Helmsley

The Helmsley is based on the Fender Blackface Princeton Reverb (AA764) of the early 1960s. With lush tube driven spring reverb and tube driven bias vary tremolo the Helmsley offers great tone, dynamics and touch sensitivity.

The Helmsley is available in standard (12W) or high power (20W and 35W) outputs. Controls include volume, bass, treble, reverb, speed and intensity. The cabinet is crafted from finger jointed pine and can be finished in tolex or shellacked Fender tweed (see options).

The standard circuit comes with switchable negative feedback which provides extra amp voicings: The normal setting is the default for this circuit; Off results in more gain, earlier breakup and extra dynamics; Light is a happy medium between Normal and Off.

Optional extras include mid control and reactive attenuator. The wide-range mid control provides the typical Blackface scooped mids at 0 and will fatten up the tone, add gain and extra punch as the control is increased. A reactive attenuator is available for the 12W and 20W versions of the Helmsley and this allows you to reduce the output from 12W to 0.5W and 1W respectively. The reactive component of the attenuator helps retain the impedance curve presented by the speaker to the amp and as a result the amp feels, sounds and responds similarly to when it is connected directly to the speaker.

The Helmsley comes with a 2-button footswitch for reverb and tremolo.