The short chassis head looks classy with the black face, white knobs
and white piping. Take the head out of the cabinet. The solder joints
are nice and clean, pots feels great. The amp is very sturdy and will
hold up to some abuse (hehe). Put the head back in the cabinet; pop
the tubes back in, good to go. The problem is its late and I won't we
back in the studio till tomorrow.

        Ok, get to the studio early the next day, and put the head
into the control room. To check out the clean sound I plug an American
Standard Strat in the TMB channel (channel two) into a Mesa/Boogie
1x12 Thiele cab with an EV 12L. Whoa, love the clean sound. It's a
keeper. This sound alone is worth the price of admission.

        Now comes the real test, I'm in the studio today tracking In
The Still of the Night, a good ole fashioned rocker for the upcoming
Cotton Soeterboek Band album. I place a Marshall 2x12 cab with 25 watt
greenback Celestions in a sound booth; place a Sennheiser e609 against
the grill, into a Neve 1081 preamp to a Universal Audio 1176
compressor and a Les Paul into channel 1. Only two knobs, a volume and
tone. Crank it up and lay down a track. I love it. Double the track,
I'm blown away. The guitar jumps out of the mix but doesn't step on
any other of the instruments. The tracks blend together without losing
definition. Something you just won't get out of a digital box or
pedal. This is one of the best amps I've bought regardless of price.
The only problem I see with the amp is now I want to re-cut tracks
I've already recorded with some of my other boutique amps.
Killer amp Aaron.

Thanks bro,
Alan Cotton
The Cotton Soeterboek Band

This amp sounds better than I ever imagined it would. There really is a wide range of great options available between the two channels and the feedback switch. I'm not exaggerating when I say it is one of the best sounding amps that I have ever played through.

Thanks again for your help.

From: Daniel Y.
Date: 2/10/06
Product: JA-TMB Marshall-Style Head #0603

OH MAN I CAN'T STOP PLAYING IT LONG ENOUGH TO WRITE THIS EMAIL!!!

Aaron,
I am a very hard ear to please but playing your amp finally gives me the
satisfaction of the sound I have always heard in my head actually coming out
of the speakers!! I thought I would like it for the distortion but the
clean is awesome too. my friend and I had a big shootout with an AC30 with
blues, deluxe reverb ri/ Jensen, and the tmb and g12h30. guess which one
was hands down the best? it put the others to shame, and those aren't bad
sounding amps. I took it down to a local boutique amp shop (bad cat, dr. z,
marshall, matchless, etc.) and plugged it in. immediately there was no one
left in the front half of the store. every employee and customer was
hovering around the amp - I thought the tubes were going to overheat! the
in house amp tech/builder/marshall guy is peering into the back with his
spelunking flashlight on his forehead. one customer keeps asking me "now
where did you get this?". "ironsounds.com". 5 seconds later - "man this
thing is great, I'm going to have one by next week. $700 for the kit and
how much for the chassis? What! it includes the chassis for $700? Oh man
I have to have one. How long did it take to put it together? what?! it
was already built and shipped for $700!!!!! What site was that?
Ironchef.com? no, ironsounds. oh, I've got to get one of those! Another
guy had just been eyeing a dr. z kt45 head which I thought sounded rather
tinny and small. then he heard the tmb. it was obvious he did not want to
believe that the $700 amp sounded better than the one he was going to pay
$2000 for. he did muster a "well, it sounds pretty good" a few times...Your amp is SOOOOOOOOOO QUIET!!!!!!!! even at full blast it is really amazing. great for recording. thanks.

From: Andy C.
Date: 2/12/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

Just a quick note to let you know I completed your kit a few days ago and stuck the chassis into a jdesign cabinet (1x12 pine). I couldn't be happier with the sound. I've assembled numerous amps in the past in various configurations including point to point, turret board, eyelet boards, and other bastard configurations and this is the first one that fired up good the first time. It's loud, it compresses nicely, and has a beautiful crunch when needed. My congratulations on a great concept, design, and execution.

It's finished and all I can say is WOW, this thing rocks!! I'm lovin it. You really outdid yourself and should be very proud of creating such a wonderful product. I know that I will be enjoying my new amp for a long time to come.

And thanks for answering my questions during the build process, it was an added bonus that made a huge difference.

From: Eric N.
Date: 2/22/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

You've done an awesome thing by offering this amp to regular Joe's like me. I hope to keep it till my fingers don't move anymore. Cool thing to me is that I should be able to maintain the amp all by myself....no more shipping my amp off cause I live in a
small town...Thanks much....and keep up the good work!!! YOU ROCK!!!

Sound Clip
American Strat w/ Bill Lawrence single coil pickups through a 1x12 open back cab with a Weber Silver Bell.

From: Peter W.
Date: 2/24/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

I just wanted to let you know that I finished the build. Fired up the first time, and it sounds great. Placed an order for a head box from J Designs today. This was my first build of any type of electronic device. I learned a lot about circuits, and soldering in the process. Your kit was a perfect way to get started in electronic endeavors...Thanks for the overall rewarding experience and the delicious tone.

From: Mike Vasquez
Date: 3/23/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

JA- I finished my kit last week and I just wanted to comment on your
product. It was an easy build- almost foolproof. The bottom line for me has
always been the sound. When I finished putting everything together and taking
voltage measurements per the instruction manual to make sure everything was
OK, I plugged it in, set the volumes at 3, turned main power on, waited a
few seconds and turned on the standby switch. "Just great" I thought; no
sound. Then I touched the strings on my guitar and WOW there it was. This
amp is practically dead silent at idle. And it nails that great Plexi sound.
Did I mention the bottom line for me has always been the sound? I don't care
if a kit has the same type of outdated cloth covered wire or certain brand
of capacitors. But I do care if it has the right sound. And you, my friend
have got it in this amp. I hope you come out with more products in the
future, a "lite" perhaps??, because I will certainly be a returning
customer.

From: Richard H.
Date: 3/26/06
Product: JA-TMB Completed Head

Got the head a couple of days ago. Have been enjoying the plexi vibe and the all the tones you can get out of this head. Works beautifully with a 2X12 and found that it likes my all guitars, a strat with kinmans, a tele, and an SG with P90s. Haven't had the chance to check its compatibility with pedals yet, having too much fun playing with this clean.

Will be leaving a positive response on ebay. You've built a winner with this head. Thanks a lot.

From: George G.
Date: 4/3/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

Hi Aaron, Fired up the amp yesterday and everything works great. I wasn't
sure what to expect since I mostly play a tele clean to medium on the gain, but the amp covers it all! The clean tones are sparkly & fat and the gain layers on in just the right amount. You were right about the fog cutter transformer, bottom end is full and tight. The amp runs very quiet too. This is a great quality kit for beginners like myself, and I will definitely pass on high recommendations -- especially, to the Fender guys... Thanks again for your help in the building process.

From: Ryan F.
Date: 4/28/06
Product: JA-TMB Kit Complete

Hey Aaron,
Got the tubes today...thanks! All I can say is WOW! What an amp, what tone!