ELPICO……As many of you know, I am a convert to using a profiler live and my amps sit around and look pretty while I play direct. Until today. Club gigs will see this amazing @colbyamps El Pico as a regular fixture. It’s utterly fantastic. Set it to a grainy wide open tone and pull back at the volume and it cleans up and shimmers like a freshly washed Harley. It LOVES P-90s. I am captivated. PLUS…. It looks COOL. Get one. Now. Greg Platzer: February, 2024

ELPICO…..Mitch…You did it again!…After reading about the El Pico in Vintage Guitar Magazine, I was curious (I’ve had lots of vintage amps from England, but never heard of El Pico) as to how it sounded. Mitch knows how to build an amp, so I got in touch with him and got an El Pico. I was heading to the studio to record my third CD and thought that I would give the El Pico a try. It has surpassed my expectations! Mitch added some modern updates like a master volume and some tone shaping switches and the ability to cascade both channels. This Amp is a Beast! It has that EL84 chime to the max…It can sound like a Blues Breaker, or an AC 30…But with more gain. Chords ring with a background gaininess that you have to hear! I plugged a Strat in and decided that I wanted to clean things up for a rhythm track. I flipped a toggle switch…And suddenly I was in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s spanky clean between neck and middle fat Strat sound! This little amp does it all, a Swiss Army Knife of an Amplifier, perfect for studio or stage use! It does it all! Some of my other amps are crying in the darkness…The El Pico has taken over…Bill Holter, December 2013

ELPICO…..Mitch, just incredible !!!  The crunch and clarity is truly amazing.  I'm a huge Kinks' fan and worked it out through...."You Really Got Me", "All Day and All of the Night", "Til the End of the Day"...etc...Nirvana "About a Girl" and Monkees "Stepping Stone".    I'm very very impressed Mitch...thanks for a GREAT amp (ELPICO)! John: October, 2023

Hey Mitch!!! I hope you're doing well. First off, the amp you made me is simply the best amp I could have ever hoped for! I absolutely love it! It brings the biggest smile to my face EVERY time I play it!!! I absolutely love everything you've made for me or that I've played of yours through the years. Thanks again for the best darn amp I’ve ever owned or played. Scott: October, 2023

ELPICO…..“I would call you but it’s 1:30 in the morning and I just spent the entire night with a telecaster and your el pico.  It’s the first time I have had a chance to really get down with it. Holy #$! You totally got the el pico essence and expanded on it.  It has the elpico tones but then so much more with the features you added. I’m blown away. It’s a sound it itself. Like nothing else. It’s like you took their idea and made it what it could have been if it was a real company like Marshall and got developed by genius tone masters.  I’m floored.  I knew it would be cool but I wasn’t ready for where it took me.  Bro, it’s so epic I can’t even give you words that match it. And no, I don’t drink alcohol or anything.  I’m stone sober as always but you could say I’m intoxicated by this tone.” Kris: August, 2023

ELPICO…..“I just got off the phone with Christopher Thorn (Blind Mellon, excellent Tele player) and he is floored by the Elpico combo. He is Dave Catchings neighbor and owner of Fireside Studio.  The elpico is on several tracks already and he uses it daily in the studio! Rick: 2023

ELPICO…..Your artistic ability to differentiate from 1000 voices, provoke a near-speechless physiological response from a very savvy player whilst prompting a profound spiritual experience with a velvet hammer wrapped as Elpico is, in mho, the very essence of a true ARTIST. You are awesome. Really.” Rick: 2023

WOW!! Holy F. Mod Machine is awesome! Rick: September, 2023

“The Elpico is mighty awesome sounding!!” Andrew: September, 2023

“All my life I’ve been intrigued with the sound of electric guitar amps. Each one has its own personality. Within different brands, there are some that are good and then others that stand out and are amazing and inspiring to play; with tone, touch and feel. In the early ’90’s playing with the group The Band I met and became good friends with Mitch Colby. He would come up to Woodstock, NY, to show me classic vintage amps from his collection or tweak one of my amps or bring up something new he just made for me to hear, and we would compare tones! Mitch came up one afternoon and asked me to work on developing his unique, two EQ, channel-switching amp dubbed “The Colby,” and that was the start of a two year project that ended with an amazingly rich tone machine that I play everywhere! We compared the amp against all the best of the best classics every inch of the way on every cap and resistor change from the Cleans to its Gain qualities. The feel and touch sensitivity, the huge chimey cleans with body, and the focused gain within your note are everything I’ve always wanted in one amp to enjoy and make music!! I’m very proud of our outstanding results. I truly believe you will be too once plugged in!” JIM WEIDER

