Balthazar Amps Cabaret 13 MKII

Balthazar de Ley is a Chicago-based studio technician for the Smashing Pumpkins who grew fascinated with the 50’s and 60’s era Selmer amps from the UK. These long-forgotten and often quirky amp designs were Balthazar’s inspiration for his first commercial release, the Film Noir 50 head and cab, which earned him a Premier Guitar Premier Gear award.  

The Cabaret 13 Mk2 is his latest release and it's a completely redesigned circuit. We're still talking about a hand-wired, 1x10”, EL84 based, 15 watt combo but they have answered players feedback and made the Mk2 a fantastic pedal platform in the vein of the iconic Fender Princeton Reverb but with a distinctive British flavor as you turn the amp past noon. At that point, it sounds reminiscent of the fabled original Vox AC15 and AC30

The tremolo has the choppier Vox-vibe and goes WAY beyond what any standard Trem should do (In the best of ways!). The Reverb is smokey and thick with a nice high-end roll off that keeps the attack of the guitar present (Yes, you can go full wet). The tone controls offer a beautiful and broad range, but we LOVE setting everything at 10 and letting it rip.  The Celestion Gold is an inspired pairing for this fireball of an amp!

Perfect for small gigs, the studio, and the bedroom, the Cabaret gives you familiar clean tube tones you can build on with the dirt of your choice, and add plenty of “edge-of-breakup” character to the mix along the way. And when your Cabaret needs to translate on a bigger stage? No problem, just add a Cabaret 12” Extension Cabinet, and plug into the additional speaker output on the rear panel. No venue is too big for this little combo!