Guitar Amp For Early Swing and Blues

[ruger9]

I thought all along it was going to be the two-tone Champ (i.e., Champion 600) for you. It is a great little amp and can be modded to get you what you want. The speaker mod you did was a great idea. Enjoy.

As you have now come to realize, everybody is entirely too wedded to the 1960s tone stack--black face, etc. Well...it just doesn't cut the mustard, if you are trying to get the 50s sound. ;-)

My experiences with a PRRI (including mods: several speakers, OT upgrade, and a mid control) convinced me that blackface is not my thing. Altho it IS go for nice, clear Johnny Smith type tones, and SRV.

I actually think I'm somewhere in-between... tweed/BF = BROWNface/blonde. The Swarts are still the amps that make the heavens sing to my ears, and one is definitely in my future.

But sometimes, you gotta' get your Charlie Christian/T-Bone Walker on

[campusfive]

I emailed the guy at Nocturne a couple weeks ago about the Moonshine '39, but I got no response. But, at the time there was no mention of the '39 on his page, so maybe that has something to do with it. Now he's taking orders, so who knows.

I should note for the record that I'm now friends with Tavo, the guy who runs Nocturne, and I've gotten a chance to play the Moonshine '39 a bit. He sponsored a clinic on Charlie Christian that I taught a couple months back hosted by Tommy Harkenrider (who's playing the Moonshine '39 in the clips above), and the three of us had a ball comparing my EH-185 and the Moonshine '39.

We've been in touch many times about getting together to shoot a promo video for the amp, so perhaps you'll see one of those soon. We've also talked about coming with some kind of "character pedal" to get some the EH-series magic into a pedal you can stick in front of a more modern amp. (I emailed him immediately after having to use a rented Silverface Twin on a fly-out gig - ain't nothing wrong with a Twin per se, but it's not what I'm going for, you know).

Anyway, good stuff, and a good guy.

[ruger9]

We've also talked about coming with some kind of "character pedal" to get some the EH-series magic into a pedal you can stick in front of a more modern amp. (I emailed him immediately after having to use a rented Silverface Twin on a fly-out gig - ain't nothing wrong with a Twin per se, but it's not what I'm going for, you know).

Anyway, good stuff, and a good guy.

I know it's not "the same thing", never could be, but that would still be pretty darned awesome. If anyone can do it, Tavo can.