“I know the trend over the last decade is to go smaller with your amp, lower watts…I tried it too, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing like playing an actual 100 watt beast. This past summer my amazing friend Joshua Cross got me hooked on his original late 60’s Marshall Super Bass…the holy grail, you know the one. This started my search to buy an original or have one built. Enter brother Mitch Colby…the man behind Marshall for decades, Park for half that and more recently Sundragon with the one and only Jimmy Page. Mitch’s genius turned out an amp that I can’t say enough about…hands down the greatest amp I’ve ever played…big, fat, warm and punchy. Pedals I never got along with suddenly make sense. I now know what a Klon is SUPPOSED to sound like, oh that’s how a fuzz is supposed to react, who knew a vibe could sound this huge…this one is a bit of a secret in what it can do but in its stock ‘68 Super Bass form, it’s a monster…and it’s purple. HUGE thanks to my brother Mitch in officially ending my search my perfect amp.” Jonathan Pyle

“Just to let u know, I have now used the dtb for 8 straight gigs! Perfect for what I do. The band loves it as well. No more carrying around 4 amps to get my sound. Put black plate RCA’s for power tubes and the clean sound is absolutely pristine, chime and quiet! Put some telefunken ribbed ax7 for over drive. All a perfect combo. I haven’t gone this long without changing amps for years.” Jon

 

“Last night, I played the Mod Machine with the stock tubes and it sounded absolutely amazing!  I figured the NOS tubes would take it more over the top.  I was really looking forward to putting in the NOS tubes and this morning I did.  The NOS tubes sweetened it up a tad, but I could be content with the stock tubes. I can dial in all the Marshall type tones that I dig.  It is amazing!  You have designed an absolutely killer amp.  Really really fun amp that has got the tones.Thanks for hooking me up.  You really did an amazing job. Arthur Trujillo

 

-Colby room was packed when I ducked in to take a quick listen and the tone was dripping from the walls.

The best for me was the Colby Mod Machine – Basically has every era and major circuit change thru the years available in one amp and it sounds incredible, plus Mitch’s Park amps are just awesome!

 

“I absolutely love the dtb100. It may be voiced for single coils but I plug my Les Paul in the second channel with #2 boost and I have that smooth rich overdrive sound with no pedals!” Jonathan Schneider

 

“Mitch,  I’ve owned the dtb50 for a few weeks now and wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying it.   I’ve sold three OD pedals since I received the amp, as my search for an OD sound is finally over, thanks to the Colby.  Now I have OD that doesn’t sound like somebody stepped on a pedal, or a player is using a different guitar.  The Colby gain stage channel gives me more than enough options, and the best part is it sounds like me playing my guitar.  I’ve also tried using an electric nylon string guitar in the clean channel, adding a little delay and reverb in the effects loop, and the sound is great.  Congratulations to you and Jim on developing such a high quality amp.”  Rick Still

 

“Hi Mitch! Another happy guitar player here. I recently did a session for my band Meadowhawks at the Clubhouse in Rhinebeck and to say I was blown away by your amp would be an understatement. It was just what I was looking for tone-wise, attack-wise, drive-wise and just all around badass-wise. You can hear it in action at our bandcamp site: http://meadowhawks.bandcamp.com. Many thanks for your incredible work”! Ryan MacLean of “Meadowhawks”

 

“Mitch! — Just wanted to give you a shout out. Finished up a session at The Clubhouse up in Rhinebeck with my band The Hate My Day Jobs and used one of your dual tone booster 50 amps for EVERY TRACK. Man, I don’t know what you did, but, seriously, I loved that thing. We went through a bunch of vintage amps Paul had and just kept coming back to the Colby for more”. Dan Xiachetti

 

“Hey Mitch, Just wanted to thank you again for your generosity and for your ongoing dedication to excellence and superior TONE. This amp is incredible, that’s all there is to it. It seems to fit me like a glove.  It sounds big, thick, full, smooth, articulate, dimensional, sparkly, and glassy ….. all at the same time! You are definitely on to something. Excellent tone and feel with a very versatile and compelling combination of attributes. And now it’s even better. The new mid shift mod on the clean channel really adds a lot. Nice flavor. Very useful and satisfying. Same with the Master-Master. The interaction between the two masters is really cool. It definitely dials in additional smoothness, body, and mojo. Again, a wonderful flavor and a very useful and tweak-able addition”. Mitch Gordon

