TomaTone – Stellar El84 SE Combo Kit
TomaTone – Stellar
A Single-Ended EL84 Combo With a Big Soul — Engineered and Designed by Chris Phillips
The TomaTone Stellar is what happens when a single-ended amplifier is allowed to reach its full potential. Designed by Chris Phillips, the Stellar takes the core architecture of the Stella head and places it into a beautifully resonant Tweed Deluxe–style cabinet, paired with a 12" ET65 TomaTone speaker by WGS.
This is not a reproduction. It’s not a clone.
It is pure, intentional, hand-crafted tube design —
simple where it should be, wild where it needs to be, and musical everywhere.
THE HEART OF STELLAR — PURE, SINGING TONE
At its core lies a single-ended EL84, breathing freely in all of its harmonic complexity. Stellar isn’t just an SE amp; it is a tone instrument built around the belief that one output tube — when given the right environment — can feel alive, expressive, and unmistakably musical.
There is no tone control, because the amplifier was purpose-voiced to sing.
Plug in, hit a chord, and Stellar responds with clarity, bloom, and emotional depth.
PARALLELED 12AU7 PREAMP WITH DUAL COLD CLIPPERS
The Stellar front end is unique in the SE world:
-
Two paralleled 12AU7 triodes for rich harmonic fullness
-
Each triode feeding a dual 10k cold clipper
-
Purpose-built for sweet, musical, controllable clipping
This design yields:
-
Smooth edge-of-breakup
-
Long, singing harmonics
-
Zero fizz or mush
-
Exceptional note separation
-
Responsive dynamics even with high-output pickups
It’s the kind of overdrive that keeps you playing after the note fades — because the harmonics refuse to stop.
A SMALL AMP THAT HITS LIKE A BIG AMP
Even with a single EL84, the Stellar delivers remarkable authority thanks to its cabinet resonance and custom speaker pairing:
-
Tight, controlled lows
-
Sweet, vocal mids
-
Smooth, musical highs
-
More volume and projection than expected
-
A harmonic footprint that feels larger than the amp itself
With its tweakable architecture, the Stellar can transform into:
-
A studio recording amp capable of power-tube saturation at low levels
-
A desktop amp with quiet operation and surprising nuance
-
A practice amp that remains sweet and composed at low volume
-
A pedal platform when run cold with bypass caps disengaged
-
A compact stage amp with projection far above its wattage
Stellar adapts to you — not the other way around.
THE TWEED DELUXE CABINET + 12" ET65 TOMATONE SPEAKER (WGS)
What makes the Stellar stand apart is its voice within the cabinet:
Tweed Deluxe–Style Pine Cabinet
-
Lightweight, resonant solid pine
-
Classic Tweed Deluxe dimensions
-
Natural compression and warmth
-
Aerodynamic projection with musical low-end bloom
12" ET65 TomaTone Speaker (WGS)
-
Vintage-meets-modern frequency balance
-
Tight low end without flubbiness
-
Smooth upper mids that never get harsh
-
Harmonic detail that complements the EL84’s natural chime
-
Ideal for clean, edge-of-breakup, and saturated tones
The combination of the single-ended EL84, Stella’s unique preamp design, and the E65 speaker gives the Stellar authority normally reserved for larger push-pull combos.