Thumper by Sonic Pipe Amps: all Tube 5 Watt Head, Direct Box, & Headphone Amp for Guitar, Bass, Acoustics, and Harmonica.
The concept for this amp is simple : a One Stop solution for all your low volume, instrument amplification needs. Practice, jam sessions, rehearsals, back-stage warm up rig, small gigs, the stage, the studio, your home studio… Thumper has more uses than most amps that have 10x as many knobs! Its 5 watts of clean headroom is robust and it can sound ANY way as long as you have the pedals to facilitate. Any cab, any fretted instrument, any mixer, any PA system, any headphones, Thumper plays nicely with them all!
What is Thumper?
Is a 5 Watt Head that requires a cabinet.
Is an All Tube Direct Box for Guitar, Bass, Acoustic Instruments & Harmonica with an XLR Output.
It has a 1/4” TRS Headphone Jack on the back panel.
This is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife of instrument gadgets! It is incredibly flexible and versatile despite it’s simplicity. This is an amplifier head, a direct box, a recording preamp, and it is equipped with a 1/4” Headphone Output. Yep, an ALL Tube Headphone amp that sounds absolutely phenomenal! Only plugging in Headphone’s or the XLR won’t damage the amp so there is no need for a cabinet until you are ready.
Thumper provides clean headroom all the way up which makes it an ideal match for your pedal board. So, late at night you can plug your in your board, a set of headphones and have access to all your favorite sounds with supreme tonal quality! Allowing you to not only practice your parts but your switching duties as well, all while not disturbing your colicky infant, your neighbor with sonar hearing, or an intolerant significant other in the other room! It makes inexpensive pedals sound great and great pedals have never sounded better.
Another application is for the Musician who plays at restaurants and other small, intimate venues. While only 5 watts, Thumper is LOUD, though it was designed to sit perfectly in a room where your music may not be the focus but more of the backdrop. Bass players who play with acoustic guitarists will love the perfect amount of output Thumper provides. Electric players complimenting acoustic guitars will also find the output level perfect. And if it isn’t loud enough, then just run an XLR into the PA and you’ve got quality, tube driven direct box tone over your mains! Boom!
The XLR Out can also run directly into your DAW, giving you an all tube signal path right up to your D/A convertors. So not only do you have quality tone but you aren’t introducing any extra noise to your environment by running a live amp. However, if you’d like to monitor the amp as well, plug in your favorite cab and you are off and running!
Thumper shines in different ways depending on what cab you plug in. We have had great results running guitars thru bass cabs and vice versa. Since the amp sports such low wattage, it’s pretty hard to damage a speaker. The switch labeled Brightness functions like a Low Gain/High Gain switch making it play nice with all ranges of pickup output. While we don’t currently manufacturer a specific cab for Thumper, we are happy to talk options and can even help build a custom cab for you!
Concocted by Mathew Jenkins and manufactured by Sonic Pipe and Tom Fleissner, this is another Music Gallery exclusive product that you can only try at our shop!
Song: Yakety Axe by Chet Atkins/Boots Randolph
Video written, produced, edited, and filmed by Mathew Jenkins
Electric Guitar: Mathew Jenkins
Acoustic Guitar: Dave Krater
Bass: Spencer Schmid