Scott Shellhamer plays guitar for American Heritage. But rather than use an amp he bought off the rack or even a vintage one, he uses a “Kentish Stead 50 watt head made by Adam Norden, also of the band.

“Adam got into electronics and amp building a few years ago. He built a lil' 20 watt head that is loud as fuck and sounded rad,” says Shellhamer. “I like to support my friends and I wanted a secondary amp to fill out my sound, so I had him me make me something similar but with more balls. It turned out great.”

He compares the amp to an early 70s Orange head.

“The schematic was loosely based off of a 1974 Orange Graphic. The preamp is totally custom but is closer to a Marshall. It's the kind of amp you turn all the way up or you are a dumb,” he says. “It's got a super unique tone. The gain is gritty and can get farty if you want it to. But overall it's got a very 60's / 70's sort of tone to it but with more drive. The low end is robust. It's perfect to offset my other head which has a far more precise gain. It's far warmer and rounder sounding than my Marshall.”

He uses a Fernandes Vertigo and a Gibson SG through the custom amp.

“The Vertigo has a little more "Umph" and drive than the SG does. I'm sure that'd be different if I swapped out the pickups in the SG, but the Vertigo still feels more natural to me. I've got a couple other guitars but rarely use them anymore.” he says.

He has been messing around with the cabinets he uses. At the moment he plays through a Mesa 4x12 when he uses his 2000 Super Triple Lead but when using the “Kentish Stead” he uses a “weirdly configured” Fender bass cabinet.

“We tried swapping out the speakers into a standard Marshall 900 cab the other day, but I'm not that happy with it. It lost a lot of the low end the angled Fender cab added. Still on the fence if I'll put the speakers back in the original cab or not. Funny story,” says Shellhamer. “I originally I asked Emperor to make me a custom cabinet about 5 years ago. They refused because I wanted it to be stained pink and they told me ‘That shit is fucking gay’. So I kind of wrote them off. A mutual friend that knew this story texted me a couple months ago and told me they were building pink cabs for The Melvins. Yeah. That's some bullshit, ain’t it?”

Some cabinet-makers might be a little unsure of their sexuality perhaps. Shellhamer is sure of the tone of the amp, somewhere between an Orange and a JMP.

“It's mildly farty but the gain breaks up in a really natural way. My Marshall is more mid-range and precise. Between the two I feel like I get a sound that has both clarity and tone. I'm always trying to make it better, but this is the best configuration I've found so far that suits the way I play.” says Shellhamer.

He has, previously, used an 800 and 900. Following those two standards he moved on to the JCM 2000 Triple Lead plus the Kentish Stead.

“The 2000 lacks some tonal personality but makes up for it in clarity. The Kentish Stead does the exact opposite of that,” he says. “It's a winning combination for me. It creates a unique sound in a live scenario that I don't think I've ever heard before.”