Swampdonkey Gypsy -

The Swampdonkey Gypsy is a single channel, all-tube, hand-wired Guitar Amplifier capable of up to 30 Watts output (Plate dissipation is actually 40 watts). The Gypsy's 2 channel preamp brings a lot to the table for guitarists who play a wide variety of styles in the studio or on stage.

The NORMAL channel is very similar to our M50 and Moosette preamps in that it features variable gain and voicing, a 3 band tone stack and Volume controls.

The RAW channel has only two controls; Volume and Voice. This channel serves a variety of functions. Obviously, you can plug your guitar directly in and dial in a great clean to crunch tone and using the 3 position "Voice" switch, a brighter or warmer signal is obtained. You can also plug in a CD or MP3 player and jam to pre-recorded tunes; a great feature for rehearsing new tunes on the fly while you play your guitar through the "Normal" channel. Additionally, you may use the "Raw" channel as a stand-alone tube preamp for the Gypsy's "Normal" channel or even for another amp or effect! Since the "Raw" channel has no EQ controls, the natural midrange dominant tones of the Gypsy's single KT88 output tube really shine.

The Gypsy's output is derived from a single KT88 tube running Single Ended, Class 'A' cathode BIAS. This configuration yields beautiful 2nd order harmonics and is further complimented by the "Accent" control which is great for either beefing up your clean tones with additional bass or tightening up response with more treble for higher gain tones. The Gypsy uses a GZ34 tube rectifier and therefore requires no Standby switch to allow for proper tube warm up. Simply flip the power switch on and in less than a minute, you'll be getting great tone.

General operation of the Normal channel is covered quite extensively on our Moosette and M50 pages, but here's some detail on using the features that are unique to the Gypsy:

Raw Channel - Cascading into Normal Channel

Using either of the Gypsy's channels you get great clean to crunch tones and each channel brings out very different characteristics of your tone. Cascading the RAW channel into the NORMAL channel adds a widely variable higher gain tone with thicker mids more suited to Blues and Rock styles.

To achieve this, simply plug your guitar into the RAW channel.

Then using a short patch cord, plug one end into the RAW Channel Output, which is located on the rear panel.

Lastly, plug the free end of your patch cord into the NORMAL input.

Use the RAW channel controls AND the NORMAL channel controls to achieve the desired preamp crush. By varying the RAW Volume and NORMAL channel Drive, you can obtain symmetrical or asymmetrical crush in the preamp !

This feature may be operated with an optional foot switch available from Swampdonkey Amplifiers. The footswitch we provide will let you either switch between "Normal" and "Raw", or switch between "Normal" and "Cascade", as shown above.

Obtaining reduced power output -

The Gypsy comes equipped with a power reduction switch located on the rear panel. This control, "Output BIAS" has two settings. "Hot" allows the KT88 tube to dissipate 40 watts. In the "Cold" setting, output dissipation is reduced to 28 watts. This is a handy feature for reducing stage volume, especially at higher gain settings.

Like our M50, the Gypsy allows you to connect either a 4, 8 or 16 ohm speaker load. Make sure you match the total speaker cabinet impedance to the amp and only plug into ONE of the the three outputs ! NEVER operate your amp without a proper speaker load !!!