Re: [Harp-L] amp heaven

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Harpgear amp seems to be getting high marks from everyone who's played it.  

Ron Holmes is currently revamping my Crate VC508.  It was beginning to buzz and make spitting noises, and instead of sending it to a local tech for minor repairs, I decided to send it to Ron to work his magic on.  He's installing a line-out after the amp stage, replacing lots of parts whose functions I barely understand, and in general upgrading it and voicing it for harp.

I'll provide a full report when I get the amp back, should be in 1-2 weeks.  This might be an economical alternative to boutique amps:
Crate V8 Palomino (latest version of VC508) = $250 new
Weber 8" speaker (which I installed in my VC508) = $65 (as I recall)
Ron Holmes treatment = somewhere between $160-200 dollars

Total = about $515, pretty economical for a tube amp tweaked for harp.  And of course, I used the VC508 for ten years with good very results before I went for the mod.    

As I've said before, it's the golden age of gear -- lots of great choices for harp players in every price range.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com