1996 VHT Pittbull 45

Overview

This particular amp is only number 7 in the production order, and internally marked January 10th, 1996, and my research shows that only around 165 head versions of this amp were built (the combo is much more common). Fit and finish is absolutely impeccable and it’s been well cared for in its life. It’s hard to believe this amp is close to 30 years old considering the condition inside and out!

It’s a two channel amp, with a drive channel and a clean channel, in a relatively small head shell box. This very early example of the VHT Pittbull 45 runs on a quad of EL84 power tubes, with an EL84 powered reverb section as well, for a total of 5 EL84 tubes - very interesting. Later Pittbull 45’s dropped the EL84 for an EF86 design instead, similar to my ‘03 50CL. Mine always runs at the full 45 watts in class AB mode, since it lacks the “Class A” 30w mode later ones have, and it’s a very loud 45 watts with somewhat sensitive volume controls. It’s also worth mentioning that the tube reverb is very lush and sounds fantastic, but with one critical flaw - it strongly colors the tone when engaged, even when the knob is rolled completely off. Especially on the Drive channel, it’s critical to use another footswitch (not included, but luckily just a 1/4 jack) to fully bypass the reverb circuit for the best sound. This reverb design was revised later in the run, so any Pittbull 45 with the EF86 tube probably has resolved this issue, plus those should all have the 4-button footswitch.

The drive channel is incredibly thick and smooth, and great for mid-gain leads. This is certainly not a high gain amp without an external boost, and even the built-in footswitchable boost never pushes it into metal territory. This boost is also much more evident when the gain is backed off, so if the gain is set to full, the boost becomes much more subtle. It’s very touch sensitive, and with the tube rectifier you can go from light dirt up to full harmonic overdrive with a great saggy feel at higher volumes. It’s a bit brighter than my 50CL, and nails classic tones a bit more accurately. Sticking a boost in front can take it into metal territory with conviction, especially when tweaking the addition switches “Edge” and “Shift” which essentially increase gain in the upper and lower mids respectively. The most aggressive tone is with both engaged, although it’s always going to be a bit more polite than a Rectifier or similar amp.

The clean channel is very punchy and has the same “Edge” and “Shift” switches in addition to its 3-band EQ. This channel lacks a gain control, so it’s very clean with a lot of headroom - I was not able to get any appreciable amount of dirt on this channel in my studio without using some kind of attenuator or volume box to let me saturate the full range of the clean’s volume control, and even then it was only a small amount, but with different dynamics than when it is set lower.

I’d love to compare this amp to a later PB45, or 50ST at some point. On paper, they all seem pretty similar but I’ve learned they are a bit different in voicing and function. With the fantastic sounds it can produce, this rare amp will be a great part of my collection for a long time.