Review: Fat Dog Model 2A Harp Amp

The Fat Dog Model 2A harp amp is a willing little player, and it deserves props for its spunky character. But before we plunge into the review of the amp we need to establish a basic fact:

The Fat Dog Model 2A is not loud enough to gig with. But that is not a knock on the amp at all. The regular gig rig I used last year (a 5F2H custom amp) was also not loud enough to stand up to a 5-piece blues band, and I gigged it more than fifty times. If for some reason you are looking for a big heavy loud harp amp, the Model 2A will be a disappointment for you. If you are looking for a smaller, lower-powered amp with cut-through-the-mix tone, read on.

Rob Reynolds, who makes the amps, told me that all future Fat Dog amps will have a line out jack for sending the signal to the PA. That is exactly how I gig my own amp, and it works very well. The Model 2A Rob sent me has a prototype line out jack dangling from the bottom of the chassis and zip tied to the power cord. It is a simple quarter inch speaker tap with a resistor across the leads to reduce the signal down near line level. I’m sure future Fat Dog amps will have the jack cleanly mounted somewhere. An XLR out with level control would be sweet.

When I first played the amp at home after taking delivery of it, I liked its barky Champ-like tone. Indeed, it sounds like a Fender silverface Champ with two 10-inch speakers and a bit less compression. But there was a bit of shrillness to the tone, and the sound did not seem lively enough for my tastes.

I talked to Rob about this and he said the issue was the speakers in this particular amp. New Jensen “Vintage” reissue speakers are notably bright but are known to improve with use. After they are broken in the Jensens sound much better. After I played the amp at higher volumes for a few hours it started to take on a rounder tone.

When I took the Model 2A to a blues jam hosted by my band Roadhouse Joe, the little amp had a chance to sing out. I lined it out to the PA and fiddled with the volume and tone controls. With the volume on 6 out of 10 (the volume is not numbered, so I am estimating) and the tone control BARELY cracked off the minimum setting, the amp suddenly came alive. A couple of my bandmates who had heard the amp previously at practice immediately remarked that the amp sounded a lot better.

I added a bit of delay and the tone fattened up. It still had the Champish midrangey barkiness, but with pretty good rip. When I dug in on a tight cup the amp growled nicely. It evidently sounded good to the musicians hanging out waiting to jam because I got very nice response after my first solo. That is the bottom line on amp tone right there.

I covered some of the technical details of the amp in a previous post. The Fat Dog amps are a modular scalable design, wherein Rob can use as many of his 6L6 mono-block amps as there are speakers in the cab. With two speakers he uses two mono amps, and so on. This also gives the amp its signature sound.

If you want to gig this amp, no problem. Use the line out for PA support, and use the amp as a stage monitor. I had the amp on a tilt-back stand right behind me, and I could hear it in the loud jam if I stood in front of it.

Rob Reynolds is a great guy who will work with you to get the amp just right. I’d probably order it with Weber Signature series speakers instead of the Jensens, but speaker tone is wildly subjective and subject to endless personal revision.

The Fat Dog Model 2A is a willing little amp worthy of your consideration. It just may be ready to run with the big dawgs.

Analysis: Fat Dog Model 2A Harp Amp

Rob Reynolds of Fat Dog Amps very graciously shipped me an example of his Model 2A amp for review. This article will cover the technical examination of the amp and some early playing impressions. This coming Sunday – November 8 – I plan to take it to the Blues Jam my band hosts at Ziggies in Denver. I invite any interested harp player to come on down, try the amp, and be part of the final review.

-Appearance: It is a good looking amp, decked out in all classic black. I took the amp to band practice last week, and the guitar player said, "Wow, what’s that?" The finish is sprayed on and seems nearly indestructible, and it looks and feels fine. In these photos you can see through the grill cloth to the speaker cut-outs, but that is only because of the camera flash. In normal light the grill cloth is completely opaque and looks cool. The amp weighs 39 lbs, and the carrying handle is quite comfortable.


-Design: The first thing that strikes you when you look at the chassis is that this is essentially a stereo amp. It has two discreet class A power amps, each with a Sovtek 6L6 tube and its own output transformer. The preamp tubes are a metal 6SJ7 and glass 6SN7, which give the amp a similarity to vintage Gibson and Masco amps. These are lower-gain tubes than you find in most newer amps. The rectifier is a 5U4

There is no need for a Phase Inverter since both power tubes run independently as single-ended amps. It is Siamese Twin Champs, kind of. A very interesting design concept.


-Build Quality: The amp looks and feels solid. This is not a cheapo home-built amp, by any means. Rob’s philosophy is to use quality off-the-shelf components to make a good custom harp amp at a reasonable price.

