[Harp-L] Mark Hummel

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

First, this is a long post, I only post seldom, so put it together at one  
time. You can choose not to read it, half of it, or come along for the  
ride, this is America. To follow up on a post by Grant, and then my current  
thoughts and tributes...
 
Hi Grant, great to hear, Mark is one of most innovative players out there.  
It has always been a pleasure to work alongside him at the old 
Masterclasses.  Just for the record, Mark plays and endorses the Sonny Jr, Cruncher as 
his  midsized amplifier. Although he does endorse another company's large 
amps  currently, he told me uses his Cruncher for many midsized and some large  
venues. If anyone were actually a pro player and understood just how 
difficult  it is to make a living as a full time Pro harp player, they would 
understand  that ALL of us builders do whatever we can just to make them happy. 
Mark had  stopped off at my house in Ct. when one of his older amps he used 
to endorse,  does not now, broke down; so he pulls up in this white van 
filled with equipment  that has seen Many miles, and it was like, How many 
musicians can you fit in one  van. I can only bow down to someone like he who puts 
his life, family, home on  the line to be able to bring US great music. And 
Every show is just that, a  Show, no matter how badly he feels. Just like 
Sonny told me, "If they's paying  at the door, man, you gotsa put on a show 
for them." I was happy to have the  guys come in the house, chill out, make 
them whatever they wanted, and gladly  Mark only needed a new rectifier, 
fuse, got him biased up with new power tubes  and preamp tubes, and he was a 
happy camper. 
         Whatever I have  worked out with my endorsers is between myself 
and the endorser. Charlie  Musselwhite endorses ONLY Sonny Jr amplifiers, 
whether he is forced to play  another amp, never another custom amp, at a gig, 
is what he has to do, which is  soon not going to be the case, EVER. I am 
almost finished with a beautifully  refurbished by Keith Robb, (my Cruncher and 
all around engineer), Masco  Audiosphere which Charlie will be able to 
carry overhead on a plane, not ever  deal with speaker cabinets as we have it 
worked over so that he will only need  the head, and use the line out to the 
PA; he always has monitors, so never will  worry about what speaker cabinet 
he has to plug into. He will have a switch  under the top which physically 
needs to be switched so he can carry it overseas,  switch to 240V and be good 
to go. I will be presenting this to him when I drive  to Norwich, N.Y, for 
his outdoor festival gig on Aug.22nd,  then meet up  with them in 
Marshfield,Mass.on August 23rd,  bringing my personal Cruncher  for him to use both 
nights, as Charlie will be flying into New York. If anyone  wants information 
on these shows, email me.  He only has two gigs, one in  Minn. one night, the 
next night in Delaware in early August,  where he will  need whatever amp 
he chooses.  
            I  am appreciative to all those experts that can modify old PA 
heads, however  to put things into perspective, from 1990 until my first 
production amplifier, I  literally bought and had serviced over 1000 PA heads 
of all makes, stereo  consoles, organ amplifiers, even an old projector with 
2 x 6L6's for power  tubes. Tom Stankiewicz of Cotton Amplifiers can attest 
to this, as he did all  the finger work, always bringing them back to Stock, 
which is important. I did  my research with the help of many sources who 
stated Little Walter was known to  use a Masco PA, At Some Point or Occasion, 
which came in a full cabinet, each  half split apart, the head sat on a 
removable shelf. In the Little Walter book  done expertly by Scott Dirks and 
company, the picture of the cabs on the wall LW  had that night WERE NOT 
Masco's; from all my experience I would say closer to  Bell or Stromberg 
Carlson's. How I determined what Masco LW may have played, was  by keeping these amps 
unmodified, as to me, that was the only way to determine  what he could 
have use, no harp amp techs in the 50's. My Sonny Jr #1, still  today regarded 
by its approximately 190 owners, was as close as LW's recorded  Chess sound 
in that time, from 1994 until end of SJ1 production in 1998. THAT  amplifier 
was truly designed directly based on the Masco MA17, the model with  two 
octal preamp tubes, 6SL7 and 6SN7's. We had all the transformers reverse  
spec'd by a transformer company in Texas, had the power transformer center  
tapped so we could put a switch on the side of the chassis for 120/240, and then 
 Tom designed a preamp section based on a Western Electric design. If you 
look at  a schematic of the MA17 and my Sonny Jr 1, the power section is 
virtually  identical, with upgrades that needed to be done for protection 
installed. This  was a cathode biased amp, fixed bias also called, did not hum a 
bit, and is  still working perfectly over 17 years later. 
        I was, and still am, basing  my overall tone on the original 
Masco's and other all around amps from the 50's,  however after doing this for 20 
years, bring That tone but also bring a purity  of tone, never one 
dimensional, the player can make the amplifiers do whatever  they want, whenever they 
want, with the volume needed in this day and  age. I did sell many PA heads 
in wooden cabinets;Bogen, Pilot, S.C,  Masco's, Pilot model 232 stereo 
console made to look like a Gibson  GA79, just a few to go on record. Many have 
asked me to document all  this, however I have just been living in the 
moment, do not own all the amps I  have built, just my Cruncher and Super Sonny. 
All of this is in my head, no  comments::)) This is why I don't Allow anyone 
to rent any space up there,  it's already full with positive thoughts, 
love, and creations. To give props and  my history with Tom.
       Tom Stankiewicz of Cotton Amps  fame's full time job is Head of 
