[Harp-L] Amp Comparisons - Are there any?

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Well, it depends a lot on how you WANT to sound.  My favorite big amp  
is a tubed down Fender Super Reverb Reissue.  I've tried other  
players' Meteor, Harpgear and Sonny Junior amps at jams and i like my  
Super much better.  But I tend to prefer a cleaner set up than some  
players do.  i also like the way an on board reverb tank sounds in a  
tube amp and none of the harp specific amps I've tried have reverb.  
But some players might not be able to get the sound THEY prefer from  
a Super.

So, it's not so much a question of what amp is better, but which amp  
can give you the sound YOU want at adequate  volume.  Also, any good  
tube amp is almost like a living breathing thing. They sound  
different with different mics, so mic choice becomes important.   
Also, you've got to fool around with the controls to find out what  
settings work best to coax out the sound you are after--and the  
different settings can often produce dramatically different sounds/ 
tones.

In this regard, many tube amps have to be pushed--turned up--to sound  
good.  So, FWIW, I tend to go into the low gain input and set the  
volume of my Super at 7 (which is LOUD) but roll off volume with the  
volume control on my mic (a 545 Ultimate) to set performance level.  
That gives me the best depth of tone.  I do the same thing on my  
little Princeton Reverb Reissue.

I use different rigs for different gigs, but for loud hard rocking  
heavily amped blues, I'm totally satisfied with my Super. You don't  
have to mic it (unless you are on a really big stage where everything  
is miced through the PA for balance). The tubes that came with the  
Super sounded a little harsh for harp.  I re-tubed it with JJs I got  
from Eurotubes which sound warmer and fatter.  The owner of  
Eurotubes, Bob Pletka, recommended certain tube swaps to better voice  
the amp for harp and i followed his recommendations.  There's nothing  
on the Eurtoubes web site to tell you this, but they are VERY  
knowledgeable about tube swaps to voice guitar amps for harp and are  
very helpful and willing to provide advice.

If you are into a distorted sound, (I'm not), the Meteor is very  
impressive.  Very warm and controllable distortion. Very responsive  
to playing technique. Not sure you can get a clean sound out of it,  
but the distortion is really nice if that's what you are after.

A lot of players rave about Harpgear and Sonny Junior amps.   I found  
both to be nice harp amps, but NBD.  But I'm not a bullet mic guy, so  
maybe they perform better with bullet mics. I've actually played  
through both a Harpgear and a Sonny Junior side by side with my Super  
at jams and my strong preference was for the Super for the sound I  
like.  But YMMV. And, to be fair, i really didn't have an opportunity  
to fool with the settings on either the HG or the SJ which, as i said  
earlier, could make a big difference.

Hope these ramblings are of some help to you.

JP