Just curious if you all had around 1200.00 dollars to spend on an amp what would you choose? This is a general question. Also you do not have to spend all of the money if an amp you would buy is cheaper It is whatever YOU would buy for any reason of yours.
Someone has a 4x10 HG50 for sale for $999.99. I'd buy that without any thought. In fact, I would buy it and sell my HG 1210 if I had a local buyer. It is a crazy good deal. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas Updated 2/24/11
I k ow a guy with Sonny Jr Cruncher for sale for $999. I would get it and then send the extra $100 or so to do the Super Cruncher upgrade. ---------- /Greg
Any of the amps i have and use are in this price range and I'm completely satisfied with the equipment I've got:
Fender Super Reverb Reissue (Tubed down with JJs)
SWR Baby Baby Blue
Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue (Stock tube configuration but replaced stock tubes w/JJs and installed a set of Fender 14" tilt back legs)
I am totally pleased with each of these amps.
I have a pedalboard I use with my SWR and a different less elaborate pedalboardrd i use with the Fenders. Adding in the cost of the applicable pedalboard would take the SWR and the Super above the specified price range.
4x10" Fender - Tweed Bassman, Super Reverb, Concert (or amp based on such, with equivalent speakerage).
Here's another option, if doing it "piecemeal", you could pick up a 6G7A Bandmaster head (ensure it has the original power transformer), get it serviced, fit a multi tap OT with 2/4/8ohm speaker outs...mate it to 4x10" (or cab with equivalent efficiency, feedback rejection & sq. inches) and you have a Concert, mate it to 3x10" and you have a Bandmaster (sweet tone, but a shade less volume) mate it to 1x15" and you have a Pro (a little less punch than the other 2, but sweet with the right speaker) - all of which are well regarded as harp amps.
You can find a 6G7A head, service it & get a speaker cab made for under $1200. A buddy of mine has two 3x10" Bandmasters that were constructed via this route.
If I had less to play with & a Blues Deville came up at the right price, I wouldn't rule that out either...but it's not built to last quite like the classic Fenders, which will outlast most of us reading this, if given the right care.
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2011 9:25 AM
1942 Oahu 24 watt limited edition "Chicago Blues Tone Twin" or two amps 12 Watt Supreme and 1948 Supro Style 5 watt suitcase from www.vintage47amps.com
I would look for a used Sonny Jr 410 or Super Sonny. If you don't sound good through one of those, it's hopeless. Look on ebay. If you live in the US, under no circumstances would I purchase a new amp. There are far too many great deals to be had on used gear.
The only new amp I've ever bought was the VHT Special 6, lol.
I already shared what amp I'd want, but are we assuming the rest of the rig (harps, mic, effects) are already there, or do I have $1,000 and nothing but a few harps?
If I had $1,000 right this second, I'd be blowing it all on a wireless ($300) and then pedals - POG2 ($250 used?) and a Line 6 M9 ($250 used?). The last $200 would be for a small pedal board and power supply.
I would run the small board with all my pedals and then run that to either the M9 or my M13 depending on the size of the gig.
Actually, if I really thought about it, I'd probably come up with something more efficient... ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas Updated 2/24/11
Last Edited by on Mar 08, 2011 12:35 PM
Whatever amp it was that Charlie Musselwhite was playing last friday night. I saw him play with Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Cassidy ( Hot Tuna )with special guests G.E.Smith, Barry Mitterhoff and Jim Lauderdale. Man oh man what tone. I believe he was playing a Cruncher. Don't know for sure just had a Sonny Jr.badge on the front. ----------
"I have a high tolerance for boredom as long as it has a groove" - Scrapboss
I got to see Charlie play last November in Bremerton, Wa. and walked up to the theater stage at intermission and saw that he was playing the new Sonny Jr. Avenger. Great sound coming out of that thing.
I played through a Fender Blues De-ville 4x10 with a sure green bullet plugged direct into the high impedance input!! loud enough to hold its own on all occasions! still got it and still all original tubes! would buy again in a heartbeat.
