Louder!

-


 OK - digression and diversion from current events and Tory dickwads: pictured is the Vox combo that Joe acquired partly with my advice from an eBay seller up the coast. I thought at first that it was a late model AC-30, judging by the photos, but when I opened it up in the workshop, there was a slight surprise in store. Instead of the four EL84 output valves I had expected, this thing had EL34s in situ, which meant that instead of 30 watts, this thing would output at least 100 watts of pure sonic delight/mayhem/deafness, etc.

This combo was based on a not-too-well-received amp head, shoe-horned into an AC-30-sized cab, sometime in the 1980s. However, in the transition from standalone amp head to combo, something magical seems to have happened. What you see here, is an amplifier with the same glassy chime as a classic AC-30, but chucking it out at - yes, folks - 125 sodding watts: this thing is LOUD, and is now officially named The Beast. Anyone who has crashed a few power chords through a Marshall knows exactly what that means: except this has also a 'Bright' channel. Dime this thing in that mode with a Fender, and you will be deafening everything within hearing distance, including, most particularly, yourself. It is, however, a truly glorious thing to play through: a joy, in fact.

The Strat you see propped up against it also represents one of the best-value guitar purchases I ever made. It's the very cheapest of the cheap Squiers, made in China: the Affinity - albeit in this form a 20th Anniversary edition - and cost me just 55 quid from a place in Rhyl about six or seven years ago. The thing is, this little beauty, out of the box, is one of the best-playing guitars I've ever played, and tuned down a half-step, sounds amazing to boot. A set of Texas-style pickups would probably improve the sound, but what the heck: they would cost me more than the guitar did in the first place. We'll see...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des...
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [...
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more