Early Lunch Report Wed. July 6

[westsideduck]

I may have time today to grill up some burgers and stuffed peppers for lunch yummmmmy

Looks like you guy's have some rocken amps out there!, Bill I can't even imagine 200 watts, I've yet to own a Mesa but almost bought a lonestar at GC a few years back, they are pricey. Baker, that's a Gibson Scout in the pic, same as the falcon except it has a 10 instead of the falcon's 12" speaker, It's the first amp I ever owned and I still have and use it often, the reverb is to die for and the trem ain't bad either.

As you guys know, the amount of watts doesn't always equate to power and volume, the efficiancy of the speakers matters a lot also, The 2X12 cab loaded with 99% Celestion Golds is a lot louder, using the same head as when hooked up to my old 4X12 MM cab with EV's that probably run around 75 to 80%

I have quite a few small combo amps but I prefer a head and cab combo because I can change my tone dramaticly just by swicthing out cabs, the three cabs I use most are an Avatar 2X12 with the celestion Golds, the old 4X12 Music man cab with the origional alnico EV's for vintage tone and I have two 4X10 carvin cabs loaded with Celestion Greenbacks for rocken out, and most of my smaller combos have a speaker jack installed so I can run different cabs with those too. I love the tone of a 4X10 cab, 10" speakers just get no respect.

I'm not into lugging around hefty combo's or heavy heads and 4X12 cabs either, when I go to jams I carry the Orange Tiny Terror and very light 4X10 carvin cab, I'm lookin right now for a deal on a Fuchs Lucky 7.

I also like to buy cheap no name little combos from the 50's to 70's, They mostly sound like crap when I get them, I re-cap and clean them up good, change out the input jacks, some I'll re-tolex some not, and they all get re-tubed if needed with NOS tubes of which I have a rather large collection of. They make nice little projects and sound damn good when I am done with them. here is one of my favs, the Knox, I have no idea who made it or where it was made, it's got to be early 60's look at those cool knobs, I call it my cold war amp.



OK back to guitars, Short scale VS long scale, some guys can transition seemlessly between the two, I can't, I've had my share of short scale guitars, I can get used to them after a week straight of playing but still can't play with my eyes closed like on the standard scale. here's a pic of one of my old favorite short scale guitars, the Gretch beast, those early 80's Dimarizos are one of my favorite humbuckers ever.




I'll leave you today with an old pic of Leo with that awsome Z-2

[sam]

Small combos, wish I had more. Only have a 70's Vibro Champ with Weber speaker is plenty of volume and great vibrato, also one of those tiny Fender 1 watt amps. Makes a lot of racket but fun to play with the kids.

Those 70's and 80's Dimarzio humbuckers helped make me a Dimarzio fan to this day. They still have some killer hummers with the help of Vai, Petrucci, Morse etc.

The Z-2 OOH-LA-LA!! Now that is a great guitar.

[sirmyghin]

I like heads and cabs, I have a Mesa kicking around, not a collection of them like Bill though. The new royal atlantic looks very interesting though. I had an old amp as you say, it went out in flames one day years ago, after I had it recapped. Resistor burnt up, with no schematics to be found (and no way to tell why the resistor burnt up) I parted with it. I have a sweet Avatar cab coated in blue line-X though.

Long scale is my preference, the longer the better, but I can play short scale fine. What really tweaks me is narrow string spacing. I like F-space. I start on a short scale 30" bass, that I didn't know was short scale until I got a real bass some years later (34"). I learned ona squier strat, then had a NT carvin (25") then went back to 25.5 for another carvin and my G&L. I have a 27.5 coming in (think playing a 25.5 1 fret up for width and it is near exact). Scale length is never an issue for me, likely because I coverred everything and then some between my first bass, bass, and acoustic (probably somewhere around 24"). I think that guys who are having trouble with the scale length have more of a mental issue than a physical one though, aka you make it a lot more than it is. The fret spacing changes well into the decimal places, but barely anything overall. If there is an issue it is more a 'feel' thing than anything.

[zapcosongs]

Small combos: Love 'em! Thanks to our good friend jonc, I have a '64 Vox AC-4 and a '66 BF Vibro Champ. Actually, all my amps are combos. I also own a Fender Super 60 which I use for high gain applications (frightening the dog, waking the kids and rattling the windows) and a Peavey Bandit 75 which, though a guitar amplifier, I find satisfactory for my purposes to play a little bass through.

Regarding short vs. longer scale guitars, I'm such a hack that it barely matters to me. If I close my eyes I can hardly tell the difference.

Nice week you've got going here Gary. - ed

[willross]

Great job so far! I dig combos. My favorites are the Soldano Astroverb and Lucky 13. Short v. long scale? I have and use both, but the longer scale is preferred.


Cheers,

Will

[darwinohm]

Duck, I am into smaller, lighter combos and I have a 4x10 bass cabinet that weighs 95 lbs. More than I want to lift.

The picture of your guitars is interesting. I would not have know that was a Gretsch. I am primarily a bass player but I relate to what you say about scale. I play in the dark in the mornings during the winter and I have practiced the neck work without looking and I get pretty accurate for example at the 12th fret. A 24 3/4 would be different. The only shot scale I own is the new Taylor. The PRS is in between. I really like the 25.5 scale. Like Sirmy, I played a short scale bass for many years and now have only long scale.