When you look at the chassis you see that philosophy in action. The wiring is all point-to-point, using good but not hyper-expensive parts. The power tranny is a Hammond 270FX. The caps are Xicon. He uses good ceramic tube sockets. The controls have a solid feel that I like (but the volume and tone knobs are too small and stick up too much.)

One cool feature is the two standby switches. You can put one amp on standby and play through the other, or switch them both on when you need more volume.

-Testing: Each mono amp produces about 3 watts RMS of clean power before clipping. When playing blues harp, of course, we love us some clipping so that is not a barrier. The amp puts out about 10 Watts total when cranked and clipping like crazy.


-Tone: Well, that is so subjective, isn’t it? I wrote earlier that this amp is like Siamese Twin Champs, and it does have that barky character of the Fender Champ, but with a lot more volume. It has that same cut-through-the-mix quality you get with a Champ.

The tone has a lot to do with the choice of speakers. Rob has gone with two Jensen mismatched speakers, an alnico P10Q and a ceramic C10Q. Both speakers have a smooth cone. It is true that mismatched speakers in a harp amp contribute to the singing overtones we all crave. However, I have always disliked reissue Jensen speakers for blues harp. These "Q" speakers are definitely better than the "R" Jensens I’ve tried, but I would still prefer Webers. Rob’s take on this is that the Jensens sound great after they are broken in. He may be right.

I've played the amp about 2 hours, and my early impressions are that it breaks up well, with a tearing across the leading edge of the notes when you push it. It has that Champ quality of sassy snarkiness, only not as compressed.

-Price: Rob sells the Fat Dog 2A harp amp for $850.00. You can step up to a 2x12 configuration for only $25.00 more. That seems like a great bargain for either amp. The price is at the entry level for custom harp amps, but the product is way more than your typical 5F1 Champ clone.

Please check back in a few days for a full hands-on review of the Fat Dog Model 2A harp amp in action.

Random Notes

-A couple weeks ago I bought a BBE Sonic Stomp pedal used on eBay for $43.00 and finally got around to trying it today. Yoiks, what a remarkable sound! I haven't played with it enough yet to offer a full review, but I can tell you I'm very impressed. That thing they say about how it "takes the blanket off your amp" is valid. I was influenced to buy it by Jason Ricci, who swears by this thing.

-I seldom review guitar amps, but I am so impressed with Mission Amp's Tweed Vibrolux clone that I just can't stop myself from telling people about it. The guitar player in Roadhouse Joe, Matt Spinks, played through it at a recent gig. The tone was fat and complex and LOUD, with swirling overtones and great punch. Seriously, we are not a quiet band at all, and the little Vibrolux dominated in a very, very good way. The Vibrolux is rated at 18 watts but sounds huge. It is 2x6V6 driving a 12-inch Eminence Patriot Lil' Texas Neo speaker. The amp is small and light and amazing. Bruce Collins, the owner of Mission Amps is a wizard with amp tone, and I am not kidding one bit. Matt's playing electrified the packed club. I've been around the block a time or two in blues bands, and I seen 'em come and I seen 'em go. I've heard a lot of guitar players play a lot of amps. This one is special.

-Remember, on November 8th I'll have the Fat Dog Model 2A harp amp at the blues jam we host on Sundays at Ziggies in Denver. I'm liking this amp more every time I play it. Today I threw my whole pedal board at it and it acquitted itself well. I invite and encourage all harp players to come try it out and give me their unvarnished opinions for the upcoming review of the amp.

Jam Amps

Players often leave their amps at home when heading to my jam since they know there will be at least one good harp rig they can use.  But a recent thread in Adam Gussow's blues harp forum got me thinking about all the different amps that have been honked on the stage at Ziggies over the last three years.  (At least the amps I can recall right now, in no particular order)

-Original 1959 Fender Bassman

-Fender '59 Bassman Reissue

-Mission Chicago 32-20 1x12 and 3x10

-Harpgear HG50 410

-Harpgear HG30 and 35

-Harpgear HG2

-Sonny Jr 410 and Super Sonny

-Sonny Jr Cruncher and Super Cruncher
-Fender BF Super Reverb

-Fender silverface Princeton

-Fender silverface Champ
-Fender Champion 600

-Fender Blues Jr.

-Fender Pro Jr.

