My now well respected JTM45 clone is now back in stock ready to ship

Every amp has 8pcs of audio grade SEMCO silver mica caps 

an added value of $1500 in every amp look at the photo's

Every amp HAND MADE here in ADELAIDE



Since the pandemic has struck over 2 years ago I have been busy expanding the ROLA Company to now be the largest valve amp maker facility in Australia. in 2020 we added our new 60sm Vinyl facility at Blackwood which makes gym mats, floors and equipment for our sister company Airtrack Australia, it also makes custom drop covers for amps and cabinets, and tolex covers all of our amp cabinets in house. In 2021 we added our new laser cutting room with a 300w laser the size of a small family car, and 6 x 3D printers  for panel and transformer bobbin production and general plastics work. Also last year we added our 50sm mechanical workshop with NC Mills and lathes to support our tape machine refurb facilities and expand our transformer winding section. Rola now make 4 different transformer products sold on Ebay. This year we added out 225sm cabinet plant at Lonsdale to make all of our amp cabinets in house, next year with an intent to make custom speaker cabs as well with our full sheet NC router. The Lonsdale facility also makes gymnastics floors and mats. Later this year we will be adding our valve-tube matching and testing facility for direct NOS valve sales only through Ebay our strategic sales partner.

The parent company CD-FM P/l now employs 4 full time staff Cameron in cabinet production, Brenton in transformer and mechanical production, myself in amp production, and Susan in accounts. An all Australian family owned company since 1996.   

 I do have demo amps of everything we make for you to audition if you live in Adelaide I can arrange Saturday morning demo's at the Lonsdale facility by arrangement and you can talk to our staff about what we do. There is plenty on Youtube about our JTM-45's and the quality of build and sonics.

Yes NOS parts are getting hard to source I currently only have enough 50's resistors (about 700,000 in stock) which is why I now use NOS ERIE UK resistors as well as IRH Australian ones, there is stock to make another 500 JTM-45's including the  NOS valves (50,000 left) to go with them. Then I will be into 60's resistors (Philips made at Hendon SA) here I am down to my last 5 million of them. NOS Semco caps about 2,000 left. NOS 80's German resistors about 10 million left. While this may sound a lot of stock it is finite and my QC usually will discard 50% not for use in the JTM-45 and plexi's. From the discarded 50% I get 20% useful that I use in the smaller amp builds, the remainder binned.

Re sonic QC and voicing of these amps, each one is built to a technical standard and a full set of computer controlled tests made using a HP audio test set. Once an amp passes these tests it is voiced with minor component changes usually the tone stack driver cathode load resistor, the phase splitter load resistors (to make sure of symmetry in each grid drive) and the feedback capacitor and resistor in the presence control.

Valves are each hand selected (after being batch tested by a computer valve anyliser before going into stock, getters re-fired in an RF oven an then demagnetised in a Weircliff bulk eraser) V1 is selected as having the least heater cathode leakage (noise), V2 and V3 both selected to have their anode voltages as close to 1/2 VCC as possible and phase splitter anode voltages to be within 1-2 volts of each other differential. Output valves to make sure of a dynamically matched pair and operating on the right part of the curve, to provide optimum performance of the output transformer saturation, this is easily done by unsoldering G1 of V4 and jumping it to G1 of V5 and then measure the differential distortion with a frequency and level sweep.

Each amp is sonically tested with a wave player and guitar tracks I lifted from my Studer A80 8 track multitrack analog  recordings, I made as an engineer back in the 70's. Burn-in is about 3 hours on my workshop bench just playing some favourite background music. Once every 3 months I check the sonics of my current build alongside my reference Dudley Craven built prototype from the 1950's for consistency, to make sure current builds are the same today as 5 years ago.

Valve lineup V1, V2, V3 Mullard ECC81 mostly made in the Hendon plant SA, V1 I will often voice for Philips or Mullard Blackburn ECC81's / 12AT7's if you like a more aggressive JTM45 a selection of ECC83/12AX7's are available for market prices during the voicing process. The valve rectifier is an AWA 5AS4 the latest rectifier design produced in the 60's and very rugged. Output valves are currently RCA or Sylvania USA made 6L6's all valves are NOS.  All JTM45's are ready to ship from our Blackwood 100sm warehouse and final voicing only takes a day or so before delivery.