I'd prefer to have one 1x10 amp, one 2x10 amp (or 10+12 amp, I'd prefer to compare this setups first) for bigger gigs and one acoustic PA-style amp for clean playing and for using with MultiFX. Unfortunately it costs more than $1000 ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Last year I had about 1100 euro and I bought a Marble Bluesonic....Very happy with it... ---------- www.sweetportblues.zcom http://www.myspace.com/arnoudbluesharp
I'd shop for a Gretsch Playboy, or a good Gibson GA-50. Maybe look for TWO old Traynor's and still have enuff left to upgrade tubes and other electronics. A Meteor would be compelling. An early Holland would be a gift.
$1,200 today ? I think I could bargain and get a sweet Premier suitcase if I talked sweet enuff.
Actually, 1200 is what I'm looking to spend MAX on another amp soon. Mission Chicago has me curious, and I'd snag that HG50 from Todd G(ates) if I had the cash right now...
A Cruncher for $999? That would be a great deal. ---------- Todd
FWIW, my HG50 1210, Boris, is plenty loud. The largest amp I compete with is a 2x12, so take that fo what it is worth, but I've had no issues running 1x10+1x12. The allure of 4x10 is more mental in my circumstances, but the amp is way loud when I need it to be, and sounds good front of house. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas Updated 2/24/11
I myself would look for a used Fender Bassman Reissue. With some tube swaps these amps come out very harp friendly.
Jon Harl Custom Seydel Harmonicas 5731 Meridian Ave. San Jose, CA 95118 Tel: 408/445.2591 Cell: 408/531.5755 jonharl@mac.com www.customseydels.com
Last Edited by on Mar 09, 2011 7:08 PM
"Just curious if you all had around 1200.00 dollars to spend on an amp what would you choose?"
Just curious--the thread is titled "$1000 to spend"--is there some kind of hyper-inflation happening due to the captcha? I'm already nervous about the world economy :)
My SWR is a solid state amp with a tube preamp and sophisticated semi parametric EQ that gives me a deep dark basically clean tone and processes effects very well. 120 watts and does not feed back, but sounds great at low volume, too. This set up gives me very close to the sound i hear in my head and is great for jazz, reggae, rock and even blues.
My Super Reverb is perfect for hard rocking blues gigs especially where the guitarist is using a 2x12 amp. The 4x10 Super moves enough air to give me the same sort of presence the guitar player gets so the overall sound is balanced. Balance is important.
My Princeton Reverb can get surprisingly loud for such a small amp and is useful for small gigs, duo gigs, informal jams and can be easily overdriven when desired.
I can get some dirt from the Super and the Princeton if I want to, but I generally prefer a relatively clean set up. Personally, I'm not into "crunch." I really like the sound of tube amps with on board reverb tanks. I use a delay pedal with the SWR--since it's an acoustic bass amp, it does not have reverb. But if a tube amp has a reverb tank, i don't use an outboard delay. I don't use bullet mics, either.
hvyj Yes and I still want to listen to your playing. We independent work for really close conceptions, including stick mics, carbon copy and organ sound. The only differences I love my pedals (delays, pitch shifter, phaser) to tube amp and I want decent digital multiFX (I already have Digitech RP255) to keyboard amp. And I even want co mix that sounds for big gigs. For small gigs I already have copy of Fender Pro JR with Jensen c10 speaker and I like it (although I understand that Harpgear or Marble can be better). Now I need rig for big gigs and good multi-fx (dream of POD X3) ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
My Harp amp is the JB Harp Box by Blackfoot Custom Amps
1X12 cab constructed with solid 3/4" poplar Tone and Volume controls enhanced by Lo-Hi gain switch, Bass Boost switch, and Clean Boost. 12AX7 pre's, 6V6's in the output, 5AR4+SS rectifier, pre-amp output and of course Mercury Magnetics. Split back design for projection flexibility
JB Harmonica, what's the price including cab? Their other push-pull combos seem to be way over $1200 (as I would expect, but puts them outside criteria of OP)?
Hey Jeremy, It's good to see you here-I had heard about this amp back in February,the original release date-looks like the guys at Blackfoot did well!! They even used your initials on it! Tom Fiacco.
