Why Mark Bartel Thinks Bill Frisell and Julian Lage Should Try His Amps

[@premierguitar]

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[@otaypanky2]

Mark is a mad genius and much too humble. The extraordinary details of construction in his amps is mind boggling. That sapele speaker mounting ring is made of 8 precision cut pieces. He molds his own knobs and wiring stanchions, he fabricates the turret boards, he fabricates the foot switch enclosures then applies the tweed fabric that's been given five coats of lacquer, the same way he upholsters the cabinets, he silkscreens his own faceplates, he has a hinged chassis design that lifts open to access the circuit. The impecably wired turret board is truly a thing of beauty for any OCD inflicted tone geek to behold. The details go on and on. He has a Signature Series Details link on his website that's definitely worth a browse. Some day I've got to have a Bartel amplifier !

[@rontheguitarcollector]

That’s awesome to see someone putting the engineering and love for sound to work together to combine for a unique tonal quality.

[@toreilly100]

I own a Sugarland!! Simply the Best thing I've ever heard...and Mark is a class act as well.

[@richmorpurgo5554]

Julian Lage bought my 1958 fender champ a few years ago. He used it live in some videos and it was sublime.

[@grosebud4554]

Is he as nice as he seems in interviews? Dude seems humble as hell. Such a talent. Love these “less is more” guitar players. Guys like him, Frisel , Blake Mills, ribot, croppe

[@andrewmichaelwilliams]

Yay Bloomington, Indiana.

[@richmorpurgo5554]

Made me think, shit I could have sounded like that? Well, no I couldn’t........

[@richmorpurgo5554]

And, yes, we spoke several times and he was a gracious guy.

[@andrewmichaelwilliams]

@@richmorpurgo5554 nope. I just remember you telling me about this a few years back when I worked at melody music.

[@jhwk1970]

I saw the Premier Guitar 2018 NAMM Show video on YT. PG introduced the new Bartel amps and interviewed Mark. Everything Mark was saying in that video made complete sense to me. A few months later I ordered a Starwood combo. I had a pretty substantial collection of vintage amps and one by one I started selling them off. The Starwood just sounded better than anything else. Or actually I sounded better playing through the Starwood than anything else. I eventually got my collection down to my beloved 1965 Fender Pro Reverb and Deluxe Reverb. They were sitting there getting dusty. So, I ordered a second Bartel, a 2 piece Starwood this time, and my two old 1965’s found a new home. The 2 piece Starwood is my band amp because it is easier to haul and breaks the weight up. The Bartel amps are the absolute berries. They sound wonderful with any guitar too.

[@8sigreg]

Nice! I've been reducing my herd of amps and am down to two, a Mesa Lonestar Special and a ToneKing Imperial Mk II, and can only see one final step of selling them and getting a Starwood.

[@slown3w]

The first and the last real guitar amplifier I bought. Happy Starwood owner here as well :)

[@jorgetenamusic]

I love to listen to professionals who love their work! How passionately Mr. Bartel talks about his amps, would love to play one. So true how Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Ariel Posen use perfectly the dynamics of the instrument, masters!! Happy holidays guys!

[@Jakal-pw8yq]

For years my rig consisted of a 1966 Fender super Reverb and a 1965 Fender Pro Reverb that I ran in stereo with an Ibanez chorus pedal and an early model rat and that was tone from heaven! Fast forward to a couple years ago I purchased the 2017 Tone king imperial Mark 1 and installed a gold celestion alnico speaker in it and that amp is almost identical to that 1965 Pro Reverb. I never thought that I would find that sound again but here it is and I pair that up with a Dr Z MAZ 18 Jr 2x10" running stereo with a boatload of effects that I'm actually starting to sell off because I really want more of a pure tone. In my opinion I think Mark is the best builder out there these days.

[@henrybrereton9554]

mark is a legend, i have one of his toneking falcons which is my favourite amp, i once had a issue with it , i emailed tone king and he personally emailed a few emails back and we rectified the issue , the new bartel amps are amazing

[@211squirrel]

Mark Bartel is pure class, what a wonderful human!!

[@slown3w]

00:02:00 this is so true with these amps. I had it in line with top Tone King amps, but nothing got close to it. For me it was the biggest eureka moment in the journey of tone to hear how my thinline telecaster actually sounds.

[@davidsingley9949]

I have a Bartel Sugarland and an old Tone King Metropolitan. I don't pretend to understand most of what Mark says. All I know is that he makes amazing sounding amps!

[@NelKazam]

Inspiring! Ive never heard a Bartel amp. Marks vision sends me out to the practice room with a purpose to get the most out of my equipment.

[@AlHan888]

I don’t have the chance to play on a Bartel amp but I do have a Tone King Falcon Grande! Amplifier of which he is the designer! I love this amp. Mark Bartel is a genius designer, passionate about his work, always researching how to improve the sound, dynamics and playing feel of guitarists. he also listens to people. I asked him about my Falcon when he was no longer working for Tone King and he kindly answered me! living in belgium, i have not yet had the chance to try a Bartel amp! I hope I can do it very soon

[@JS-nf1sn]

Great interview. I wish there were more demo videos of the amps, so we can see what they are like. They seem like they have incredible build quality.

