[thechat] Hijack: Guitars (was: Re: Fish do feel pain)
Luther, Ron
Ron.Luther at hp.com
Thu May 8 15:04:20 CDT 2003
Erika Meyer asked:
RonL wrote:
>ended up trading it for some new pickups
>and an old Fender amp.)
tell us more, please!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi Erika,
I started off with an Ampeg amplifier I bought used in 1971 or so
for $100. Tube amp. It weighed a ton - at least 100 pounds - but it
had a handle on top so it must have been portable. ;-) Spring reverb
that probably had 16" springs in it. Dual footswitch for reverb and
vibrato. A strange little toggle switch for something Ampeg called
'afterbeat'. A single (most likely blown) 12" speaker. Put together
with 'butterfly-head' screws cuz I had to buy a new screewdriver just
to take it apart to swap out the speaker.
It was _very_ LOUD!
<--- amp facing ... my house ... road ... neighbor house ... garden -->
this way
I ran a turntable through it once while it was on the back porch and
cranked it up a bit. The neighbor roto-tilling the garden behind
his house across the street with a noisy gas powered device could sing
along with the lyrics ... it was LOUD. [I never lost a 'stereo war'
when I had *that* bugger!] ;-)
Unfortunately, being a tube amp, it had that darn 'sweet spot' where,
it you tried to play softly ... it sounded like crap. You HAD to
crank it to get any kind of decent 'tone'. This didn't go over very
well with my parents and siblings ... or the neighbors ... or the men
in blue. So it mostly did time as a bedside table.
In the late 80s, early 90s or so my brother 'borrowed' it and sold
it to one of his buddies. Cool, huh? He didn't get anywhere near
what a vintage tube amp should go for! (and I didn't get a penny -
thanks Bro!) Grrrrr!
Anyway, I bought one of those tiny little crappy Crate amps that you
see everywhere. It wasn't very good, but at least it had a headphone
jack so I wouldn't bother the family. {Currently on loan to my new
son-in-law ... and I don't really want it back.}
Feeling nostalgic for that 'warm tube' sound while living in Akron
about 9 years ago -- I went out and bought a new Marshall combo amp
that looked a lot like the one in Garrett's photo.
I only had it a couple of weeks when all of the 'sweet spot / must play
loud' memories became current issues ... it had to go. At that same time
I had an 'el cheapo' Fender Strat (Squier) {Mexican I think} with those
scum-sucking bottom of the line pickups that produce more 'hum' than an
ungrounded metal band playing in the loading dock of a flourescent light
factory during an electrical storm. Most annoying!
I blame a buddy of mine at work. The Controller of the company I was
working for at the time lent me one of his guitars for the weekend -- a
Fender Strat Ultra. <drool /> Ebony fretboard. Roller nut. Fender lace
pickups. Dual red bridge pickups wired to a splitter to play the front,
rear, or both together as a 'simulated humbucker'. Very very nice.
So I traded the Marshall (and some more cash) for a Fender lace blue
neck pickup, a lace silver middle, and a double red lace bridge pickup ...
and a used Fender Princeton Chorus amp. Dual footswitch for chorus and
distortion. {Loud enough - but with that solid state 'linearity' so the
tone, [while not perhaps quite as 'warm'], doesn't degrade as much at
lower volume levels.
{Yeah - I'd also rather have a vintage 'blackface twin' or a dual
showman -- but I don't need that kind of volume ... OR expense. Ouch!}
I also found (the only) Fender tech in Ohio and had him router out my
Squier, load in the new pickups, wire in a splitter for the double reds,
and put on a 'mother of toilet seat' Ultra style pick guard. Yep $400
in mods and upgrades put into a $300 guitar! Totally whack. My
'Frankenstrat'. I like it a lot. The hum is gone. The tone is wonderful
with the lace pickups ... but it's not a multiple thousand dollar guitar
so I don't have to be anal about not letting other folks near it -- this
is the 'house' guitar - it gets thrown at any player that walks in the
door. The sound is good and I don't have to worry about it getting beat up.
I made a note to myself to try to get photos of my guitar junk tonight.
RonL.
(Who really needs to play the "good" guitar more often. It's probably
pretty lonely.)
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