[Harp-L] Hohner Hoodoo Box amp

["Jim Rossen" <jimjimdr@xxxxxxxxx>]

Amp arrived from Musicians Friend yesterday.  Refer to website for
basic features.
Construction looks solid with cab of heavy glued smooth surface
lumber-like stuff and glued in speaker baffle.
Fit and finish looks good.  Made in China.  Tube sockets are mounted
on PC board. Transformers hang off the bottom of the chassis.  I did
not inspect the innards.
Amp has preamp gain, master volume,  single tone control and reverb
mix control.
Tone control provides a wide range of sounds as described, from rolled
off highs to mid prominent to mid scooped.
Amp tone is compressed but thin, lifeless, solid-state sounding, and
lacks bottom.  Sounds a bit like the power tube is severely
over-biased.  Not much response to change in mic technique.  Not much
volume before feedback.  Reverb works OK.
I used it side-by-side with my homebuilt tweed Princeton in a tweed
Champ cab.  The Princeton has much better tone and much more volume.
I used The Hohner during band practice to get some time on the
speaker, but it was not much fun.
It might be better with broken-in speaker, different speaker, and/or
different tubes.  I will not explore this and risk jeopardizing the
opportunity to return it.

Jim R