[Harp-L] Avenger Awesomeness

["Steve Power" <stevepower@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's been said before but I think is worth stating again.  The Sonny Jr Avenger is the best harmonica amplifirer currently available on planet Earth and I'll stand with one foot on a Mission and the other on a Meteor in my alligator shoes and say so.

Since my current gig started as a residency in a restaurant I was using one of my small amps but as we've moved into larger and better venues I went with my Super Cruncher, a fantastic sounding amp in it's own right and lighter than the Avenger.  If our set up was different and the style a bit more Chicago traditional it would have been perfect. The problem was this is a Texas blues band and II set up next to our main man and although he uses my '65 Deluxe (non-reverb) it's pretty freakin loud for its size, especially with a pedal in front of it.  I was loud enough to be heard but was not filling the kind of space that either Matt or the other guitarist was managing.  So last night I went with the Avenger.

Gary had sent out a memo passing on a suggestion from one of his endorsers to swap the 12AT7 in V1 for a 5751. I happened to have a couple of nice NOS JAN Phillips 5751 and stuck that puppy in there. I wanted as many horses as I could muster just to be sure. Also went straight into Bright 2 without bridging as was also suggested by Gary.  Tone control settings were different than what I'd been using with the SC and I found myself adjusting on the fly a bit, especially between different keys.  It was a little prone to feedback with the hotter tube but that was easily controlled once I started to figure out where the tone controls needed to go. Using the Treble for projection is a trip.  I think I still can find a better sweet spot but as it is I had plenty of volume and a huge sound with headroom to spare. I particularly love the low notes.  Freakin' rattles glasses and is just so sweet and liquid. Responsive as all get out as well.  The amp was working with me inspiring more musical phrasing and lines I hadn't even thought of before. And what I was doing physically was easier. I could regulate how hard I was playing with finesse. 

The amp has so much bass response - as does the SC - that I don't usually dial in much bass but Sonny suggested to me today that I whack it up to like 7-9, "Stupid catagory" as he called it.  Whenever Gary says "try this" you better believe I bloody well try it.  Nobody knows more about amplified harp tone and particularly how to get the best out of his amps than Gary Onofrio.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank Gary aka Sonny Jr for the gazillionth time for creating this masterpiece of industrial art.  I was literally petting the damn thing at the end of the night.