[Harp-L] Willie Big Eyes Smith

[SONNYTONE@xxxxxxx]

Bill or anyone else with a question concerning my amps, can you PLEASE not  
post it on this list as I am fed up with it. Contact me personally and I 
will  answer any questions. I will answer your question Truthfully, and only  
ONCE, no back on forth from any negative people. I just will not accept it  
anymore. Kenny " Beedy Eyes' Smith, Willie's Son, did buy a STOCK, just like 
 everyone else has, Cruncher, with a custom mic that I sell to everyone 
else, all  my mics are killer with the best elements that Chuck Gurney has gone 
through. It  was bought a few months before XMAS, and he presented it to 
his father at that  time. Willie is a better drummer than harp player, 
although harp was his first  instrument, but he is doing the best he can. There 
were not more knobs than  anyone has, as ALL Cruncher chassis come from one 
source. There is no presence  control on the top, we internally set that at 4 
which was tested and found to be  the best setting for this amp. I contacted 
Kenny to see how Willie liked the amp  and he said all was fine, but I was 
not quite comfortable as I like to talk each  and every customer through the 
totally different tonal settings this particular  amp runs on. So get your 
eyes checked, all Cruncher chassis are EQUAL. As far as  customizing the 
existing amp, there have been on about 4 occasions where the  customer has felt 
they had too much natural distortion, even with the settings  or different 
preamp tube. Due to 99% of the customers loving it stock, that is  how I send 
them out. In the case of someone wanting a slightly cleaner sound,  and it 
can't be determined until they get the stock amp, I just send them a 5  watt 
lighter speaker for the bottom, and that solves Everything. So far,  
Charlie, Pierre, and two other customers have this other speaker. If any  customer 
wants this speaker, contact me personally and I will explain how to do  so. 
    With that said, on my new Super Sonny, I AM  offering to a limited 
amount of people, a Vintage Grade Super Sonny, that will  have all vintage 
Jensen P10R;s, NOS military grade sealed pots, and all NOS  tubes, including 
matched NOS Tungsol 5881's for power tubes. Tungsol made tubes  for many 
different companies, I learned a lot about them when attempting to buy  the best 
ones off ebay. They are all the same, as long as they are matched  correctly, 
they are fine. I have two long standing customers who want this amp  site or 
sound unseen, that is the level of trust I have from my  customers. We are 
in the process of building the first Super Sonny to go to  Romania, where 
Charlie played and met the best player in Romania who wanted a  larger amp, so 
he is getting the first Super Sonny off the line. Then the two  custom amps 
where I will do all the work, and set it up to make sure that the  vintage 
tone is there, which is a bit more crisp and pretty much exactly like a  
stock original bassman only better due to a stronger output transformer, based  
on the original Triad 45249 specs, but with more beef and bottom end added 
by  the transformer company I use, Heyboer, who have been around since the 
50's. I  do not endorse or believe in Mercury magnetics trannies from 
experience. I have  to thank Scooter for the referral to Heyboer. That said, all 
reports from  upgraded 410 owners have been nothing but stellar, the slight 
imperfections I  felt needed improving, such as easier to the touch ability to 
break up, more  volume without robbing tone, and overall robust sound with 
changes I have made  have truly made this in mine and other's opinions, the 
perfect amp for the true  Chicago 1950's big fat tone with still the purity 
of the circuit intact. NO  circuit changes were made, although the circuit 
was attempted by 3 builders,  including Ron Holmes to be modified for what I 
wanted, it never satisfied me. So  I did what I do, go crazy with speaker 
subs, tube lineups, and a custom Sound  Enhancer cabinet that I learned from 
the late, great Sam Hutton, who built my  first 80 something Sonny Jr 1's. It 
allows more air to be pushed forward, not  shot out the back of the amp.
    I will now GUARANTEE the new Super Sonny to be  everything I say it is, 
or you get a full refund, you pay shipping both ways,  and of course the 
amp will need to be inspected so it is still in new condition.  This is for 
one week, that is all you will need and I am confident none will  come back. 
