Re: [Harp-L] Re: Fugazzi , midsized amp
Please start breaking your posts into paragraphs. YOUR stuff is SO
damm interesting but it's God awful hard to read. I don't want to
miss a single word brother.
smokey-joe
On Jan 15, 2007, at 10:58 AM, SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx wrote:
Michael, I have developed that perfect in the middle amp, although
it can
still crank to bassman levels. It weighs exactly 40 pounds, has a
single 12 and
single 10, and you would not have to mic it in a midsized room. It
is my
Cruncher model, unfortunately my cost to build is nearly $1400, and
I am selling
for $1895 as of right now. That is not a good business markup, but
I am doing
to get them out there. Sure, you can all the suggestions you want
for under
a grand but I will put my amp up against any other midsized amp
for pink
slips, winner takes the other persons amp and light it on fire if
they want. As
far as vintage amps, over the past 10 years I literally owned 3000
vintage
amps, I played everything, every brand possible, I wanted to know
what tone was
available through these so called myth tone amps. I have owned EIGHT
Danelectro Commandos, probably illegal in some states, GA40, I
could list anything
you can name. They only have ONE spot on them that sounds good and
cannot be
turned up louder due to their design. Many were class A amps which
are limited,
good overdriven sound in your house, hit the stage and you're
dead. I know
many harpL guys think us custom builders are getting rich, anyone
that has
come to my house can testify to disclaim that. Why my cost is so
high, because I
still am the only builder in the world using true NOS paper oil
military
grade paper oil capacitors, doing side by side tests with other
amps using
orange drops or mallories, I know my sound is warmer, I spent the
farm to buy out
two old warehouses from the 50's. I test each cap under high
voltage for
tolerance and leakage, every one has Zero leakage due to it being
sealed in a
glass like encapsulation, as the process of being rolled and
soaked in this oil.
A vintage yellow astron, as in a 59 bassman, is just a piece of
metal with a
yellow paper jacket, as are all new caps. True audiophile high end
experts
are the ones that covet these PIO caps as they reproduce the
warmest and
truest sound possible. Having custom cabs built with special
unique lacquer and
clear coating where anything spilled on it will be able to be
wiped off, along
with their beauty, are also unique, and I gladly pay the price to
continue
that. Throw in custom designed transformers, along with me buying
every
speaker on the market and testing in prototype stage to find
perfect sound, and
being the only builder who can reproduce Big or Little Walter's
tone makes them
that much better, I know what people want to hear from an amp,
plus customer
support from a 30 year pro to walk you threw, give tips on
bringing your
tone deeper in you cavity, is something no other company can do. A
fellow bought
an amp yesterday , a 410, and left a 100% better harp player as
he did not
know how to even hold a vibrato. He caught on quickly and left
with tools for
life. So I am sure you can find an amp for under a grand, but life
is short
as I know more than most living with mortality staring me in the
face,
sometimes you have to suck it up and make a move. My amps keep
their value at least
75% due to them always being limited runs or being coveted by many
who have
been watching my site and wishing for years now, that is what they
tell me
anyway when they finally make the move. And when I die, talk about
value, just
a fact. Anyone that buys a Cruncher from me and has a reissue
bassman I will
also help them get the most out of it, as I worked on them for 2
years before
starting the 410. Working with the preamp tubes and bias, I can
make them
sing, get the most out of a hog. I just had to get this off my
chest, none of
you see what it takes or what we go through in the design stage of
building. I
have seen other cheap models of guys trying to hit the midsized
market, but
I still use 6L6's, I hate 6V6 sound, but did all the necessary other
engineering to keep the 410 super tone circuit, just in a smaller
cab. The 410 with
40 inches of speaker air movement, is still the most robust
thunderdog amp I
have played through. Side by side, the Cruncher has a sound all
its own but
can keep up volume wise. I will not disclose the speakers I use,
nor the other
tricks I learned from legendary Sam Hutton about acoustics and
getting more
sound out of a cab to anyone but a customer. Too many copycats out
there. I'm
done. ********* There was a great book that Kent Cooper wrote
about Sonny
Terry's style, which I found in my stuff last night and read it,
reinforcing
what I am doing is correct from what Sonny taught me. Sonny in his
own words
gives his life story up till 1969 when he met Emma, his wife who I
worked with
while driving for him. There was a little record that came with
the book,
Kent actually wrote out the tablature for harp of Sonny's
chugging, then had
samples on the record. I lost the record, if anyone has it, for my
seminars and
just personal love for him, please email me off list, I will
borrow it and
return it unscathed, bringing it to a recording studio to pay to
have them
reproduce it on CD. The stories in this book are priceless, for a
nearly blind
man to make it on his own, he credits Pete Seeger and Leadbelly as
two great
men who helped him, and others like Doc who sold snake oil and
kept 50% of what
Sonny should get, from the good to the bad, these older musicians
were taken
advantage of, needing money so never getting royalties from their
studio
work, they drank hard and lived the same way. Sonny stopped
drinking in the mid
to late 60's when his doctor told him he would die if he did not stop
drinking and smoking. I had to watch his diet and food he ate due
to his
cholesterol, he could see me taking some of the fatty stuff off
his plate. "Whatcha
doin man", still rings in my ear. We would have some serious
arguments, but then
it was over, he did not get to be 65 by accident, and some 22 year
old white
boy telling him what to do would raise him up many times. I had
orders from
Emma, no more than 2 sugars. Sonny could see light and darkness,
make out
vague shadows, but I could hear him bumping his shins on the beds
or furniture
as we stayed in different places all the time. I went to every
state except
Hawaii with him, all parts of Canada, BC, Alaska, and Japan,
touring and playing
with Lightning Hopkins. To my knowledge they told us in 78 we were
the first
blues musicians to tour Japan. Not many of them liked to fly, let
alone 16
hours on a plane. So many stayed in Europe as you can hear in
Sonny Boy
Williamson's words of his song, as they were treated like royalty
rather than being
segregated and being call the N word. The story of Woody Guthrie
tearing a
place up cause they stuck S and B in an isolated corner with
Woody, not being
able to eat with the white folks they just got through
entertaining and
making them feel good. Woody told them, wait outside, I'll be
right out, and they
could hear him flipping over the table they put them ate and
cussing at them
for not letting them eat with them. Sonny said if blacks killed
blacks in the
south, no one cared, but dating a white woman was taboo, this they
all knew.
Enough. Again. please get back to me if you have the little record
with the
book. The discography of how many albums Sonny was on, I could add
to the duo
list probably another 10 guys Sonny recorded with, but it is
impressive.
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