" noise that sits underneath the signal in that clip. That's not "tone", the poor amp has phlegm in its throat.

You'd be stuffed if you needed a clean sound.

I laughed when I heard the clips. Got to be the worst reps for any of those amps he suggests they sound like. My first thought was ' this chap has never been in throwing distance of a plexi, vox or well tuned BF. Either that or he's tone deaf. But it could well be just a lousy recording ect.

[Phil Pariah]

Hello to all,

I am new to group and as a new user of the NJ amp thought I'd offer my.02 worth. I've played out for the last ten years (I am not an amp builder, my dad built this one for me) using 71 fender super reverb & 72 bassman 50. I started using the NJ about 1/2010, same guitar (strat squire) same licks and I would venture to say that 80% of the time I get people come up to me at break and comment on the great tone/playing. This NEVER happened in the previous ten years. My conclusion ...gotta be the amp. As I am new to it and a fender head I have been using the clean side (misnomer)with the tea knob at 2 o'clock. I guess my point is that I haven't even begun to explore what this amp is capable of and I am already getting incredible feedback.......

phil

[Bob-I]

New JoyZee ...

Rhymes with the capitol of Idaho.




I've lived in New Jersey for almost 59 years and I've NEVER heard anyone pronounce it that way outside of 1940's gangster movies.

BTW, New Jrsey is the only "New" state where the New is optional. Try dropping the "New" in York, or Hampshire or even worse, Mexico.

[Structo]

Man, this is an old post!

Phil Pariah,
Are you saying you have a home built New Joyzee amp?

[toneslinger]

Trust your ears! 17 years ago, I had five of Gerald's amps. Two basemans, two reverb tanks, and a hot rod special (I can't even remember what he called it). Although somewhat rich sounding, they all had flabby bottom ends. I heard he called that attribute "the Texas drawl". The basemans were unreliable with problems with the bias circut. The hot rod amp was ordered with EL34s, but when it arrived, it had 6L6s. The tolex and grill cloth looked as if applied by a first timer. I believe he is hard of hearing or refuses to listen.

I knew that Ken's involvement would end in a Texas-sized car crash.

Well your amp most likely was covered in tolex and grill by
the fish salesmen himself as ramey was gone by then
and so was I when we left he hired some street people
and who ever was left most likely were thrown into
having to do tolex and grill work.

Will dyke went to him after we left he did do nice work
so I dont think your amp was done by will even...

my bet it was g man himself as he had few employees
when I split.

chris ramey was the first guy covering and he was very good
at it he taught me how to age the tweeds.
also how to get grill cloth right.

I never liked any of the amps we were making then.
just stiff and I hate 5881s I cant listen to them at all.

And Yes he is tone deaf he thought rolling the bass off
the mids up on ten and treble on ten was
in his words "THE BILLY GIBBONS TONE"

Everyone would just cringe when he started in on that.
and not one time did it remotely sound like Billy Gibbons.

None of those amps did.

Gravel in a tin can is about right.

The guy has rocks in his head
hookers and blow
hookers and blow.
pay me half down now
hookers and blow
work here for a year free
get a free amp you can make yourself if you last that long
hookers and blow
hookers and blow

allow me to show you the gibbons signature tone
first i need to hose off my lady.
and ill need another snort of
hookers and blow.