Walter Becker's Incredible Collection!

[Marty Grass]

Walter Becker was Steely Dan's guitarist. I did not know he was a gear hoarder. I received his estate catalog of his instruments and amps. I've never seen anything like this. If you have an hour or two to kill, look through it.

The first 20 pages were fun. After that I started to feel sorry for him. Just the maintenance of the equipment must have been a full time job.

https://www.juliensauctions.com/auct..._Flipping_Book/

I got a copy of this because Walter and I got twin guitars a few years ago. His is shown of pages 6 and 163 and has a spruce top. Mine has a maple top.

[wintermoon]

Walter Becker Gear Auction in October

[vinnyv1k]

He had some killer amps.

[Marty Grass]

Walter Becker Gear Auction in October

Oops.

[wintermoon]

probably just migrated off the front page.

[sgcim]

I wonder if any of the Gibson amps were the same models that Jim Hall and Johnny Smith used in the 60s.
He had the:
GA 20
GA 40
GA 50
GA 9
GA 8
GA 50T
GA 5
GA 8T
Did JH or JS use any of those?
I also wonder if any of the combo amps he had are any good for jazz. He had amps that I know nothing about, but they have one 8' or 10", so they're not necessarily made for rock tones. He had the :
Colby Li' Darlin"
SWR Working Pro 10
Peavey Blaze 1x8
Peavey Audition 1x10
Morgan AC-20 1x12
Valve Train 205 Whipple Teddy kumpel Special
Japanese Combo 1x12
Premeire 120 Combo (1950s)
Clallenger Alamo 1x10
Carr Mini Mercury Model
Echopark Clarence
Invicta 5E3 Hi Power Deluxe
Alamo Model 2 1x5
Alamo 1x8
Alamo 1x10
Silvertone 1x8
Medalist 133 1x8
groove Tubes Soul-0 Single
Tone Quest Clarksdale 1x12
Louis Electric KR 1x12
Supro 1x8

Are any of these jazz amps?

[wintermoon]

Hall used a GA-50 forever until he switched to a Polytone.
Bill Crow related a story of stopping by Jim's apartment to pick him up for a gig.
Jim ran to the door w guitar and amp, but amp was still plugged in
Oops....

[sgcim]

Thanks, I'll check that out. There's also a GA-50T, I wonder what the T means, transistorized?
I saw Hall play the GA-50 when I was a kid. He got that very dark sound that sounded great when he used the drone on "Up, Up and Away".

[wintermoon]

T = tremelo, otherwise same amp

[Jazzstdnt]

I've never seen anything remotely like this collection, or should I say oddball collection. It's like he had his own music store, and a big one at that.

[sgcim]

That's why this auction is so fascinating. Half of his stuff was blues-rock gear, and the other half was this weird stuff that had some type of fascination for him.
His favorite type of music was hard bop, and they said in an article that he went out listening to Dexter Gordon.
That's got to have something to do with stuff like all the old Gibson amps and other unusual gear.