Last Edited by on Mar 12, 2011 12:36 PM
Thanks! Tim and I are really excited about the amp. @5F6h, the price is 1500 which includes the cab...My signature amp has a 12" Eminence Swamp Thang. The quality and craftsmanship of the amp, in my opinion is second to none, and Tim's comment to quality and customer satisfaction is unparalleled. I will post videos of the amp in action soon!!!!
Last Edited by on Mar 12, 2011 5:54 PM
You are a far more accomplished jazz player than I am. I only play what I call R&B style jazz--stuff that's playable w/o OBs.
I use my pedalboard for larger gigs, too, since my SWR can get as loud as as need to get. On the pedalboard I use with that amp I've got a RetroSonic Phaser (adjusted to give me a tube compression sound), a MicroPOG, a RotoSim, a custom Loooper A/B pedal to select between the outputs of the RotoSim and a Carbon Copy Delay. This amp is an acoustic bass amp, but the manual says it can be used for keyboards, too. It really reproduces the effects impressively well.
My tube amps do not produce as clean and rich a sound with these effects and I would get some feedback problems from the MicroPOG with the tube amps. But the other musicians I play with were so used to me using effects on certain tunes and would complain if I didn't use the pedals with my tube amps. So, i put together a smaller, different pedalboard. I got a second MicroPOG with a true bypass mod from ABALOGMAN. That mod lowered the gain and eliminated feedback problems. Then i got a RetroSonic Chorus pedal which has a tremolo setting that gives me a rotovibe effect which is a rotary speaker sound that works better with the tube amps than the RotoSim did. So I use this smaller pedalboard with my tube amps.
Years ago I used to use an Alessis QuadraVerb GT as a multi effects unit into the PA. It was great. But I'm not really into multi effects units these days.
@HarpNinja: "The allure of 4x10 is more mental in my circumstances, but the amp is way loud when I need it to be, and sounds good front of house."
When the guitar player in my blues band got a custom Fuques 2x12 guitar amp, I was easily able to keep up volume wise with my 1x10 SWR (120 watts and sophisticated EQ so it does not feed back). But the sound from the guitar and the sound from the harmonica was not BALANCED because the guitar amp was moving so much more air that the guitar had a lot more PRESENCE. So I started using my Super Reverb (4x10). The 4 speakers gave me the presence I needed to sound balanced with the guitar. So, VOLUME alone is not the only concern. The guitar player and I throw solos back and forth so the amplification both instruments have to have some balance in order to sound good and the Super Reverb moves enough air to give me the same sort of presence the guitar player gets from his 2x12 Fuques (which, btw, is a great sounding guitar amp).
For Sale 1960 Concert all original w 4 matching P10Q;s/not pretty but killer tone 3000. --- 1962 Concert all original greta conditon great tone 2400.---1962 Magnatone 262 Nice condition, also great harp tone, pitch shiftin vibrato 1250.---1962 Princeton all orig vg cond 1500---1964 Princeton mint early 6G2 replaced 12" webber alnico 1450---1962 Super Amp with replaced speakers 3250---airline 1x8 400. contact me anytime at harpking0911@yahoo.com
If you are a casual player who sits in at jams or plays with friends on the weekend, a big 4X10 is too much. If you want a great harp friendly amp to practice with and the above, there are a number of good small to medium vintage and new amps that might fit the bill. A nice 1X10, 1X12 or 2X8 amp works well mic'd or using a line-out. If you're playing in a 5 piece band in bigger venues, the Sonny Jr. amps not only sound terrific, but built for the rigors of the road. Unfortunately, this is a very subjective question. Everyone seems to have a favorite.
I'd go with a used Sony Jr. amp, any model, that I could find used in that price range. I've not heard or played through any of them that I didn't like.
If I couldn't find a Sony Jr., I'd get a Kalamazoo 2 from Greg at blowsmeaway.com. Have him put the line out option on it. These amps have a killer tone and if you run it through the PA, you can get loud. You could by 2 Kalamazoos and have money left over!
