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From: GEORGE_STACHN~P-SantaClara-om13.om.hp.com
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 17:05:44 -0700
Subject: Top Five Amps

There have been endless threads on harp-l debating the merits and
shortcomings of various amps. Since most of us will probably spend a
lot more money on an amp than we do on a harp, (well, on one harp
anyhow) I was thinking it might be useful to start a thread with the
aim of compiling some kind of list of the best harp amps. For example
- here's a list of a few amps that I've personally played through and
found to be exceptionally useful tools for generating "that sound"....

1) Tweed Fender Deluxe (not sure of the year - probably '60 - some of
the most fluid sounds I've heard and just enough power and presence
to cut through the rest of the band without constantly fighting the
feedback wars.)

2) '59 Tweed Fender Champ (as good as it gets IMHO - great tone -
frightening honk - and no feedback to speak of - could be louder
though. I've been told if I like a champ, I'll love a tweed
Princeton, but I've never had a chance to try one out. Put a
mike in front of it and you've got the perfect amp for jamming
with the local guitar heroes....

3) Sears Silvertone (I think it was a 1484 - plenty of power, and
the tone was surprisingly good - I dunno, maybe I just had low
expectations and was pleasantly surprised - but I don't think so.)

4) Crate VC-508 (could be louder - but with a 12AU7 tube swap, it's
got plenty of tone - and the price is sure right...)

5) OK - I think every list ought to include one weird-oh...
I've got a home-brew amp that consists of an old Lafayette
mono hi-fi amp (that was originally used with a phonograph)
and a couple of 10" speakers that came out of a Gibson
Skylark. - Cost me damn near zero and sounds great...) Looks
pretty funky - gets a lot of laughs 'till I start blowing
through it.

6) Gibson Skylark GA-5 - a little thin sounding all by itself, but
nothing I couldn't fix with an EQ pedal). Hellacious tone.

7) Fender Blues Jr. - surprisingly loud, and just a bit harsh -
Barely makes the list - but a good amp nonetheless...)

I'm not saying that these are necessarily the best amps available.
I'm guessing that if I ever got a chance to blow through a harp king
or sonny jr, both of them would make the list. (At that price, they
better!) But these are the best ones that I've personaly had the
opportunity to play through (at least in a 'test-drive' setting in a
music store, if not in a gig situation).

And while I'm at it, here's a list of a few of my least-favorite harp
amps....

v) Mid Seventies vintage blackface Fender champ - I dunno - maybe
it had bad tubes or something - but it just sounded harsh to
my ears - maybe my expectations were too high. After all, I
*loved* the tweed champ - I expected this to be a cheaper version
of the same thing. Oh well....

w) I know I'll get a lot of flack for saying this, but I didn't
like the Fender Bassman RI. I've read on this list that it's
very difficult to 'dial in' the right sound, but once you get
it, it's positively awe-inspiring. So far, I haven't been able
to get it - but to be fair, I've never owned one - just messed with
them in the music store. I have a suspicion that one day, I'm
going to find somebody who will show me how to make one of these
things howl, and then *I'll* change *my* tune...) BTW, I tried
an original '59 bassman in a music store, and had the same ex-
perience - although to be fair, they wouldn't let me turn it up
loud enough to really give it a workout...

x) Surprisingly, a fender Princeton with Chorus and Reverb.
This was a new amp, and I just couldn't get that dirty
sound out of it without fighting a lot of feedback.

y) Crate 60 Watt Solid State Combo, (G-60?) - the dirty channel
fed back like crazy - and the clean channel used to cut out if
you drove it too hard. Suspect most tube amps would fit this
description,

z) An old Alamo transistor amp - forget the model # - forget the amp,
for that matter.... I've never heard a solid state amp that I
really liked as a harp amp, but this one seemed to personify
everything I disliked about transistors - maybe I had unreason-
ably high expectations because it was old....

So my thought is -- if a whole bunch of us were to contribute our
personal "10-best" and "10 worst" amp lists, they might be compiled
into single resource that I, for one, would love to take with me to a
music store.

"Oh Look - here's a funky looking old tube amp from a
manufacturer that I never heard of. It sounds pretty good
(as near as I can tell here in the store where they won't
really let me crank it up). The price is right - I wonder
if anybody on harp-l has tried out one of these?

So = what are your top-10 (and bottom ten) harp amps?