HawkeyeKane
167 posts
Sep 08, 2011
7:11 AM
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RockinRon has had a couple pages devoted to Pignose for a while now. Just the look of them has always piqued my interest. I've read some mixed reviews on their amps. Anybody here ever used one? Or if not the amps, has anyone tried the Detonator pedal?
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Hawkeye Kane
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Seven.Oh.Three.
172 posts
Sep 08, 2011
7:35 AM
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I bought a pignose 7-100 off ebay a few months back. As my first amp I really cant complain. I'll tell you its surprisingly loud. I use a green bullet 520dx and its a alright set up. I think this set up is pretty good for a beginner/first rig but I may not recommend it to somebody more experienced.
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jdblues
9 posts
Sep 08, 2011
7:55 AM
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I've tried the Pignose 7-100 (also using a 520DX mic).
I think it sounds great - a dirty, Chicago-style tone.
Keep in mind that you only have one knob, a volume control. There are no separate knobs for anything else. If you want a variety of sounds, the Pignose is likely not what you're looking for. You can't really use it to get a clean amplified tone.
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orphan
58 posts
Sep 08, 2011
7:58 AM
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I have a Pignose 40w 10" spkr. Like it a lot. It is loud for its size. I have used it with 2x12 alnico Utah spkrs as well as 4x10 Blue Marvel ceramic spkrs. In all cases, the amp lacks a good bottom. As far as feedback, I did some tube swaps when I first got it, but have since gone back to 12ax7's in the preamp. I'm better @ cupping and get get plenty of volume. It has a lot of bite and cuts through the mix well. The sound is probably not for everybody. I like to use it in stereo with another amp that has more bottom. If you play country blues it sounds good with resonator guitars IMO. I don't think they make the 40w anymore. For me it has been a fun amp to play with, lots of bark, lots of bite, but not a big dog!
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Shredder
306 posts
Sep 08, 2011
7:59 AM
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I got the Tweed limited edition version 7-100.
Works great and the line out makes it easy to run direct to the PA so your potential volume is as big as the PA. I wouldn't gig with it but I have taken it to open mic nights as a quick set up for playing thru the house PA to get a dirty sound. The 520 DX is a feedback monster. I had way better luck using a better harp mic. Matter of fact you can use the house vocal mic thru the PigNose and the amp distorts the clean mic very well. In my opinion it's worth every penny.
Mike
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Gig74
79 posts
Sep 08, 2011
11:31 AM
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I too have a Pignose 7-100 and I like it. It's simple so I don't spend time messing with settings. It's also a good size, as in it takes up hardly any room in the house. I use mine with a bottle o blues mic which I can store inside with the cable when I 'm not using it.
I picked mine up on ebay and it arrived without it's snout so a quick email to Pignose in the US and one got sent out, it arrived with a whole bunch of free stickers too which I thought was decent, being that I hadn't even bought it direct in the first place.
I've also got a pignose electric guitar with a built in amp which is pretty cool, oddly I don't play guitar but enough relatives do that it's worth while always having one in the house for unplanned jams. My brother and father in Law both seem to enjoy it.
All in all their good stuff, go on treat yourself.
Greg.
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Living the dream and learning the blues one little trouble at a time.
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Gig74
80 posts
Sep 08, 2011
11:32 AM
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Last Edited by on Sep 08, 2011 3:06 PM
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Gig74
81 posts
Sep 08, 2011
11:33 AM
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Last Edited by on Sep 08, 2011 3:04 PM
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OzarkRich
460 posts
Sep 08, 2011
2:11 PM
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I have the 7-100 in both black and tweed. They're great! They only have the one "fuztone/tube" sound but its amazing how they can sound that good with just a few transistors. They're also very loud for the size. Good for street playing, hiking, camping, cycling etc. Click on my Youtube link for a couple vids of me playing (green bullet/tweed pignose).
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Ozark Rich
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isaacullah
1572 posts
Sep 08, 2011
2:34 PM
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I used to own a 7-100. It was a good little battery amp, and I agree with the comments about it in this thread. It does what it does very well (gritty distorted tone with lot's of high-end and not much bass), but it's sort of a one trick pony. Don't get me wrong, it made a great tone! But eventually, I sold it on as it just wasn't versatile enough for what I do. My current battery amp is a Jay-Turser Classic 10. It's got a bit more range of tones in it, but still doesn't get very clean. I'm thinking of getting something else. Probably some sort of battery operated PA or keyboard amp...
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== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
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BronzeWailer
260 posts
Sep 08, 2011
2:36 PM
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I have the same set-up with the 7-100 and 520DX. Fine for the dirty sound but not quite right if you plan to sing or want a clean tone. It's good for busking. My guitarist was using it as a monitor the other day when we both played through my big amp (a Roland BA330) which is relatively monstrous in size.
Last Edited by on Sep 08, 2011 2:39 PM
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isaacullah
1573 posts
Sep 08, 2011
2:42 PM
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Oh, I ought to have mentioned that I had the original issue 7-100, which was made in the USA and uses discreet transistors in the circuit. The new ones are made in China and are based on IC (integrated circuit) chips, and don't sound as good. Here's some photos of what my one looked like: http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/darwin_deathcat/Pignose%207-100/
The thing to look for is for the pignose sticker to be blue and red rather than black and silver. Also, there were even early USA made versions that used germanium transistors instead of silicon, and they are rumored to sound even better. Read up on how to identify that here: http://www.erikzmusic.com/pignose-7-100.html
Good luck!
