Kendrick Texas Crude harp amp

In a long and rambling post on Harp-L a few days ago, Gary Onofrio -- who calls himself Sonny Jr. -- had this to say: "Kendrick ripped off tons of harp players with his Texas Crude."

Whoa! That is pretty strong stuff from a guy who gets so angry when his own products are critiqued.

I'm here to stand up for the Kendrick Texas Crude amp. I've played both early and recent examples and they are outstanding harp amps. Great tone and crunch. You can lean into them to get some hair on the notes. Wonderful warm, horn-like tones. Very feedback resistant. What is Onofrio talking about?

Harp-L members have praised the Texas Crude amp: Here and Here.

Paul Orta, a good Texas harp player who gets tremendous tone, helped Kendrick design the amp in the mid-90s. It is interesting to note that the original name for the amp was the Kendrick Texas Crude Sonny Boy, before Onofrio had ever sold a "Sonny Jr." amp.

I doubt Gerald Weber of Kendrick Amps "ripped off" anybody. He seems like an extremely straight shooter to me, and he's been in business a long time on the strength of his reputation. I'll ask him about this...

UPDATE: Response from Gerald Weber at Kendrick Amplifiers-

Dear Rick,

Thanks for your most kind and thoughtful email. The link to that libelous post had already been brought to my attention in emails received from Kendrick Amp users. I have seen this childish behavior from competitors quite a bit in my 39 years of running successful businesses. Our sales are obviously killing them. When you are successful, there will always be someone that feels threatened by it. The simple truth: I have been building the Texas Crude Harp Amp exactly the same way now since 1993, when it was initially introduced to the world as the first Harp Amp.

We have sold well over 1,000 units and sales are still strong. As I write this email, 2 Texas Crude Harp amps are on my shipping dock, awaiting shipment to their lucky owners and another order came in yesterday for one. Another truth: We haven't spent a dime in advertising these amps in over 15 years. The word-of-mouth advertising reached its critical mass as a self-fulfilling cycle. So our orders come from people that hear the Texas Crude Amp somewhere and want to own one for themselves, or they have a friend that owns one and recommends it.

Nuff Sed!

Kindest Personal Regards,

Gerald Weber

President/owner

(512) 932 3130

Ethics in Product Endorsements - Sonny Jr. Cruncher

Background: Gary Onofrio – the maker of Sonny Jr. harp amps – claims the great harp player Charlie Musselwhite as an endorser of his Cruncher amp. When I saw Charlie play in Greeley, CO on his current tour he was using a different amp, a Fender Red Knob Twin. When I asked about it on Harp-L (a popular harmonica mail list) Onofrio and others became quite agitated. I decided to dig a little deeper and find out more about product endorsements. My original intent was to write a story about endorsements in the music industry in general, but enough information has come to light about this particular case to warrant a story of its own now. I’ll publish the broader story later.

FTC GUIDES CONCERNING USE OF
ENDORSEMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS IN ADVERTISING

(c) In particular, where the advertisement represents that the endorser uses the endorsed product, then the endorser must have been a bona fide user of it at the time the endorsement was given, Additionally, the advertiser may continue to run the advertisement only so long as he has good reason to believe that the endorser remains a bona fide user of the product.

The FTC requires vendors to ensure that endorsers are bona fide users. This responsibility falls on the vendor, not the endorser.

What constitutes “use” in this instance? The Sonny Jr. amps website is quite specific about the intended use for this amp: It is a performance amp. Over and over in the product description and testimonials the Cruncher is referred to as a gigging amp. To put it to its proper use is to gig with it. A reasonable observer who reads Charlie Musselwhite’s endorsement will understand that the use to which he will put the Cruncher amp is as his primary gig rig.

Onofrio explained Musselwhite’s use of a different amp in Greeley this way: On Harp-L and in private emails to me he declared the Cruncher amp is unsuitable for flying. Gary says the amp is too big and too fragile.

