What's That Dude Play? » Reinhardt Amps

Reinhardt halts amp production

Blake — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:51:06 +0000

Bob Reinhardt at Reinhardt Amps told the world wide web earlier this week that he is suspending production on his amp line. Bob recently moved to Denver and got back in to Pro Stock engine building and with some big things on the horizon in that business, he did not feel he’d have the time to give his amp customers the time they deserve. He will continue to work through his current back log of amps, but no new orders will be taken. He said he will likely continue building off and on, but felt it was not fair to his customer base to ‘drag out’ build times due to the increasing opportunity in the racing engine business. Good luck, Bob.

Reinhardt takes a shine to Mr. Clean

Blake — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:13:43 +0000

Reinhardt Amps has a new amp available – the Mr. Clean. The amp is available in two models – a four 6V6 40-watt or a four 6L6 80-watt. Both versions of the two-channel amp come with reverb. The first channel is a more traditional 12AX7 driven channel, for that Blackface vibe, the other channel is a 6SL7 and has a very unique tone stack, for a nice round clean, according to the builder. The Mr. Clean sports a boost on each channel, available on a push/pull pot or with an optional foot switch. Reverb control also can be added to the foot switch, or it can be controlled from the front panel. Bob adds that the Mr. Clean also is extremely pedal friendly. Check it out!

UPDATED: Reinhardt rousts a Dirty Hippie

Blake — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:45:05 +0000

Bob Reinhardt has been hard at work on a follow-up pedal to his Rat-clone Willard distortion pedal… the result being the soon-to-be-released Dirty Hippie Tonebender-style fuzz. His goal here was to create a nasty fuzzy with a great, pleasant top end like the old Tonebenders. The Dirty Hippie prototype is complete, and according to Bob, is ‘awesome’. He adds that the pedal cleans up great with the guitar’s volume, yet still emits that thick fuzz tone when driven hard. Pricing and availability info are forthcoming. Added 12/19 – Check out a video demo of the pedal in action after the jump!

Round and round with Reinhardt’s Willard

Blake — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:16:59 +0000

When we had the chance to meet Bob Reinhardt this summer, we were curious about his recent move into the pedal world and more specifically about his first product – the Willard distortion pedal. He told us that he was a big fan of the old 1980s vintage ProCo Rat sound, but had foolishly sold his off a while back. In a desire to reclaim that tone, Bob set out to build what became the Willard – a suped-up tribute to a pedal he loved. He was nice enough to send us one in the mail recently and we put it through its paces. But did we find a Super Rat or just a hunk of 80s cheese?

The Willard comes in the standard plain white box decorated with a sticker on top that sports a line drawing of the pedal itself. Inside you’ll find the Williard, some packing and little else. It is a distortion pedal after all, not rocket science. The pedal itself boasts three knob controls – Volume, Filter and Distortion. Volume controls the output level. Filter colors the gain levels and Distortion adjusts the amount of gain hitting the circuit.

With Les Paul in hand, we turn the Willard loose. With Volume at 2 o’clock, Filter at 9 o’clock and Distortion dimed, we get a little aggressive with a simple rock riff. First its flat, then the rat!

The first thing that struck us was the bass response from the pedal. The Willard has solid low-end control at high gain settings, which is when most distortion pedals can get a little shrilly. The pegged Distortion knob offered plenty of gain and a bit a fuzz to boot.

Over to the Strat, bridge pick-up first, we dial back the grit a bit. With Volume at 3 o’clock, Filter full left and Distortion around 2 o’clock we rat it up a bit… or should I say Ratt it up a bit – courtesy of a sloppy version of the main riff from a tune off the LA band’s Out of the Cellar album. Clean first, then back off!

Again, the Willard offers good low-end response in addition to thick, aggressive distortion without getting overly muddy or loose. Over to the neck pick-up, we set up a little dynamics clip so you can hear a bit more of the range of the Willard. With Volume at around 3 o’clock, we start this clip with the Filter and Distortion controls full left. As the riff is played the distortion knob is turned slowly up to full. Then the Filter knob follows suit. Clean first, then the progression.

The Willard’s distortion ramps up pretty quick and you can hear the different colorations available as the Filter knob is brought up. There are several sweet spots across that spectrum, so it will take a little trial and error to dial in exactly the Rat-ness you’re looking for. Certain gain/filter combos also cause some volume fluctuations at certain settings, but that’s easily compensated for by adjusting the pedal’s output accordingly.

One of the first things I noticed about the Willard is that it is build like a brick outhouse. It may be the first pedal that can both physically and sonically bash your head in with relative ease. Bob admitted to us that he over-built the unit, which is what gives the Willard its considerable weight. Is the Willard for everyone? No, it’s not. But if you’re craving a gutter dwelling metal monster that will help any fan of the 1980s into the way-back machine to relive the glory days of metal, this homage to the early 80s big-box Rat is for you. You can almost smell the Aquanet. That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary!

PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 combo amp with 1×12 extension cab. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.

Reinhardt scares up Willard stomp

Blake — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:47:44 +0000

Bob Reinhardt of Reinhardt Amps has the first of a series of new pedals up for order. The initial stomp is called Willard, and as the name suggests it’s a clone of the old ProCo Rat distortion pedal. Bob said the original big box Rat was his favorite pedal from back in the day and he wanted to try to recreate those old tones. Assembled with NOS chips from that era, to get as much of the 80′s as possible into one box, the pedal boasts three knob controls – Volume, Filter and Distortion. The initial run of the Willard is available now through Reinhardt. The pedal is priced at $199.95. Next up, Reinhardt is expected to offer a boost pedal. Stay tuned!

Reinhardt plans pedal pair

Blake — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:31:41 +0000

Bob Reinhardt of Reinhardt Amps is going to be making a couple of pedals in the near future – a ProCo Rat clone and a boost stomp. The initial plan is offer mainly dirt pedals, but Bob said he can see a chorus in the not too distant future as well. For the Rat clone, he is targeting a a killer original big box Rat circuit tonally. He also will smooth out some of the minor issues with the classic stomp (battery adapter, etc…) The price for the pedal is expected to be around $199. About a month after the Rat clone, Bob plans to offer up a ‘kick ass’ boost pedal. More info on that when we get it.