Bartel Sugarland Head 12 Watts Blue

No Sales Tax For Customers Outside Of California.

This Bartel Sugarland is a beast!  The amp has been very well cared for and includes the original shipping box.  Read on to understand just what this amp can do.

The Bartel Sugarland 12-Watt Head is a stunning showcase of boutique craftsmanship and pure tone, handcrafted in the USA. This point-to-point handwired tube amplifier delivers rich, harmonically complex cleans and a dynamic overdrive with incredible touch sensitivity, all at a manageable 12 watts of pure Class A power—perfect for studio work or small-to-medium stage settings.

Inspired by vintage American amps but refined with modern clarity and responsiveness, the Sugarland features a unique cabinet resonance system, high/low gain switch, and custom transformers.

The amp’s minimalist control layout—Volume, Tone, and Mid/Bright voicing toggle—lets your guitar and fingers do the talking. It’s ideal for players chasing expressive low-wattage tube tone without compromise.

The tone controls are pretty unique and unlock huge variability despite their apparent simplicity.  

Bartel Amps, founded by Mark Bartel, the creator of Tone King Amplifiers, is known for its handcrafted, high-quality guitar amplifiers. Bartel Amplifiers focuses on delivering exceptional tone, craftsmanship, and artistry, with each amplifier built from the ground up by Mark Bartel.   Tone King was absorbed by a company who formed a guild of guitar and amp builders.  At some point, Mark split from that organization, whom kept the rights to Tone King, and he went on to build these fantastic amps.

Mark's description of the amp:

The Sugarland is just a little bigger than a tweed deluxe but it sounds like a much bigger amp.  As you might expect from the specs (cathode biased 6V6s, no negative feedback, paper bobbin layer wound output transformer, etc.) it can certainly deliver vintage tweed tones, but it can do so much more as well.   You can dial in a mid-scooped tone like a Princeton Reverb, a chimey jangle like an AC15, or a crunchy, grinding tone like a little Plexi.

The acoustic response of this amp is something special too.  It cuts through amazingly well on stage but never sounds shrill or piercing – it remains thick and full like a saxophone.  In spite of its powerful stage presence, it sounds fantastic in a home environment too – full and rich, with intense clarity but never sounding overly bright, even at very low volume.  

I should also mention the master volume circuit.  It’s incredibly transparent and really makes the Sugarland so much more versatile and usable.  It preserves the harmonic balance and the dynamic response a lot better than a conventional master volume circuit, so the tone and feel remain consistent down to bedroom volume.  At the same time, it preserves the presence and immediacy of the sound better than a power attenuator does, so in my opinion it’s the ultimate tool for transparently reducing volume to any level. 

The Sugarland’s circuit design is also very different from conventional guitar amplifiers. I started from scratch (rather than beginning with classic vintage designs) and ended up with a uniquely uncompromising purist design with exceptional tonal purity, harmonic richness, and voicing range. This design achieves these improvements through unique design features such as a custom made interstage transformer, a single channel multi-voice preamp, and rigorously engineered board layout.

The multi-voice preamp is a unique creation. Although it’s a purist single-channel design with a minimal number of controls (volume, bass, treble), it offers a wide range of classic voicings – from 60’s sparkly clean tones, to thick tweed sounds, to plexi crunch and beyond. It does this by implementing the treble and bass controls with a new form of circuitry that provides a more complex tone control behavior than a conventional guitar preamp.
While conventional treble/bass controls offer simple variations of a single voice, the Sugarland tone controls vary the voicing, gain, and overdrive characteristics all at once, for much greater tonal variety. 

Although the Treble control performs the function you expect (i.e. increasing/decreasing the amount of high-frequency content in the signal), it has a more complex and profound effect than a conventional Treble control. It also affects the balance of the treble  frequencies, midrange, and bass frequencies, and affects the overall gain as well.

As with the Treble control, the Bass control likewise performs its intended function (increasing/decreasing low frequency content), but also has a more complex and profound effect. It affects the balance of bass frequencies, midrange, and treble frequencies, and affects the overall gain and overdrive characteristics as well. 

Key Features:
12-watt Class A all-tube head
Handwired, point-to-point construction
Mercury Magnetics transformers
High/Low gain voicing switch
Exceptional clarity, feel, and harmonic response
Made in the USA by Mark Bartel
Ideal for studio, small gigs, and boutique collectors

Whether you're a tone purist or boutique amp enthusiast, the Bartel Sugarland Head offers a deeply inspiring playing experience that rivals the finest vintage amps.

Case/Cover?: No
Color: Blue
Dimensions: W20" x D8" x H8.25"
Weight: 22lbs 15oz
Watts: 12 Watts
Power Transformer Brand/Codes: See Pics
Choke Transformer Brand/Codes: See Pics
Output Transformer Brand/Codes: See Pics
Extension Speaker Out? Yes
Reverb or other effects?: No
Rectifier Tube: 5Y3
Rectifier Tube Brand: 
Power Tubes: 2 x EL84
Preamp Tubes: 2x12AX7A, 2x12AU7
Filter Caps: Original
Pedal: No
Pots/Codes: Original
Tolex/Tweed: Original
Grille: Original
Knobs: Original
Handle: Original
Power Cord: Included
Notes: 

Shipping policy:
When you purchase this item you are hereby agreeing to this shipping policy. Vintage amps are sold as-is because they can need service intermittently.  Everything is tested here in our shop on the way into our inventory, and again before shipping.  We will cover shipping damage, but we cannot be responsible for the failure of vintage components in 20-to-50-plus year old amps. Shipments will require signature on delivery, no exceptions.  If there is damage, the buyer must retain all packing materials intact and picture them immediately and send them to sales@maharsvintageguitars.com.  Less than 1% of our shipments are damaged in transit, and we are committed to making sure your item arrives safely, but we are taking these additional measures to make sure you are happy with your purchase.