Re: [Harp-L] Regarding Masco MA-17 & ME - 18's from Wader

[PL500@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 9/12/04 10:58:37 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
wader1@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Robb
I have a Masco ME-18, an MA 17, a Masco combo amp and a few others 
Masco heads. The 18 & 17 have been worked on by Skip Simmons who is 
considered the best with old PA heads and does a lot of work for Sonny 
Jr., Little Charlie and the night cats, etc. The MA 17 is supposed to 
be the holy grail of Macos for harp players, and is reportedly the 
circut that the Sonny Jr harp amp is based on. Having said that I find 
my ME-18 to be the hottest and sweetest sounding of the heads for harp 
- at least after Skip tweaked it for the instrument. The MA17 is great, 
  just not as good. My little Masco combo - the ones with the musical 
note on the grill cloth and the two tone tolex really sings as well 
when the tubes heat up - and is a great practice amp. By the way, the 
little Masco amp heads work best with an EQ ( cut out most of the mids 
for a scoped tone and less feedback )  and an analog delay in front to 
open up the sound. Mascos once gone through are very reliable. For 
gigging though I use a Kendrick Texas Crude Harp amp ( with 4 - 10's ) 
which is no longer in production.
Best Roger 'Wader' Boyce
As someone who has owned and played through numerous Masco heads, I will say 
that the tone and sound will vary highly from head to another. I have played 
through MA-17's and MA-18's and must say that out of all the different ones I 
played that hardly any two of the same kind were really alike. I currently own 
a Masco 8 (One 6L6 amp) and have to say that it dusted off the the MA-17's and 
the MA-18's that I tried for harp, but the amp itself was restored. What I am 
saying is that the Masco's in and of themselves are not magical, but every 
once in while you might run across one that is. Regardless they are fragile amps 
and usually a need a bit of restoration before they are sound worthy. If you 
find a good one, there is not much else that gets better than that. 

Andrew