This one is a wild ride - I was sitting in the airport to kick off a work trip when I spotted this 101B on the Guitar Center used listings for a just, totally absurd price. I’ve been on the hunt for an Ecstasy for a long time now, waiting for the right one to pop up - I really wanted an early model with Mercury transformers, but I also wasn’t willing to pay $3k for one - a unicorn really. Anyway, I called the store, who put me on hold for almost an hour when I asked if they could tell me if the serial was numbers, or symbols (and I even described the symbols and where it was on the panel). Finally I’m on the phone, boarding the plane, and I end up in an exit row somehow - I can’t stay on the call, so I get frustrated and hang up and figure I won’t get it.
A few hours later, I land, and I call again. Another 45 minute long hold, but at least I get the info I want - it’s a serial sign, not number. Then I get put on hold again… I’m not waiting, so I hang up and go to buy the amp online (even though I specifically offered to pay over the phone so the sales person would get commission). Too late - it’s no longer listed online. So I’m definitely a bit upset, but that’s just how it goes sometimes, back to the hunt. I tried to call back, but got put on hold immediately again - just an exercise in frustration, so I headed to my hotel to get ready for work the next day.
The next day, the amp pops up again, and this time I don’t hesitate - immediately purchased.
So I anxiously await the arrival, praying the amp isn’t damaged in transit. It arrives but I’m not home yet, so I have my girlfriend open it and send me a picture… it’s a Shiva. They sent the wrong amp! So I immediately call the store, and they say I have to send back this amp and once they receive it, they’ll ship the Ecstasy out, luckily they still have it in the back. I can’t ship until Monday anyway, so I get home and spend the weekend with the Shiva - nice amp, extremely nice amp actually. But it’s still wrong, and extremely overpriced for a Shiva, so I ship it back.
Another long wait, and finally the correct amp arrives.
And yes, it’s everything I ever dreamed of. Amazing tone, tons of customizability. The blue channel for which these amps are so well known is amazing sounding, but I even enjoy the red channel quite a bit. The red channel introduces a cold clipping gain stage (total of 4, compared to the blue channel’s 3) and I could see an argument for this being Soldano-like, but a bit smoother, less bright and aggressive - but still plenty capable. The Plexi Mode can be engaged on either the blue or red channels, which cuts it down to just two gain stages - like a real plexi - so you can also use either channel as a lower gain crunch. Very nice!
A few interesting bits about this amp. It has the Class A/AB switch, and I really love Class A mode. The strangest thing is the serial number, which is dash-triangle-triangle. This is their way of saying “033,” which is a very low serial number, and the amp has Mercury Magnetics transformers just like the earliest 95-96 era Ecstasys. However, everything inside this amp, including the transformers, dates from 2001-2002. This is a bit confusing, because usually amps from this era are much higher in serial number, and do not have the Mercury equipment. Not long after this, the serial signs disappeared and went to more standard alphanumeric serial numbers (2004 and later). I suppose it is possible that the transformers were upgraded, or special ordered, but that doesn’t explain the serial number - very strange. I did quite a bit of digging through old sales listings and pictures and this isn’t the only amp like this either, but most have numbers in the 800ish range by 2002.
One stroke of luck throughout this whole painful process, a local player was selling an Ecstasy with two footswitches, one more modern sparkly one, and one old black one. I was able to buy just the old black footswitch, so now I have that missing component and it should be roughly period correct.