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Retro-Design Amplifiers
Nuance Amplifiers • Gypsy Jazz • Portable Power
 Model
VLT6-10:
Gypsy Jazz Valve Tone in a Stylish Package
The Nuance VLT6-10 valve guitar
amplifier. Very special valve electronics housed in an elegant
retro-design cabinet for those who want the authentic sound and feel of a small
valve amplifier as used by Django Reinhardt.
The power amplifier circuitry recreates
and extends the well known Stimer M6 amplifier, while the
preamplifier provides a wide tonal pallette and makes all the controls accessible on
the top panel.
The aim when designing the Nuance VLT6-10 was to recreate the
sound of the original small low power valve amplifiers, in particular, the Stimer M6 as used by Django Reinhardt, using a valve amplifier assisted by
modern technology.
The amplifier is housed in the same cabinet as its more
powerful brother, the B18-10, and uses the same pre-amplifier.
This allows a wider range of control than was available in
the original but, of course, this range includes the characteristic sound of
those early amplifiers.
 Model B18-10:
Portable Guitar Power, Classic
Tone Indoors or Out.
The
Nuance B18-10 guitar amplifier embodies the elegant
retro-design of its valve brother, joined with subtle electronic wizardry to
provide the jazz player with a a powerful (18Watts rms), sweet sounding
amplifier that can be used in any location without the need for mains power.
This is not the usual, compromised, busker's amplifier. It sports a 10 inch
Jensen neo speaker driven by a discrete transistor amplifier of unique design
with true push-pull signal processing through a specially designed output
transformer. The amplifier allows the speaker to “breathe” in the same way as a
valve amplifier - with similar tonal results. The rechargeable battery has the
capacity to outlast any gig at any volume.
The aim when designing the Nuance B18-10
was to produce a truly professional guitar amplifier that sounds beautiful,
looks beautiful and is suitably loud, yet liberates the guitarist from
the need for a power cable, putting him on an equal footing with the
louder brass instruments. The absence of a power connection also guarantees
electrical safety in untried venues and eliminates the need for
PAT certification. There are no high voltages within the amplifier. At
home, the elegant and unique appearance of the amplifier will grace any living
room or studio
Nuance Amplifiers
PÊCHE À LA MOUCHE
- (Fly Fishing)
 
PM6 - This vintage model, a collector's
item now, enabled reach previously unequalled heights in musical expression and
quality of sound. "Peche a la mouche amplificateurs" have taken this a
step further by faithfully reproducing the authentic sound and conception of
Django's original amp, whilst at the same time incorporating the technological
improvements now available to us today, which enhance the quality of the
original further still.
Pickup - Inspired from the model used by
the world-renowned guitarist, this new model has been produced for the 100th
anniversary of Django's birthday, and includes many technical improvements on
its predecessor. It is now possible to play "magnetic" on gypsy strings
without any volume difference between plain strings (E B) and wound strings (G D
A E). The pick-up is specially designed for the type of strings used on
gypsy guitars (for gypsy strings only!). The mounting
system works with a leaf spring and is easily fixed on the instrument with the
volume
potentiometer near the top
Peche a la Mouche
Retro Sound
- note how much more fluid the
solos are compared with those produced on his Epiphone - could it be that Django
was not comfortable with adjusting volume and tone controls which are so readily
tickled mid phrase by many modern guitarists with their little finger. Les
Paul said some of his difficulties were because of Django's very stiff pick and being
a down stroke picker. Yet Les employed Button picks
 By the late '40s, there was a new
route to volume - electric pickups and amplifiers, both of which arrived in
France later than in the United States. French radio engineer Yves Guen and his
brother, Jean, unveiled their first guitar pickups in 1946, baptized the Stimer
P46 and R46. The 46 Series Stimers may have been prototypes, but they were
followed by the real deal - the 1948 S.T.48 pickup and six-watt Stimer M.6
amplifier. These were followed by the S.51 pickup and 10-watt M.10 and 12-watt
M.12 amps.
To promote Stimer, the Guens naturally turned to Django. In a 1952 photo
session, Django was shown in his Samois-sur-Seine cottage, beaming with joy as
he played his new electrified Selmer. He used a similar setup performing with
American beboppers - saxmen James Moody and Don Byas and drummer Kenny Clarke -
at Paris' Club Saint-Germain. After years pounding out his acoustic jazz with a
muscular right wrist, Django must have rejoiced at the glorious ease of this
sudden volume, playing his new bebop with a loud, overdriven sound reverberating
off the club's stone walls.
The
later electrified Django achieved a fantastic and unique mastery of the electric
instrument. Perhaps he, unlike Christian, was too un-idiomatic, because very few
players have tried explicitly to emulate his sound. That sound was produced by
either the Electric Epiphone or a Selmer Maccaferri equipped with a Stimer
pick-up, and a small valve amp. It is claimed, and it may be correct, that
the Stimer was a copy of the DeArmond pickup that originated in the early 1940s.
However, even after considerable experimentation few were capable of reproducing
Django’s electric sound. The sound may (also) lie in the difference between the
Stimer and the DeArmond.
 Today,
guitarists who play vintage Selmers—or their modern-day equivalents—again
only have one choice in magnetic pickups - the Stimer S.T. 48. Made by
France’s Maurice Dupont, the S.T. 48 is a beautiful unit that features a
built-in Volume control and a one-piece metal cover (which is nickel plated
and sports “Stimer Paris” engraved into its top). The unit features a r"
output jack, and it comes with a quality rubber-shrouded cord with r" and 1"
plugs.
  You
simply slide it under the strings, and push it into place until it presses
against the end of the fretboard. Rubber pads on the bottom of the pickup
prevent scratching the guitar’s top, and the spring-clip retainer keeps the
unit snug.
Plugged into a small valve amp, the Stimer
sounded both round and smooth, and it translated the unique upper-midrange
colour of the guitar reasonably well. The B and E strings are
significantly louder than the other four strings. As there’s no way to
compensate for this balance problem—which is exacerbated by say the
Argentine’s non-magnetic copper/silver formula you can replaced them with a
set of flatwound D’Addario Chromes, which are a popular choice for jazz.
They worked surprisingly well with the S.T. 48, and though the sound is more
akin to that of a standard archtop, the string balance was definitely
better.
The quest is a tone that is warmer and more
balanced, much like Django sounded like through his small tube amp on
the later recordings,
Stimer also makes a version of this pickup
designed to fit the larger “D” soundhole of the “grand bouche” Selmers (and
their modern equivalents), as well as the Modele S.T. 51, which is basically
the same as the S.T 48, but with a separate Volume control that can be
adhered anywhere you want.
 Stimer
Modèle M12 Amplifier (made by Maurice Dupont)
A historically accurate reissue of the legendary Stimer tube amp made famous by
Django. Maurice Dupont did a fantastic job capturing the look and sound of this
classic amp. As you'd expect, it sounds authentic on 50's Django when played with a
Stimer pickup. Archtops with humbuckers also sound very good.
The amp is 12 watts (which is very, very loud since it's a tube amp!)
12" Speaker
Weighs a mere 9.7Kg
1 channel with two 1/4" inputs
Gain and Tone controls
Removable back - Output 8 Ohm
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PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
