Vintage Guitar Magazine uses an Emery Sound Stagebaby, alongside some holy grail beauties,
for their NOS 6V6 feature,  January 2007

Vintage Guitar covers


The Superbaby and Microbaby blow minds at the ...

Low-Watt Boutique Tube Amp Shootout '05 by Bob Dragich - Vintage Guitar July 2005

vintage guitar cover

The Superbaby even made the cover!


Tom Beaujour profiles the Microbaby in the Buzz Bin - Guitar World April 2004


Check out the Superbaby review, by Art Thompson,

in the May 2003 issue of Guitar Player magazine!

The Superbaby goes head to head with the GT Soul-o-Single

(here's my favorite excerpt!)

"The Superbaby sounded particulary ballsy with a Russian EL34, and, when connected to a Marshall 4x12 (loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s), the sound was big, punchy, and loud enough for a low-volume rehersal. Other output tubes- such as the GT6L6GE and Sovtek 6V6GT- provided very rich-sounding clean tones, and a Yugoslavian EL84 (in a THD Yellow Jacket adapter) elicited gobs of sparkling grind."

"The Solo Single kicked out a muscular, British-flavored tone with a Russian EL34, and- like the Superbaby- was loud enough through a Marshall 4x12 for low-volume jams. The amp assumed a fat Fender attitude when armed with a GT6L6GE, producing a round and full tone with glassy highs. In contrast, an EL84 (in a GT adapter), sounded bright and sweet at lower volumes, but become quite raspy when pushed into distortion."



 

Jan/Feb 2001

Superbaby Tube Amp Review/ Larry Crane (with help from Gail Buchanon)

I've had a lot of guitar players come into my studio with smaller amps lately- old Supros and Champs that when pushed to the limit deliver excellent overdriven guitar tones at easily manageable volumes. You just put a decent condenser mic in front and there you go. Emery Sound is making new all-tube, hand-made guitar amps that are perfect for this same function- and even better sounding than most of the vintage amps I've heard. At 8 watts maximum volume you're probably not gonna take it out to a gig, but in the studio it shines with clear tones and when pushed, excellent distortion that sounds massive over the studio monitors! The amp is beautifully constructed- my clients all wanted to hear it after seeing it- and it has the transformer and tubes exposed up top like an old Ampeg. And here's the kicker- you can get the Mad Scientist Tube Experimentation Set with 12 tubes (the amp only uses three), which you can switch out on the amp to try different sounds. We traded them around getting clean or throaty sounds and overdriven tones from different combinations. Better than a bunch of tone knobs that don't really do much. Speaking of knobs, there's volume and tone on this amp and they're interactive, making dialing in crunch a breeze. The head is available alone, or with a cabinet and the tube experimentation set. The Superbaby is a worthy investment for any studio that deals with guitars a lot or for a player who wants awesome recording abilities and an attractive home practice amp!


Guitar Player June 2000

Vintage Flavor & Practical Evolution/ Matt Blackett & Darrin Fox

Tube amp manufacturers are not resting on their laurels. They are listening to the demands of players, and many are downsizing larger rigs into smaller, sharper looking, and more gig-friendly packages. In fact, the desire for cranked amp tones at reasonable volumes has led to the introduction of boutique quality, 5-watt tube amps. Is this an attempt by tube-amp companies to grab a piece of the home-recording pie from thier modeling-amp counterparts? In the final analysis it doesn't matter- these sonic choices add up to good news for all guitarists.

EMERY SOUND

One of the cutest amps at the show was Emery's class A Superbaby - a hand-wired, 8 watt tyke that lets you use any octal-based power tube (6L6, EL34, 6V6, KT66, etc.) with no need for bias adjustment. The Superbaby is available with a 1x10 cabinet designed to stash the amp head inside for easy transport.


Guitar Shop January 1999

Emery Sound Spotlight / 8-watt Class A Combo / Lisa Sharken

Petite, vintage-style boutique amps have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Many small manufacturers have recently entered the market with an assortment of their own unique-looking, high-end tube amps. Among the new breed is Emery Sound, run by Curt Emery, a major fan of the original tube amp designs.

Emery Sound's Spotlight is a hand-wired 8-watt all-tube Class A Combo with a 10" ALNICO speaker. The amp's design is based on the classic amps of the 50's and 60's and built to look like a a vintage tube radio. The chassis is enclosed in a triangular, clear Plexiglass box with a carved woodgrain front panel and speaker grille. The back of the amp is completely open. There's also a metal handle on top for easy portability. The chassis is handmade and all of the internal components are hand-wired.

The Spotlight takes a minimalist approach, keeping as short a signal path as possible between the instrument and the speaker. The input jack, on/off switch, and fuse are located on the back panel of the chassis. The controls are as simple as it gets: one volume and one tone control, both located on the front panel. The tone control is flat when set midway, at 12 o'clock. Turning the control to the left rolls off the treble: to the right rolls off the bass.

The Spotlight uses one 6L6 power tube, one 5Y3 rectifier tube, and one 12AX7 preamp tube. The tube recitifier impacts the amp's overall tone and feel, giving it a fuller, richer sound. With the stock tube configuration, The Spotlight reminds me of a beefed-up "tweed" Fender Champ. The sound is very warm, sweet, and smooth, but it has more headroom than a Champ. For more variety in sounds, the power tube can be substituted with a 6V6 (as used in a standard "tweed" Champ) or an EL34 with no further adjustments needed. The Spotlight's preamp tubes can also be substituted for more variety and different levels of gain, a 12AY7, 12AT7 or 12AU7 can also be used.

I tested The Spotlight using a recent Les Paul Standard with stock Gibson humbuckers, and a Tele with single coils. The amp produces very warm, Fender-like characteristics. The sound remained clean until I tweaked the volume knob to around the 10 o'clock zone. Past that, overdrive begins to kick in and increases proportionately as you increase the volume level-positioning the knob between 2 o'clock and 5 o'clock (full volume) makes the distortion much thicker. The amount of gain and distortion will vary, depending on the pickups in your guitar.

Fans of small tube amps will savor the sound of the Spotlight and enjoy its vintage motif. The Spotlight puts out enough power to handle any number of jobs beyond just serving as a practice amp. It's the perfect size for playing smaller combo gigs or recording.


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