[@vincentl.9469]

that build quality comes at a hefty price...thousands of dollars for an amp

[@preeteshpatel3962]

Mark is a stud. Love is focus and passion. Best of the boutiques.

[@faultlessguitarsandamps1116]

Wise words from Mark . My limited experiments have had the same results regarding materials and resonances .

[@okaytastic6691]

I have one and the the amp for any occasion. Every classic sound is in these amps all at any volume you could want. Just fantastic

[@kenzuercher7497]

Great interview with Mark! I'm convinced that the cabinet it fully 50% of the character of any amp and that the amp is fully 50% of any guitarists sound. Mark's cabinet research is well beyond what is commonly done by manufacturers!

[@roscoenyc]

terrific interview.

[@dirtcreature1]

He is a modern master. People like these who dont just churn out a replica without any thought should really be celebrated by us. Makes his own knobs and stand offs, I mean come on, he's incredible.

[@danielgalanti2166]

I really want to own one of these. The Roseland would be my first choice. Thank you for your attention to detail and obsession.

[@bootlegapples]

I built numerous cabinets out of both and my observation is that pine did add a soft warmth over harder/denser poplar.I prefer cabinets of pine or rigid plywood.A well braced cabinet,especially something like baltic birch, offers better attack of notes,better punch.Pine adds a warm resonance because it sponges up some of the driver's energy and acoustically resonates it.Poplar is a fine and affordable wood but acoustically,at least with my designs,had a bias towards more upper mid resonances that I try to avoid.Of course the overall design of cabinet matters more,I speak just for the cabinets I made.

[@Prousto]

Magnificent amps - and Mark explains his own work and build philosophy beautifully.

[@beachcomber4141]

I WISH I could afford one of these amplifiers. After hearing some demos on these amps, how versatile they are and how amazing they sound, this is a dream amp for me.

[@jambajoby32]

Great episode PG! Do Benson next!

[@BradRabuchin]

Mark knows what he's talking about. Great sounding amps!

[@mojostrat58]

I have owned a couple of Amplifiers Mark designed and built. Sky King is one that comes to mind. Folks, I believe Mark has a Genus when it comes to Amplifiers. We haven't even begun to witness his full potential...it's coming! Thanks for the Music Mark, John

[@JonNewquist]

Thanks for sharing this. I like his approach, and the way he explains his motivation. I'm interested enough to want to test drive one.

[@stevenbatke2475]

As an avid carpenter and musician, these are really beautiful!

[@brunokoenig5100]

How do compare it to a Dumble, as Dumbles' have a beautiful clean sound too? I own a Roseland and love it, it's my amp to go to, but I'm curious.

[@AdamLevyGuitarTips]

Very interesting. I'd love to try one.

[@islander4986]

These seem to have been built SO meticulously, from the hand-wired electrical components to the sapele speaker mount, the mitered baffle, and the box-jointed corners of the cabinet carcass. I don't know if the box joint in the photo was cherry-picked, but speaking as an old woodworker, I think the cut of the teeth of this example is incredibly clean, precise-looking, and utterly free of any sort of splintering. Maybe the joints are dadoed and then the pine boards are re-planed to remove any "blowout" on the exit side of the cuts? Almost a sin to cover them with tolex.

[@baabaabaa2293]

I've no idea if this is true, but they may be cnc'd? A lot of chisel work there! I'd say the sapele baffle wd be also.. not saying l know, just a hunch mate.

[@perudolux]

Would love to try one of his amps

[@stevenheath741]

This all makes perfect sense

[@dougbooth3161]

Anyone else really want to play through one of these amps?! Wow!!

[@djwrangler1981]

There’s a very interesting episode of the amps and axes podcast with mark explaining this at length

[@dcaudwell]

Julian Lage, Bill Frisell and Ariel Posen for sure. Also, in the same mould of subtle, song-driven, tonal palyers: Blake Mills and Joey Landreth would both make great use of these amps, I am sure.

[@davidc0812]

i would buy his pedals in a heartbeat!

[@Grant_Ferstat]

Julian seems pretty happy with his Magic Amps made by Mike Moody.

[@mikekratochwill4195]

Premier Guitar - You should get a Bartel amp into the hands of Bill Frisell. That would be an amazing thing!

[@MikeUIibarri]

That is some good looking product, right there. Very nice.

[@godbyone]

Wow beautiful work

[@Junterhack]

My Roseland is truly amazing! Definitely the best bedroom amp I have ever owned. Just wish it had an FX loop. I have been using the Fryette Power Station's FX loop to bypass the front. Sounds great!

[@FreddyMacT]

is it like a tweed? cleans like a good pedal platform?

[@ShiningEyeBrigade]

Love his approach, all about the tone and not picking components or using techniques for looks! Would be a great drinking game: Take a drink every time he says “I didn’t do this particular technique for the looks, but for the tone.”

[@ChrisBucheit]

Really appreciated this video. Thank you.

