Monday, December 21, 2009

Filmosound Combo







At Mars has built it's first combo amp! Despite much protestation, Jeron from Eloquent Creative said he MUST have a combo, so one was produced. Built like a old time amp (when the guitar player stood BEHIND the amp instead of in front), this combo is covered in tweed by request.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Amp With Scumback




Greg Ordered an amp and cab from At Mars Amplification. He chose to have the cab loaded with a Scumback M75 speaker.

http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/


Previously I wasn't much of a believer in "boutique" speakers, but wow! This thing sounded amazing. I was very impressed. So was Greg:


Lets see what can I say, oh yeah, "HOLY MOTHER OF JESUS YOU REALLY KNOW YOUR SHIT", and we hit it on the head with the "SPEAKER FROM HEAVEN". I am just blown away, and of course that great hot tube amp smell! Even my wife said it sounds good, and the grill cloth is a perfect fit! Anthony I will highly recommend your services. Thank you so much!


Thank you, Greg - and thanks to you Scumback.


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Amp Feedback - Holy Crap!

I got this letter from Tim regarding the amp he got:

Anthony,

I received the amp on Friday. I am very impressed. The amplifier sounds very good. Sweet and full at low volume and great over driven tones. It is nice and quiet and I have not heard any rattles or microphonics from tubes. I have only used it for a few hours and will leave a Harmony Central review once I get my thoughts together.

I played a P90 equipped guitar through it. HOLY CRAP! That was exciting. Mostly blues with stratocasters which seems to be an excellent combination.

Nicely Done,

Tim

Friday, September 25, 2009

New amp shipped to Randy In MO



I sent out a new build to Randy - Basic Black amp and matching cab - I sure hope he digs it!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Photo's of the Torque Amplifier Redux with Cab




John in California sent some photo's of the amp and cab he ordered. Thanks John!

Friday, August 14, 2009

New Review


New Review at HC from Michael.

Check it out.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Torque Amplifier Redux




New Torque amplifier heading out to John in California. This one is covered in the cocoa tolex. I'm digging it.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Filmosound In Black







This one was built for Michael in TN. It has the power reduction mod and a three position on, standby, play switch. It also sports the unusual version of the "Filmosound Specialist" name plate.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Filmosound in WHITE




Pat said he wanted an At Mars Amplification Filmosound in White. Here is the result. This one also has a special order standby switch and the power reduction switch that doesn't rob tone.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New blog post on another blog


The gent who bought the "Ruud" amp wrote a little bit about the experience on his own blog. You can check it out here:

Filmosound modded amp

Saturday, June 20, 2009







New Filmosound out on the streets. I'm sending it off to Jason in KS.

Monday, June 15, 2009

New Review at Harmony Central


Amp enthusiast and guitar player Matt left a review of the green "Fireball" amp at Harmony Central. Thanks for the thumbs up!

Fireball Review

Saturday, June 13, 2009



New rock machine completed. Rick from Mpls. took it home. This is the cleanest build yet.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Demo Video Completed!



I went to the recording studio of Paul Diethelm to make a demonstration video of an At Mars Filmosound. Paul did the recording, the production, editing, post production, and guitar playing. He did it all! Paul is capable of quite a lot in this arena. He can be contacted via his website.

http://www.pauldiethelm.com/

Paul ended up with a green Filmosound to add to his "tone arsenal".

But, anyway, the demo is finished. Take a look at it here:

YouTube Filmo Demo Video!
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The video lets you hear some of the tones that are available from the At Mars Filmosound.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

New "RUUD" Amp







New amp that is Sold! Mike, a local gent, bought it. I hope it treats him well. More power supply filtering on this one and the chassis is little bit cleaner and sleek with some homemade labels and an At Mars Amplification Logo.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Recording Some Clips II


Paul sent me the audio from the recording session. He has yet to sync it up with the video recorded at the same time, but that's coming soon. Here's the audio of one of the cuts.

ZZ Top Les Paul

The guitar used, was, you guessed it - A Les Paul.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Recording Some Clips




I went to Paul's house last night to start recording some demo videos for the amp. Things are looking promising and Paul will probably finish up today. Video/audio clips should be available soon!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

SPEAKERS

Gary from Decatur has done some serious experimentation concerning speakers that maximize the potential of the At Mars Filmosound. Here are some highlights from his observations:

I have tried both amps through a some different speakers....my conclusion is...(hope this helps)....sounded best through Jenson C12K , Old Jensen C12NA gold label, Pyle M-1240 and and pair of old Eminence 1965 speakers (don't don't much about the model but they were killer) And best yet...a 4x12 cab X loaded with Pyle M-1229 and M-1240's.