Good week, keep it coming!!-- Darwin

[Boogie Bill]

About my Mesa Coliseum, it's not so much the volume of this amp, though it will get hellaciously loud--it is as I said, the dynamic response that is so over the top. If you like playing a small combo, maxed out, with that smooth power amp compression--this amp is going to throw you a bit. It still has the great sustain, but the power shows up in the initial attack of the note. Like I said, most of the time I use it with the half-power setting, and a limiting compressor for that reason.

Mesas are expensive, but I've bought all of mine used. The Coliseum head, I bought in a pawn shop--the guy thought it was the cheaper .50 Caliber model--and I got it for the incredible price of $450, back in the mid-Nineties. I've been very happy with my selections. One of the things I like about Mesa is that even their less expensive amps have the same great build quality, and the small amps offer professional features, like efx loops--where other manufacturers' small amps often don't have these features.

My first amp was little Kalamazoo Model Two--a Fender Vibro Champ wannabe. My first good amp was a used BF Fender Band Master head and cab, back about 1967-68. That was stolen, and I eventually replaced it with a brand new SS SUNN Solos II 212 combo in 1972. That amp served me well for many years, but in retrospect I kinda wish I'd been able to wait for a BF Twin Reverb.

I got back into tube amps when I found a used Fender Super Champ that I paid $65 for, a killer deal. Probably the best small amp I have ever used. I also owned a vintage 1965 Deluxe Reverb that I got cheap in the 1990s, and a 1964 Fender Tremolux head and cab. The Tremolux was a really great amp, and the perfect size and power for most clubs. I also picked up a Fender 75 head and cab--like the Super Champ, another Paul Rivera design. I toyed with a Marshall JCM 800 4010 combo for a while, too.

But when I found the Mark III Coliseum, I really felt like I'd found my tone. The perfect amp for the gigs I was doing. My playing got a LOT better with this amp. I then got a used DC-3 Combo that was perfect for smaller gigs. When hit some financial rough spots I sold off the Fenders and the Marshalls, and kept the Mesas--those were the amps were making me money. Since then I've acquired a Mark III combo, a Mark IV combo, two Maverick 212 combos and another Mark III combo; and these were all used amps that I got really good deals on. When I consider what I paid, I can't imagine playing anything else. And considering the type of gigs and the band I have now, these amps give me the versatility I need.

The Gretsch takes me back to the old days--I used to play in a band with a guy who had a couple of the Gretsch Corvette models. They had some really funky solid bodies back in the 1960's and 1970s.

I play both G&Ls and Gibsons, and I don't seem to have a lot of trouble moving back and forth between them. I might have a couple seconds of "painic" (That's a Sarah-Palinism for, "Panic that causes pain.") if I'm moving from one of the super-slim G&L necks to say, the fat-necked '58 Historic LP. but it really only takes me a few second to adapt...and continue making the same mistakes I make on the G&L!!!!! The deal for me is, I'm used to making the change--someone who has only ever played a tele for years and years would probably be uncomfortable with a Gibson Les Paul neck.

And I hear guys say, "Oh, I just can't play that neck, or this radius, etc.," but if you were on a desert island for 3 weeks you'd make do--and when you got back, the neck that you used to love would probably feel strange.

We are humans. We adapt--that's how we survive.

Even on a desert island with a fat neck/slim neck/long scale/short scale/tall fret/short fret guitar.

Bill

[sirmyghin]

But when I found the Mark III Coliseum, I really felt like I'd found my tone. The perfect amp for the gigs I was doing. My playing got a LOT better with this amp. I then got a used DC-3 Combo that was perfect for smaller gigs. When hit some financial rough spots I sold off the Fenders and the Marshalls, and kept the Mesas--those were the amps were making me money. Since then I've acquired a Mark III combo, a Mark IV combo, two Maverick 212 combos and another Mark III combo; and these were all used amps that I got really good deals on. When I consider what I paid, I can't imagine playing anything else. And considering the type of gigs and the band I have now, these amps give me the versatility I need.

The mark series amps are just so incredibly touch sensitive, even with the gain up that you need to be really careful eh?

[sam]

update er..slight return to early post.

When I posted this morning small combos to me were ones that were light weight and easier on the back. Had a long workout late yesterday that was hard on the ol' body, so easy lifters were on the brain. Have two Boogies F-50 and Lonestar Special and a Fender Blues Deluxe all great amps, and the most paid for any of 'em was $800 for the Lonestar Special. Call that a bargain! Have always been a combo guy, everything from Univox to Peavey to Fender now the group mentioned today. Would like to try a Boogie Transatlantic through a nice cabinet one day.

Left this off as well, long scale for me. Can do shorty but prefer the long scale.

[blargfromouterspace]

Small combo amps are all I've ever owned. A few months ago I saw a pedal steel player playing through a silver face vibro-champ and it sounded great. My dream amp is something larger though, a 410 combo with 50+ Watts, reverb and tremolo. One day....

I prefer the feel of long scale necks. I played a few Gibsons this week and adapted almost instantly. Feels a bit squashed together at first but some things, particularly the 'Status Quo rhythm guitar part' in G are much easier.

[BadJaxx]

the Fender Blues Deluxe and Mesa Lonestar Special are my fave amps that i've had with a Mesa Blue Angel 4x10 close behind...

[klokker]

I play bass by and large so my 600 watt micro-head head is pretty normal, even on the small side. My kid has a Vox 100 watt 2X12 combo, (preamp tube thing) that he's had for about 4 years. He's just thrashed that thing in dozens of gigs, road trips, praise bands, hours and hours of practice. Still a great combo. Put it on a stand, mic it, and there you go.

I'm amazed at how much those things can take.