Surreal Amplification?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bad.Seed
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Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

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I recently was loaned a Surreal Atomica 100, which I posted a little playthrough video of today on my youtube channel.

When I was researching, I didn't find much other than the website and Facebook page. There were a couple older threads here on Rig Talk, but they were short and fairly old.

Anyone have any experience with these amps? Any goofy stuff I should know about? The one I tested sounded good overall, but was a bit noisey and some of the switching didn't seem to work properly. The owner, Jerry, commented on my video and said he believes the one I tested needed some work.

I thought about maybe commissioning a newer amp from him, but just wanted to see if anyone else had any experience with him or with the amps first?
 
He used to post here a lot… you could probably find some old threads.
 
I’ve owned a few Surreal amps. I had a specially made Atomica 100 that was just incredible. I’ve had him mod more than many of my Marshalls and his work sounds awesome! An incredible dude to work with. One of the most fair guys I’ve ever worked with. His prices are way more than fair. He used to work alongside Mark Cameron in Orange County some years ago. I really can’t say enough about him. Seriously.

Yeah, he’s a Christian but you’d probably never know it unless you know him as a friend.
 
LESPAULY69 said:
I’ve owned a few Surreal amps. I had a specially made Atomica 100 that was just incredible. I’ve had him mod more than many of my Marshalls and his work sounds awesome! An incredible dude to work with. One of the most fair guys I’ve ever worked with. His prices are way more than fair. He used to work alongside Mark Cameron in Orange County some years ago. I really can’t say enough about him. Seriously.

Yeah, he’s a Christian but you’d probably never know it unless you know him as a friend.
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This is the exact same experience that I have had dealing with Jerry. I have an Atomica 100 and a Classic Modern 100 that are two of the best amps I own. Jerry has been a pleasure to work with and his prices are more than fair.
 
One detail with his amplifiers that seems to be his thing is the EQ knobs are crooked on the front of his amps.
Go ahead Surreal zealot’s, post pics!!!!
You see what I mean?
 
Dino 939 said:
One detail with his amplifiers that seems to be his thing is the EQ knobs are crooked on the front of his amps.
Go ahead Surreal zealot’s, post pics!!!!
You see what I mean?
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I believe the OP asked for those who have them, what our experience with them are. I'm just stating what my experience dealing with Jerry was like and that I find them to be great amps. If you're not a fan, hey that's your right not knocking you for that.
 
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thegame said:
As far as Jesus freak amp builders go, you're better off with Scott Splawn.
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Information + Application = Transformation.

You remember this Bucko’,
-If God can move mountains…,?
Then we better bring our shovels!!

PS, I do the dirty work of the Christ.
Example?
Boondock Saints.
 
DistortED said:
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I believe the OP asked for those who have them, what our experience with them are. I'm just stating what my experience dealing with Jerry was like and that I find them to be great amps. If you're not a fan, hey that's your right not knocking you for that.
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Hell yeah man, they sound so killer it’s surreal.

The Salvador Dali of the Cameron sound.
 
LESPAULY69 said:
What a seriously lame thing to say. Jerry is the most fair and generous guy you will ever meet.
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I’m glad you had a positive experience with Jerry. You must’ve caught him in between meltdowns. Seriously, there are too many accounts with others who had bad experiences with him to merely brush it off as him having a bad day. It goes back to the Harmony Central days. Let’s just say many of his OT rants were like looking into a crystal ball forecasting this post 2020 messed up divisive world we live in.
 
thegame said:
I’m glad you had a positive experience with Jerry. You must’ve caught him in between meltdowns. Seriously, there are too many accounts with others who had bad experiences with him to merely brush it off as him having a bad day. It goes back to the Harmony Central days. Let’s just say many of his OT rants were like looking into a crystal ball forecasting this post 2020 messed up divisive world we live in.
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While I was working at Luxxtone, Jerry worked there too. Not a day to complain about him over. He’s not perfect but a sweet guy. Every amp he’s built for me is fully hand wired.
 

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CurlOfTheBurl said:
Is something like this a good deal?

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/msg/d/richmond-surreal-watt-tube-amp/7468428812.html
I don't need another amp, but just trying to understand as far as used (where you don't risk dealing with the actual guy), are the amps worth this in terms of sound, reliability, etc?
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I’m sure you can get a totally custom hand wired head for that much. Maybe a few bucks on top of that. Those are the new Surreal heads. I’d offer a few hundy less.
 
I had him do a Mod 5(Rockstah) to a Peavey VTM long ago. Fast work and didn’t charge much; much nicer amp when I got it back.
He did help Cameron with builds long ago, so he’s got some of that dna in his amps.

I do remember some shitstorms though with a bent transformer; or maybe the transformer mount was slightly past the edge of the chassis? But the clips I’ve heard sound like a nice modded Marshall.
Either way I had no issues dealing with him. Amp sounded great, fast work and didn’t charge much.
 
LESPAULY69 said:
While I was working at Luxxtone, Jerry worked there too. Not a day to complain about him over. He’s not perfect but a sweet guy. Every amp he’s built for me is fully hand wired.
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Not to nitpick, but I'm going to nitpick. Why are only the presence and resonance knobs chicken head style? Besides the fact that it looks disjointed, it's obviously going to impede your ability to independently adjust those controls.
 
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