This video is my full demo of the Carstens Amplification Cathedral—an all-tube, single channel 100-watt head with an EL34 power section. It’s the third amp from Brian Carstens I’ve had the pleasure of checking out (after the Grace and the Empire), and the Cathedral is a totally different lane: straightforward, simple, and pure, with a big, glassy, chimey clean thing and a thick, brawy drive when you crank the gain. If you’re expecting a traditional plexi circuit, this isn’t that—think more like a Hiwatt DR103 or a Laney Supergroup vibe. I walk through the range of gain, the controls that actually matter, and especially the “detail” switch, which is basically a three-way bright option boosting around 8k. It makes it easy to match the amp to different guitars and pickups—single coils, P90s, humbuckers—without fighting it. I’ve got it pretty cranked for this demo (it’s super loud), and the big takeaway is how dynamic and touch-sensitive it feels, plus how much it lets the character of each guitar come through instead of stamping one distortion flavor on everything. Personally, I like living on the edge-of-breakup zone and using pedals to push it over the top, and this amp is perfect for that.