So, we have a few extra bucks this month. Wife is going out to spend a few hundred bucks on new clothing, and Joe decided to look into a new amp. The amp I bought before moving here is cool and all, but just a little too small for my needs.
... a quick technical aside for my non-musician readers. The power of an amplifier, measured in wattage, is responsible for volume and something called "clean headroom": the ability to get louder without distorting. Because of various math and physics things that are too complicated to get into here, doubling the wattage only gives you about 10% more perceived volume. So to get double the volume of my 4W amp, I need a 40W amp. But more importantly, a 4W amp starts to distort long before you hit half of its potential volume, while a 40W amp with a good clean channel will stay clean and clear-sounding until you really crank it up towards 11.
Anyhoo, I'm looking for a bigger/cleaner amp. Last night I saw a used Peavey Valveking 100W amp with a pair of 12" speakers for $300 at the local Guitar Center, on the website. Those amps usually go for around $650 new, so it seemed like a good idea to try it out. I sort of ran it past my wife without telling her that it was used and cheaper, and she was OK with the $650 price tag so I knew $300 would be no problem. If not that amp, then maybe over to Sam Ash and put something on layaway... yeah, guitar shops and gun stores are the last businesses where layaway is common practice.
Well, I go out this morning. Too early as it turns out, since Guitar Center opens at 11 on weekdays. Sam Ash was open at 10, so I popped in there. Turns out they have a 12-month layaway, so I could pay $20-30 a week and afford any amp in the store! WOO! Most amps at least, since you have to put down 20%. So I tried a Peavey Valveking at Sam Ash... hated it mucho much. So much for getting out cheap. I tried a couple of amps, and then had the sales guy demo a couple while I listened... I get guitar store stage fright occasionally. We tried a bunch of amps in the $600-1200 range. Then I thought about it, and questioned the wisdom of committing myself to $300 down and biweekly payments for several months, so we scaled back and checked out a smaller Marshall just for no good reason since it is a 5W amp and not really any improvement over what I have now. Right behind us though, there was the UGLIEST AMP I'VE EVER SEEN FOR SALE IN A REAL STORE. For shits and giggles, since I was about to walk out of there and bring my wife back on the weekend, I told sales dude to plug his guitar into that amp.
No kidding, it was the best-sounding amp in the store. Turns out to be a American-made Peavey Classic 50, four 10" speakers and 50W. Torn tweed covering showing the wood underneath, control panel with the chrome rubbed off and starting to rust out, stains and holes in the grill cloth, dirty all over, dry-rotted leather handle, just a real beater of an amp. The model nameplate fell off not so long ago, so it has a slightly less dirty rectangle patch on the front. The power cord isn't original, and Satan only knows where the footswitch came from, although it seems to currently do absolutely nothing anyways. The damned thing is right around 20-21 years old if I'm reading the serial number correctly. And yet... it is kind of a magical sounding amplifier.
The sales guy called over the sales girl to ask her about it, I guess someone dropped it off the day before and it was my good luck to give it a chance. I brought it home and started looking into fixing it up, but my wife thinks it has "character" so I'll probably leave the cosmetics alone. At least until I have to crack her open to replace a vacuum tube.
1 comments:
I love her. Have you thought of a name yet?
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