The History of Voodoo Amps

This amp has been around the globe numerous times since its birth in 2007 with such Artists as Guns N’ Roses, Thin Lizzy & The Dead Daisies. This was built for & is owned by Richard Fortus & has been dubbed the ‘R4-Single’ Prototype. It's been featured on the studio recordings such as ‘Chinese Democracy’ by GnR, The Dead Daisies album 'Revolución' & the live performance of Thin Lizzy at Hellfest featured on the Palladia / MTV Live Channel. The amp came in for some TLC, has been Recapped, Retubed & is ready for another decade of service!

Some History & More - This amp was Custom Built for Richard in 2007 & housed in a Voodoo Amps V-Rock 100 watt chassis. There is a special mojo to this amp both in how it sounds as much as how it feels, so much so that we are officially releasing the ‘R4-Single’ as a production model as this years Summer Namm Show in Nashville TN. It will come with a Tube Buffered FX-Loop, a switch to select between 50 & 100 watt, Control features will be Gain-A, Gain-B, Master Volume, Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence, Tubes are EL34’s & 12AX7’s along with Voodoo-Designed™ Mercury Magnetics Transformers (as shown here) . Factory Direct sales are no more, all production models will be sold through dealers only!

Thanks for reading & feel free to share this post to your own wall or tag a friend in this post! - Voodoo Amps
 

Welcome to the 6th Segment of "The History of Voodoo Amps"

This photo is a rare Custom Shop “V-Plex". The V-Plex Series was Voodoo’s first official production model to be offered to customers.

This V-Plex is covered in Orange Levant tolex and was built on July 11th 2005. This amp was built at a previous shop located on 210 West State in the heart of downtown Ithaca NY. This amp was 100% hand wired (no printed... circuit boards).

Control Features & Specs - 1-Channel, 4-inputs, Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence & Post Phase Inverter Master Volume. Power & Standby switches, (1) input jack, (2) speaker jacks, Custom Mercury Magnetics Transformers. The amp runs on (2) EL34's & (3) 12AX7’s, Celestion Greenback G12M's

Historical Facts – To date there are only (2) Orange Levant V-Plex's in existence. One is this head & another still resides with long time customer Bill Buckley in MA.

"As always any & all questions are welcome Please feel free to share this post as you like. Many thanks & Have a great day!" - Trace Davis, Founder/President

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Welcome to the 5th Segment of "The History of Voodoo Amps"

This 4th photo is a rare Custom Shop “V-Plex". The V-Plex Series was Voodoo’s first official production model to be offered to customers.

This amp was 1 of 2 amps built through the Voodoo Custom Shop. The V-Plex in this photo was completed in 2004 on December 24th (Christmas Eve). Both amps were built at our previous shop located on 210 West State in the heart of downtown Ithaca NY. Both amps were 100% hand wired (no printed circuit boards).

Control Features & Specs - 1-Channel, 4-inputs, Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence & Post Phase Inverter Master Volume. Power & Standby switches, (1) input jack, (2) speaker jacks, Custom Mercury Magnetics Transformers. The amp runs on (2) EL34's & (3) 12AX7’s & Celestion Greenback G12M speakers.

Historical Facts – Both amps were part of a custom order for a Voodoo dealer. Fast forward a few years; 1 of the 2 amps was traded in at a Guitar Center in Texas. Upon playing on the amp, one of the salesmen immediately thought of the Texas Blues guitarist Wes Jeans who was looking for a plexi style amp to take on tour. The salesman phoned Wes saying he just took in an amp he felt Wes was looking for.

Wes played on & purchased the V-Plex. Wes was curious about the history of the amp as it was not listed on Voodoo's website & phoned Voodoo Amps. After talking with Wes & listening to his music, Voodoo President / Founder Trace Davis extended an Artist Endorsement to Wes, a relationship that has continued to this day. Check out Wes' music & hear the V-Plex!

"As always any & all questions are welcome Please feel free to share this post as you like. Many thanks & Have a great day!" - Trace Davis, Founder/President

Related Links; Wes Jeans Website & Wes Jeans Facebook

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Welcome to the 4th Segement of "The History of Voodoo Amps"

This 4th photo features a V-Plex 50watt 1x12 combo amp. The photo was taken in 2008 by Mark Meyer of Meyers Stills Photography. The photo-shoot took place at “The Haunt” in Ithaca, NY, a legendary touring stop for nearly 40 years as well as one of the longest running live music venues in Upstate NY.

The V-Plex featured in this photo is 1 of 2 prototype cabinet enclosures that were made. The (2) prototype cabinets featured different size vents on the top of the enclosures. The 1st prototype has an oblong vent & the 2nd prototype has a larger rectangular vent. By comparison the production models feature a smaller rectangular vent. The 1st prototype was sold just days after this photo-shoot. The 2nd prototype was sold in July 2012. Both prototype cabinets are rare and collectible.

Control Features & Specs - 1-Channel, Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Presence & Master Volume. Power & Standby switch, (4) input jacks, (2) speaker jacks, Custom Mercury Magnetics Transformers. Amp runs on EL34's and (3) 12AX7’s. Tolex is Black Levant with Bluesbreaker style grill cloth.