spacesuit design for the entire NASA  program, being based at Hamilton Standard 
in E. Hartford, CT. .. He is one  of the most analytical and wonderful 
people I have met. There are only 10  spacesuits in the entire NASA program, Tom 
is in charge of maintenance,  upgrades, problem solving: he is called to 
Houston on a second's notice, just  like when the men on the shuttle almost 
died about 4- 5 years ago, is was like  that movie. Tom and his team had parts 
sent up to the shuttle and walked the men  through fixing a serious problem. 
How Tom acquired that position, (hey,  some of you may find this 
interesting, some not, I did ), is in the 1980's, as  an engineer, NASA had a serious 
problem with all their spacesuit  designs. After none of the Big Shots could 
find the problem, Tom, in his  analytical way, solved the mystery and was 
then promoted to Head of the whole  program. He never has promoted himself as 
an amp Guru, or genius, he just is, so  I am giving the props to those that 
did the work I cannot do. My ears, playing,  speaker and tube knowledge, 
are what guides the technicians to do their voodoo,  then it usually goes back 
and forth many times until I feel satisfied with the  circuit, then am left 
to do all the final adjustments until I feel it is harp  perfect. That 
alone is an agonizing project, as I am a perfectionist, I know  what it should 
sound like and can get the sound,( by those that matter's  accounts), having 
it as an extension of the player is what really  counts. Tom has a 
tremendous responsibility, if he is wrong, people die. Making  amps that hopefully 
bring joy to others is a small spec in the universe compared  to what he 
handles on a daily basis, and has never changed in the 21 years I  have had the 
pleasure of knowing him. 
        My advertisement back in  the 1990's in Vintage Guitar magazine, 
Kevin's Harps at the time, is  basically word for word was, " My Sonny Jr 1 
was based on a Masco PA  head that Little Walter was known to play".. That 
Tone, at the time, with the  knowledge available in 1995, was, and still is, 
the basis for my amps; after 20  years I feel I have two of the best harp 
amps, and am glad all other builders  feel the same way, which pushes us all to 
new heights. I initially started  speaker blending, which is now a staple of 
virtually every builder's amps, in  1999, when I was in a transition period 
and worked on reissue bassmans, however  had worked on many Fender Concert 
amps even before then, using a combination of  speakers, so have been doing 
it longer. I just felt the blending of different  tonal frequencies, 
wattages, was more useful for harp that being stuck with X  amount of one speaker. 
I am not saying other amps are not based on a Masco PA,  however this has 
been done and is continuing to be so 20 years before any other  company came 
along. Just to finish up as many are asking about Masco's and what  speakers. 
    The Masco MA17 full cabinet with clips that  locked the two halves 
together used one Jensen P10S speaker in each side. Some,  very few of the many 
I have owned, came with the 285 speaker code for Rola, a  very popular 
speaker in 1950's Danelectro's, Utah is the 328 code, also used in  Dano's and 
many other 50's amps. The MA17 has many versions; All used a 5Y3 and  2 x 
6L6's, however the earlier models used Loctal preamp tubes, such 7C7, 7F7,  
7N7.. There are gain substitutions if you really know your tubes for these  
models, although I believe one may just be, as it. Then they used the octal  
6SL7, 6SN7 preamps, and moving into the ME17, 2 x 12AX7's or nine pin tubes. 
The  MA25 was another full unit in case, this and the MA17 were originally 
used  by Hog Callers or a church PA, city fair, they came with Astatic JT30's 
or other  mics as a Full unit. The MA25 I found to be stock, too much gain 
and not harp  friendly, so did not buy many, although they came with one 12" 
speaker in each  side, P12S or P12R, rola, they matched the exact wattage of 
the amplifier  perfectly with the maximum wattage of the speakers, as the 
original Jensen 1953  catalog lists a P10S as 9 watts max, P10R as 10, and 
P10Q as 11 watts RMS. These  have been upgraded in wattage over time. Fender 
bassman, 40 watts, 4 x P10R,  perfection Leo. I do have one perfectly rebuilt 
with original cover Jensen Blue  P10S I would sell, as I am moving some of 
vintage speakers. I also have Gold  basket, two with original bells, one with 
no bell, Jensen P10R's, the only non  blue speaker Jensen Speaker I believe 
to be used in Gibson amps and possibly  Fender, only in certain models and 
years. 
    Ok, I'm done. If you want to call this rambling, I  would probably 
agree, however there is so much stored in 25 years of amps  it is very hard for 
me to focus on just one thing. I have obtained so  much information of 
vintage amplifiers, owning Eight Danelecto Commandos  over my days, I hope that 
some which gets leaked out is enjoyable and useful  information. I will 
probably never write the book many want, about All the amps  I have been through, 
probably over 3000; I do have some ideas for playing as a  future and 
documenting Sonny's life from the period of time I spent with him and  my 
personal experiences after that, until he passed in March of 1986. I have  been in 
touch with Emma, Sonny's wife, and will try and reconnect with her, as  it 
was last year when we spoke, and she was not doing so well. I have a  dream 
video which I hope to produce, providing Emma is still with us, and will  be 
willing to participate. That's all. I know, a lot. You won't see me on here  
often, sometimes I feel I just need to clear the air on issues and try and 
pass  along some of this. 
G.O.
**************What's for dinner tonight?  Find quick and easy dinner ideas 
for any occasion. 
(http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?ncid=emlcntusfood00000009)