Pignose G60 vs. Reverend Hellhound

I would like to address inaccuracies/rumours concerning similarities between the Reverend Hellhound and Pignose G60 amps:

The Hellhound was designed by myself, Joe Naylor (formerly of Naylor Amps) and Dennis Kager (Pignose, Ampeg and consultant to the amp industry). Due to Kager's involvement we use many of the same suppliers as Pignose. The standard size combo cabinet, chassis and many of the components are readily available, well tested, and a good value which all contribute to consistent quality and keeping the retail price down. If we custom spec'd these parts the selling price would be near double.

This kind of cross-manufacturing is historically common in the music product business (and power tool, electronics, automobile, and other businesses). Examples include: Gibson/Epiphone, Marshall/Park/Kitchen/Narb/BigM, Fender/White, Ampeg/Noble, Martin/Bruno, Greco/Ibanez, Danelectro/Silvertone/Coral/Harmony, Harmony/Kay/Gibson, Hofner/Carvin, Heritage/Gretsch, Dobro/National/Valco/Supro/Airline and many more.

The amp is labeled "Assembled in the USA from imported and American components". The chassis is silk-screened "made in China for Reverend Musical Instruments". Extension cabinets are entirely made in the USA. The current Hellhound has many features the Pignose does not:

  1. Schizo switch which in UK mode introduces a very noticeable upper-midrange peak, giving the amp a British voicing. This is very different from the Pignose sensitivity switch which simply changes gain.
  2. Switchable wattage (40 or 60 watts).
  3. Tone controls with different taper and frequency range.
  4. Larger custom output transformer which produces more low end.
  5. 16 ohm speaker output which the negative feedback line is wired to for smoother tone.
  6. Thicker and more durable vinyl and grill cloth.
  7. Tone, noise and quality control testing before shipping.
  8. Neat, consistent internal wire routing for low noise.
  9. Components installed at our Detroit facility:
    - Selected Electro-Harmonix tubes.
    - Reverend All-Tone speaker.
    - Accutronics rev    erb tank.
    - Cliff input jack.
    - 16 gauge speaker wire with heavy duty plug.
    - Braided tube socket heater wires.
    - Heavy duty handle, nameplate, rubber feet and knobs.

A Pignose is entirely built in China, put in a box, and never removed from that box until the buyer opens it. And it does not sound like a Hellhound. The feel, dynamics, overdrive characteristics, gain level, usefulness of the tone controls are all very different. This is because the critical tone components are not the same: different output transformer, speaker, tubes and circuit design.

The differences are substantial, and worth every penny. You'd be hard pressed to find a similarly priced new 60 watt tube amp with hand-wired circuit, chassis-mounted tube sockets/jacks/switches, killer tone out of the box and backed by a company with a track record of integrity, high quality, and topnotch customer service.

Respectfully,

Joe Naylor
Reverend Musical Instruments