Friday, May 1, 2009


Review of the Blond amp at Harmony Central by Gary in Decatur.

Harmony Central Review

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/At+Mars+Amplification/Blond+Filmosound+head+5E3/10/1

Thanks Gary!



A brown one with the Bell and Howell Shield. This amp has slightly more gain via the tone knob. The bass cut switch is now standard and is labeled. No more octal preamp. I dispensed with the octal sockets and added new nine pins for a more standard layout with more flexibility. This one was sold to Brad in Texas.

Monday, April 27, 2009

New Blond Filmosound




This is a new one that went to Gary in Decatur. The last of the 'All Octal' amps - Octal tubes in the both preamp positions. This one has the "bass cut" switch plus a power reduction mod switch that doesn't suck tone. The power reduction switch is a three position switch that has 'full power', '1/2 power' and '1/8 power'. You need ten times the wattage to achieve twice the volume. So, a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as 10 watt amp. As a result, the half power only knocks down the volume by about 15% - not much of a difference. The 1/8 gets you about half the volume, which is usable. Next time I'll skip 1/2.

Gary seems pleased so far. I think he might post a review.

Amps of the (recent) past.

Another green one. Paul is giving this one a workout, and it will hopefully appear in a demonstration video. Paul's a pretty good geetar player, so I'm guessing the video will be peachy keen. This one has a "bass cut" switch that was requested by a few who gave it a whirl.

Amps of the (recent) past. "The Torque Amplifier"

Here is a quick lo-fi clip of of this amp to give you and idea of the sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEFwvmR9fzI&feature=channel_page


This is the all octal version. 6SL7 In the first position. It was built quite a while before it was sold. A Minneapolitan bought it. This one has screen grid resistors for tube stability - a mod suggested by Mike from MikeTech Electro Music Services.

http://miketechmusic.com/

Amps of the (recent) past. "The Fireball"

The customer, Matt, picked the color on this one. Built a matching cab to go with it. Fireball logo comes from a boiler. Let me know if you know where I can get another. No standby on this one. Consensus on the forums was this feature is for convenience not tube life, so I decided to go without.

Amps of the (recent) past.


This one went to Illinois via ebay. The new owner was pleased. 12AT7 in the first position as I remember. Power and standby now on the back of the chassis.

This was the assessment:

I gave it a good go today....here is a little feedback!

I am playin around with the "right "speaker combination....that will be the key to dialing in want it wants to drive.

Les paul(shaw pickups)...cranked a bit 7-8... easy to find the old ZZ tones! Pretty much a plug in and crank...not much to do but play...simple is a GOOD thing! Nice volume with out shakin the walls...pretty full sound with a top end bite...but not brittle. Low end...plenty...a bit boomy through a 4x12...much better with a single 12 or 2x12. It likes the 2x12 big sound and the bottom keeps tight but full.Driven with an overdrive yielded great boost for a singing lead.

Strat(fralin vintage hots)...5-6...clean to slight breakup...shimmery!!! Very nice...will record well! Top end sparkle...really great chime. This is where I would find nice strat tones...clean to mild breakup...did not find the overdriven strat tones I am used to...at least not yet...speakers will be a factor. I am so used to the blackface and strat combo...it's hard to break away from that. Does not matter...as I have a few nice bf amps...the clean sparkle thing is where the amp finds home or me with a strat!

recommendation...a toggle for the bass....tight or boost. That would give it some flexibility where it needs it....mids and highs are fine. Where it is voiced now would be more at the boost spot....so flipping the toggle for a focused bass would make driving a 4x12 an nice option.

Plenty of balls...sounds big for a little guy! Dynamics are nice...always like the touch sens amps!

Amps of the (recent) past.


Number one with matching cab. This one was accidentally sold to Randy while trying to sell another amp, then resold to Willie's American Guitars, and then purchased again. I somehow found the current owner, Moses. It will get some updates soon. This one had 12AU7 in the first position and a switch that selected between one half of the 12AU7 or both halves in parallel for more gain. The guy who bought it said, "I'll probably only ever use the 'high gain' setting. All amps from then on were 'high gain' only. Also, the dimensions of the head cabinet were made to match the width of the speaker cab. Randy said he'd like to see a smaller head. All subsequent cabs were made smaller.