Onofrio insisted it would cost $200 per flight to check a Cruncher amp as baggage. I checked with several airlines and found that to be untrue. Packed in a custom ATA case the Cruncher amp would be under the size limit of 62 linear inches and right at the weight limit of 50 pounds. There would be no extra cost at all. Even if it exceeded the 50 pound limit by a bit, the cost penalty would be minimal, perhaps $50.00. That seems a small price to tour with an amp described as the best in the world.

Onofrio also insisted the Cruncher might get damaged or lost as checked baggage. Yes, that is possible, but we are talking about a harp amp, not a priceless heirloom. It is the tool of our trade. The Sonny Jr. amps I’ve seen were very well made, with point-to-point soldered circuits and sturdy cabinets. A touring musician could stipulate that the venue have a backup amp waiting for him as well.

If Onofrio indeed believes his amps are not suitable for flying, one would expect him to let prospective buyers know that, but I was unable to find that information anyhere on his website. Additionally Onofrio must have known that most of Musselwhite’s tour dates are sufficiently far away that flying would be required. It is an open question if the phrase “bona fide user” includes an endorser who usually uses a different product.

The FTC does not require that vendors disclose payments or other material relationships with celebrity endorsers. We are to assume a celebrity or expert endorser is remunerated. With non-celebrity endorsers (i.e. “real shoppers”) any material connection or payment must be disclosed. Some harp amp builders are open about their endorsement policies, but Onofrio refuses.

Onofrio has the Cruncher endorsement from Charlie Muselwhite at the top of his Endorsers page. After praising the amp profusely and thanking Onofrio, Musselwhite ends his blurb this way:

“I look forward to a great touring season with it this year.”

This endorsement is prominently displayed by the vendor. It clearly and plainly suggests to the reader that Musselwhite will play the amp at his tour dates, not just the few to which he can drive. When did Onofrio discover the Cruncher amp is not suitable for flying? Perhaps he should have warned Musselwhite and avoided this awkward episode.

Since Onofrio asserts the Cruncher amp is not suitable for flying, and he knows that Musselwhite flies to most of his gigs, it is unethical -- if not illegal -- for Gary Onofrio to feature such endorsements on his Sonny Jr. amps promotional materials, including his website.

* * *

Notes: In case that last line of the endorsement disappears from Onofrio's website, I have a screen shot of it here (from June 23, 2009) and you can view the Google cache of the page here.

I contacted both Gary Onofrio and Charlie Musselwhite requesting information for this article but they did not respond.

Average Players

I've never met Barbeque Bob Maglinte but he is a prolific commenter on lots of harp websites. I've followed his comments for years, and they always seem to have the same hectoring, lecturing, self-righteous tone as this example from Harp-L today:

"Players who tend to play with too much breath force AKA play way too damned hard all the time, they will risk blowing them out much faster, and getting a VERY strong handle on breath control and learning to play much softer is very impiortant and too often the average player will NEVER undestand nor listen to that, and those players will be the first to complain a bout blow out, and the real cause of blowouts is playing technique in an nutshell.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA"

Didja get that? Average players NEVER understand or listen to his wisdom, and they are the first to complain. Jeez, buddy... Condescend much?

Some players think it is important to play softly, others choose to wail. Big Walter Horton was quoted by Tom Ball as saying, "I like to play loud," and indeed he did. Too bad BBQ Bob wasn't around to lecture him on his tone.

There are a few harp players I can think of whose first impulse is to insult "average" players as a way to flatter themselves or to sell their products or lessons. BBQ Bob is the most consistently snide of them all.

Heck, I'm proud of being an average/intermediate player. I play loud because I like it, same as Big Walter Horton. It is a choice, not a failing. BBQ Bob ain't gonna win many friends with his conceit, but he sure seems desperate to impress, eh?

Chris Richards' Twin Tone Mics

Two weeks ago I hit the excellent Boulder Outlook Blues Jam on a Tuesday night, hosted by Al Chesis and the Delta Sonics. I needed to hook up with harp mic wizard Chris Richards so I could hand off my EV M43/U mic for some killer mods. More on that later.

