REVIEW > 3 MONKEYS
3 MONkeys
VIRGIL
By JOe chaRupakORN
Cofounded by Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford, renowned guitar tech Greg
Howard (who works with Aerosmith, Green
Day, and Linkin Park, among others), and
former Blockhead Amps mastermind Ossie
Ahsen, 3 Monkeys is one of the most buzzed-about amp-makers around. The company’s
latest offering—the limited-edition Virgil—is
a 30-watt, two-channel, 6V6-powered amp
based on the Hiwatt-meets-Marshall BW119
that 3 Monkeys designed for Whitford in
2006. It’s also an amp that’s turning up in
the rigs of such tone zealots as Steely Dan’s
Walter Becker (who rocks a sweet surf-green
model)—an early sign that 3 Monkeys is on
to another winner.
No Monkey Biz
The streamlined front panel gives Virgil an
understated elegance. From left to right,
you’ll find on/off and standby switches,
knobs for boost level, master, bass, middle,
treble, boost (channel 2 gain), and volume
(channel 1 gain). Underneath the knobs is
a UK/USA voicing toggle that allows you
to switch between British or California EQ
voicings. The rear panel contains just a
footswitch jack and three speaker outputs
(4Ω, 8Ω, and 16Ω).
Million-Dollar Tones
Although 6V6 amps aren’t necessarily
known for having a ton of headroom, with
both the volume and master at around 4
and a Celestion-equipped 4x12 cabinet at
the receiving end of the signal, Virgil had
no problem keeping up with a loud band.
And using both a Japanese Fender Strat
and a humbucker-loaded Hamer Artist, I
was able to easily cut through the mix no
matter how dense it got.
The preamp is equipped with three
12AX7 tubes, and even when it was
pumping out higher-gain sounds with lots
of sustain, it never crossed over into the
very compressed sorts of tones that some
other high-gain amps are known for. In
Boost channel
3-band EQ
UK/USA voicing switch
premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR FEBRUARY 2012 127
