Boutique amps are fascinating, and few are as interesting as this Shaw amp.  Shaw amps are hand built, one at a time, using a blend of new and vintage components.  This particular amp cabinet and speaker cabinet are both finger jointed, and crafted from 40+ year old pine.   The amp is Shaw's version of a 1949 Fender 5C3 tweed deluxe circuit.   This exact amplifier (yes, this one) is featured on Shaw's website homepage. (See it for yourself.)

If you're not familiar with a 5C3 circuit, well, you're probably more familiar with it than you think.  Scotty Moore, Elvis's guitar player, played through a 5C3  for years. A lot of those great, early Elvis records featured Scotty playing through a 5C3. Controls are pretty basic; tone, volume, a power switch, and a standby switch are all you need.

We wrote Kevin Shaw, designer and builder of these amps, to ask about its history.  Here's what he told us: That amp is number 011 and was built in July of 2009. It is my interpretation of a Fender 5C3 Deluxe built with vintage Hammond transformers and I hand picked and measured all of the components from my vintage stash to make it as "old" as possible. Output is probably around 15 watts.  It is the only one of these amps I have ever built. I do occasionally build a similar one with 9 pin preamp tubes instead of the octals. The wood for your cabinet is at least 40 years old. A very special amp indeed.

This amp is immaculate in all regards.