Fearsome Sound

02/06/2026

On the lookout for this ...

☕️

02/06/2026

This is a really nice, mostly original Bassman 135 from the mid 70's. Required new power supply caps, power tubes and sockets. A little circuit tweaking and it's good for another 50 years!

02/05/2026

These pics show the progression from prototype to release of my Paladin Chiron Distortion. Improved (imo) circuit (from the original Distortion circuit) new pcb and new box profile. I've been looking at the Klon Centaur circuit and so I guess I was inspired. The original Centaur circuit was potted so who know what's going on in there (lol) but one of the cool things about the circuit is the midrange boost/feed forward feature, which is linked to the gain control. I liked that idea so I added an active midrange control in front of the passive tone stack (treble and bass). Mark Nicholson (The Martin Boys) has been trying it out and gave me an audio clip for the web site - check it out fearsomesound.com/media .

01/20/2026

This is a SONAX 550B, 50 watt solid state bass amp. It's not really notable except on a historical level. Once upon a time, Baldwin Organ Co decided to get into the guitar amp business and contracted Yorkville Sound (Traynor) to design and build some small/medium size combo amps for sale in the US under Baldwin's new "SONAX" trade name. All good except these finished amps, designed and built in Canada, were therefore subject to a 10% import duty which Baldwin felt would drive their prices out of the attractive range. Yorkville proposed to ship the amps unfinished to a new US office where the amps would undergo final assembly and onward shipment to Baldwin. Unfinished goods attracted no duty. That was 1972.

01/06/2026

This is a mostly original Traynor Custom Special (YBA-3) from mid '68. The power tubes were worn out and the power supply needed a re-build. This is a cool transition model that had a mix of Peter Traynor's design features from the period. The 6CA7 power tubes from this period would tolerate the high voltage from this circuit and deliver roughly 160 watts RMS power. Modern tubes need a bit more circuit protection but this one manages a very respectable 130+ watts power output into an 8 ohm load. This one is good for another few decades.

12/13/2025

Real Eh is a relay board product I introduced a few years ago to facilitate amp signal/channel switching. It's designed to get power from the vacuum tube filament voltage supply so it's popular with the tube amp DIY/modification crowd. I've also had some interest from robotics groups - not sure what they're doing though - lol.

12/11/2025

This project started out as a gutted JCM900 chassis. The idea was to create a switched channel JCM800 MV (2203). IMO Marshall should have built channel switching into the JCM800 MV design - they never did. Anyway, well into the design and build phase, I designed in another relay board and an additional tube stage and turned it into a Soldano SLO-thingy. The build is loaded on a canned Mojotone eyelet board and you can see two of my Fearsome Sound "Real Eh" boards to handle the signal switching. There is some taste testing and seasoning left to do but - what a beast! I'll update these pics when the owner finishes the project with a box, faceplate and backplate set.