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== I S A A C ==
View my videos on YouTube!
Visit my reverb nation page!
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jbone
641 posts
Sep 09, 2011
4:56 AM
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i've had both the 7-100 and the g40v pigs. the 7-100 with a pre 80's bullet sounded great but was a feedback monster at any volume like with a band. the g40 i never did get it to sound decent at volume and sold it at a loss.
currently i use either a silvertone 1482 modded for harp or a replica '59 bassman modded for harp. other than that occasionally i blow through someone else's rig say at a jam, or i just go through the house p.a.
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GEEZER1
123 posts
Sep 09, 2011
8:54 AM
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I use a 7-100 with a JT30 Crystal element mic all the time for playing harp and singing, I buy the alkaline batteries at the dollar tree, four for a buck, they work well too. It serves me well.
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Kingley
1638 posts
Sep 09, 2011
10:16 AM
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The Pignose 7-100 is a great little amp for relatively low volume home practice.
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AirMojo
209 posts
Sep 09, 2011
1:00 PM
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What does "7-100" stand for ?
I have a Lil Pignose "7-100" and its a cool little crunchy amp, depending on the mic... it would be nice if it would not hum when using an A/C adapter (even the one that "reduces" hum still hums).
I also have a Hog-20... like the rechargeable battery, but I don't really care for the sound... I prefer the VOX DA-5, with recharageable batteries, cuz it has nice reverb and delay built in.
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MyLittleEye
2 posts
Jul 21, 2016
5:43 AM
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Like many I suspect, I had initially dismissed the Pignose 7-100 as a one trick pony; very cool looking but a novelty nonetheless compared to present day digital modelling amps. However I've since concluded that this iconic 'lil pig adds up to way more than the sum of its parts - It's now my first choice in portable harp amps! Here's why:
My earliest attempts at re-creating that vintage dirty honking harmonica sound had been woefully frustrating. The advent of the Internet didn't help, overwhelming with recommendations of holy grail like crystal elements, huge hugely expensive vintage amps, special tubes, esoteric mods, pre-amps, harp tailored effect pedals... ??!?!!
However sifting through his forum has been helpful. I noticed a number of budget mics and small amps keep coming up.
For my first ever mic I chose the bottle o' blues; it may not offer the stellar performance of a boutique mic but it gets consistently good reviews for being robust, easy to use, and blues-a-plenty without being prohibitively expensive.
The Roland Microcube also attracted my attention with its many satisfied users on various forums - I got one and with it paired up to my new mic I was happy enough with the results. Then I heard about the Vox DA-5 being 'better' and picked one up for a song on ebay. It was better inasmuch as the slightly larger speaker gives a fuller tone, but it was consequently less compact and portable and the nigglesome effects were fiddlier to dial in and needed to be reset each time it was switched on. I rate the DA-5 and microcube equally. Both amps need some patience and trial and error to achieve a decent harmonica sound. I would use moderate gain, add a touch of reverb and perhaps also a touch of chorus. HoweverI found that both amps suffer from some nasty dissonant overtones particularly on the 4/5 draw that I could only overcome by winding back the tone all the way and carefully adjusting the gain/volume ratio until it was minimised but never eliminated. Consequently I found that despite the broad versatility of these wonderful little guitar amps, for optimal Harp I would end up using a very limited range of settings.
This brought me back to reconsider the Pignose; what if, what I had originally dismissed as a limited sound palate was all I actually need?
I decided I'd give it a try.
I'm pleased to report that it has far exceeded my expectations.
Its simplicity is not just part of its charm, it's its winning feature.
Out of the three amps I tried, the Pignose delivers the closest to the tone I was looking for, in the smallest and coolest looking package and with the least fiddle and fuss. Furthermore, with a little care I can squeeze the bottle 'o blues mic, cable and a handful of harps into the back of the 7-100 too! It is the perfect portable camp amp. The tone is so much better that I don't miss the other amps' delay/reverb/chorus features at all. By 'better' I particularly mean that the dissonant overtones I found so distracting on the other amps are much reduced on the pignose and I wonder if this is due to its analogue transistor circuitry coping better with the harmonicas own dissonant frequencies than the digital modelling of the other amps.
The Microcube and DA-5 are both fine little amps. Each is better than the other in its own way. I couldn't make the call between them.
However for me the Pignose 7-100 is now my keeper.
I've come to believe that "Less is More" and for me this one's just right.
Last Edited by MyLittleEye on Jul 21, 2016 11:12 AM
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Buzadero
1285 posts
Jul 21, 2016
7:12 AM
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The old-school Pig is great fun. I've had one that has traveled with me on many occasions since the early 80's. Jammed with it, played it off the helideck of an oil platform on still dark nights far offshore, and busked with it.
There was a steel plate on a sidewalk in San Francisco that I used to set it on and crack the hinge about 2 inches. If the amp was right in the center of the plate the resonance was a special magic.
Viva Pignose.....
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
MBH poster since 11Nov2008
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