Category Archives: who am I

My Amps : 10 to 25 Watts

who am I

I make amplifiers for guitar or harmonica … Small, just like my workbench !
They are available as separate head …
The layout and the equipment are to be composed “custom” according to your project.

Transistor models feature a real power of 10 or 25W on 8 ohms.
They use a 60s germanium technology, which denies the bad reputation of transistors…
It brings especially a natural compression and a progressive transition to overdrive which have little to envy tubes, with a price also compressed!

I also realize high quality tube models, custom 5 to 15W, with vintage or high-end components where it’s worth and audible.

In both cases my aim is to offer amplifiers intended for home use or small concert venues, without technical weakness, and with a sound that will please the instruments.

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My stompboxes : DD size

who am I

I have designed some large format stompboxes (approximately 20 x 11 x 3.5cm), either because they have to contain a printed board of significant dimensions, or because they have to bring together several cards.

These configurations are often the result of custom orders by musicians with strong choices … Their requests have led me to design typical equipment, which are often associations of existing circuits.
Everyone can now benefit from these experiences, or imagine their own project!

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My MicroCombos

who am I

My MicroCombos are small amps of real power 1W and 3W.
They are designed old-fashioned way, from a technological point of view as well as from a design point of view.

• Electronics in through-hole components from the 60s-90s ,
100% germanium class AB power amplification.
Branded, contemporary or NOS loudspeakers.
Reinforced solid wood case (European walnut and plywood) and original Fender canvas.

• Their clean sound is mild, and they crunch at low level without sounding harsh, with a roundness that has nothing to regret from tubes.
They are well suited to rehearsals at home, or to small parties!
They were originally designed for the guitar, but I quickly grasped the interest of working just as much for harmonica, taking advantage of the sonic grain of the old transistors…

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Stompboxes, 1590BB size

who am I

Guitarpoppa : pédales

My activity is to design and handcraft stompboxes, preamps or small amps.
It feeds on my experience as a musician and technician trained in the 60s.
Some of my pedals perpetuate the tradition, with updated means.
Others have an original design.

They are built in the international 1590BB format, approximately 12 x 9 x 3cm.
This size is no longer fashionable but is justifiable : My pedals use traditional components manually welded and not micro-components assembled by robots. The wider printed tracks and pads are more sturdy, and desolderable, therefore repairable without risk of takeoff… Same for potentiometers…
On an other hand, my circuits are more provided than most of stingy circuits in ordinary productions : active filtering in the supply line, really playable presets, pull down components minimizing switching noises…

 

Improved traditional stompboxes

I reproduce the historical circuits in the love of their sound …
And I perfect with all respect what is worth it.

Improvements by Guitar Poppa :

• Technicity : verified and corrected schematics, sorted components, neat powering.
• Functionality : Well balanced impedance, progressive settings, raised output level.
• Musical potential : refined tone and grain, dynamic response to instrumental playing.
• Customization : custom features and settings, duets coupled in a single box…

3 models in BB size

The [S]cream : TS9® style overdrive, featutring more diversified voicings and textures.
LikeYourFace : 2 transistors Germanium fuzz, FuzzFace® style, which really works.
SoftBender1 : ToneBendser Mk1 style fuzz, with 3 different presets.

SweetGerm by Guitarpoppa.com, diode overdrive with a special texture controlThe (S)cream
TS9 type overdrive, with an extended
texture control.

SweetGerm by Guitarpoppa.com, LikeYourFace, germanium 2 trnasistor fuzzLikeYourFace
Germanium Fuzz that truly works and sings !

Original preamps and overdrives

The identity of a stompbox lies in the sonic grit provided by its technology, the tonalities it distils, and their blend in a sound that is not ordinary …
Above all: his behavior should please the instruments …

BB size models

LoVoltTube  : affordable NOS tube preamp, working naturally in 9V with a real tube grit.
CurvyMama : germanium preamp with a warm and fleshy tone for harp or guitar.
SweetGerm : germanium preamp with compressed low mids and clear treble

LowVoltTube by Guitarpoppa.com, preamp/overdrive with a NOS low voltage tubeLowVoltTube
Preamp/overdrive
with a NOS low voltage
tube inside.

CurvyMama, préampli pour harmonica et guitare. Donne du corps et du grain au sonCurvyMama
Preamp/overdrive
with a warm and fleshy tone for harp or guitar.

SweetGerm by Guitarpoppa.com, a germanium preamp to make your instrument singSweetGerm
Germanium preamp
to make guitar
or bass sing

Bandeau medium rouge - offre

Links

On this website

See also my “Products” page

Go to the following : “Mods and Customization”

Go and read Terms of Sales (in french)

Elsewhere

Go and see Guitar Poppa’s Facebook page

History

who am I

Guitar Poppa and his guitars

I was a teenager in the sixties, fed on british pop and blues : sharp and toned sounds, top boosted, or fat and fuzzy… Like many young people, I went tinkering electronics : disassembling old prewar tube radios to retrieve parts, trying to transform them in guitar amps… Sound equipment was extremely expensive at that time and it’s been the best reason to learn how to build my own gear.

I went in a scientific High School. I was fast persuaded that the best way not to make my gears blow out smoking was to learn how to calculate them. Besides, I was lucky to be at the crossroads of two fundamentals technologies : the peak of tube technology and the development of the first germanium transistors. Since those early years, hot and mild sensations remained in my ears.

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The Guitar Poppa project

who am I

Guitar Poppa project

GuitarPoppa.com is a made in France project, launched in the 2000s… I was getting bored in my job, grumbling at that all-digital civilization, and mastering my Guild. There was also current events : vintage guitar fashion, Nu Rock and so teased my ears, one more time.

I spent hours collecting historic amps and stompboxes schematics, and I reactivated my technical courses. I collected a treasure of components. Thanks to the Red Army to have accumulated such stocks of tubes, transistors and capacitors. And to Philips-Mullard, Thomson, Siemens, all these big brands which used to work well and on long term…

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Jack Mono Blues

who am I

Jack Mono Blues en Club

Jack Mono Blues is my band…
We play postwar blues standards that took balls !

It was a magical moment, towards 1945-65, when the migrants musicians from the Delta made the urban energy of Chicago definitively their own thing : they invented a rough way of feeling that was still rural, but already colored by the lights of big city. Later, as teenagers, we found out in that music gorgeous echoes of our own metamorphosis, and never recovered…

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