Port City Amps introduces the Sterling amplifier, a 50-watt, hand-wired British tone flavored amplifier.
Sterling is designed to be a plug and play amplifier, sporting a simple single channel operation with easy to use tone shaping controls.
There are no fancy features on this amp, just good old quality components in a traditional configuration. The amp comes with two 6CA7 power tubes and three JJ preamp tubes providing 50 watts of power.
The amp is handmade in North Carolina and Port City stands by their word that they only use the highest quality components such as Mojo Dijon capacitors, carbon film resistors, custom USA made transformers, PVC coated copper wire and Switchcraft jacks. The Sterling head enclosure is crafted from ¼” inch finger jointed solid pine.
Its control layout follows the same tried and tested component philosophy. It maintains traditional controls that include a power and standby switch, an equalizer with presence and a gain knob. It is simply hard to get confused with its intuitive setup.
What it lacks in modern features it makes up with its pure tube amp – British style tone. The designers describe Sterling as having “a big and tight a big and tight bottom end, aggressive midrange, and smooth high end that cuts through a band mix.
Port City decided to give the gain knob a wide range of over drive tones, from light overdrive, to medium gain and can even go up to modern style high gain sound. This gives you overdrive flexibility which can extend further by using pedals. Another good thing about the built in overdrive of Sterling amp is its sensitivity. Being tube driven, you can clean up your tone nicely by playing with your guitar’s volume knob. It is also expected to react well with pedals.
Here is a quick video demo of the Port City Sterling Amp in action:
Port City Sterling is expected to retail at $1,799. You can find out more about this amplifier by visiting Port City Amps.
Related News:
Port City Pearl Combo Amp with Reverb
You don’t need to lug around a big amp for practicing – check out these lightweight amps.
If you’re looking for a more affordable Tube Amp then see this roundup.