The Alessandro Bloodhound -- A review

"With its tunnel-style maple case and no-frills front panel, Hound Dog's Bloodhound ($1400; $1600 as tested) resembles a legendary Ken Fischer-built Trainwreck amp. The EL34-powered Bloodhound is about the size of a stand-alone reverb unit, and it features volume, treble, middle and bass controls. No control markings are provided, but you can scribble on the unpainted panel with a pencil if necessary. Not that you'd need too; almost any setting releases a thick, chunky old-Marshall sound that'll bring a Les Paul fan to tears. Even without a presence control, the Blood boots out a fat clean sound and gets quite aggressive when cranked. This dynamic amp is a natural for Clapton/Green-style neck-position wails, snarling rear-'bucker screams and sizzling slide forays. Strats also sounded thick and ballsy, but single-coils failed to coax a pristine clean voice from this fat pooch. Ghost notes are very noticeable -- the result of an under-filtered power supply.

The Hound's folded aluminum chassis (also favored by Trainwreck) houses a point-to-point wired vector-board circuit. Components include carbon-film resistors, top-quality caps (including a Sangamo can-style electrolytic for the filament supply), solid-core wire to the Allen-Bradley and PEC pots, Switchcraft jacks a Drake choke, and phenolic sockets for the dual Sovtek EL34s and three 12AX7s (one Sovtek and two Ei). Two speaker jacks and an impedance selector (4 ohm, 8 ohm, 16 ohm) reside on the rear panel.

The amp comes stock with an Oak cab; the superbly-made curly maple version we saw costs an extra $200. Other options include NOS (new old stock) tubes and Audio Note gold-ceramic tube sockets ($200), and a "top of the line" $600 option that features upgraded "everything." The Hound's huge Audioquest rubber feet look silly on this small head, but they damp vibration amazingly well.

The Bloodhound doesn't strike us as particularly roadworthy; the filter caps are bound with plastic tape, small wooden posts provide transformer support, and the vector-type circuit board is hardly mil spec. But like a Trainwreck, this amp is intended as a no-frills studio machine for tone purists. When the record's done and you're ready to hit the road, grab a Peavey Bandit and rock out. Hound Dog's George Alessandro points out, "The filter caps are mounted using proper silicon glue, and further secured by compression when the padded bottom plate is fitted. The tape is strictly to hold them in place until the glue sets. The transformers are purposely mounted to the chassis corners for maximum strength. The wood pots are merely to protect the chassis during shipping.

Is the Bloodhound a Trainwreck, you ask? Well, considering we didn't have a 'wreck to compare with, it's probably foolish to opine. But our recollection is that the EL34-powered Trainwreck had more top-end sparkle and complexity. Still, the Bloodhound does the big round thing extremely well, and for many players that may be all that matters. Comments: 'Rougher than pretty.' 'As close as mere mortals will come to a Trainwreck.' (Apparently due to health problems, Ken Fischer is no longer making Trainwreck amps.)"

-- Review by Art Thompson, in the February 1997 issue of Guitar Player magazine.