Hello Gearheads! I’ll assume you’ve been doing well and enjoying your pursuits in tone and gear since the last feature… Well, today I’ve got a fantastic one to share with you all - a very cool new release to the boutique amplifier market that’s not not only hand-built, incredible sounding and versatile but also impressively priced at retail! This mythic beast is appropriately named the Phoenix! It’s a brand new offering from Tim Thompson, the designer and builder at Audio Eyra, who builds amazing high end amplifiers and HiFi audio components. Tim has had a long history with both those auditory elements - Instrument and HiFi audio and bridges that gap amazingly well with his circuits. Tim was tapped as the main designer, builder and creator of the amps sold under the Ronin Amp brand and has come into his own with Audio Eyra and now a sister company called Tonkraf. Simply put, Tonkraf was created to offer the same unique tonal magic and performance but at a much more affordable price point. This is not a cheaper offshore build with misguided build practices and junk parts… but actually a well thought out business choice to offer the same quality with more attainable, less rare and less expensive components. Every amp is still built by hand and with the upmost attention to detail. It truly is a Goldilocks scenario for someone interested in the higher tier offerings of Audio Eyra but maybe they’re priced out of their reach. I don’t often start features with price in mind, but I truly felt it necessary to showcase this point as it’s a brilliant one that not only works for Tim and Co. but also for the end user who buys one of these.
The Phoenix is in itself a powerhouse of a design. 18w and powered by 2 EL84’s and 2 12AX7’s and simple in form but quite versatile in it’s feature set. The Phoenix has a unique effects loops along with a master volume that can not only fine tune the gain structure of the amp, but also add or subtract large amounts of clean headroom. Tim remarks the Phoenix to be a sort of mixture of Trainwreck and 18w Marshall influences as well as others in a unique mishmash that makes the Phoenix a stand out in it’s peers not only in the wattage class but also across other similarly marketed brand’s amps. Take a look below at more from Tim on his inspiration for the Phoenix.
“The Phoenix is a re-imagination of the “Tone Valve” circuit created by Tim Thompson in 2009. Taking cues from Ken Fischer, Doug Hoffman, and the famous Marshall 18-watt, Tim carefully chose his favorite off the shelf parts, added an active effects loop and solid-state rectifier to create this fire-breathing monster.Enter the Phoenix.
In 2009, this amplifier started as a paralleled 12AX7 preamp with only simple tone and volume controls. Over the years to date, this circuit has evolved to boast an incredible Master Volume control that preserves responsiveness and overdrive from very low volume levels to full loudness. The parallel preamp was changed to use the tone stack between the dual triode gain stages, and an effects loop inserted just before the phase inverter. Lastly, to “speed” things up a bit, a solid-state rectifier was incorporated. We find this circuit is not only suited for most all genres of guitar playing, but also very capable of acoustic-electric; lap steel; harmonica (harp to you blues guys); and violin.
This slow-roasted recipe of years of evolution has yielded a tonal palette of guitar bliss. Thus, from the ashes, the Phoenix rises. We know you will enjoy this little tone machine. Plug in, crank it up, enjoy!”
In my overall testing of the Phoenix, I found the amp to be a very versatile design. While it could be written off that it’s just a high gain monster for rock tones or a Marshall and/or Vox clone it’s actually not. The Phoenix is really it’s own thing in many ways. There is a huge amount of gain and saturation available within the gain range on the Phoenix and if you would prefer to use it like a typical Trainwreck style circuit, you could certainly do so. The volume knob cleanup on your guitar is fantastic and very sweet. You can also utilize the Phoenix’s effects loop without anything in it to completely change how the amp reacts to the input stage and you’ll get a wide range of headroom available. Chimey clean, edge or breakup to higher levels or saturation all the way to exploding tubes and melting transformers. All those tones are available in a variety of ways. The volume knob on your guitar, the gain and master volume on the front of the Phoenix and of course the loop on the back of the amp. It’s seriously impressive how the Phoenix reacts to your playing and what you put into it. I believe this intention is from Tim’s love of HiFi and how he interprets a guitar’s voice.
In terms of the effects loop, if you are someone who loves to put your delay and reverb or maybe even a utility pedal like an EQ etc… the loop works great! It’s musical and works as it should. You could probably even stick your entire pedalboard in there if you’d want! Personally, I’ve never been able to bond with effects loops. It’s an odd thing because I really do like the clarity of post speaker effects, especially stereo delay and will often employ this in use in the studio but for some reason I just don’t prefer what those effects “do” in a loop… that said, I’m VERY happy the loop exists due to how it reacts with the amp’s gain structure and how much room you have to work within that network.
I found the Phoenix to offer such a wide palette of tones that I could see using this amp for all sorts of applications. Tonkraf makes a combo or a head format and the chassis itself is quite light despite it’s massive tonal muscle. It takes pedals really well and as you’ll hear in my demo below, it also takes reverb and delay without any struggle. I used a lot of time based effects straight in with the rest of my pedalboard and as long as you gain stage correctly, you’re set! All in all, I’m extremely impressed with the Phoenix and look forward to what else comes from Tim Thompson not only from his endeavors at Tonkraf but also at Audio Eyra. I highly suggest you take a look at both companies for your next amplifier journey… I know I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled and sights set on what’s coming through! Until then, I look forward to using the Phoenix on my sessions and scoring works as well as showcasing new gear here with you all!
If you’d like to learn more about Tim Thompson, Tonkraf and the Phoenix please check out the links below!