Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- 231.8K All Categories
- 22 >> Start Here <<
- 12 New Members
- 8 FAQs
- 83.3K Gear
- 37.9K Guitar
- 3.2K Acoustics
- 1.3K Bass
- 14.1K Amps
- 16.7K FX
- 157 Digital & Modelling
- 730 Other Instruments
- 7.9K Making & Modding
- 406 Gear Reviews
- 100 Guitar Reviews
- 72 Amp Reviews
- 119 FX Reviews
- 84 Other Reviews
- 734 Made in the UK
- 932 Theory
- 1.8K Technique
- 2K Live
- 3K Studio & Recording
- 2.1K Making Music
- 202 Events
- 15 Guitar Show 2018
- 762 Plug My Stuff
- 100.6K Classifieds
- 39.2K Guitars £
- 2.6K Acoustics £
- 132 LH Guitars £
- 836 Basses £
- 10K Parts £
- 17.6K Amps £
- 32.8K FX £
- 2.6K Studio & Rec £
- 5.8K Misc £
- 443 Personnel
- 52.7K Chat
- 35.3K Off Topic
- 987 Tributes
- 6.3K Music
In this Discussion
Become a Subscriber!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45
THE AMP THAT KILLS THE BLUES JUNIOR.
TCat
Frets: 26
in Amp Reviews
Hello all,
Just want to spread the word regarding what I think is one of the best , and most obscure 15 watt valve amps on the market. THE YERASOV GTA 15.
i have owned this for nearly 3 years and having done more than 200 trouble free gigs with it, am still gobsmacked at how sweet this thing sounds.
I was looking for a small portable valve amp, and like millions of others, went for a blues junior. Whilst it was ok’ish, it was never really great. I found the tone a bit boxey, and a higher volumes, noticed that the bass response was quite flabby. Added to that, these are made in Mexico to a cheap budget. The PCB is not very robust, and the components are obviously not the best, and if I remember correctly, the valve bases were mounted on the PCB too. After about 18 months the overall tone worsened, and other little irritations became apparent. A valve change had no effect......the thing had just run out of puff.
I then tried a SESSION BLUES BABY 45......... what a total waste of time .! The thing ceased to work on its first ever outing midway into the first set. The repair took forever, with the most appalling customer care I’ve ever had to deal with. When the “repaired “ amp eventually turned up, after months of bullshine.........I used it on its second ever outing. Guess what......yes, it blew up again mid set !!!!
AVOID THESE RUBBISH AMPS AT ALL COST..........ITS FAR QUICKER TO GET YOUR £450 AND THROW IT DOWN THE NEAREST DRAIN......THE MARKETING SPIN IS GREAT, BUT THE PRODUCT WAS DEPLORABLE!!!!!
I then happened across a clip of the Yerasov on you tube..... almost by accident. Interested, I went and tried one with a really nice one man band importer based in Essex. I bought it there and then.
This amp has on/off, tone and vol....that’s it. What a tone though. Beautiful cleans up to about 6-7,
with great blues lovers break up at 8 and beyond. The construction is really solid. The guts are surprising too. The PCB is about twice as thick as a Blues Junior, with the valve bases all mounted on a very thick steel chassis. The components like resistors etc are all top end American gear, the pots are all high quality, and everything connected to the pcb is hand wired. Great Jenson speaker. This is built like a Russian tank!
At the time, Fender BJs were about 500...... this amp was £380 !!!! This. Amp has no reverb, so a few quid on a pedal and I was in tone heaven.
I know it’s all subjective, but I would recommend this amp to anyone.....it simply blows the Fender apart on price , quality and tone.
As a final note, I have been so impressed with the 15 Watter......after about a year, I went and bought the all valve, totally point to point hand wired IGOR BOIKO model. This was just £800....... less than half the price of a boutique hand wired USA amp. Again, built to remarkably high standards, loaded with a very top end speaker.......20 Watt, but loud as hell .....it’s fantastic .
Last point......The GTA15 is a little bit of an ugly duckling, and it does not enjoy the classic lines of a tweedy Fender, but if you get over that, you will have one very high quality amp.
I ended up taking out the chassis, and installing it into a tweed, aged Fender cabinet with a Celestion A series 12” speaker. I just love the look on people’s faces when they congratulate me on the fantastic tone of my blues junior.......when I tell them it’s a Russian amp
TRY ONE....... I CANT IMAGINE ANYONE WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED.
Just want to spread the word regarding what I think is one of the best , and most obscure 15 watt valve amps on the market. THE YERASOV GTA 15.
i have owned this for nearly 3 years and having done more than 200 trouble free gigs with it, am still gobsmacked at how sweet this thing sounds.
