Goodsell Super 17 Guitar Amplifier Review

This review was submitted by Guitar Jar contributor: Dan McClure

The Super 17 is a tube amp design by Richard Goodsell.

…this is a wonderful machine. Worth every penny!…

17 watts come courtesy of two EL84 tubes; the amp owes some to the Vox AC15 tradition, yet is a design all its own.

The version I have is an older model, made entirely in the USA. The current model, available only in black, is assembled in the USA, but the cabinet is now made in China.

Otherwise the models should be very similar.

Features:

The amplifier has a pretty simple layout, which includes controls for volume, gain, tone, reverb, tremolo speed and tremolo intensity.

The trem circuit can be turned on and off via a standard footswitch. Despite the paucity of knobs, an abundance of satisfying tones can be coaxed easily from this combo, which features a specially designed 12″ speaker from Warehouse Guitar Speakers.

Ease of use:

The amplifier is very easy to use. Because the layout is so streamline, there are few ways to go wrong.

A vibrant clean tone is available by simply turning the gain down and the volume to the desired level.

Naturally the signal gets more gritty as the gain knob is rotated clockwise. Reverb and tremolo functions in a similar manner.

Sound Quality:

The beauty of this design is that every tone sounds amazing. Perhaps some of this is due to the handwired connections, or perhaps it’s due to the premium components.

Great cleans and wonderful overdriven sounds are all here.

Like many tube amps the Super 17 sounds better when turned up to the point where the power tubes saturate.

Reliability:

So far I have had no problem. This thing is built like a tank, but it’s pretty simple too, so if there is a malfunction it should be easy for a qualified tech to track down and fix.