New Kinds of Tube Guitar Amplifiers

• 12 pounds, evenly balanced, full-metal chassis.
• Smaller than Marshall 20W head.
• 19" x 6" x 6", with removable features.
• Fits standard cases. 5U rackspace.
• 90 Watts full power (using four tubes)
• Turn down Headroom less for power, more overload.
• Change power tube types for less power.
• Pull 1 or 2 power tubes for less power.
• No need for "matched" pairs or kinds.
• Use 2, 3 or 4 tubes, 30+ kinds, any combination.
• Unlimited tonal variety, completely change 'the sound'.
• Active Auto-Bias optimizes everything.
• Auto-Everything™
• Active Auto-Bias™
• Auto-Standby™
• Auto-Impedance™
• Blow-Proof Output™
• Advanced Power Supplies
• Universal Power - World Power Ready
• Active Power Factor Correction
• Tube lifetimes greatly extended
• 9-volt P3 Power over audio cable for pedals, pickups
• Top-quality throughout.
• Precision metal pots - panel-mount, hand-wired.
• Precision tube sockets on stand-offs.
• Powder coated, light-weight, sturdy.
• Beyond mil-spec, silvered RoHS PCBs.
• 1/8" thick "aircraft" aluminum chassis.
• Stainless steel hardware, fittings won't strip.
• Full metal chassis, no wood, plastic, foil.

• Four EL-34 output tubes. Headroom set low. Hendrix model Marshall 4x12. Right: Shure SM57 off-axis near one floor speaker. Left: AKG C3000 suspended 3m.
  • Singlecoil neck pickup, clean 59s
  • Singlecoil neck pickup, overdriven 27s
  • Bridge pickup, clean 41s
  • Bridge pickup, overdriven 34s
  • Bridge humbucker, overdriven 22s
  • All 5 Samples 3m
• Orange Whip, Live in Frederick, MD
  • Texas Flood WAV MP3
  • Stir It Up WAV MP3
  • So Lonely MP3
• 2-minute, concise overview of (prototype) GAGA at Nashville summer NAMM 2009: "...there's nothing else like it on the planet." »
  
• "...[GAGA] is a super light-weight...all-tube amp which allows you to swap and interchange the tubes to get the sound that you desire. ...it has no [audio output transformer] which means two things - it's lighter and [gives] a much more characterful tone." » Winter NAMM 2010
  

Quotes

• "...totally fascinating. i've not seen ANYTHING like this before...there's nothing...even remotely connected to this." »
• "...it's silly it's so good...I'm surprised by the smooth decay, how notes hang solid while volume decays... Very smart, finally. You guys are onto something here." — Glenn Feit, producer, guitarist, NAMM Jan 2012
• "This sounds f*cking awesome, nice and fat, how it should sound." — Harmonica John, NAMM Jan 2012
• "Very nice - rich, warm and fast." — Scott Ambush, Bassist, Deanna Bogart Band, 29 Dec 2011 »
• "What I like best is how versatile it is." - Kevin Delmolino, Bassist, Boulder Canyon Band, April 2012
• "...control the sound using only your fingertips and the guitar volume knob." — Ricky Parish (Blues Gypsys)
• "...i am amazed at the tone tweaking ability...with the Headroom and Volume knobs and ability to change tubes (i used a combination of 6v6's, 6ca7, and el34), i could get just the perfect amount of 'diffusion' i look for, so the guitar either stands out or blends in with the band or mix). the portability is another sweet point, added to the tone tweaking i just described, your amp is primo. ... on to another day of fun playing [GAGA], here's to you for coming up with the best of my forty amps!" -- Sporad Buzzic, New York, Jan 2012
• "...bite, growl and edge, but the notes are clear and solid...and it's so light, where does all that tone come from?" — Kevin Delmolino, bassist, Boulder Canyon Band »
• "Just played your GAGA...WOW!!! what an amp. What a GREAT sound...I was REALLY impressed. I love people that think outside of the normal box." — Perry Robertson, guitarist, Supervising Sound Editor, co-owner Ear Candy Post »
• "Nice. Very nice." —Frank Gambale, Jan 2010 NAMM
• "[GAGA] sounds great. Very interesting. Very very. ... I always like the birth of cool new stuff." —Dick Dale, King of Surf Guitar, Jan 2011 NAMM
• "I'm excited to see some truly new technology." — Tom Lees, Tech Editor, Bass Gear Magazine, Jan 2011
• "All the guitar amps I have ever owned, worked on or built were nothing like this...ever!!!" — Billy Penn, 300 Guitars »
• "The tone grabs you, of course, but then it continues to grow on you. The sounds that I'm getting out of [GAGA] continue to surprise me. The fundamental is there, it's so rich and so right." — Jason Robling, DC Voltage, Dec 2011