I was looking for a small portable valve amp, and like millions of others, went for a blues junior. Whilst it was ok’ish, it was never really great. I found the tone a bit boxey, and a higher volumes, noticed that the bass response was quite flabby. Added to that, these are made in Mexico to a cheap budget. The PCB is not very robust, and the components are obviously not the best, and if I remember correctly, the valve bases were mounted on the PCB too. After about 18 months the overall tone worsened, and other little irritations became apparent. A valve change had no effect......the thing had just run out of puff.
I then tried a SESSION BLUES BABY 45......... what a total waste of time .! The thing ceased to work on its first ever outing midway into the first set. The repair took forever, with the most appalling customer care I’ve ever had to deal with. When the “repaired “ amp eventually turned up, after months of bullshine.........I used it on its second ever outing. Guess what......yes, it blew up again mid set !!!!
AVOID THESE RUBBISH AMPS AT ALL COST..........ITS FAR QUICKER TO GET YOUR £450 AND THROW IT DOWN THE NEAREST DRAIN......THE MARKETING SPIN IS GREAT, BUT THE PRODUCT WAS DEPLORABLE!!!!!
I then happened across a clip of the Yerasov on you tube..... almost by accident. Interested, I went and tried one with a really nice one man band importer based in Essex. I bought it there and then.
This amp has on/off, tone and vol....that’s it. What a tone though. Beautiful cleans up to about 6-7,
with great blues lovers break up at 8 and beyond. The construction is really solid. The guts are surprising too. The PCB is about twice as thick as a Blues Junior, with the valve bases all mounted on a very thick steel chassis. The components like resistors etc are all top end American gear, the pots are all high quality, and everything connected to the pcb is hand wired. Great Jenson speaker. This is built like a Russian tank!
At the time, Fender BJs were about 500...... this amp was £380 !!!! This. Amp has no reverb, so a few quid on a pedal and I was in tone heaven.
I know it’s all subjective, but I would recommend this amp to anyone.....it simply blows the Fender apart on price , quality and tone.
As a final note, I have been so impressed with the 15 Watter......after about a year, I went and bought the all valve, totally point to point hand wired IGOR BOIKO model. This was just £800....... less than half the price of a boutique hand wired USA amp. Again, built to remarkably high standards, loaded with a very top end speaker.......20 Watt, but loud as hell .....it’s fantastic .
Last point......The GTA15 is a little bit of an ugly duckling, and it does not enjoy the classic lines of a tweedy Fender, but if you get over that, you will have one very high quality amp.
I ended up taking out the chassis, and installing it into a tweed, aged Fender cabinet with a Celestion A series 12” speaker. I just love the look on people’s faces when they congratulate me on the fantastic tone of my blues junior.......when I tell them it’s a Russian amp
TRY ONE....... I CANT IMAGINE ANYONE WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED.
0
LOL 2
Wow! 0
Wisdom · Share on Twitter
LOL 2 Wow! 0 Wisdom · Share on TwitterBase theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Providing it's with dignity.
Feedback
The Yerasov does have plenty of positive reviews by people who haven't left Caps Lock on and does seem to be good value for money.
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
Was a rock solid little amp though. Quiet too.
If anyone has an amp that has 'gone wrong', take it back to the vendor. If you are still unhappy after reasonable attempts to repair it, then request a refund of the purchase price. It's the customer's right and Award-Session would gladly oblige!
It's not usually acceptable for a vendor to discuss cases in public, but there comes a time when this kind of 'belly-aching' gets tiresome, for you forum guys and for us.
There are circumstances under which a refund cannot be made! That is if the product is custom made or had been messed with in some way... like having a FENDER badge nailed on the front! I don't think anyone here would expect a refund if the product had been defaced in that way! Removing that badge would have left visible holes in the front of the amp, meaning it no longer met the Terms of Sale or our Warranty Conditions.
OK, so after all that, Award-Session would be happy to receive the amp back, even after two years, and replace the chassis with a NEW one! At no cost to the customer. As we say here, no one is ever stuck with a SESSION amp!
I am very proud of what I do for a living. Making solid state amps is NOT easy, so we have to be extremely careful about what we release onto the market. We work a hundred times harder than the other 'big names' to ensure top quality because we know the kind of tooob prejudice we face.
So TCat... are we going to hear from you and get this situation sorted out? Email me: info@award-session.com
There will be no further discussion on this case.
"Just because it's never been done before, is the very reason to make it happen" - Me!
Hi Dodge, thanks for your kind response. It is a he and he's a VERY fine 'jump blues' player!
I am a bit upset about the whole situation. I cared so much about this incident, I drove from Basingstoke to Kent to collect the amp. Don't know any other maker that would do that. Not even a cuppa when I got there!
"Just because it's never been done before, is the very reason to make it happen" - Me!
I'm somewhat ashamed that despite playing for +25 years AND coming from Basingstoke, I've never actually tried one of your amps! I must rectify that.
Well, when you're in the area, get in touch and we'll rectify that!
"Just because it's never been done before, is the very reason to make it happen" - Me!
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57632/
you see Jeff Beck using them !