I got called up to play harp in the second set, and I used Chris' personal Twin Tone bullet mic. He puts a little toggle switch on the mic that allows the player to change the frequency curve of the mic, from bright to normal. I tried both settings and liked the mic a lot. I played through Al Chesis' custom Bandmaster clone from Mission Amps, and I thought the the tone was way phat.

Al must have thought so too. He was back up in the next set and said to me from the stage, "Hey Rick, what mic were you using?" I pointed to Chris, who handed the same mic to Al. Al played through the mic for a few songs and then mouthed the words "How Much?" to Chris. Chris gave the international sign for "It ain't for sale." After a few more minutes of playing Al pointed to the mic, looked at Chris and held up five fingers. If I'm not mistaken, Al Chesis was offering Chris Richards $500 for his Twin Tone mic.

Charlie Musselwhite at the Greeley Blues Jam

I headed up North this afternoon to catch Charlie Musselwhite's set at the Blues Jam, Greeley's summer blues festival. Charlie's tone was superb; huge and rich.

He was playing through an unmodified Fender Red Knob Twin amp, known as the Evil Twin. Musselwhite used the same model amp to record his recent album "Delta Hardware." The amp is a high gain beast; a super loud guitar amp that just does not seem like a good choice for harp. But Charlie is, well... Charlie. He gets good tone with anything.

He opened his set with the song River Hip Mama, which happens to be the same song my band Roadhouse Joe opens every show with. Standing 20 feet in front of Charlie Musselwhite and listening to him play that song was thrilling and inspiring. His encore at the end was Christo Redentor. Everything in between was a clinic in third and fourth position harp mastery.

The picture above was taken tonight with my cellular phone, so the quality is not first rate. However, it clearly shows the Fender Evil Twin amp.

UPDATE: Gary Onofrio, the maker of the "Sonny Jr." harp amps, claims Charlie Musselwhite as an endorser of his products. He explains on Harp-L that Musselwhite uses different amps only when "he has to fly." I checked with the organizers of the Greeley Blues Jam and found that Charlie Musselwhite specifically requested the Fender Red Knob Twin amp weeks before the event.

NOTE: Charlie Musselwhite uses the exact same harp stand I do! Check the harp case resting on the cheap K-Mart bar stool to his left. My stage setup is identical. Check the far right on the pic below; Roadhouse Joe playing Little Bear Saloon in Evergreen, Colorado.




UPDATE 2: Here are some photos taken at the Blues Jam by blues bass man Pierre Allard:

The Fender Blues Junior revisited

I’ve had a couple of close encounters recently with Fender Blues Juniors used as harp amps and I was impressed enough that it warrants a blog update. As many of you know, I have been skeptical of the BJr in the past because its high gain guitarish nature makes it unsuitable for the kind of crunchy harp tone I like. Also, newer amps powered by EL84 tubes don’t produce the tone I prefer.

A friend who is a beginner at amped playing asked me to help set up his BJr. The only mod we made was trying a 5751 in place of the 12AX7 tube in the preamp socket. We fiddled with the controls and got a very satisfying tone with these settings:

-FAT switch Off (It is evil for harp)
-Volume on 50 percent.
-Bass dimed
-Mids rolled off a bit, say 40 percent
-Treble rolled off all the way
-A little reverb, maybe on 2
-Master control is used to set the amp’s loudness.

The tone was surprisingly good and feedback resistant. There was plenty of volume. While the tone was not as crunchy and organic as I like, I would totally gig this amp with no problems. It is worth noting that it sounded a lot better with my gig mic – a Greg Heumann modded Peavey Cherry Bomb bullet mic with Shure CM element – than it did with another bullet mic I tried. The Cherry Bomb has a deeper tone due to it’s bigger cavity, thereby ameliorating some of the BJr’s brightness.

We tried swapping the speaker for a Weber Sig 12 ceramic with smooth cone but it sang with ghost notes, so we put the stock Fender/Eminence speaker back in. I’m sure the BJr could profit greatly from a speaker swap, but I think it needs to be a ribbed cone speaker to quiet the cone cry. A vintage Jensen P12R would be good, I think…

The next step for this amp is a 12DW7 tube in the phase inverter socket to give it slightly more grit. I’ll report on the results.