-Fender’65 Princeton Reverb RI

-Peavey Delta Blues 210

-Kendrick Texas Crude

-Kalamazoo Model 1 from Greg Heumann

-Pignose 7-100 and HOG30

-VHT Special 6 Combo

-Weber 5F2H custom

-Masco ME-18

-Edward ED amp
-Fat Dog 2A and 4A

The Best Harp Amps

UPDATE:  The best small harp amp on the planet now is the Memphis Mini !!   But for my views of harp amps in 2008, read on.

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Several readers have written asking for my list of “Best” or “Favorite: harp amps, but I have resisted publishing this for a few reasons. I’ve not played some noteworthy amps, and I am burdened with my own biases for or against other amps.

But what the heck… I’m game. I’ve been playing through various blues harp amps for decades. My truly favorite amps are the ones I own, particularly my modified 1970 Fender Champ and my old Masco ME-18 and Avatar cab, but for fairness they will not be included in my list of “best.”

Small Harp Amps – under 10 watts

When I think of small harp amps I think first of a Fender Champ or any of the zillions of clones that use the same basic circuitry: a single 6V6 power tube, 5Y3 rectifier, and an 8-inch speaker. Preamp tubes vary according to taste, usually a 12AX7. These amps are bright and “barky,” and they have a cut-through-the-mix quality that is very satisfying. However, they can be nasal or boxy, and with only 5 watts of power they usually need PA support to be giggable.

Having said all that, every harp player should own a small amp. They have a tone you just can’t get from any other platform. These amps are wonderful for recording and practicing, and for jams.

Best bang-for-the-buck small amps are the Fender Silver Face Champs and the Kalamazoo Model 2. The Epi Valve Jr. half stack is pretty decent.

Of the boutique Champ clones, the best in terms of tone vs. dollars is the little Harp Gear amp. It has exceptional build quality and tone.

Special Mention: The Roland Cube 30 or Cube 30X is a terrific little amp for harp. No, it is not a tube amp, but its tone is excellent, and it is rugged and reliable; indestructible. The built-in amp models and effects are good. I include it in the Small Amp category not because of its power (30 watts) but because of its price. It sells new for about the same money as a decent Silver Face Champ on eBay.

Small harp amps I’ve tried and did not particularly care for: Crate/Palomino, Hohner, Fender Champion 600.

Medium Harp Amps – 10 to 35 watts

The next step up in harp amps starts with amps using two 6V6 power tubes, generating about 12 watts of power. Of all the amps I’ve played or heard in this sub-class, the Fender Black Face Princeton non-reverb amp is by far the best.

Medium harp amps also include the popular Fender Blues Jr. amp. I owned one for a couple of years but never really liked it. It is a high-gain guitar amp at heart, with two EL84 power tubes and a solid state rectifier. I tried tweaking it and finally gave up on it, selling it to a buddy.

One of my favorite medium harp amps is actually a kit from Weber: The 5F2H is an exceptional harp amp using a single KT66 power tube (a relative to the 6L6) and my favorite harp speaker, the Weber 10A125-0. It generates about 22 watts of power and has one of the warmest, roundest harp tones you’ll ever hear. If you lean into it with a tight cup on your bullet mic you get an edgy rasp that sounds just right. This is a great amp.

Other Medium harp amps I like: Fat Dog Amps. Peavey Delta Blues 210. Fender Vibrolux Reverb. 1958 Fender Narrow Panel Pro.

Large Harp Amps – 35+ watts

I think of large harp amps as the rigs you would use with a loud band in a medium to large club venue. They generally do not need to be mic’ed to be heard. They vary in power and speaker configuration.

The tweed 4x10 Fender Bassman from the Fifties is the prime example of a good large harp amp, but these are expensive. The Fender reissue ’59 Bassman amp can also be made to sound quite good. My buddy Ronnie Shellist of the Shuffletones plays through a great-sounding tweed Bassman clone: the 5E6A kit from Weber.

Any list of “best” large harp amps has to begin with the Harp King amps. Their tone is organic and textured at any volume. The Harp King amps can fill a large room with swelling tone and yet they have an uncanny resistance to audio feedback. These amps are expensive and rare, but well worth the money and the wait.

The Meteor amps are outstanding, as are the new HG50 amps from Harp Gear. Both of these are full-on pro gear from good guys who know a thing or two about tone. Their customer service is also excellent.

Any amp Gerald Weber breathes on is spectacularly good. His Kendrick Amps I’ve played are among the best anywhere. And, any amp from Victoria is almost hypnotic in it’s tonal complexity for harp. The best live harp tone I have ever heard came out of a Victoria amp.

Other large harp amps I like: Fender Black Face Super Reverb

So there you have it… My “favorites” list as of this week. I’ve left out dozens of amps, but I guess that is the nature of lists such as this. Let me know your favorite harp amps.