Comments on: A Blues Harp Guide to Amplifiers – Amp Picks

By: Keith

Keith — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:04:15 +0000

That was written about 10 years ago. As soon as I say an amp is good the price goes up. Nobody ever heard of the Premier Twin-8 until I reviewed it here. I bought my first one for $35. I then bought another one for $95. Now you can’t touch them for under $500 and the go for much more.

Keith

By: marcos

marcos — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:38:52 +0000

“Sears Silvertone 1483. I have been told this is the best alternative to a ’59 Bassman that you can get and the heads go for about $75. The cabinets are very cool and you can slide the head into the back of the cabinet for transportation. For $150 you can get an amp combo that sounds even better than the bassman.”

Right now on e-bay these are being offered for $400-780.

By: Bob, "Diddley"

Bob, "Diddley" — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:04:02 +0000

I know all you players are purists and rightly so for those
real honkers. However, I thought I’d risk an onslaught of
abuse by asking if anyone has tried the Fender Super Champ?
Since it has 1 12AX7 tube and 2 6V6 tubes, a built in
preamp, delay and voice settings, it occured to me that
Fender may have broken the code for new harp amps.
I’ve tried some of the older lunkers but it would be nice
to have something more portable for these aging joints.

By: AM. Funk

AM. Funk — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:47:44 +0000

Silvertone 1483 Amp Head
Has their been any responce to Buck’s questions about…any modification or tube swap recommendations that might bring this unit to it’s full potential.

By: Buck Mooneyhan

Buck Mooneyhan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:13:45 +0000

Just bought a Silvertone 1483 Amp Head to play harp through. I’m interested in any modification or tube swap recommendations that might bring this unit to it’s full potential.

Can anyone help with info?

-Buck Mooneyhan

By: Michael Hebner

Michael Hebner — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:20:47 +0000

No one seems to mention the red knob ‘evil’ twin.
I know it’s heavy but this rig played on the low power setting has such great low end and power w/o feed back, when used with a low-z mic, that I can stay with the guitar players that are using small suitcase amps no problem.
I use a Presonis pre amp to switch the low to hi z, and an SM57 to get the 40hz lows.

By: Dan Bode

Dan Bode — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:58:37 +0000

I have owned a ’61 Fender Bassman 4×12, a 60′s Silvertone head, a ’74 Pignose, and I have played through a Gallien Krueger for a while. The older tube amps get soft when you crank them on the low end to get crunchy chord rhythm riffs. I achieved enlightenment with a Blue Tube preamp [1 12AX7 with control of bias, contour, drive, low, mid, high], driving just about any solid state amp. More sweetness, more power, more gain before feedback.

now playing with a line 6 HD500 amp modeller. It models the ’59 Bassman and gives the exact same problems and the ’61 Bassman! Great tone again using a pre-amp only, modelling the DrZ pre, running the signal into the PA. Can play louder than anyone needs direct.

By: John Boffer

John Boffer — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:55:20 +0000

I’ve had a few amps over the years – one of my faves was a Gibson GA70.Two 6l6′s ,1 15″ alnico speaker. It’s a LOUD amp!! Played onstage with a guitar player with a tele & a twin reverb!!! This amp still cut through the mix! It’s got beautiful greasy tone & a big bottom end. (gotta have that!!) Picked it up 20 years ago for $150!!! Small bucks- BIG tone!!

By: Haggis

Haggis — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:03:52 +0000

Howdy folks, I use a peavey classic 30. I’ve swapped out the tubes and run jj’s which I found greatly decreased the feedback drama and have swapped out the speaker and put in a weber silver bell. The speaker swap was quite mind blowing, so much more bottom end and the highs went from being shrill and ice picky to sweet and rounded.
The mike I run is an AKG D88s dynamic vocal mike. My main reasons for this particular mike is that it gave me the most gain without feedback and has a great bottom end response. I run the amp on the clean channel and for my dirty sound I use a boss ds-1 that has had some mods done on it. Other pedals I use are crybaby wah wah, boss chorus and a boss noise suppressor. The noise supressor I’ve found gives me a bit of compression and helps with the feedback side of things as well.
I’ve found that I can hear myself no worrys at all with a full band with virtually no feedback issues, even when running the amp at full volume. I do use an amp stand when with a full band. This helps get my sound out to the crowd and to my ears as well especially when the guitarists are going for it.
If your’e after a traditional blues sound and only play in a blues band/setting then this rig may not be to your taste. I’ve gone down this road due to the fact that I play in rock covers bands, blues bands, jazz bands and trios etc, hence the fact I need a rig that has a distinct clean sound when I want and, with the use of a pedal, a dirty sound. The other thing I’ve found is that with the use of a pedal for my dirty sound, I can adjust the tone and the amount of distortion to suit particular songs or situations.
Hope to be getting a digital video cammera soon and will get some clips done to put on youtube or whatever for anyone who might be interested.
Hope this helps in some way to somebody out there.

By: F. S. Finlayson

F. S. Finlayson — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:03:41 +0000

I agree with the majority mentioned, and have used most all the above, but my
favorites are the Skylarks, Princetons,and Premiers as you have mentioned. The Commando and Maestros are pro choices.

Don’t forget a few newer models. Frederico Di Mambros makes his “Little Boss” or HarpGear products. So many to try, if you have the bread. But, a sympathetic sound
is so essential, go with what you can afford.

Let them amplify your sound. I have heard wonderful tone coming through traditionally terrible amps.