AC15 Inspired Pocket Rocket
Another fabulous amp available for hire at Found Your Sound with a story to tell...This particular Matchless Lightning used to belong to Neville Marten (ex- Guitarist Magazine editor and guitar player for Marty Wilde and the Wildcats)! Take a look at the little "Wildcats" sticker on the rear panel. Aside from this amp's past owner's pedigree, this combo is hand built and fully point to point wired by the original Mark Sampson era Matchless team, back in the 90's. This is the rare "small box" version. This beautiful compact 1x12 combo looks like an absolute cutey, with her gorgeous burgundy tolex covering, pretty gold piping and sparkly grill cloth. Looks can be deceiving though. She may be petite, but when you try to pick her up, you might be in for a surprise... She is heavy!
Inspired by the chime and the toothsome roar of a vintage Vox AC15, the Lightning somehow manages to capture the essence of the most drooled over vintage voxes, but all wrapped up in that magical Matchless signature sound! Shimmering and sparkly at lower volumes.....vicious and downright filthy when pushed hard!Â
The tone controls are interactive and pretty sensitive, so this allows you to tweak your sound to suit your guitar's optimal mid range. There are two types of dirt available here. Keep the master volume fairly low and the preamp volume at 12 o clock and higher for more compressed gainy and gritty response. Or whack the master up high, and leave the preamp volume below 12 o clock for that classic vintage power tube overdrive. For wilder tones still, try goosing both for the ultimate growl!
This is Found Your Sound's little pocket rocket. She will put a huge smile on your face!Â
This hand wired point to point 15 Watt/ 8 Ohm combo has 1x 12-inch G12H30 speaker. This is the original UK-made ceramic magnet model from the 90's. This speaker is a custom version made especially for and also modified by Matchless to suit the voice of the Lightning amp.
 It runs in cathode bias and is powered by 2 xJJ EL84 output tubes. It has 3 x NOS GE 12AX7 's in the preamp and 1x NOS Philips/Mullard GZ34 rectifier tube. Transformers and choke are bespoke/custom Matchless designs.
This is an open backed combo made with Baltic birch ply and covered with burgundy tolex. There are two speaker outputs (4 and 8 ohms),which should not be used simultaneously. The impedance of the on board speaker is 8 ohms, so the speaker cable must be left connected to the correct corresponding output jack, The additional speaker output should only be used separately to connect an alternative speaker enclosure (4 ohms).
The dimensions are (h) 44cm ( 17.3") x (w) 45cm (17.7") x (d) 23.5cm (9.25"). Hand Built in the USA.Â
This beautiful little burgundy tolexed hand wired point to point 1x12 combo is easy to use, with just 4x chicken head control knobs (Preamp Volume, Bass, Treble and Master Volume). The eq controls are interactive allowing you to achieve a huge array of tones to suit the pickups on your guitar. Just when you think your sound cannot get any better, try adjusting the bass and the treble again....you might be surprised!Â
With its no-compromise on quality components such as transformers, this combo can reach very loud volumes despite it's rather humble 15 watt rating.
Found Your Sound has also equipped this little tone monster with some of the best NOS tubes we could find, including NOS General Electric for the preamp, and a NOS Philips/Mullard GZ34 rectifier tube.
This amp is perfect for the player that demands top notch Matchless tone in a compact package . She has the grunt and power to suit large stages, and the dimensions to suit the smallest of clubs!Â
Prices
This is the price per unit per day. We offer a multiple day discount, so rent an amp for two days f.i. and you will receive a 20% discount on the normal daily price. For longer term renting please contact us.