 

“The Mod Machine sounds like idealized versions of all the classic “M” tones I’ve always heard in my head. One of the most enjoyable amps I’ve ever played!” Howie Stern, 2013 LA Amp Show (Mod Machine Prototype on top of a Scumback 4×12 cab with M65 and H75 speakers)

 

In a boutique amp market crippled by orthodoxy, folklore, and a myopic philosophy that confuses parity with perfection, Mitch Colby is a big breath of sweet, fresh air. He melds a remarkable knowledge of the timeless tones that have long been imprinted on our DNA with an approach that’s as thoughtful as it is irreverent. The result is an amp that can readily conjure the benchmark voices of yesteryear, while offering access to a broad, new tonal landscape that begs to be explored. All this with a slew of modern appointments and conveniences on board. And with a degree of tweakability that’s comprehensive, multi-nuanced and surprisingly intuitive. Suffice to say, I’m smitten. Jeff Samson

 

Thank You for building me the modded Showman. I was searching for the right words to describe the amp and also waiting for an opportunity to take the amp out. Last week I got to play it at stage volume with some other guitar players and among other boutique amps (Two-Rocks and Morgans). Today I got to play it in a band/studio setting with a drummer. The amp sounds awesome and I think it’s actually sounding better each time I play it. I love how I can get clean or clean with light breakup sounds at good volume levels and its bold (using your description) and not too polite or too bright like some clean amps can be. The modded Showman has such a great balance of warm and thick yet clear sound. It’s just wonderful sounding and a joy to play. Wayne Liao

 

Comments on the “dtb” dual tone booster from the October 2012 Amp and Custom Guitar Show

 

“Ex-Marshall and ex-VOX amp mastermind Mitch Colby showed his new Colby amps—a 50-watt and a 100-watt. These are hand-wired and completely made in the USA, and the 50-watter was the best-sounding amp I tried at the show. It has a huge, blooming clean channel that goes smoothly into subtle, complex overdrive. The overdrive channel has a beautiful range of tones from big and clean to tough and crunchy to sweet and singing. Every tone was alive with harmonics and cleaned up like nobody’s business. Mitch had the great Jim Weider (who helped voice the amps) in his booth for added star power and mojo.

Matt Blackett, Guitar Player Magazine Editor in a blog on the 2012 L.A. Amp Show

 

“Your amps are just incredible. I love the way they go from an amazing clean to an incredible overdrive and the level’s don’t change. Of course in a live situation you would want the OD channel to be a bit louder to cut thru for a solo (which is of course possible). But yours is the first amp I’ve ever heard that didn’t have a huge bump between channels! The Tone is stunning as well. I may have to sell some things to buy one of yours..”

Don Butler, Toneman (amp and guitar service), guitarist for Tim Piper and Working Class Hero

 

“OK, so I’m an old amp snob from Hell. I was at the LA Amp Show and THE buzz going around was that Mitch’s new amps absolutely killed! What else would you expect from this man? Way to go, Mitch!”

Rich Lasner, VP or Product Development at G-Rok R&D (VOX)

 

“I just returned home form the LA Amp Show and had to rave about Mitch’s new amp. It was by far and away the most expressive and right-hand dynamic amp I played at the show. The 2-channel 50w head and 112 cab were just so musical and gig-ready useful. I love the idea of the channels sounding very similar, yet being able to add different levels of dirt and types of boost on the Drive channel. Many two channel amps I’ve owned in the past had two distinct channels with different EQ shapes and tone. They sounded great at home, but I have struggled at gigs to “stay in the mix” when switching channels. If they are TOO dissimilar, one of the channels gets lost in the mix.”

Brian Swerdfeger, Tone Lounge

 

“It is a VERY impressive piece of hardware. Power supply is perfect; not over or under capped. Bloom, harmonics and response are there in wonderful balance. String to string balance is spectacular. I lost count at six layers of counting harmonics when Carl Verheyen and Steve Trovato did a few things for me as a test. Bottom line, a real winner, not just for the ampshow but one of those iconic amps that will probably go down in history. Constructed so you will pass it down to your grand kids.

Amazing yesterday, more amazing today. Ultra impressive”

Myles Rose, Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting, Rig Consultant, Amp Wizard