[@waitin4winter]

I’m completely sold! Now I just need to save up

[@brucebaldy]

I would like to try one.

[@concernedcitizen939]

He sounds like the “Paul Reed Smith” of amps.

[@dr2675]

Great. Sounds great. Let's hear one

[@jfar3340]

An overdrive pedal would be a real great match? this is a 4k+ pedal platform?

[@PC160]

Hearing them would be nice.

[@imannonymous7707]

This was fascinating, i want to hear 1 But i have to ask the question, with all your interest in acoustic properties and natural projection. Why didnt you build this amp as a boutique acoustic guitar amp? Surely theres room for one in the market? Anyway, peace✌ hope to hear 1 someday

[@thefilmandmusic]

Lot of love here ..

[@cortmiller]

Man I want one so bad. Only question I have is with the fully glued cabinet, how do you get the chassis out if you need any work done?

[@8sigreg]

Unscrew the retaining bolts and slide it out. It's not permanently fixed in place.

[@otaypanky2]

And if you browse through Mark's website you'll probably find a photo showing how some of the chassis designs allow you to 'open the lid' to access the circuit.

[@whitehatpowers]

ao honest and interesting. own the sugarland and it is incredible, easy to appreciate

[@trevorjalla]

To this very short list, and for the reasons you outlay, I humbly nominate Tom Bukovac

[@gastonmacmillan4849]

What speaker and how was it selected? I’ve found speakers to be equally important in my cabinets.

[@8sigreg]

If you go back through the his posts on Facebook, you'll find some that talk about how he picked speakers from about ten different choices. He's been designing amps for a long time and already had good ideas what would work. I found one of his posts on June 6, 2019, then opened his photos and started scrolling and ran into several from around June 4, 2017. It's a lot of scrolling, but he tested some high end speakers.

[@TheBluebirdsBigBand]

Love your work. I purchased a product That employs nanotubes. It is a good sounding product. Possibly that is a avenue that could be explored for builders in the future. It reduces weight greatly in the product That they are used in.

[@philcory5043]

I like it ☺ is it best with PAF style pups or P90s over modern ones? Very interesting Thanks 😎

[@jhwk1970]

I am lucky enough to have a few very nice but very different guitars. They all sound terrific through my Starwood, and the amp seems to enhance the tonal character of whatever is plugged into it. It’s kind of uncanny how readily it adapts.

[@gregmize01]

Anyone know why he left Tone King?

[@jambajoby32]

He sold it & im sure it was because the $$ to make these higher end amps

[@BenPrevo]

Brilliant.

[@adamstaysick]

Want one. Can’t get em

[@bukwok]

not many guitar amp maker put that kind of engineering in it, usually can see lot of hifi speaker maker thinking like these.

[@csl4159]

Came here to say that Bill frissel is THE man.

[@bradconklin2878]

I didn't realize tubes were wholly unreliable. Perhaps you could design a better tube?:)

[@motokev2727]

I'd like to have a Bartel amp. I think I deserve one. I'll have to sell a few things, which is ok.

[@idiotsaintcrazy]

Wow ! Steve Vai makes amps !

[@j.justinzimmerman9836]

Hi Mark, I’m almost speechless, almost. I’ve been soaking up as much info on your post-Tone King inventions as I can. Your KZbin PR work has grown a long list in my History column. Excellent communication there! At some point you were asked about future ideas…Have you given any thought to a stand-alone, tube circuit, Reverb, Tremolo (w/Harmonic Trem + Tube Bias Trem), and “cleanish” Boost Unit? I think it’d be kinda classy! Ha ha. Tip my hat to Victoria designs. I would trade all of my Vibrolux Reverb Amps for a Roseland. Good luck to all involved. JJZ…(°¿.°`)

[@UzerneigmROSE]

Well done sir! Do they take big muffs well? Ha!

[@BenPrevo]

Crowther hotcake.

[@hughschick6847]

CORRECTION: “Why Bill Frisell and Julian Lage should try Mark Bartel’s amps.”

[@ATreeForFive]

I think Mark could build Joe Bonamassa an outstanding signature amp but it will cost an arm and a leg…

[@8sigreg]

It would cost what an amp of that caliber and quality should cost. The term "hand-built" is tossed around a lot, but Bartel puts a lot more hand-built into his amps, from designing it all, building the cabinets, casting the knobs and turret-board standoffs, hand wiring the circuitry, plus he spent years designing the cabinets, orders special transformers that are unique to his amps, they're truly worth the money they cost.

[@preeteshpatel3962]

MB = Masterbuilt.

[@jamesflack8624]

Too expensive. If I had F-you money, Bartel amps are not on the list... Magnatone Stereo Twilighter wins hands down for me. Cheers 🍻

[@franklinsteen4721]

clear throat please. too much distortion. mind voice health

[@marvelharris9540]

would have been nice to actually hear the amps.....smh

[@andyfab65]

I’d say 80% if what he’s “selling” is baloney

[@OilCanHarry2U]

Go ahead and stick to your Gorilla Amp then.

[@jambajoby32]

80% of anything sold to us is bologna anyways

[@TheJudy79]

Over priced period