From: Ronnie Schreiber Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 14:12:43 -0800 Subject: re: bargain amps (long)
>Instead of trying to duplicate 's amp and mic, he >tried various mics, amps, effects, etc., on his own (well, with help from >the music store dude), and found what worked for HIM. > >I love my little Silverface Champ, JT-30, Green Bullet, Tie clip mic, and >various effects. Others say the Silverface isn't all that great and they >prefer a 59 Bassman, old Silvertone with 6x10's, Super Reverb, Twin Reverb, >the house PA, an old Gibson, Echoplex tape delay, SM-57, SM-58, and just >about anything else that can be used. These are fine for those who love >their sound.
I use a Silvertone Twin 12 that I got a tremendous deal on: it was free. Well, actually I think I spent something for it 25 years ago when I was in high school, but after starting to make noise on the harp I dug it out of my mom's basement, replaced one of the driver tubes and had Bruce Egnater (of Egnater Amplification) go over it. Only charged me $25 and even tossed in a couple of still very serviceable power tubes that his gotta-replace-those-power-tubes-every-month-whether-they're-worn-out-or-not guitar obsessives left behind. I built a small open backed cabinet with a 10" Celestion and it sounds quite nice to my ears (although my family has other opinions). Smooth sound until you crank it and it starts to overdrive nicely. Maybe if I ever practice enough to take it out of the basement I'll replace it with something else, but it works for me for now.
Speaking of cheap, cheezy amps, today was Purim, a Jewish holiday commemorating the events described in the biblical book of Esther. Esther is chanted in the synagogue and it's traditional to use noisemakers when the name of the villian of the story is mentioned (it's also traditional to drink enough wine to the point of being incapable of distinguishing between the hero, Mordechai, and the villian, Haman, but I digress). Though most use the kind of noisemakers you'd see on New Years Eve, I decided to practice a few licks on my Lee Oskar A. This morning I went to services at my kids' school. The reading took place in the gym, and the headmaster was using one of those portable lectern/P.A. gizmos during his introductory remarks. After a while I was feeling a little brave (and, no, I hadn't had any wine yet) and walked over to the lectern. I'm sure it had some kind of solid state amp with a 6" or 8" speaker and it had some generic Taiwanese knockoff mic that looked like a Shure 58. I switched on the mic, turned down the amp to get rid of some hellacious feedback, cupped the mic tightly and at the appropriate point ripped off some 2nd position licks. It sounded pretty okay. My 16 year-old daughter's friends thought it was pretty cool and one of the teachers even came up to me later and asked if I played since it "sounded like music". I told him that though I know some players, I mostly just make noise. Wow. I've actually played in front of people. Maybe the Two Jews Blues Band won't be just a pipe-dream. - -- Ronnie Schreiber ronni~x.netcom.com
