Vintage tube amps inspire B&G Guitars’ new Prototype

Fascinated by the “fat and throaty” acoustic sounds of early Delta blues guitarists, the crafters at B&G in 2011 embarked on a mission to uncover the secrets of their tone. The search led to the production of the B&G Little Sister, a semi-hollow guitar. And now, B&G is once again digging into the past for inspiration.

The Israeli company has announced the Prototype Amp, which is its take on tube amps from the ’50s and ’60s. These 16-watters were built with no expense spared. B&G sourced the world for new old stock audio capacitors and hand-wired each amp with point-to-point wiring. 6V6, 12AX7 and 12AT7 tubes drive the Prototype, while a pair of ten-inch Jensen P-10R speakers gives the amp even more vintage cred.

Two switch-operated gain stages—”Dirty” and “Angry”—take your guitar into overdrive, and a tube-driven Accutronics spring reverb unit lets you dial in even more sounds. Or as the folks at B&G themselves say, “Our main goal was to provide a great amount of clean headroom and to push the breaking point higher, without compromising the power and growl of the tube overdrive and fuzz.”

Watch the video below to see the painstaking work that goes into building a Prototype:

The Prototype Amp is limited to 100 units, and lists for $3,950. For more information, check out bngguitars.com.