• "Very nice, very nice. The most striking characteristic of GAGA is the endless note clarity and sustain! ...This is a true studio sound creation tool! Also the silence at idle is welcome and perfect for studio use. Hail GAGA." — David Garfinkle, GarTunes, Dec 2011
• "Through a closed-back, 4x12 Marshall cab, [GAGA] breathes fire." — Jason, Orange Whip Experience
• "Basically, I near shat myself when I read this thing's specs." »
• "I played the GAGA at length and was very impressed by its stunningly transparent, clean tone! The ability to mix up any power tubes ON THE FLY to color the tone is quite a stroke of genius. The scalable power attenuation would allow the player to dial in the amount of girth and dirt desired at stage levels, and the ability to power pedals through ONLY the guitar cable is one of the best innovations I've seen in a long time. Good stuff!" — Roger Hollard, June 2011
• "GAGA is fantastic. It reacts to what you put in — totally dynamic. I can totally dig in and then go right to mellow. This is how rock is supposed to sound, smooth as glass, flowing like water, rich like cognac... I love how the tonal color changes so much and so easily, just by how I play... It's every guitarist's dream to have one knob, the guitar's volume knob, that controls the sound, and not be monkeying around back at the amp. This amp does that. I set it up to where I want to be, my general sweet spot, and then do everything —distortion, purity, whatever— right from the guitar. The amp, it almost feels like it's not there. It's just me, louder." — Ricky Parish (Blues Gypsys), Jan 2010
• "[GAGA] is the first amp I've ever heard with headroom on the top and bottom...it gives me chicken-skin." —Gary Smyers, audiophile, bassist, Jan 2011 NAMM
• "Everybody already gets every sound they want from their pedals. What they need is a nice sounding, light and reliable tube amp. GAGA is that." — Perry Robertson, Jan 2011 NAMM
• "...the features are what gives this amp a serious edge - not because they're just silly nick-nacks thrown in to fatten up the deal, but something far more important - they (claim to) solve a whole bunch of critical issues that are related to reliability. also, the ability to autobias any octal tube to the correct current is always a huge plus. for touring musicians, they can plug in anywhere in the world without a problem. and the weight..... no need for matched tubes, total safety of the power stage so that if a tube blows, the amp keeps going... " »
• "...i think that the next album to set a benchmark for incredible guitar sound...will likely involve the Milbert Amplifiers GAGA... they've invented a way to build a tube amp that doesn't need [traditional] power OR output transformers, and it apparently quantum-leaps beyond the limitations of every kind of amp that does have transformers..." »
• "...everything i HATE HATE HATE about tube amps, this amp does away with..." »
• "Instead of foldback and saturation, and then you hit a wall, and then your dynamics are gone - [GAGA] has a bottomless kind of feeling to it. I'm trying to explain how it makes me feel, and the way it makes me feel is goosebumps. That's when I really get interested." — Gary Smyers, bassist
• "More people...should have the opportunity to hear what a truly ground breaking amp can do (and make no mistake - the circuitry in these amps is totally unlike anything you'll have seen or heard before)." — Quadrature Z (cousin of GAGA) review follow-up by Roy Gregory, editor of Hi-Fi+ Magazine, Issue 61, November 2008   »
• "I just read their patents and tech...This really is fresh..." »
• "...repudiates many of the objections to vacuum tubes — too heavy, too hot, too fragile, too fussy, too lush, too languid. It is a true innovation in power-amplifier design. ...obviously preserves the transfer characteristics of the vacuum tubes, and does so with high efficiency. ... The amplifier is impervious to instability caused by difficult output loads. ... You may never need to change any of the tubes in this amplifier." — Charles Hansen, describing ZH270 (parent to GAGA) in Glass Audio, February, 2000, page 45
• "...[these amplifiers] bring no preformed view of the musical picture and do not impose their view of the world on every piece of music...[amplification] sounds as different as the musicians..." »
• "Many products are designed to sell; this one is made to keep...GAGA isn't just a guitar amp made to true audiophile standards, it applies a whole new way to play tubes...emotive amplification: more feeling, more emotion, more musical."
