Roccaforte

The Jenelle is the Roccaforte flagship amplifier. It has two independent channels, one is the preamp from the Custom 80 and the other is the preamp from the HiGain 100. This is an all tube amplifier and, like all of Doug's amps, it is quite loud. The controls are a master presence knob followed by two rows of identical knobs: Bass, Mid, Treble, Master, and Gain. UTILIZATION Setting the knobs to the middle setting, "noon" as most guitar players refer to it, will yield an instantly rewarding tone. There are very few bad sounds to be found in this amp. The response of the amp is a little stiff, but that just means that you need to focus on your playing. Every note rings loud and clear. SOUNDS I played a '77 Les Paul and a 2009 Charvel So-Cal through this amp and both guitars sounded excellent. You could really tell that the guitars had changed, but they still sounded excellent. The main cabinet that I was running at this time is a Mojo Musical Supply 4x12 with 2 Hellatone 60L's and 2 VHT P50E's. The amplifier sounded great through this set up, very clear on the clean tones and simply scorching on the dirty tones. One could easily take the Roccaforte Jenelle and play classic rock style and simply turn a knob and reach most modern metal. OVERALL OPINION The Jenelle is the merging of two excellent amps from one excellent amp builder. Personally, I like the way that the amp does not cover the playing of the player. One needs to be clean and articulate. The brand new price is a little high for most people, but these can be found on the used market occasionally.

The Roccaforte Custom 80 is a single channel, 100 watt tube head. This amp appears to be simple, but provides many different tones, all very usable. The controls are: Preamp Vol, Master Vol, Treble, Midrange, Bass, Presence. UTILIZATION The Custom 80 is firmly in the Marshall tone family, but more. To my ears, the Custom 80 sounds like the perfect Marshall recorded tone, only it's right there in the room with you. The gain is completely usable all the way up and gives a great singing lead tone when cranked. The tone knobs shape the tone in a very musical manner. There are no extremely bad sounds that come from really cranking one knob or another. The only knob that I have turned down is the presence, but that's just me. This amp is loud. I know that every Roccaforte review mentions that, but it's true. I do want to clarify though, that this is not a bad thing at all. I happen to play in a loud band and this amp easily sits in with our other guitarist and his Oranges as well as our drummer's Bonham-esque playing. I have been playing the Custom 80 through my Mojo 4x12 which has 2 Hellatone 60L's and 2 Warehouse Veteran 30's. This setup really moves some air! SOUNDS I generally use a '77 Les Paul Standard through just about every amp. This guitar really shines when played through the Custom 80. Many amps mask the tone of the guitar, but not the Custom 80. Roccaforte amps sound a bit like an early Marshall crossed with a Hiwatt. OVERALL OPINION Overall, the Custom 80 is a very versatile rock 'n roll amp. It can be quite loud, but the master volume is quite effective. The build quality is easily one of the best that I have ever seen in person, very meticulous. I have owned a couple different amps from Roccaforte and the Custom 80 would be the best for my uses.