If you're playing often with a loud band and/or situations that warrant the extra power I would 2nd Greg's comments regarding the Cruncher + upgrade. I have the Super Cruncher and, other than an Avenger, I can't imagine a better harp amp. And as far as "unparalled" customer service, with respect to other builders who I'm sure are very good, I'd match Gary Onofrio aka Sonny Jr. against anyone. And he will help 2nd hand buyers when he can. Not many, if any, would do that. I hear he's out of hospital and working on his recovery. I sincerely hope we see him back in the game soon.
If, however, you're playing smaller stages or primarily jams I would actually go with a Kalamazoo from Greg with the line out option. I'd suggest playing with it awhile then consider upgrading the speaker to a Weber 10A100. You'd need to take the bell cover off the magnet to get it to squeeze in but that's 5 minutes with a screwdriver. The Weber will change the tone slightly. It will be marginally less "nasty" than the original but have a bit more sense of quality. The amp will also be somewhat louder or at least seem like it. I love my Sonny Jr to death but use my Zoo at least half the time. The volume out of the thing is ridiculous. On larger stages where it's either mic'd or mic'd and the line out, between the amp itself and bounce back from the mains I rarely have a problem hearing it. I never put it in the monitors. The cost with Weber would be $400 or less. That would leave a lot of change for all kinds of groovy stuff. Hell, you could buy two, link them together and still have a useful piece of change. ---------- LSC
Last Edited by on Feb 29, 2012 7:08 AM
I'd keep it in whatever bank you've got it in. You seem to be making insane interest. You made 20% just between the headline and the first post! Wait a week and you'll be able to buy Carnagie Hall. :)
I'd find an old 60's era Ampeg Reverb Rocket & plug in thru the accordian jack. I just love the looks & sound of those old things (around 18 watts I believe ). I could prob'ly pocket a few hundred too.
But seriously, I play through the PA, so if I had money earmarked for harp gear I'd spend it more on harps, although I really want a loop pedal too. ---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
@ hvyj - fixed bias fenders eh? - interesting. I modded a super 6 (twin) head and used it for a while - but now tend to use the smaller cruchier cathode biased amps for harp, and leave my bf deluxe reverb and Rivera era 210 Concert - for my visiting guitar playing buddies.
What tube compliment wouild you run in the bf deluxe rev. if you where going to use it for harp -- just swap out some 12ax7s for lower gain pre's ? - the power tubes in it are 6v6's.
I've got an sf bassman 10 head lying around too -- Ideas for that ?
Oh - I'd probably recklessly get an old Gibson ga20 or ga40 - and it would turn in to another 'project'. Getting a purpose built harp amp is cheating. I feel guilty when using my VHT special 6 already.
Funny thing is - I mostly play through the pa with a bit of delay these days, and leave my bullet mic resting in the case most of the night. My vintage Gibson br9 sure looks groovy though - and I can run two for stereo - how's that for fancy pants? . ----------
Last Edited by on Feb 29, 2012 9:46 PM
Mr Dog. - If that Bassman 10 head came from the 4x10 version of that amp, I would send it to Skip Simmons and have him make sure its in good shape. A friend of mine has one with the 4x10 cabinet. Its bad ass.
When you play through the PA, why do you need the delay? What's that for?
The delay acts just like a delay pedal would in fron of an amp - only it's affecting the clean signal through the pa. It's an alternative to reverb and sets up kind of a rythmic bounce I like to play off of. Our PA head has the effect built in. Not to hijack this thread - but you can hear how I use it, hopefully subtly - on this video if you're curious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkDFnrvkCPc ----------
Someone posted earlier in the thread "if you're a casual player that only plays jams, a big 4X10 amp is too much". I disagree with that statement. I think if you play jams, it's even more important to have a big amp that can cut through all the screaming guitars you have to compete with. Normally in a jam situation, you don't have much control over the rest of the band's volume and the sound guy probably won't help you too much. I have been very lucky and most of the sound guys at the jams I attend always help me out....that being said, I am much happier playing the jams since I bought my Sony Jr. Avenger. Mainly because I can hear myself and the audience can here me too. I'm independent of the sound system all together.
