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From: "G"
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 1999 17:53:33 +1200
Subject: Amps, mics and a huang!

Last week I talked to a few guys on the list about getting a second hand
amp... in particular there were a couple of second hand "Jansens" which are
a NZ Fender knock up, they seemed like a good deal - and was going to give a
few a try out.

Anyway - I paid another visit to a fairly new music shop to see if I could
get myself a cheap bluesband to experiment on.


The guy who ran the shop turned out to be a really friendly bloke. I talked
Mics & amps with this guy as well - as I am still hunting for my first rig.
Of course he made a beeline for the Mega-Boogies, and some other cool brand
valve amps which he had down from NZ$1250 to NZ$999, and I have heard many
good things with him, so I listened to all he had to say about them, and
then pointed out for a very first amp I am probably more in the market for
something a bit cheaper, and possibly second hand. Well second hand ones
are hard for a shop to come by.
I mentioned a couple of Jansen's I've seen for sale in the local second hand
rag, he told me about their history, and pointed out the guys who knocked
these things together didn't understand why the Fenders had this clipping
effect when the volume got up and all this, so they deviated and went for a
more powerful amp to overcome this problem, so they have nice clean sounds
all the way up! Well that put me off Jansen - there was even a '63 Jansen
tube head I was thinking of making a project out of, but now I think I'll
work with something else.

However he suggested maybe I could put NZ$120 into a cheap solidstate amp,
and then work my way up. Sounds like an interesting plan.

And as far as finding the mic for me, apart from a kind offer I've accepted
which will come in its own time, I'm finding the local market pretty bare.
I don't really want a Green Bullet which is about all the shops sell for
NZ$300(!). But this guy showed me the Hohner catalogue, and there are two
bullet mics they make a blues/dirty mic and 'chromatic'/clean mic, NZ$155
ea - not bad.

He's going get them in for me in a couple of weeks and let me try them out
on a few of the amps they've got. He reacons he'll have a cheap amp there
for me if I'm interested as well.

I realise these are a fairly personal thing, but I'm wondering if anyone can
comment on Hohner's mics, and the idea of starting out small and cheap.
Where I live the cheap tube amps for less than NZ$300 are rarer than hens
teeth. So I'm thinking just for starting out this may not be a bad track to
take. There is a 'Lanely' for $600 and when I've got a mic, I'll take my
time over finding an amp I like and can afford.

Oh, he didn't have any Bluesbands (I'll get one later), but I ended up
getting my first Huang Silvertone (key B from him, Huang are almost unheard
of where I live, and for NZ$19 its a reasonable deal considering Lee Oskars
& Hohners are now almost NZ$40. He said he was interested in getting in
different brands, at which point I said if he brought in Hering's I'd buy
them. :)

This Silvertone is very easy to cup - has a warm tone, but needs a gentle &
controlled touch to bend compared to Hohner's & LO's I've got. And it
squeals a bit like LOs.
Its also a tad leaky compared to what I'm used to. But its so easy to mold
the sound with my hands, mouth, etc. An interesting purchase.

Catch ya'll later. Like to hear your opinions.
Cheers
G