• "I love it when people stretch the norms, and [GAGA] appears to have blown them out of the water." »
• "...a fantasy version of specs. Crazy! It'll power...9v pedals too? sheesh." »
• "...i think the features are what's going to make this amp enticing. These features will probably attract a lot of people (including myself) who don't want high maintenance amps." »
• "...[an] amazing feat of weight to power ratio. This is brand new technology. Some of the amazing features include: Use any octal output tube, no bias adjustment, tube matching not required, auto standby, world power ready (use 90v-240v AC) and no output impedance restriction. This one is a little difficult to wrap my head around I have to tell you. All the guitar amps I have ever owned, worked on or built were nothing like this...ever!!!" —Billy Penn's 300 Guitars
• "Wow...very interesting. This is really something new!" »
• "I'm more impressed seeing and hearing your products in person than I was when I first ran across them, and I was very impressed then! Now I'm over the top...Congratulations on having some of the most innovatively thought out products around." — Skip Dorsey, guitarist (Justin Timberlake)
• "People talk of veils. With this amp, all the veils are off before the first note's finished. ... I have not heard an alternative amplifier with this speed or openness regardless of price. And this speed is coherent - not varying at all across the audible response..." — StereoMike on ZeroGain, regarding Berning's ZH270, parent to GAGA »
• "...certainly one of the most innovative new products i saw at Summer NAMM. very cool..." »
• "I guess there is always a first.. and this is it. ...It certainly would be a step forward as it's much more practical for the mobile musician and on top of that, the most important part - the sound quality is probably pristine. Sounds like it in the clips." »
• "...in the truest sense, a breakthrough in the most serious end of the audio arts. This circuit is not an incremental step, but a major leap forward in thermionics..." »
• "Very interesting. I like the fact that they provide a lot of technical info ... [not] the usual vague promises of 'groundbreaking design' and 'incomparable tone and warmth'." »
• "I just read their patents and tech descriptions and it's nothing like previous OTL designs...This really is fresh..." »
• "The ability to change tubes on the fly and any combo of tube without a worry blows my mind." »
• "Can you imagine the warmth and joy in a manufacturer's heart, to learn ... that people are having to invent entire new words and phrases to talk about their products?" »
• "...i find this thing totally fascinating. i've not seen ANYTHING like this before...there's nothing...that is even remotely connected to this." »
• "Re:A NEW TYPE OF TUBE GUITAR AMPLIFIER: I just started saving again...." »
• "it's way cool. especially if you own a studio, and like the idea of multiple amp sounds out of a single amp. the way this thing is designed, means the sound of the amp is no longer coupled to the transformers." »
• New 5lb 50 Watt tube amp by Milbert! »
• "...this is a really advanced amp based on some very cutting edge technology. it is simply amazing what can be done when one breaks from the 'traditional' design process." »
• "That's pretty cool with the impedance matching. They must put little elves with electronic engineering degrees in there." »
• "This could potentially be one insane amp just with the tube possibilities alone though, and there aren't a lot of knobs anyways so it should be intuitive to use." »
• "Well, amps have been using pretty much the same technology for the last 60 years. It's time for a change." »
• "...keep going man whoever is making this stuff!" »
