Top Hat
Proud to be the #1 Dealer for Top Hat Amplifiers since 1997!
I first met Brian Gerhard, owner of Top Hat Amplifiers, in 1997 at a NAMM show in L.A. At a time when more and more small, boutique builders were just beginning to pop up, I instantly recognized something special about Brian's amplifiers.
Guitarist Audley Freed and I were walking around the show looking to check out anything new and exciting and were, for the most part, pretty bored and just killing time before a cocktails session with Chris Robinson.....essentially an unofficial interview for Audley to firm up his Black Crowes gig.....when suddenly we heard this amazingly full, complex, modified Marshall-esque tone coming from this small booth. The volume was very low yet the amp had the fundamental qualities of a cranked 50 watt head.
Upon closer investigation Audley and I discovered an amplifier called a Top Hat Emplexador 50.
Later that evening, over dinner, Audley and I discussed how much like a full-blown, cranked 60's era Marshall the Emplexador had both felt *and* sounded at low volumes.
We were both using Bogner XTC heads at that time and we agreed that the higher gain mode of the Emplexador also captured much of what we liked about the Bogner's second, or "Blue" channel.
We were both very impressed. By the end of the trade show I had decided to add Top Hat to Fat Sound's growing list of boutique amplifiers.
A long-term friendship with Brian was begun and Fat Sound has been a Top Hat dealer ever since.
Most recently we've found Brian to be the perfect designer with whom to brain-storm in the interest of creating new models based on needs in the marketplace. Brian Gerhard has an uncanny ability to listen to the verbal description of an amplifier we feel needs to be built and then turn that idea into reality. The Super Fat Deluxe, Super 33 and Americana Super Deluxe being the initial and wildly successful examples of this collaboration.
I consider these to be among the very best of The Best in terms of construction, tone and feel and strongly encourage you to check 'em out!
-Stu Carter, owner Fat Sound Guitars
February Premier Guitar's Top Hat Builder Profile Featuring Fat Sound Photos
Super 33 1x12 | Exclusive Cosmetics |
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| FAT PRICE: $2049.00 | AVAILABILITY: Reservations Required | |
| ADDITIONAL INFO: A reservation via 20% refundable deposit is recommended. Delivery within 2-4 weeks. | ||
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Free Domestic Shipping! [Reservations] We offer our Top Hat Amplifiers in a wide range of exclusive comsetic packages making custom orders via reservation the best option. Most reservations can be filled within 2-4 weeks. Please see all of our Custom Cosmetic choices in the photos above. You can reserve a Super 33 in the cosmetic option of your choice via the Add to Cart button which will add a 20%, refundable deposit to your shopping cart. When making a reservation please specify which custom cosmetic you would like. Each photo above lists the number for that color combination. Fat Sound's TakeThe new Top Hat Super 33 builds on the power section of the extremely popular Super Fat Club Deluxe by utilizing dual EL34 power tubes, a GZ34 rectifier and the Deluxe's custom transformer set, but has an all new preamp topography that radically changes the amp's overall character. The Super 33 features two preamp modes: In either Clean or Boost Mode you run through the EF86 based preamp section. Switching to the Gain mode introduces an additional 12AX7 preamp tube as well as engaging the amp's highly effective master volume. In Clean mode the tone offers percussive, bold clean tones that will gradually spill over into a mild overdrive with a Vox-like paperiness and complexity to the mids and excellent Compression, Bloom and Sustain (CBS). Engaging the "Boost" switch on the face plate takes you into the 33's second mode by introducing the additional 12AX7 into the preamp signal for much higher, classic British gain with wonderful articulation and definition. In Boost mode with the Gain turned up beyond 1:00 the Super 33 sounds like The Angry Love Child of Vox and Marshall with an immensely powerful and explosive low end. A relatively strident amp with an urgency and definition that sits in a mix beautifully and is already receiving raves from those who've seen Fat Sound's shop manager, Mike Ayers playing live with his pre-production 33. His soundman also says it's the best tone Mike's ever had.....and that's saying a lot considering the amps he's owned. Stay Tuned for Mike's review coming soon....... Features and Specifications
Custom Color Options
Fat Sound Award for Sonic and Design Excellence!!™ Customer Review/Comments"First of all, I love the aesthetics. I'm thrilled with the way it turned out - very distinctive and high-end in appearance. The size and weight of this amp are better for portability than the amp it replaced. If this amp doesn't merit a Fat Sound Award for Sonic and Design Excellence, then nothing does! Thanks for recommending it." Follow up several weeks later"I'll tell you, I'm not sure I've ever played an amp that's moved me the way this one does. I love it more each time I play it." |
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Club Americana 1x12 |
