Louis Electric Bluesbreaker Combo

OF THE ALL-TIME top-10 guitar amps, the Marshall model 1962 combo used by Eric Clapton on John Mayall’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton album certainly ranks as one of the most coveted Holy Grails. Numerous reissues have emerged over the years, but most have overlooked significant details that gave the original “Bluesbreaker” combo its unique character, such as its oversized cabinet, KT66 tubes, transformers and other electrical components. Louis Electric’s Bluesbreaker model may be the most accurate reproduction of Marshall’s prized mid-Sixties combo ever. Features include a massive (23-1/2 x 32 x 10-1/2 inches) cabinet, custom hand-wound transformers built to identical specifications of the original Radiospares transformers, KT66 power and GZ34 rectifier tubes and a hand-wired circuit that accurately duplicates the original JTM45 model 1986 “bass” chassis right down to its military-spec potentiometers and Pererated circuit board. Two hand-built LEL 014 12-inch speakers deliver classic Celestion Greenback tone.

Connected to a Les Paul Standard, the Bluesbreaker pumps out brilliant harmonics, aggressive growl and expressive responsiveness, with sound that’s as big as its king-sized cabinet. A smaller cabinet is available for those of us without a road crew or Gold’s Gym membership, but for the true Bluesbreaker experience the big cab is the only way to go.

LIST PRICE: $3,395.00
MANUFACTURER: Louis Electric Amplifiers, louisamps.com

Chris is the co-author of Eruption - Conversations with Eddie Van Halen. He is a 40-year music industry veteran who started at Boardwalk Entertainment (Joan Jett, Night Ranger) and Roland US before becoming a guitar journalist in 1991. He has interviewed more than 600 artists, written more than 1,400 product reviews and contributed to Jeff Beck’s Beck 01: Hot Rods and Rock & Roll and Eric Clapton’s Six String Stories.

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