Category: Amp Show
In this part of the 2011 NY/NJ Amp Show “review” I take a look at the other two builders and amps that really stood out for me. Part 3 will take a look at some other amps/builders – still killer – as well as a few pedals I liked (and I don’t like pedals!).
The Amp Show was AWESOME. Walk into any room, plug in and you get sho-nuff T-O-N-E of the Woody variety. And there most definitely was variety, all of it woody. I didn’t hear a bad amp or even anything approaching a bad amp, and didn’t expect to – though there was one that was a […]
A scenario: You live near a busy highway. The noise outside your apartment/flat bugs you, but you get used to it. When your lease is up you move a few blocks away, and man, it seems a lot quieter. Years later you move to the country, beyond the suburbs, and the first day there you […]
If you care about your tone (and I know you do), the Amp Show is an incendiary sensory explosion – and yet, it’s also like meditation. It’s a ride through lollipop fields and gumdrop mountains (or whatever) for tone-fiend, gear-head adults. If there was an F ticket at Disney, this would be it. Get the […]
If you live, I don’t know…8? 6? hours or less one-way from Piscataway, NJ, DO NOT miss the “New York” (like the Giants, it’s really New Jersey) Amp Show. It’s this weekend, June 5 and 6. If you care about, are curious about or aren’t totally happy with your tone and amp(s), definitely go. If […]
Coming To a City Near You? In case you haven’t read parts 1 and 2 of the NY/NJ Amp Show “review” yet, read those first: here and here. Would I go to another Amp Show? Hell yes I would. But next time I’d do it a bit differently. First, I’d show up right as the […]
Part 2: Egnater, Sommatone, Industrial Amps In case you haven’t read part 1 yet, read that first. Just as a reminder, unless otherwise noted I’m playing through these amps with a P-90-equipped Epiphone Gold Top.
Part 1: Metro, Carol-Ann, Lollar I went to my first Amp Show on Saturday, the 3rd annual “New York” show, really held about an hour from New York City in Jersey – which was great because getting in and out of NYC is a b**ch! Show doors opened at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday and closed […]
Fair Warning Tone Ain’t All the Same
Got it in my head to figure out which Van Halen song tones – not album tones – I liked the most. Started with Fair Warning, whose balls I just can’t get enough of…which doesn’t sound so good but you get what I mean. Listen to it cranked in my car because that’s the only […]
Pondering VH’s Fair Warning Tone
LOVE the first four Van Halen albums. Always have, always will. Love the rest too, including the Van Hagar years (oops, forgot about VH III…), but those first four vinyl donuts are to me and many others just the nads. The nadliest of nads. They’re a band kicking the world’s butt in every way, and […]
Recently I was ruined yet again by a good amp. This time a bud’s Bogner Shiva, EL34 version. Let’s call him Sean – because that’s his name…. He’d been talking about how awesome it was for a while, and even though I know he has good ears, wasn’t too motivated to go try it. I’d […]
The Gene-EVH-Ace-Joe Perry Connection
Have you picked up “Guitar World Presents 40 Years of Van Halen” yet? Zactly – I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it in a bookstore (remember those? lol). Anyhow, I’m always amazed at how I think I’ve memorized every word ever written about Ed and his gear and then I read something […]
More On the YMI5150 Model-A Guitar
Few weeks ago I posted a brief “review” (outdated word) of Kevin Holbrook’s YMI5150 Model-A guitar. As a brief reminder, what got my attention were the following things: > A good wood combo: swamp ash, maple/rosewood. > An interesting and unique combo of components resulting in a Strat-shaped and -scaled guitar with an ABR bridge […]
Did You Read the Esquire EVH Piece Yet?
We’re going to have to wait yet another week for the interview with Kevin Holbrook of YMI5150 guitars because we have yet another newsworthy event. This time it’s the recent Esquire interview with Edward Van Halen. Now before you EVH fans get to getting your hopes up, let’s bear in mind the same ol’s: 1. […]
Show ‘Review’: Van Halen at the Garden
Took my 10-year-old son to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 1. I think he was more excited to see them than I was – not that I wasn’t, but this was the mighty Van Halen whose tunes the both of us have copped, jammed to and listened […]
