New Amp Day: Realtone JMI EF86 – Vox AC-15-ish handwired tube amp demo ft. 1973 Strat and Digitone

Here’s my new amp ... a custom made handwired Realtone JMI EF86 combo. 15 watts of EL84 glory into a Celestion Blue. At fantastic 11.4 kg, it weighs about half of the current handwired Vox AC-15; and it cost me about 250 € less than the Blue Bulldog version.

In 2003, I played the UK made limited series handwired Vox AC30 at a local music store; IIRC it was more than 3.000 € at that time, way beyond of what I could afford. Still, it made me sell the modelling amp I had played until then, and re-start my tube amp journey. Some years later, I got the chance to buy a used 2003 AC30 handwired for 2.000 €; a great amp, but way too heavy for me, living in a 2 floors above ground without elevator. Sold the AC30, always missed it.

When I recently took my Real Guitars Little Leo amp for servicing to its builder, Andreas Breuhaus from Realtone Amps, I played a small Realtone JMI EF86 head. Loved the sound and ordered a custom 1 × 12" combo version. Perfect pedal board amp, also plays very well with my BF Princeton clone as a stereo pair. Only downside: EF86 preamp tubes are not only notoriously great sounding, but also notoriously microphonic. Especially the low F sharp will cause ringing sounds. But still okay for live and studio use.

In this vid, I play my 1973 Fender Stratocaster through my pedal board with a Boss ES-5 loopswitcher for routing, ProStage Remote Wah used as a programmable clean boost, treble booster side of the JDM Tonemaster germanium fuzz/boost, Kingsley Minstrel II tube overdrive, Sonuus Voluum volume pedal / compressor, Line 6 M5 (used for delay, octaver and flanger sounds) and Strymon Timeline (used for delay, faux reverb and loop recording). Into the Realtone JMI EF86, mic’d with Sennheiser 421 and e606 microphones, running into a RME Fireface UC interface, into Cubase.

On the part with the Elektron Digitone beat, overdrive comes from the amp, and delay and reverb (Valhalla plugins) as well as compressor and eq are added in Cubase. On the other parts, there is sometimes a bit of Valhalla reverb; and slight mastering eq/compressor/limiting.

Somehow the amp made me channel my inner Knopfler and Gilmour, though neither of them ever played a Vox amp in public to my knowledge ... whatever ... have fun :-)