EVENTS / NEWS

Here’s an extract from the review of our Excelsior Deluxe amplifier in “Gitarre & Bass” magazine issued April 2026. The full article will be available for free soon. You can purchase the printed or digital magazine here. “A look inside reveals that Three Bananas is committed to manufacturing amplifiers using carefully selected, top-quality components. As with the other 3-Bananas models, the main circuit board inside features a turret hybrid design built to NASA specifications (NASA-STD-8739.3). The build quality, component selection, and overall appearance are absolutely flawless. Top-notch! Let’s start with all the knobs set to 12 o’clock. Wow! My 1×12 cabinet delivers a solid tonal foundation with a mighty sound. It sounds bigger than you might initially expect from 35 watts. The basic tone is somewhat reminiscent of the old American classics, yet it has its own unique character that sounds absolutely fantastic. With the various switches and the highly effective tone control, the sound can then be shaped wonderfully – whether you prefer it direct and clear or warm and full-bodied. The triple-position Bright switch and the Normal/Dynamic circuit allow for countless nuances to be adjusted. This also makes it easy to find the perfect setting for different guitars. But even at moderate volumes, the Excelsior Deluxe doesn’t lose its magic. That’s impressive, and as it turns out, the master volume is perfectly balanced. Now let’s add the spring reverb. Nice! The reverb effect sounds more like a studio reverb than a replica of a classic spring reverb. If […]

Summer Sale 2025 has started! Get 20% off on our new amp Excelsior Deluxe using coupon code “X20”. Get 10% off on all other amps and cabinets using coupon code “S10”. Only at threebananasamps.com! Our Summer Sale will end October 15th 2025.  

Happy birthday dear EF86! It was a beautiful and sunny morning in the early summer of 1954 when this beauty saw the light of day in a robe of glass and expanded metal. This would be one way to start this story but here’s come the twist of the plot, the small signal pentode was simply introduced to the market back in 1954 to provide high quality, highly efficient yet cheap amplification. This tube was manufactured in lots of varieties in terms of mechanical design and construction, and has been used in quite legendary audio gear. For this 70th aniversary, I would like to share some examples from my tube collection with you, and maybe also a bit of history and technical background. Let’s start with the Valvo EF86. You might notice the outer shield that is build from a metal mesh. Some call it potato grater, however we’ll see on other examples there’s actually two kinds of mesh… Now here’s one produced by Rundfunk- und Fernmelde-Technik (RFT) in the GDR. It has a long, grey shield, no mesh. It looks indeed very similar to early units labeled Telefunken that I have seen on the internet at jogis-roehrenbude.de which is a great page btw.! However it should have been produced in East Germany, not in West Germany and also not in Russia. The main reasons to use the EF86 was the large amplification factor (or should I just say “tons of gain”) along with a very low noise (hum, hiss) […]

Thanks Kris for this great video! We could not be happier, you did such a great job here, as always! Hi everyone, we hope you love good gear as much as we do. There’s lots of blood, sweat and tears in our products and we want them to get played and enjoyed. Now let me get to the point, here’s your chance to SAFE BIG. You will get a 10% DISCOUNT on the net purchase price using the coupon code KRIS10 in our online shop at www.threebananasamps.com. The coupon code is valid until 31st October 2023 and will only apply to guitar amplifiers. On top of that, on guitar amps and cabinets, we grant another 5% discount on the net purchase price for advance payment by bank transfer.

Hi there, we have extended our list of payment methods in our online shop. You can now also pay during checkout using Giropay (Germany), Sofort (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain), iDEAL (Netherlands), P24 (Poland), Bancontact (Belgium) and EPS (Austria). As in the past, you can also pay via Credit Cards and Debit Cards. Please find more information HERE.

Our Youtube Channel has now officially been launched. For the start, we are uploading a couple of demo videos of our Beausonic amplifier. Please come by and leave a comment if you like! Would be great if you also subscribed to our Youtube Channel so you don’t miss any new content.