    I will say for the last time and put it to rest, no  matter what anyone 
thinks, Charlie is NEVER going to travel with an amp for one  or two gigs, 
he does need the hassle of worrying if his amp will get there when  he does, 
will it be destroyed, he just doesn't need to do that. At this point in  
his life, he is entitled to travel with no extra baggage, and play whatever 
they  have for them. That said, I am refurbishing a vintage 30 watt class A 
Masco head  so Charlie CAN travel and put the head in the overhead 
compartment, then I will  have all the cables so he can use whatever amp they supply 
just for its  speakers, using my head. Pierre has opted for the Cruncher head 
and Anvil road  case, ATA cases are flimsy and will not hold up to travel, 
just FYI< I had  bought one off ebay and Anvil or Calzone, same company, are 
the only road cases  I use, and they are much heavier and sturdier than the 
ATA case. Pierre also  owns Two Crunchers, that is how much he does not ever 
want to be without a  Cruncher. I am sure other builders have the same 
experience, I am just stating  the facts about what I do. To add to what Brian 
of Harpgear posted, I have been  in business now for 17 years, and all my 
over two thousand customers are Equal  to me also. I will go out of my way for 
Anyone, If possible, to have my amp  where they want it. Charlie wanted it 
at the festival but I did not have anyone  in the area, he asked the festival 
promoter, and ended up using the Twin, end of  story. He did personally 
reply to the sadly negative person about the ridiculous  accusation of carrying 
an old bar stool with him rather than my amp. Charlie was  so blown away by 
how ridiculous this person's rants were, he basically said,  this person 
just needs to get ****, which I think many of us would agree with. 
    I will answer ANY questions concerning my amps,  OFFLIST please, as 
when you post it here on the list, I feel obligated to answer  publicly, o
therwise the truth is left for people to wonder about. I DO NOT want  to engage 
with any more negativity, anger is the worst thing for my liver, these  two 
go hand in hand in all aspects of medicine. I believe that if I had not  
started this whole custom harp amp business after Kendrick ripped off tons of  
harp players with his Texas Crude, that it would not have evolved to the 
place  where you have so many options of custom harp amp builders. I refuse to 
be  kicked like an old dog anymore and will not tolerate it. I thank the 
wonderful  customers and supporters that have emailed me personally and state 
how crazy  this one individual is that just won't let one statement I made 3 
years ago  rest. I have apologized both publicly and personally to this 
person several  times, yet he insists in trying to find holes in everything that 
is said. Even  if you bought a Sonny jr 1 or one of the first amps I built, 
I am available for  customer service to any first buyer over this 17 year 
period. If you contact me  personally, you will get the real me, not someone 
who felt they had to defend  themselves and say things that end up just as 
bad as the initial  post.  I hand feed wild squirrels as my entertainment, to 
me, That is  life, gaining trust of wild squirrels has been at time easier 
than what I  have endured or put people through on this list. I will 
apologize for the  last time to anyone I have hurt with my words, I cannot take them 
back,  just have the same compassion to me that you would want for 
yourselves if put in  the same physical condition I have been through and continue 
to fight with.  
For God's sake, my life has been dedicated to this  passion I have of 
providing the best possible harp amps I can, and as evidence  with the 410, will 
do whatever is needed due to feedback from my customers. The  past 5 years 
have been riddled with over 20 surgeries, finding out my disease is  
terminal, so it took some time to finally tweak the 410 to where I am excited to  
offer the upgrades to existing customers, that is always on my mind when I am  
about to make a change to an amp that over 250 people spent their hard 
earned  money on. I am currently slowly doing upgrades as I am overwhelmed with 
getting  a new website designed for the Super Sonny, sound bites, and a new 
manual. I  WILL take care of EVERYONE of the 250 people if it is necessary, 
as my website  will have a link for existing 410 owners to contact me about 
the upgrade, how  much it is, and how to go about it. I needed to say all 
this, as I will not be  sucked into going back and forth anymore with negative 
people. OFFLIST for any  questions directly related to my amps, please. I 
don't think that is too much to  ask. . 
********** I have located 75% of the original itinerary that was given to  
me when I worked for Sonny. I will post it in pieces if anyone is 
interested. I  have talked with many customers who remembered me playing with Sonny, 
the club,  the atmosphere, positive memories. Let me know if this is 
something you want, as  I do want to burden the list with something they don't care 
about. 
 Sincerely, the old dog that can still learn new tricks, Sonny  Jr
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