• "This kind of thing may take 50 pounds out of my rack. I know I am very interested in what is being done. Just what is said about the 20 hertz has me interested." »
• "Wow. This sounds like the ultimate idiot proof amp. I like the no impedance matching and being able to run any power tubes." »
• "...if its anything like the milbert amp i used to have in my car it would handle impedence as low as 0.5 ohms..." »
• "...the selling point for me was the built in phantom power, how ridiculously small it is and the insane amount of versatility. this is gonna be one ridiculous amp..." »
• "...I was thinking the same thing: 'Damn. Why didn't I think of that?' ...it is so cool, I can't even pretend to not like it...for sheer innovation, it is the bees knees!" »
• "The sound clips sound pretty good. Nothing too high gain, cleans are full, crunch is 70's style rock or modern pop." »
• "...your amp is amazing — it totally wins my 'best new innovation' award." »
• "...just when you've seen everyone doing the same things in different ways, then you see something like this..." — Richard Goodsell, NAMM July 2009
• "The clean is very clean. Nice how it slides in and out of overload depending on how hard I push it." — Brian Meader, Guitar Sanctuary, Chuck Levin's WMC
• "And don't forget the part about being able to lift it with your pinky! I didn't believe it was possible until I tried it myself!" »
• "...if you run [traditional tube amps] with no load....bye bye output tansformer." »
• "No transformers, any valve, auto biasing?? I'll be looking out for more on this baby..." »
• "...there are a fair number of touring guys who get their sound mostly from their pedal boards, and the idea of a super light amp that they can use to get a - good - consistent sound every night might be very appealing." »
• "...All the most knowledgeable amp [designers] that have commented on this design have only one criticism I have heard: 'I didn't invent it!'" »
• "Through a closed-back, 4x12 Marshall cab, this thing breathes fire." — Jason, Orange Whip Experience
• "...GAGA sounds like it's what every guitarist needs and doesn't know it yet! ... As an added bonus, you've got an amp that won't make one arm longer than the other..." — Skip Dorsey, guitarist (Justin Timberlake), May 2010
• "That amp sounds great. Perfect. Perfect studio amp. You don't even need distortion pedals anymore." — Ryan Curtis, Denmar Guitars, Jan 2010
• "This is the way it ought to be done." — Kirkwood Rough, Upstairs Amps, Jan 2010
• "What a beautiful sound. Punchy and full and really clear. It doesn't muddy up at all, the high-end doesn't crash or fold over. It stays clean and smooth when pushed hard." — Seth Carlson, SRC Amplifiers, Jan 2010
• "[WTF] is going on in Maryland, man!? P3 Technology and now P3 pedals, GAGA, Power Chain — all this new stuff — what, did the aliens land?" — Don, guitarist, Jan 2010
• "Tonally great, there's so much color...it already sounds like there's more there, and deeper, than I get with my [ported 15-inch] bass rig." — Chuck, bassist playing GAGA through single 12-inch Vintage-30 in open-back cabinet., Jan 2010
• "Nice smooth compression. This is thirty-thousand dollar sound." —Nate Flom, Jan 2010
• "The older and fatter I get, the less I need my gear to weigh. The sound is great, by the way. You can tell that because when people come up and play it, they keep on playing it without fiddling around or tweaking with the controls - and that's because they get great tone right away." —Brian Smith, bassist, Jan 2010
• "I get so many different sounds out of this little amp, I could play it for hours." — Dave Koval, Jan 2010
• "...your amp is amazing — it totally wins my 'best new innovation' award." »
• "It is nice to see somebody still thinking." — Craig Anderton, harmony-central.com, 18 July 2009, Nashville Summer NAMM