Historical Facts -  In the summer of 2008 J Harman, owner of The Haunt, remodeled the interior followed by a grand reopening. Over the years the venue saved hundreds of press / publicity photos from the artists that played at The Haunt. As a professional drummer / touring drum tech to the stars J. Harman wanted to honor the musicians who helped make the venue so historical over the years. Mike Theusen of Mastercraft Custom Framing in Ithaca NY was contracted & hundreds of photos featuring famous/legendary musicians now adorn the inner walls of The Haunt and are a testament to the rich 36 year history of this legendary venue.

The photo was featured in the local newspaper the “Ithaca Journal” as part of an article commemorating the history of The Haunt & its grand reopening. The photo-shoot took place as Mastercraft was adhering the framed photos to the walls of The Haunt.

Guitars featured in photo courtesy of Anthony Cacciotti. 1.) Black 1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom 2.) Natural finish 1977 Les Paul Custom.

We would like to send a big "Thank You" out to to J Harman, Mike Theusen & Mark Meyer!

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Welcome to the 3rd Segment of the "The History of Voodoo Amps"

This 3rd photo is a rare pre-production “Hex". The Hex was Voodoo’s first proprietary amp design. This amp was built circa 2000 & began life as a late silver faced Fender Bassman 100 Master Volume model. The amp was stripped down to the chassie & rebuilt from the ground up. 100% hand wired circuitry (no printed circuit boards were used).

Control Features & Specs - 1-Channel, Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble & Master Volume. Controls exclusive to Voodoo Amps; Girth, Global, Bottom controls & "Brutal/Savage" mode mini toggle switch. Power & Standby switch, (1) input jack, (2) speaker jacks, Custom OEI Output Transformer. Amp runs on EL34's and 12AX7’s.

Early models such as this came with "Brutal/Savage" mode switch allowing one to switch between 4-5 gain stages. These days most think of 4-5 gain stages as an extreme amount of gain however the gain was very articulate back then, as some of our facebook friends here may remember. Since the inception the "Hex" has under gone various circuit revisions to keep up with the musical stylings of the times as well as player feedback.

Historical Facts -  This is the only amp in existence with this color scheme. There are (2) more similar amps that were built around the same time but the color scheme is red & black.

The particular amp contains an upgraded output transformer (OT) made by the company "Obsolete Electronics Inc", better known at the time as "OEI". I was one of (3) gentleman involved with OEI including company president Joe Pampel & designer/engineer Simcha Delft. The company focused solely on the design & manufacturing of output transformers.

When the time came for Voodoo to release our multi channel production models we needed to look for a company that offered both power & choke transformers. Over a (6) month period we tried countless transformers & in the end we favored the Mercury Magnetics brand. We needed to have custom transformers made to better suit our needs to work hand in hand with the circuits we had already designed. Mercury was happy to accommodate & this not only marked my withdrawal from OEI but also the beginning of a long lasting relationship between Mercury & Voodoo that continues to this day.

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Welcome to the 2nd Segment of "History of Voodoo Amps"

This 2nd photo is a rare “Twin-Plex”, which is (2) completely separate amps housed in the same headbox. “Side-A” was a black face Fender Twin Reverb with 6L6’s & “Side-B” was a Voodoo Amps V-Plex 50watt  with EL34’s. Each side / amp operates independent or run together at the same time.

This was 1 of 2 amps built in 2004 & contained Custom Voodoo Mercury Magnetics transformers & was 100% hand wired circuitry (no printed circuit boards). The headbox was made of Mahogany & Flame Maple hard woods.

Control Features & Specs - Both amps have a common (1) power switch & a Voodoo Custom Mercury Magnetics power transformer, which has separate windings for each amp.

Twin Side – Volume, Bass, Mids, Treble & Reverb controls (onboard spring reverb). Standby switch, (1) input jack, (2) speaker jacks, Custom Mercury Magnetics output transformer & choke. Amp runs on 6L6’s & 12AX7’s

V-Plex Side – Volume, Bass, Mids, Treble & PPI (post phase inverter) Master Volume for transparent vintage overdrive at any volume. Standby switch, (1) input jack (channels were internally jumper’ed), (2) speaker jacks, Custom Mercury Magnetics output transformer & choke. Amp runs on EL34’s and 12AX7’s

Historical Facts – To date there are only two (2) of these amps in existence. Both were built for the band “Tony C & The Truth” & were completed on May 8th 2004. The band toured with these amps circa 2004-2005 in support of the record “Demonophic Blues” released on Lava Records.

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Welcome to the 1st Segment of "The History of Voodoo Amps"

Early Days of Voodoo Amps - We will be posting a history of Voodoo through photos. This will include rare "on-of-a-kind" & Custom amps, earlier Voodoo Shops from back in the day, artists & so much more!

This 1st photo is a rare “V-Plex” containing Custom Voodoo Mercury Magnetics transformers & much the same as today it contains a 100% hand wired circuitry (no printed circuit boards). This was one of (3) amp models built to exhibit at the 2004 Summer Namm Trade Show held in Nashville, TN. This amp was sold after the Namm Show. The other (2) amps reside in our "Museum Room" at our factility in Lansing NY.

Historical Fact – To date this is the only V-Plex manufactured in a solid flame Maple headbox.

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