Finally! A Guitar Amp!
When I started my day job in October, it wasn’t long before I was thrust headlong into teching beginner guitar lessons. I couldn’t really play guitar very well at the time, and I definitely couldn’t use a pick to play more than a few months before I started teaching(I have been playing bass for about 10 years though). I could play well enough to to tach some beginner students, so I was started slow to help cope with an overflow of students. Since then I’ve actually gotten to be pretty good with my guitar technique, and my theoretical knowledge has always been a firm backup. Anyway, more on that later. Since I started playing (guitar, not bass) I’ve picked up a pretty nice electric guitar, but have been without any sort of real guitar amp! It’s been driving me crazy!! Bass amps just won’t cut it for guitar, and a good amp is essential for any serious guitar player.
The problem has been compounded by the fact that, because of my recording and audio engineering background, I have become a tone FREAKAZOID! I love great guitar tone, and I can’t stand crappy guitar tone. Playing through 10 watt solid state amps at my work during lessons has been slowly driving me crazy! Today, I made the first step towards some good tone!
My amazing girlfirend Tracey bequeathed unto me a combo guitar amp that has been lying around her house and used to belong to her older brother!
The amp is a Sonax 750 G. It was made by Yorkville Sound in the late 70’s and early 80’s I believe. It’s solid state, and by tone standards it’s pretty much bottom of the line. “But wait Justin,” you say “How does bad tone get you one step closer to good tone?”. Well, this amp may be bottom of the barrel, but lets take a serious look. If nothing else, I’ve got a sweet 2 x 12 open back guitar cabinet that says “Sonax” on it! I’d would take that even if the amp itself didn’t work! But the amp does work, and it’s got some really sweet features in itself.
It’s got a really unique sounding built in spring reverb as well as a cool tremolo with a really unique characteristic. With the intensity turned all the way up on the tremolo, the signal actually turns itself off and on. Coupled with the spring reverb and a bit of creativity this has yielded some really cool sounds after only about 15 minutes of experimentation. It’s also got 4 inputs! I could see some unique applications for plugging mics on different sources, then using an impedance converter to plug them into the amp and mess with the reverb and tremolo. For example, I could plug an SM58 itno it, record a crazy harmony on top of a vocal line, and have a really cool analog reverb at my disposal. Or a tremolo for that matter. Tremolo on vocal? The first rule of audio engineering, there are no rules! The amp will still sound generally crappy, but that will be part of the effect! I could see some really cool results even keeping the amp as is, but I can’t resist modding it…
First, I plan to swap out the speakers. A 2 x 12 cab from Orange can easily run 600 bucks in Canada, so even if I spend 80 or 100 bucks on good speakers (spread over a few months) I’ll still be ahead of the game. I haven’t decided exactly which model of speaker to go with, but I plan on finding out which models are used in Vox amplifiers as well as Orange amplifiers and choosing between one of the two. Once the speakers are replaced, the amp will sound waayyy better I expect, you should see the ones in there now…. At the end of the day though it will still have the inner workings of a cheap solid state amp. One with cool features that will definitely be useable, but a cheap solid state amp nonetheless. To complete the journey to great tone I’ll wire in a jack so I can unplug or plug in the actual Sonax amplifier to the speakers easily.
Why? Well for a long time I’ve wanted an Orange amp. The ”Tiny Terror”, a little 15 watt job, suits my needs perfectly. It’s just a head, which means it doesnt come with speakers, it’s basically just a little power box that you need to plug a speakerbox into. I’ll pretty much only be using it for recording and practicing, so with the lesser amount of power I’ll be able to drive the tubes and get the tone I want without blowing my eardrums. The amp will still be loud (I’ve tried it in a store with a 2 x 12 cab) but not face melting loud. With the jack I wire in, I’ll be able to unplug the Sonax amplifier from the speakers and plug in an Orange Tiny Terror head, using the Sonax as a 212 cabinet. I don’t think I’ll be able to afford the Tiny Terror head for a while, but in the meantime I’ll have a really rad amp to play through, and some cool effects to experiment with!
Eager to get the project underway! Any tips or suggestions I’d love to hear them!
Thanks so much for letting me bring it home Trace! I love you!
This is a response to the guy with the Sonax amp.Vox amps had Celestion speakers and I think Orange used Fane.Both very expensive.I have used Weber Blue Dog 12″ in Vox type projects and they work well.They are made to order at http://www.tedweber.com
they cost 190. each which is cheap compared to the Celestions they are styled after.And I’m curious as to why and how you became a guitar teacher when you didn’t know how to play.Dan
Hey Dan, thanks for the info on the speakers. I’ve edited the post above a bit to clear up your question. My background in music theory is quite extensive, so while I wasn’t a technically great guitar player when I started teaching, I was still a reasonably accomplished musician. More than equipped to handle a few beginner students, mostly aged around 8-10. Since then my guitar playing has gotten much closer to the skill I have on bass, and I now teach many intermediate level students comfortably.
When I re-read how I had phrased that the first time I realized how crazy it sounded! Hope that clears it up. Thanks again for the info!