New tidbit about the Whippersnapper amp

[tomanche]

I know we've discussed the G&L Whippersnapper amp that prototyped around 2010. Just today, I found a piece of info I don't recall seeing before.

This began because I saw the news that the band X released a new album today, on Bandcamp. Gave it a listen and it sounds good. So I dove into the 'net about Billy Zoom and his amp building, just to refresh my memory about it and see if he was still producing. Found a link to a Gretsch Talk forum topic, from 2017, asking Mr. Zoom about what gear he was using at a then-recent gig. Money quote:

"That's a prototype that I built for G&L about 8 or 9 years ago. They were considering adding an amp line, but they decided it would be too expensive to build cheap. It's either 30 watts or 10 watts. I always use it on the 10 watt setting. Pair of 6L6's, active EQ, Vintage 30. It has the More channel that goes from 11 to 20."

A nice photo and a sketch are in the thread, too. Cool!

Link: http://gretschpages.com/forum/billy-zoo ... 452/page1/

EDIT: OK, so the Whippersnapper was a smaller amp with fewer knobs. So, BZ's prototype was not that amp exactly. But interesting info nonetheless.

[Danley]

Wow. At least the thing got on a record. I feel like the amp world is in a bit too much flux to be a safe one to enter with a rather traditional model, but I'd still give a G&L amp a look if they ever came out with a line

[Craig]

To set the record straight:

I sent tomache's post to Dean Coy and asked him to forward it to Paul Gagon because I didn't have Paul's email address
on my computer here in OC. Here is what Paul said:

"Hey Dean,

I’m not aware of Billy doing a prototype amp for G&L. He came to BBE once, that I saw, and talked to marketing about maybe doing something together but I’m not aware of anything coming from it. I met him the one time. Super nice guy but I just never heard much about him after that visit.

All the best,
Paul"

The two amps that G&L showed at the 2010 Winter NAMM show were build by Paul and were not done by Billy Zoom.

To see some photos and video sound clips of those Whippersnapper amps, see them in our Gallery:
Album: 2010 Winter NAMM Show

G&L decided several months after showing them at NAMM that they did not want to get in the amp business and
dropped the project.

Hope this helps.

[yowhatsshakin]

To add to what Paul says, I seem to remember the Whipper Snapper had its controls at the top, not the bottom. Indeed, after looking around a bit, that is borne out by this vid from way back when the amp was demoed at the (2010?) NAMM show:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlRsJPwKKYM[/video]

- Jos