Publishing the ToneQuest Report every month, we are continually amazed by the number of independent, custom builders of hand-built, tube guitar amplifiers that exist today. In terms of the sheer number of choices available to guitarists, we've never had it so good. But when you are contemplating a new amp, making the right decision the first time can be tough. You can't play them all.

Doug Roccaforte 'gets' tone. He knows what experienced guitarists want to hear in roadworthy rock and blues amps that can deliver the goods, and he doesn't cut any corners getting there. We've never played a Roccaforte amp that didn't inspire us to play better, and that's where we draw the line between 'good' and 'great.' Quest forth...

All the best,

David

David Wilson
The ToneQuest Report

The ToneQuest Report 
The Player's Guide to Ultimate Tone

V3 N9. July 2002
Republished under permission from Mountainview Publishing LLC

Doug Roccaforte is one of the premier amp techs in southern California and you'll be delighted to know that he also custom builds amplifiers... You'll get the whole story next month, but we have to tell you about his 18W Classic small box head. We rate it even better than the 1969 Marshall PA20 we recently reviewed, and it's cheaper than the Marshall, too. We've been running the Roccaforte Custom 18 through our 1x15 cabinet or a 2x12 Tone Tubby cab - all good - but you can also hook this little head up to a 4x12 with amazing results. The difference between Doug's amp and the little Marshall is tone. Doug designed this amp with a higher threshold for balanced clean tone and headroom, and the frequency response is generally more balanced, with even lows, mids, upper mids, and highs. Very cool. If you want really heavy distortion you'll need a pedal, but that's when the beauty of the Classic 18 really blossoms. Because it's comparatively clean, a good pedal will put you right where you want to go with practically any guitar, and the Classic 18 is a fantastic blues amp used with just a cord and your axe. Output tubes are dual EL84's with 12AX7 preamp tubes and 6CA4 tube rectifier. No bells and whistles - just 2 channels with Volume and Tone controls. The build quality and attention to detail in Roccaforte amps is awe inspiring. We love this amp!

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