Well, it stands to reason with all them guitars I'd have an amp or two... here's a peek. This page has the most recent aquisitions, purchased because I decided to invoke a "house gear ONLY" rule for our annual Palm Jalms. I figured I'd better get some hipper stuff for the backline, if I wasn't gonna let anybody bring their own amp to play on.
Fender Princeton Chorus
Boy, what a neat little amp this is! I got this amp on the recommendation of Rob Wilson, who swears he'd trade his Boogie 22 for one. Although it is completely solid state, the tone has a wonderful tube-ish feel to it - even in the clean channel. The first time I plugged this thing in, I was transported all the way back to the early seventies and Doug Latislaw's HALF-SIZED Fender Super Reverb - his amp had been dropped out of back of the van and busted, and so he cut it down to a 210 box, loaded with JBL's, as I recall. He played it that way for YEARS...
With its two 10" speakers run on separate 25 watt poweramps, it has a lovely chorus effect that most of us identify as the "Roland JC120" chorus sound. But, unlike the big Roland, this little guy has two preamp channels, and one of them is set up as a killer overdrive with some cool controls, allowing you to dial in just about any amount of crunch and sustain.
I didn't feel this amp had quite enough volume as a stand-alone station for the jalms, so I reloaded it with some new Eminence speakers - a Red Coat Ramrod and a Patriot Ragin' Cajun.
The perceived change in output volume wasn't as effective as I hoped, so I had my new pal Gerry Walker, from Stereo Steel, build me a one-of-a-kind stereo powerslave amp, which I mounted into a 212 cabinet. The amp Gerry built for me spec-ed out at about 100 watts per side at 4 ohms, and when I loaded up a pair of 4 ohm Peavey Scorpion 12" speakers, that slave cab absolutely ROCKED! Using the little Fender's stereo effects-loop outputs to drive that slave cabinet at our annual reunion demonstrated that the combination was a fire-breathing tone MONSTER - the great tone out of Fender's stereo preamp kicked up way LOUD! I think next on the adgenda is to try some 8 ohm (or even 16 ohm) speakers in the stereo slave cab, so that perhaps I can actually hear the 10" speakers of the amp working, too. They are just being drowned out by the 212 slave cab at this point.
UPDATE: During my "return engagement - the last great year of gigging" (now I remember why I quit), I bought a second Princeton Chorus (I also reloaded with Eminence speakers) which I just left it at our rehearsal room - one amp is plenty loud enough for that. On stage, I played both Princeton Chorus amps, stacked or split, and slaved together. It was JUST enough power for small rooms (or if the amps where mic-ed), but if we played any place bigger/louder than a typical lounge gig, I used Gerry's custom-made 212 slave, which I DID reload with some 16-ohm speakers - the reload didn't help OR hurt, that slave-thang is STILL loud! Next up, volume controls for the slave amp...
Fender Stage 100 DSP
I bought this head simply because it fit the criteria I had decided on at the time - at least 100 watts, in the correct price range, a popular name brand other than Peavey (I have plenty of Peavey amps already).
Specs on this all-solid-state head say that it's 160 watts at 4 ohms (100 watts at 8 ohms). It doesn't have quite the warmth of character in the clean channel that the Princeton Chorus has, but it's definitely a Fender voice. The overdrive channel has a master volume and similar controls to the Princeton Chorus (see above) so you can tailor the tone to your liking, and it sounds pretty cool - there's even a "MORE DRIVE" button for those who like it extra crunchy. What makes this amp really shine is the DSP - built-in Digital Signal Processing (I assume). It has TWO processors: a digital reverb and a digital-FX unit. The reverb offers sixteen different choices (all the typical digital reverb voices) - and of course, I like the ol' springy-sound. The FX unit has a pretty wide variety as well - tremelo, vibrato, phaser, flanger, chorus, and a digital delay. Heck, who needs stomp-boxes?
I was able to get the correct four-button footswitch from my friends at San Diego Sound and Music Repair - they ARE the good guys in this town, and the only shop I trust for my keyboard, amp, and signal processing repairs. The footswitch allows you to select between the clean and crunchy channels, the MORE DRIVE option, reverb on/off, and FX on/off.
Marshall Valvestate 8200 "Bi-Chorus 200"
...and the 8280 combo...
Well, I figured I'd better have a Marshall in the backline, just to cover all the basses...
Marshall introduced the Valvestate models in 1991, and most were discontinued in 1996 (superceded by the Valvestate MkII). This model is one of the first series of Valvestates, a hybrid amp with a 12AX7/ECC83 tube in the preamp for the boost (overdrive) channel - the rest is all solid state. The specs on this beast boast a whopping 100 watts per side at 4 ohms - yes, that's 100 watts times TWO - it's a stereo amp (like the Roland JC120). It's shown here on an Avatar 412 slant cabinet that I rewired as stereo, loaded with Eminence V12s.
