The JOAT SERIES AMPLIFIERS
The JOAT SERIES AMPLIFIERS
Amplifier Design by a Real Player for Real Players
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  • The Rock House Sessions
  • Eric Johnson playing through Todd Sharp JOAT 20RT

"Rich musical harmonics in a handcrafted amp that’s made BY a guitar player!!! What more could you want?"

"Great amps, great tone and an even better guy. What's not to love."

John Oates - JOAT 20RT

After knowing and playing with Todd Sharp for many years I was anxious to try his new amplifiers. They are everything I hoped for and more. Very versatile and constructed to a very high standard technically. The Jack of All Tone (JOAT 20RT) delivers exactly what it says...it’s now front and center as part of my Hall & Oates touring stage rig and I can't wait to get it into the studio as well.

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WoW. You're building the best amp I have tried, and I have played a few! Played my first gig with it last night. My Strat and Telecaster into the JOAT 20RT. It has never sounded so good. Thanks Todd.

"BEST AMP I HAVE HEARD....MAYBE EVER"

"Todd did the Nashville Gear Expo today, his first show. Nothing else came close. He is the guy that fixes everyone's amps in town including my 58 Bassman and Elmwood".

"I love my JOAT amp by Todd Sharp and all of its cool features. It is extremely versatile, uniquely designed and is simply beautiful."

"Your amp continues to inspire me every show. It’s incredible!"

Simply stated this is the very finest, best sounding amp that I’ve ever owned!!!! It makes me smile inside and out every time I plug it in. I’ve owned old tweeds, Marshalls, Hiwatts, Blackfaces, Dumble clones, Vox amps; this beats them all! If you are a tone head that wants to get every bit of sweetness from every note you play – this is it. It has the absolute hands down best reverb that I’ve ever plugged into, and it has a classic tremolo as well.

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Your Amp, in a word:
Stunning!
Fabulous job my friend.

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LOVE the amps…. Truly gorgeous tone. And the reverb!! When I dream, I only hear that reverb.

I played the JOAT 20RT through your speaker cabinet over the weekend and gotta say “you nailed it”. The tone quality is A+++, clear and transparent with as much bottom as I could ever want. It perfectly complements the head...Makes me wonder what your coming 40 watt amp will do. Stadium performances??
Looks like my other amplifiers will be idle most of the time. Wish I had yours before I bought all of the others.

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We think so.

Does the JOAT head go with other cabinets?

Used the new amp at rehearsal Sunday, and the band’s jaws dropped.
Couldn’t throw anything at it that didn’t sound great.
Thanks to everyone that had a hand in producing this gem!
Apparently, you DO get what you pay for… :)

I’ve been chasing clean tone for a long time without much success until now. The best examples of that might be the guitar fade at the end of “A Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles or the triplets at the end of the Eagles’ “New Kid in Town”. Bell-like tones that seem to be impossible to nail down. The JOAT 20 is stuffed full of them.

The reverb is the best I’ve ever heard and the tremolo has perfect range in both speed and depth.

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All I can say is thank you and WOW. Tremendous amp. I've been putting several guitars through this amp and can find the sweet spot for everyone of them almost instantly and how sweet it is. You've really accomplished your goal. Congrats

I bought a JOAT20 from Destroy All Guitars, and I am so glad I did. I think shipping the amp with spare tubes is really the most classiest of acts. Let me just add one thing, and that is the studio recording was the best idea (the Lance K demo was decent as well). Thanks to Todd, yourself, and everyone involved.

Dennis Hoffman

Haakon Lien- JOAT Combo

JOAT 20W Combo: "Love it. It's a big 20 watt. The cleans are great, different than all other amps. The tone shaping is great. I must say it's one of the most usable tone controls I have ever experienced. The tremolo is great. The amp can get some good break up...wow. That is pure magic."

This isn't a guy building his "brand new take on a Vox/Marshall/Fender" using a bunch of off-the-shelf parts shoved into a Mojo cab.
I heard the reverb compared to a plate or rackmount reverb while reading reviews of the amp prior to purchase, but wasn't putting too much stock in it. WOW. Those weren't exaggerations. With three knobs and a bright switch, you have the most adjustability of any amp reverb I've ever used.

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Over decades of touring, session work and amp tweaking, Todd has tried every speaker cabinet and enclosure out there from factory standard issue, to high-end cabinets from specialty builders. Using what he has learned about what works and what doesn’t, he designed this cabinet to be the perfect combination of sound projection, note clarity, great looks, modesty of size, all at a reasonable weight. The same pursuit of best possible tonal performance used to design the amps was used to create this extraordinary cabinet.

Your JOAT 20RT amp head arrived yesterday afternoon. Extremely well packed and in perfect condition.

My first impression is that it is truly extraordinary. I have only started exploring all the possible combinations, but this amp seems to have an almost infinite range of tone and expression. It's touch sensitivity is amazing. (It's going to make me much more aware of how I play my guitar) It is really unlike any other amp I have played. Your workmanship and attention to detail is impeccable. What you have created is in a class by itself. Nothing else I have, or have ever played, comes close.

I played in my first rock band in 1967. I thought I had been waiting for your amp since January. Although I didn't know it at the time, turns out I have been waiting for your amp for 52 years. It was worth the wait. This will be my last amp. I couldn't ask for anything more. Now just have to get rid of all my other amps...

John Meyer

Todd,

I love the amp!!! I have been putting it thru its paces for the past 3 weeks since it arrived. What I love about it:

1) It makes the character of the guitar that you use -- come out.
2) It has a rich grind -- meaning a overdrive that is musical without harsh artifacts
3) I have resisted the temptation to put an overdrive or distortion pedal in front of the amp but finally did which takes the amp to another level of cut and bigness.

The speaker you selected goes well with the sound I want which is more in the rock style.

More power to you and I wish more people to try your stuff. I forget to mention that I love your construction. Clearly, lots of love was put into building it.

Thanks again.

alex

Todd, I wanted to let you know how the amp is working out.

It certainly is, by far, the best sounding amplifier I've ever owned/used/played through... and the most thoughtfully designed. I assume that's due to the factors you've described over and over: the input sequence, the avoidance of a traditional tone stack and incorporating negative feedback at the base level.. but the result is exceptional.

I spent the first few months playing a Glendale Tele, with relatively quiet, but decent sounding, single coils, through it. It sounded super 3D - lovely. When I got back to NYC I've had access to a wider range of guitars and pickups. Each one I've plugged in sounds like it just came back from a spa weekend - regardless of if it was an ES with flatwounds or a junior with a snarly P90. Through the 20RT is was a much better version of itself - like someone before and after their morning coffee.

The amp's settings all sound good - the reverb and tremolo and exceptional, especially in relation to the amp's tone. So using it is a matter of selecting the right vibe, rather than trying to reduce some sonic crappiness in the sound (as on many amps I've had). After a short while, subtraction is way more intuitive than whatever it is we've all been working with previously.

The amp is amazing, better in every way than I expected. I'm very glad to have ordered the RT rather than the RT+. An additional gain stage is not necessary for anything I'm going to be doing.

Anyway, there's nothing you haven't heard a million times before here - just saying thanks. Keep going. Your amps are clearly fine musical instruments. Bravo!