Pro tone

[rpjazzguitar]

Had a Class today with a top notch player. I didn't ask for permission to name him, so I won't.

There were a bunch of amps in the room. He chose the nearest one to his seat, which happened to be a Roland KB150. That's an older keyboard amp, without any effects and with limited EQ.

He had a pedal board with a few pedals. I should have looked more closely, but there was a tuner and a reverb unit. Not sure what else.

He sounded terrific, which tells me, it ain't the amp. That said, he raved about the Henriksen Blu and Bud.

[Irishmuso]

Had a Master Class today with a top notch player. I didn't ask for permission to name him, so I won't.

I can appreciate why you wouldn't want to name him without permission.

[ccroft]

He's got his recipe in his hands, head and at his feet and can plug it into a PA or 1970's Kustom solid state (yikes!) and still get the sound. I like that he plugged into whatever was closest! It'd be nice to know what the other pedals were.

I have a small board that gets it done, but I almost never use it as I love the sound I'm getting straight into my amp and I'm not travelling anymore. Assuming reverb is in the amp, for me the 2 most important are a good EQ and something to fatten and warm it up a bit if needed. A lot of guys have any one of 2 dozen different low distortion type things just barely cracked open.

So there you go: it can be the amp, but if it isn't there are other ways. I wonder if he does much with the board when he's got a Henrikson on the line.

[Stringswinger]

......... he raved about the Henrikson Blu and Bud.

And for good reason. Henriksen (note the proper spelling) has hit it out of the ballpark with this line of amps.

[rpjazzguitar]

The only pedal I clearly heard was a Strymon Flint reverb.
One was a tuner.
Don't know what the others were and I don't know if he used them. Maybe one to warm up the signal? But nothing obvious apart from the reverb.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

1970's Kustom solid state (yikes!)

Don't be so hasty to condemn - experience is the best teacher. I used a 2x10 Kustom 150 for several years after buying it under duress. Starting in 1969, I was one of the house guitarists at a large Philadephia commercial music group with 14 leaders and over 200 sidemen (including some of the best in the country). I replaced Chuck Anderson when he became the house guitarist at the Latin Casino (a major venue that presented the top names in the business). The leader for whom I played regularly didn't like the sound of my 175 and B15N for rock and pop tunes, so he asked me to get a new amp. After trying several popular models, I liked the Kustom 150 best. It served me & the band very well for everything from solo and straight ahead jazz to rock and blues. It was a bit hissy at idle but the noise was inaudible once the music started. And it never gave me a moment's trouble despite being dragged around for years. Even the rolled and pleated black naugahyde covering was as good as new when I finally sold it.

But I do love my Blu 6!

[ccroft]

Fair enuf man! I was with a latin/jazz group in about '72 that had a Kustom 2x12 all solid state I had to use since I didn't own an amp at the time. I did not get along with it. I found it to be unyieldingly harsh. It wasn't the older tuck 'n roll style. Maybe the upholstery helps the tone :-)

They had two. It was great for the Rhodes.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Fair enuf man! I was with a latin/jazz group in about '72 that had a Kustom 2x12 all solid state I had to use since I didn't own an amp at the time. I did not get along with it. I found it to be unyieldingly harsh. It wasn't the older tuck 'n roll style. Maybe the upholstery helps the tone :-)

They had two. It was great for the Rhodes.

Those were different amps from the “tuck and roll” series that started Kustom. Bud Ross sold Kustom to Baldwin early in 1972 and they introduced a new line of traditional looking amps at the ‘72 NAMM show. They were exactly as you describe them. The early small combos were actually decent amps. I first bought a 4x10, but it wouldn’t fit into my Fiat 850, so I walked back into the store with it and took the 2x10.

Those were the early days of corporate pirates in the musical instrument business - Gibson to Norlin, Fender to CBS etc. And every buy-out was followed by cost cutting, loosened quality control, and generally inferior products.