General Music Chat

wanna Dr. Z

More and more guitarists are going with 'no amp on stage' - either using a modeler/pedal set-up like the Helix, or for pros with big stage set ups - amps in iso boxes behind/under the stage, miked to the PA (that's what Trans Siberian Orchestra does).

george.. this is what I want.. a Dr. Z Z-28.. like a chevy
https://www.humbuckermusic.com/products ... gJ3tvD_BwE

george.. this is what I want.. a Dr. Z Z-28.. like a chevy
https://www.humbuckermusic.com/products ... gJ3tvD_BwE

Someone mentioned that place to me last week, as I was outside Atlanta, but they didn't know where exactly it was (nowhere near where I was).

Well, who knows what is better

More and more guitarists are going with 'no amp on stage' - either using a modeler/pedal set-up like the Helix, or for pros with big stage set ups - amps in iso boxes behind/under the stage, miked to the PA (that's what Trans Siberian Orchestra does).

looks sexy

I saw van Halen at the Whiskey in Hollywood many years ago. The whole stage was packed with Marshal Amps. Yet it was nothing more than a Potemkin Village of sound, maybe one or two cabs actually had speakers in them nor would speakers have fit anyway, those "Marshal Stacks" appeared to be made of card board and were only about six to eight inches deep (to the discerning eye).

Great show but the funny thing was the only player that didn't impress me was the bass man. And now he is the only player who really does impress me. That boy can get it done. See this (ChickenFoot):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQVTtpE9J7s

Talbot

i appreciate (what i deem to be) good looking equip as much as anybody. but like many musicians, i often like to swim upstream and go against the grain.

i'd be lying if i didn't admit that much of my love for old Guilds (and some new ones) has to do w the fact that they're NOT Fenders, Gibsons, or Martins. of course, if they weren't total killers, as players that in and of itself wouldn't amount to beans. I find even some of Guild's "uglier" gtrs and basses to possess "ugly beauty".

have to say that i've never really spent much (any?) time obsessing over how my gtr or bass amp looks.

wait.

time out.

having said that....back in the day i did pull the remaining tolex off an old 2x12 Bassman cab and '68 bassman head to reveal some gorgeous and beautifully grained pine w lovely finger joints. sanded it down and polyurethaned it....hmmmm. it was the shiznitz and i almost always got compliments on it's looks (if not on what i sounded like playing thru it!).

yeah, ok,,,,ya got me there.

but back to gtr amps.....for the last ten or so yrs my gtr gigs are limited to mostly just jazz gigs and nothing gets the job done better for me that my plain jane looking '65 Deluxe reissue.

i feel like a million bucks when i'm playing a gtr that is set up well (all mine are) and i'm working w an amp (my Deluxe) that gives me exactly the tones i'm looking for.

now, would i or anyone at the gig enjoy it anymore if was "better looking" or more "special looking'....i'm sure there are some who would.

another amp that comes to mind that DOES hold big visual appeal to me (but only because it's a great FUNCTIONING i.e. sounding amp) is the iconic Ampeg Fliptop B-15n and B-12n amps from back in the day. I've played thru a few (mmmm. pillowy warmness! loved it) but never have owned one. They was somes seriously cool little amps w seriously cool design.

Mark's reminiscing reminded me that I once had two old beatup Fender cabinets, a Showman and a Bassman that we used as PA cabinets (really) - I think both had speakers from Lafayette Electronics (remember them - competitor to Radio Shack?) The Bassman had been in a fire (yup!) and all the Tolex was gone, metal reinforcement corners still in place, handles all gone. Someone had spraypainted the whole outside black and replaced the grill cloth with an all-black one (probably also from Lafayette).
We used them with a Bogen PA amp that might have come from a store announcement system. Hey, it was high school, we were young and dumb, what did we know? I think the whole thing cost me $150.