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| FAT PRICE: $2049.00 | AVAILABILITY: On Hold | |
| ADDITIONAL INFO: A reservation via 20% refundable deposit is recommended. Delivery within 2-4 weeks. | ||
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Free Domestic Shipping! [Reservations] We offer our Top Hat Amplifiers in a wide range of exclusive comsetic packages making custom orders via reservation the best option. Most reservations can be filled within 2-4 weeks. Please see all of our Custom Cosmetic choices in the photos found throughout the Top Hat listings in this section of our website. You can reserve a Club Americana in the cosmetic option of your choice via the Add to Cart button which will add a 20%, refundable deposit to your shopping cart. The StoryWith the 2010 release of Top Hat's simply fantastic Super 33, which quickly become a best seller both for Top Hat and for Fat Sound, we began to wonder if Top Hat's Brian Gerhard could develop an equally great American-style amp that would complement the extremely popular British tones of his Super 33 design. An amp that would deliver American tones with the same shockingly huge sonic footprint of the Super 33 and in a nice portable 1x12 combo.......like the 33. The idea for this amp began with a long-time customer of ours who, after a multi-year search, had recently found his British tone nirvana in Top Hat's Super 33. As much as he was digging the 33 he felt that the surprisingly huge sound created by this 1x12 combo was overshadowing the American based boutique amp he'd planned on pairing it with. Previously happy with his blackface-voiced, quad 6V6 amp it now sounded "small and a bit thin" when paired with his Super 33 in an A/B style rig. Our customer asked us to work with Top Hat's Brian G. to create a version of the Super Deluxe that would hang with the Super 33. His goal was a glorious sounding, American complement to the phenomenal British based tones created by his 33. We discussed, at length, what we were looking for with Brian at Top Hat Amps while our customer did tons of research on speakers (thanks to Jim at Scumback for being so generous with his time) and once all the basic pieces were in place Brian began working his magic as one of the most talented and experienced amp designers around to ensure that the final result was exactly what we and our customer were looking for. Originally intended to be a one-off amplifier, it took less than an hour of playing this new variation on the Super Deluxe to reach a unanimous decision that this amp had all the right ingredients to be a hugely successful model in its own right. Here are a few of the key tweaks that were made to the Super Deluxe model to create the new Americana Super Deluxe:
While this amp is designed to be one of the most amazing mid-60's American-style 1x12 combo you've ever heard it will also generate some very nice overdrive with smooth, full characteristics and wonderfully dynamic touch sensitivity at higher settings of the amp's gain control. This overdrive defies comparisons to classic British amps or to any of the best known American amplifiers. All we can really say is that it is a moderate overdrive with a big-legged and broad low-end that stops short of becoming flabby, while retaining excellent articulation and clarity without stiffness. It's, perhaps, the overdrive tones that many of the mid-60's American amps would have been designed to create if the designer of those venerable amplifiers had seen distortion as something other than a characteristic best avoided or eliminated. We decided to leave reverb off for two reasons: First, as a cathode biased amp the tone is inherently very wet, lush and 3-D already so we weren't sure that reverb was even needed......we were actually concerned it might just get in the way. Secondly, with a simple on-board reverb the user is generally left with nothing left up to them except deciding how much of the designer's reverb he wants blended in with his amp's tone. Featured here in another one of our exclusive cosmetics
Specifications
Fat Sound Award for Sonic and Design Excellence!! |
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Super Fat Club Deluxe 1x12 |
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| FAT PRICE: $1979.00 | AVAILABILITY: Reservations Required | |
| ADDITIONAL INFO: A reservation via 20% refundable deposit is recommended. Delivery within 2-4 weeks. | ||
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 Video of the Super Fat Club Deluxe 1x12 |
