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AMPLIFIERS

The first amplified Guitar

The first Guitar I got when I was about 14, was a Spanish acoustic. At that point I was already in a Band with two of my cousins. When I was playing all six Strings for Chords It was loud enough to be heard over the Drums and the Organ. I had one Solo were I played single String and then my Cousins just shut up so I could be heard. In my Family it was mostly classical Music what was played and without having a big brother, it wasn’t until I left primary School I became aware of amplified instruments. At that point I still didn’t see a reason to go electric. However, when we were invited to play on the 45th wedding anniversary of our grand parents, my great grandfather was still around and we were informed he would like to be able to hear the Music of his great-grandchildren. We immediately realised that raised a problem for us since he was as good as deaf. Of course I didn’t have no money to buy an electric guitar then, but I could afford some sort of clip-on pickup. My cousins had some electronic skills and came up with some amps that worked quite well. To be sure, we turned up the amps all the way and we were lucky to have these Philips Super 10” speakers that held up just great. The sound was loud and of course a bit distorted, really not to different from how I sound today and great-grandfather was very pleased with what We played for the family!

M3 emthree Studio 15 

The first real electric Guitaramplifier used with Contemporary was the M3 solid-state amp, My first ever Amp which taught me to turn the controls full up to the right.

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The Power City 4x EL34 100watt amp

This one drove Goodmans 12" speakers in a home made cabinet. It survived an internal fire. This amplifier was used in the later Contemporary-period and throughout the entire Feedback-period. There were actually two home made cabinets with a total of four Goodmans-speakers. All four speakers had individual connections making it possible to use one for the Guitar-amp and one for Organ-amp (an home made 100 watt EKWA solid state amp) on each cabinet. This we used at a time when PA-systems weren't widely available. The cabinets were of course placed respectively to the right and left of the stage besides the rented vocal cabinets. The cones of the speakers were once pushed out because we used to play so loud. Luckily we had one of the best repairman over here in Utrecht!

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LAB-series L5 2x12 100watt solid state amp

Robert Moog's Lab Series L5 amp. From a time there was believe that there was no reason most guitarists preferred Valve amps above Solid State ones. I kept dialing and dialing the controls to get the right sound but I finally sold it. The compressor, gain and frequency/midrange controls were nice features, though. The little amp on top of the L5 in the picture on the left is a Vox Escort.

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Marshall 2144 reverb 2x EL 34 combo with 2x Celestion 12" speakers

Marshall 2144 reverb, typical late 70s - early 80s gain control amp, probably one of the first models getting succes. There were two models of this amp: 2140 - no reverb and the 2144 with reverb, the latter one I had. It had 2xEL 34 giving 50 watts. I once played the 2150, the 100 watt version with a smaller but deeper housing. All nice amps but not quite delivering the rumble of a full stack or even a half stack.

Vox AC30 4xEL84 combo with 2x Celestion 12" speakers

Vox AC 30, the amp with a very distinctive character and tone. My amp caught fire and is in no working order but I still use the cabinet driven by the Vox Cambridge 15 or 30 amp.

 

The Marshall was used the entire Saint Vitus I -period and the Vox was added for the Saint Vitus II & III gigs. In the early days with Blue Jeans and Black, the Vox was used as the sole amplifier, sometimes with the little Vox Escort as an extra preamp stage. This also worked well when it was the first link in a chain of effects.

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Gibson SG amp 

In the mid- to late 80s I was a frequent Jamsession visitor and player. For a more Jazz and Blues oriented style the old Gibson SG amp (above left) sounds perfect. On other occasions a Roland Jazz Chorus 120B (above right) would be the right choice for an amp. Most of 'Kerozinekikkers op Toernee' was recoded on this Jazz-combo.

Fender Twin Reverb 2x6L6 Head

This was a specially modified Fender Twin amplifier taken out of the Combo-housing to make things easier for the roadies. It had an extra gain-stage and two tubes were taken out to make the amp burn full up without blowing everyone from the Stage. It was used with various cabinets: Marshall, Hi-Watt or the little Custom made one 12" cabinet in the pic above.

Marshall 2150 Rock 'n' Roll 4x EL34 100 watt combo

In the mid-80s there was a trend to get as much power as possible from a small housed combo-amp. Probably to compete with the Mesa/Boogie amps, Marshall came up with this. Very loud and very directional, which wasn't always a good thing.

Marshall 4xEL34 100 watt amps with 4x 12" Celestion cabinets

Marshalls are among the most reliable amps available. The original were the biggest. A full stack contains besides the Tube Head, two 4x12" cabinets with a straight fronted one (as in the pic on the left) on the floor, and one with a slanted front stacked on it and finally the Head on top. The two slanted speakers certainly ad to the sublime projection of sound. These amps were usually on festival or band contest stages around the millennium years. Especially the JCM 2000 super Lead head is a nice three channel amp. I even came across an amp with a clean, a crunch, a lead and a super lead channel. That means a lot of controls!

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