Playing a Harley Benton Dullahan headless guitar into a Milkman "The Amp 50"

[Jim Soloway]

This is a slightly belated NAD and NGD. They both arrived in the last 10 days but we've been moving into the new house so things moved a little slowly.

A quick update...

The Harley Benton Dullahan-FT 24 Roasted is an absurdly inexpensive headless guitar with some luxury features. The neck and fingerboard are both roasted maple. The frets are really nicely finished stainless steel. The build quality is really nice and there are some excellent design touches. The ergonomics are very good (and I understand a big upgrade from the previous generation of the Dullahan). The pickups are hotter and thicker than I'd like but the five way switch offers the neck in parallel mode in position 2. That both cools it off and gives it more sparkle and detail in the high end so that it's much more PAF like.

I have the guitar strung with D'Addario Chrome XL's and it's tuned down to C-standard.

The Milkman amp is definitely not inexpensive but it just seemed like such a great match for me that after looking at it for about weeks (and with some encouragement from my wife), I finally pulled the trigger. It's a class D amp with a single 12AX7 running at high voltage in the preamp. It's 50 watts at 8 ohms, has really pretty clean tones and is designed like a giant pedal with foot switches for reverb and tremolo, always my favorite setup. I'm currently running it through a Mesa Boogie 1x12 mini slant recto cab but in about a week I should have a tiny little custom 1x10 from a local builder that I hope will be a quality match for the Milkman.

Here's about 60 seconds of video. The sound was recorded direct from the milkman with their built in speaker sim. The music is my intro/ending to Black Orpheus Manha De Carnaval.

[Little Jay]

Sounds just like Jim Soloway! Kidding aside: sounds really good and proves that good guitars don’t always need to be pricey. Good choice on the gear and very nice playing. I think you have distinctive and unique style.

[marcwhy]

Wonderful as always, Jim - thanks for posting!

I know sometimes the tube thing is a "feel" as much as it is a "sound;" how is the Milkman for you -- does it feel tubey, or what? I believe most of your performing of late has been solo; would this hold up in a trio/quartet setting?

Thanks!

Marc

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Chimey! Sounds great.

[Jim Soloway]

Wonderful as always, Jim - thanks for posting!

I know sometimes the tube thing is a "feel" as much as it is a "sound;" how is the Milkman for you -- does it feel tubey, or what? I believe most of your performing of late has been solo; would this hold up in a trio/quartet setting?

Thanks!

Marc

More than anything it feels like a cleaner quieter Princeton Reverb (at least to me). I think it will probably warm up even more with the new open back cab. I'm not sure about how it would hang with a drummer. My hands produce so little volume that I'm not a great judge but if I wasn't after the tremolo, I probably would have gone with the 100.

[Jim Soloway]

Sounds just like Jim Soloway! Kidding aside: sounds really good and proves that good guitars don’t always need to be pricey. Good choice on the gear and very nice playing. I think you have distinctive and unique style.

Thanks. Whenever a new guitar or amp arrives my always ask my wife to listen and she almost always says the same thing "it sounds like you".

[marcwhy]

Thanks. Whenever a new guitar or amp arrives my always ask my wife to listen and she almost always says the same thing "it sounds like you".

She sounds like a "keeper!"



[Your wife, that is, not necessarily the gear!]

[christianm77]

Sounds great.

thats a lush reverb as well

[Max405]

Jim, you look right at home in many ways..
I am glad you got back to where your heart is and you are healthy and strong.
By the playing (which is always very beautiful), you seem to NOT have missed a single beat.
Very beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Joe D

[Jim Soloway]

She sounds like a "keeper!"



[Your wife, that is, not necessarily the gear!]

27 years now and she hasn't gotten rid of me yet.

[Jim Soloway]

Sounds great.

thats a lush reverb as well

Both the reverb and the tremolo are really nice. A nice reverb with a touch of trem has always felt like home base to me.

[Jim Soloway]

Jim, you look right at home in many ways..
I am glad you got back to where your heart is and you are healthy and strong.
By the playing (which is always very beautiful), you seem to NOT have missed a single beat.
Very beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Joe D

Thanks Joe. It feels really good to be back in Canada and this part of Canada is remarkably beautiful. As for the playing, I put in lots of hours but I went almost three months without access to an amplifier. It feels really good to be plugged in again.

[Eck]

Sounds beautiful, both guitar and playing. I am guessing the clip with the Godin is played with a ‘lesser’ amp? I still like the Godin more but is it any wonder with those looks.


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[Jabberwocky]

Time for an old canard: It is not the arrow but the person behind the arrow-although looking at the heavily geared up Olympian archers I sometimes wonder if it is the arrow shooting itself.

Wonderful tones and playing. The Reverb and Tremolo is available as a $299 MAP JHS/Milkman F-Stop pedal.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Time for an old canard: It is not the arrow but the person behind the arrow-although looking at the heavily geared up Olympian archers I sometimes wonder if it is the arrow shooting itself.

Wonderful tones and playing. The Reverb and Tremolo is available as a $299 MAP JHS/Milkman F-Stop pedal.

Yes, I see the !00W Milkman only has reverb, but tremolo is an easy pedal fix there are many choices.

[0zoro]

Beautiful touch! as always I should add!

[DRS]

Yes, I see the !00W Milkman only has reverb, but tremolo is an easy pedal fix there are many choices.

The Milkman specs indicate that you can run the 50w The Amp at 4 ohms for 100w output. Will this sound the same?