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Free Domestic Shipping! [Reservations] We offer our Top Hat Amplifiers in a wide range of exclusive comsetic packages making custom orders via reservation the best option. Most reservations can be filled within 2-4 weeks. Please see all of our Custom Cosmetic choices in the photos above. You can reserve a Super Fat Club Deluxe in the cosmetic option of your choice via the Add to Cart button which will add a 20%, refundable deposit to your shopping cart. When making a reservation please specify which custom cosmetic you would like. Each photo above lists the number for that color combination. Fat Sound's TakeThis is our Super Fat version of Top Hat's Super Deluxe! We have Top Hat modify the standard 6L6 model to be optimized, via minor circuit tweaks, for EL34's to create a revised version of one of our all time favorite Top Hat models. You *can* simply plug EL34's in to the standard version of this amp, but we have Brian tweak the amp's circuit specifically to run these tubes for optimal performance and safety. We also have Brian substitute the standard 12AY7, usually used in the V1 position, for a Tung-Sol 12AX7 for a bit more input gain and overall rock-n-roll ability. Finally we request a Celestion G12H30 versus the stock Celestion Vintage 30. Do these tweaks, done at our request, necessarily make the amp better? No, but they may make it more idealized for the sounds we like and tend to find to best suit our clientele. Both 6L6 and 6V6 tubes can still be utilized in a simple plug-and-play manner due to the amp's cathode biasing. Hopefully the clips posted above as well as the Greg V produced video presented by Fat Sound Guitars and Top Hat Amplifiers will give you a small glimpse in to the versatility of this amazing amplifier. The EL34's bring a girth and versatility to this amp that makes it World Class and a Fat Sound Fave. It works with every guitar we plug in to it, is extremely easy to dial up great tones and a blast to play. Features
Customer Comments"Stu, I got the amp today! It is great quality...the workmanship is superb! Tone out of the box is stellar Marshall done right. I hate to say it but it is what my **** and ********* [EDIT: other manufacturer's names removed out of courtesy] should have been. I can't wait to get into it and also to get the speaker broken in. This is going to be a great addition to my amp arsenal!" Thanks for everything........" Joe K. Customer Comment (loaded with 6V6 power tubes....a no cost option)"This amp is INCREDIBLE! I have never sat in the mix so well and had such an even tone from guitar to guitar, song to song. It took all my pedals better than my previous amp as well. I have been using an Fx Engineering MOAB and a SHO. The SHO alway seemed a bit too bright with my other amp. Really did some nice things with the Top Hat. Of course the Tim may replace both of them once that comes in later this summer. I guess my only complaint and it is more of a suggestion is that I wish the Bright and Loved it loved it....... Thanks a million Stu. I feel excited about playing again!' Best,"
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Club Royale 1x12 MK2 | Fat Sound Edition |
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| MSRP: $1829.00 | FAT PRICE: $1829.00 | AVAILABILITY: Reservations Required |
| ADDITIONAL INFO: A reservation via 20% refundable deposit is recommended. Delivery within 2-4 weeks. | ||
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Free Domestic Shipping! [Reservations] We offer our Top Hat Amplifiers in a wide range of exclusive comsetic packages making custom orders via reservation the best option. Most reservations can be filled within 2-4 weeks. . Please see all of our Custom Cosmetic choices in the photos found throughout the Top Hat listings above. You can reserve a Club Royale in the cosmetic option of your choice via the Add to Cart button which will add a 20%, refundable deposit to your shopping cart. Fat Sound's TakeThe current version of the Club Royale achieved Top Hat designer and owner Brian Gerhard's goal of making the model as Vox like as possible and it is a wonderful amp.
However, we felt the previous version of this model had the most perfect blend of AC15 and Low Watt Marshall that we'd ever heard in a 112 combo and, as good as Brian's latest version is, admit to being disappointed to see this version of the Club Royale discontinued.
We talked with Brian about this many times and ultimately he agreed to build a hybrid of the newest version and the previous version for Fat Sound as an exclusive model.
Our Club Royale "Special" uses the new choke from the current circuit, but has the specially designed transformer from the previous version that allows the amp to hit its sweet spot a bit earlier with a touch more compression while retaining excellent articulation.
We first started carrying Top Hat amps in 1997 and I have seen the Club Royale evolve a few times. This version is, in our opinion, the ultimate version of this model.
It creates 20 watts from a pair of EL84's, comes standard with a Celestion G12H30 and has an incredibly effective master volume control.
One of the best 112 combo amps on the market and this version is available exclusively through Fat Sound Guitars.
Specifications and Features
Customer Comment"Hey Stu, Just got the amp yesterday. After playing with it for a day all I can say is wow. This amp surpassed my expectations. The sound is amazing exactly like you said. The amp looks great too. I can see Top Hat only uses high quality materials. It seems to be built like a tank which is great. Also the Brake-Lite is just what I needed. It takes the volume and just squashes it down while not affecting the tone. I can finally play late at night at home without anyone yelling at me to lower my amp, and still keep the Top Hat's amazing tone. You have helped me immensely and I would like to commend Billy M
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