The surprising thing about this amp (to me) was in the amount of control they give you - there are TWO sets of chorus (speed and depth) controls - one for the clean channel and one for the boost channel - and there are TWO selectable chorus types. There is a pre- and post-gain control for the boost channel, and an OD1/OD2 button to make it really nasty. Heck, the clean channel even has a "crunch" button, so you can make it dirty, too (it IS a Marshall, after all)! And finally, there's a MASTER volume for the entire amp.
JUST before I quit gigging, I bought an empty Marshall 212 cab (from an 8240, I think). I loaded this head and a couple of Celestion V-30s into that cabinet, and was gonna try it as a gig-rig, but the gig went away... And, I THOUGHT I had built the 2x100-watt stereo Marshall combo amp that never was!
But... Summer '08, I picked up a thrashed 8280 combo - amp and cab, but sans speakers - REAL cheap! After inspecting it, puzzling over the similarities between the two amps, I pulled the 8200 back out of the combo cab to compare the two - HEY! These amps are identical! In fact, on closer inspection I found that the 8200 main circuit board actually said "8280." So, what gives with the 2x100 watt head vs the 2x80 watt combo power rating?
Well, the answer was right there on the back of the chassis all the time, in the legend at the speaker jacks, which I now quote: "100 watts @ 4 ohms; 80 watts @ 8 ohms..." And there you have it. The combo, shipped with 8 ohm speakers, is rated 80 watts per side = 8280. With the head, they ASSume that you will load up the maximum number of speakers for the minimum load = 2x100 watts = 8200!
The only difference between the two amps (besides the paper label from Marshall) is that the 8280 combo chassis has some extra mounting flanges for bolts through the side of the cabinet, to make the combo cab a little stiffer; where as the 8200 head is just mounted with the eight bolts through the top.
The thrashed 8280 was advertised as having a dead preamp - light comes on, powers up with a nice thump, but no sound comes out if you plug a guitar into the front end (no worries, sez I, I had a similar issue with the 8200 head when it landed, which I "cured" by cleaning all the pots - again and again). So to check the amp out, I loaded up another pair of Celestion V-30s and, just for fun (and to see what it would do), I plugged the effects/line out of the Princeton Chorus into the effects returns on the 8280, using the cable I made to run my custom "Stereo Steel" slave. WOW! Stereo MARSHALL slave! PLUS, the Marshall's master volume still controls the output of its poweramp stage - AND, that makes these amps the slaves of my dreams: big power if needed, but they can be TURNED DOWN!
Late 2008, I took both amps down to my friends at San Diego Sound and Music Repair to have them looked over and repaired as needed. I re-did the 8240 combo cab, sealing the back and installing a blank black tolex panel in place of the amp-face - the wife even found some white piping to finish it off, and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. So now, I have a nice 212 cab out of it, loaded with Celestion V-30s. I tricked up a mono/stereo switch for it, so I can play it as an 8-ohm mono or a 16-ohm x 2 stereo cab.
After a few years with these amps, even with some "professional attention", I have to say that the reliablity rating from me is at or near ZERO - I would never gig with one of these, the preamps are just too flakey. Great idea, poor execution - bad switches and cheap pots, and lots of them. I've decided to concentrate on keeping the better-behaving of the two chassis loaded in the 8280 combo cab. That still requires me to pull the chassis out and work on the preamp pots once a year. No more Marshalls for me...
Peavey Classic 30
Tubes, tubes, tubes... OK!
Early 2009, I finally gave in to temptation and eBay-ed a used Peavey Classic 30. It's an all-tube 1x12 combo, 30 WRMS; I kept reading great reviews, and got bit by the bug.
This one came to me completely stock, although it did come with a second set of pre-amp tubes. I'm probably gonna get a 1x12 extension cab, and load it (and the combo) with Celestion V30s (done and done, 6/2009), as I have heard that a speaker change (and a better set of EL84 tubes) can really put this amp over the top and into "classic" tone territory. There are also a few mods to the circuit board that have been suggested for even more improvement, but I think that's beyond the limits of my amateur tinkering abilities. We'll start with the speakers, then re-tubing.
I'm looking forward to giving this amp a good workout the annual Jalm - it will be the FIRST tube amp I've ever "gigged" with, believe it or not...
2010: Installed new JJ EL84s, and I'm foooling around with a few different 12AX7s in the preamp. The amp continues to please...
NEXT: the ol' standbys and spare bedroom favorites...