The Pitbull

The Pitbull

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Pitbull was inspired by my personal experience with a Pitbull.  While this breed has developed a reputation for being an aggressive dog, many owners of Pitbulls will swear by their friendly and lively nature.  This split personality is precisely the goal of this amplifier: to be more aggressive than the Labrador, but still retain the Labrador’s friendly side, with perhaps a bit more sparkle.

Quick overview:

• Very flexible tone
• Light weight design
• Usable power output
• Clean tone with a bit of sparkle
• High gain lead tones that don’t sacrifice clean tones
• Aggressive gain typically found only in larger amplifiers
• Simple, intuitive controls
• Hand wired
• High quality
• All Tube Design*

Distortion Overview

The Pitbull is not the first high gain lead amplifier on the market, but it aims to be your last.  The Pitbull’s high gain channel is designed to have all the aggression needed for searing leads and crushing rhythms used in musical styles such as metal and emo. However, where the Pitbull differs, is it does not compromise the tone when the gain is brought down to rock/crunch levels. Using JDP Amplifiers specially designed gain control, the Pitbull perfectly balances the tone to sound its best at any setting.

Unlike many high gain amplifiers, the Pitbull’s low gain channel is more than just a courtesy.  To fully capture the dual personality, I went back to the drawing board to create a low gain channel comparable to the original Labrador, but with a bit more sparkle. With the gain switch on low and the volume turned up, the Pitbull displays a lively characteristic and chime with a smooth transition into breakup as you dig into the strings.  Turn up the gain a bit and you enter a good rhythm drive.  Flip the gain switch and the Pitbull becomes mean and aggressive, with a moderate crunch on the low end of the gain knob, leading up to a full out sonic assault that retains a surprising clarity.  Coupled with the specially designed tone controls, the Pitbull truly can run with the big dogs of tone.

Tone Stack Overview

The tone controls have a much greater range than is typical of guitar amplifiers.  Most amplifiers tone controls don’t go below what is the half-way point on this amplifier, meaning that turning the bass all the way down does not actually cut any bass.  The Labrador controls, however, are capable of boosting and cutting.  Therefore, it has no mid control because one is simply not needed here. A mid boost can be achieved, by turning the bass and treble down.  The Pitbull is designed to have a slight mid-range cut with the controls at half way.

Compression

The rectifier switch changes the character of the amplifier by changing how it converts AC electricity to DC electricity.  When on solid state mode, the amplifier has a firmer tone and tracks dynamics very well.  Many describe this tone as punchy or lively.  When on tube mode, the amplifier has a softer tone.  The dynamics become compressed, increasing sustain.

Sound Clips

Guitar is run directly into amplifier, with exception of “Rock”, where an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb is used between the guitar and amplifier.
Amplifier is running Tung-Sol Re-issue 12AX7s and JJ EL84s.
All recordings are through a 2×12 cab with a pair of mid 1960s Jensen C12-R speakers.
Thanks to Patrick of Kindred Coffee Roasters for playing and recording the sound clips.

Features Unique to The Pitbull

The Pitbull comes in three variations: Black (6V6), Red (EL84), and Brindle, which can use 6V6s, EL84s or a mix of the types.  6V6s give you lower total power (9 watts) with blues like tone, thick bass and shimmering highs.  EL84s give you greater total power (18 watts) with a driving mid-range.  Mixing the types will give you a tone that mixes the strengths of each type while adding sweetness to the tone.  An added benefit of this design is that the Pitbull does not require matched power tubes (This is a good, because I don’t know of anywhere to purchase a 6V6 matched with an EL84).

To deal with the inherent mismatch of the 6V6 and the EL84, the Brindle Pitbull has an additional “Balance” control that provides additional tonal options.  When using similar power tube types, setting the control to minimum sends the same signal to both output tubes, resulting in the cleanest sound.  When mixing power tube types, this control boosts the output of the rightmost power tube to restore balance between the tubes.  If the rightmost power tube is a 6V6 and the leftmost power tube is an EL84, balance will be achieved at around half on the control and the output will be about 16 watts.  If the tubes are reversed from this configuration, they will start out imbalanced and will become more imbalanced as the control is increased.  This imbalance results in a sweetening of the tone at the expense of a little bit of clarity and power (about 10 watts).  With the control at max, the control also provides a bit of a gain boost.

The gain control on The Pitbull includes a specially designed variable treble boost that boosts the treble of the guitar when the gain knob is above ¾.  This boost is designed to add a sparkle to the distortion to counteract the muddiness that can happen with increased gain.  This boost is built in to both the low and high gain channels and is always enabled.

Tube Compliment

• Pre-amp:  Three 12AX7/ECC83
• Power Amp:  Two 6V6 (Black Pitbull & Brindle Pitbull), Two EL84 (Red Pitbull & Brindle Pitbull)
• Rectifier:  5Y3

Specifications

• Power Output with 6V6 tubes:  9 Watts
• Power Output with EL84 tubes:  18 Watts
• Power Output with mixed tubes:  10 – 16 Watts
• Input Jacks:  Two
• Output Jacks:  2 Jacks in parallel
• Impedance Out:  4 ohm / 8 ohm / 16 ohm selectable
• Controls Front:  Gain Switch, Gain, Bass, Treble, Volume, Power/Standby
• Controls Rear:  Tube/SS Rectifier, Balance (Brindle Pitbull only)
• Weight:  Pending
• Size:  Pending

Prices and Ordering Options

The Black Pitbull and the Red Pitbull are both priced at $1500 + shipping and handling.  The Brindle Pitbull is priced at $1750 + shipping and handling.  To place an order, please use the Contact section of the website.  Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivering, as all amplifiers are made to order.

*When operating in SS Rectifier mode, the amplifier uses diodes instead of a tube to power the amplifier.  However, in tube rectified mode, no transistors or diodes are used in any portion of the amplifier.