 

Why buy a ROLA JTM45

The only production amp in the world that uses mostly period correct vintage 50's and 60's parts

The only output transformer in the world to use 200v insulation winding wire (more wire in the window lets me use more copper for an improved output transformer)

The amplifier is wired using silver Tefzel aviation grade Teflon hookup wire (high temperature long life does not deteriorate with age even over 20 years)

All point to point wiring using hand made Bakelite Turrett boards  (all components are rigidly mechanically secured so parts don't fall off with vibration and shipping, unlike PCB's)

Most resistors and caps are 50's 60's 70's vintage from IRH and Philips/Semco (great sonics) 

HT electrolytics are new stock low ESR (for long life, stability, and broadband bypassing qualities)

Sockets are new stock CMC ceramic highest grade sockets available as used in the highest end valve HI-FI amps, these grip the valve pin all 360 degrees not like cheap pronged fork type pins.

High build quality built for long service not a few years like modern PCB amps 

Great value for money ( NOS  valves included in each amp)

All Australian build from local components almost 90% total Australian components and valves used.

Unbeatable sound qualities

Quality output transformer with my personal 5 year warranty 

Personal customer service from the person who built your amp

Trusted ROLA brand

12 month warranty including 90 days for valves

Lifetime technical support

Each amp is hand wired point to point on turret boards as shown in the photo's, comes complete enclosed as shown with cab. Unlike modern mass produced amps full of dry joints and mechanical reliability issues this amp is built using traditional 50's wiring not a printed circuit board in sight, hand laced wiring, every component tied off on the turret board before being soldered, dynamic matched and demagnetised valves, lots of NOS valve options for customers to audition before purchase and more. Each one of these amps takes 40 hours to build (including cab), which is why they are priced accordingly, build quality and components are the best vintage NOS available that no other manufacturer can meet.

The output transformer is custom wound and uses 100% Japan GOSS core material.  Output impedance is selectable for 4,8,16 ohms and if you want to use a couple of odd impedance cabs let me know as I hand make the output transformers and can wire speaker sockets to suit any weird combination you may have. Each output transformer takes about 1 1/2 days to make.

Amps are built using RF grade Semco silver mica 70's capacitors made from now totally unavailable Ruby Mica, each one silver dipped and epoxy coated, each capacitor installed with care ensuring the orientation to minimise noise and circuit coupling. IRH Australia vintage 50's carbon composition resistors (precision German made Byscfhlag or Rhoderstein metal film where IRH values are not available), Gold plated input sockets (plated here in Australia with 2.5 microns gold), Bakelite knobs with allen head grub screws, hand made turret boards,  silver Teflon (Aviation grade Tefzel) hookup wire, Plexi front and rear panels reverse laser engraved and reverse coated in gold paint like the original's. Unlike todays production amps using PCB's designed to last only 3 years, these amps are hand built to last 10 years. All amps are wired as they were made in the 50's and 60's, on a solid laser cut aluminium chassis with TIG welded corners something that cheap imports and kit amps do not do. The amp cab is made from ply, with a high quality covering.

About our price rises on all products (including this amp shortly)

Yes, after making amps for over 50 years now I averaged $10 per hour, now we have 4 different manufacturing sites, 4 full time staff and a lot more overheads as a full time amp maker our accountants have now set our hourly charge at $100 plus gst per hour. With Ebay now taking around 20% all up, of every transaction that leaves us with the current price. At this price no one anywhere in the world offers the same build quality, vintage components NOS valves and Radiometal locally made output transformers. All built here from 90% Australian components only the ALPS pots are imported from Japan. All of our other products will also be undergoing pricing revisions. Our long game is the belief that China made and imported amps will eventually cease with the current world unrest, so this was the time to build our company and manufacturing resources. 


The head comes complete with a full 12 month RTB (Adelaide) warranty. All shipping is by Couriers Please and fully insured.