The other Fender Blues Junior I tried belongs to Victor, a guy known to many harp players around Denver and across the country. I played his BJr at the Boulder Outlook blues jam last week. He has modified the amp in ways I can’t completely describe, telling me it has a new gain stage. I know it has stock tubes and speaker. It sounded great, with more body and thickness than your standard BJr. When Victor played it with his EV RE-10 mic it was clean and pleasing. When I played it I found it needed a bit of pushing to get it to tip into warm distortion, but it was all very controllable and nice.

If you want details, ask Victor. He is also a first rate harp tech. He replaced a blown reed in my Hohner Marine Band Deluxe harp in A, and chamfered, arced, embossed, and tuned the harp. It is the best-sounding, nicest playing harp in my collection. Victor is an artist.

UPDATE: Here is a clip of Colorado blues harp player Mojo Red playing through a Blues Junior with his band TeraBlue. He retubed his amp using JJ tubes (12AY7 in V1; 12DW7 in phase inverter socket) and swapped in a Weber 12A100 smooth cone alnico speaker. Nice tone!

New and Improved Mystery Black Box!

A well-known harp amp maker has been hitting the Harp-L list lately with some pretty wild claims. Apparently he has developed a “Super” version of his venerable - and excellent - 410 amp. The Super version costs about $300 more than the standard 410. The thing that distinguishes the Super Sonny Jr amp from the not-so-super model (other than the price) is the “Sound Enhancer.” What is the Sound Enhancer, you ask? He ain’t sayin’.

Now, I appreciate the value of proprietary design and I don’t expect Gary to give away trade secrets, but I need a little more than corny hyperbolic pitches to be convinced this is anything more than a bunch of hooey. It reminds me of the worst of Madison Avenue in the Fifties. “The New and Improved Wide-Track Sedan with Fenster Drive!” The only thing that changed was the badge on the fender.

A vintage-style tube harp amp is a pretty simple device. Where does the Magic Sound Enhancer box fit in? Take my little 5F2H tone monster amp for example: It has 3 tubes and a couple of transformers. Some caps and stuff, with point-to-point wiring. No Sound Enhancers; doesn’t need any. You can put me down as “skeptical” about this until Gary produces some kind of minimal description, or sound samples or vids or something. Talk is cheap…

5F2H Amp by HarpGear!

Actually, Brian Purdy at HarpGear built a 5F2H kit a few years ago to check it out and eventually sold it. The amp popped up on Harp-L and got snapped up immediately. The 5F2H is pound for pound and dollar for dollar the best sounding harp amp anywhere, and any amp built by Brian is a gem.

The guy who bought it is named Paul, and he and I have been emailing back and forth about the care and feeding of a 5F2H. Here is a link to the pictures posted by the guy who sold the amp:

http://www.walkerdata.com/harpgear/harpgear.htm

Nice! I like the tweed cab, but I prefer my snakeskin and 12-inch speaker.

I'd like to hear from other 5F2H owners. We should start a club or something...

Review: Line 6 X2 Digital Wireless XDS95

I've gigged with the Line 6 X2 Digital Wireless several times now, and I'd like to present a full review of its performance: It's good!

It sounds great. I honestly can't hear any difference between it and a cable. This thing is digital, so it is sending just numbers across the airwaves, not an analog music signal. There is no squelch and no static. I clip the transmitter to my belt, plug in my bullet mic, and the sound that comes out of my amp is exactly as you would expect with a direct cable.

What it lacks compared to more expensive competitors is operating range. It is listed as having a range of 150 feet. I've heard from other users that the range is more like 100 feet. I've personally never wandered far enough away from the stage to lose signal, and I know I've hit that 100 foot range with no problems. More expensive wireless units have a stated range of 300 feet. I don't know why you'd ever want to play while 100 yards away from the stage.

The XDS95 consists of a receiver the size and shape of an effects pedal, so it fits nicely on your pedal board. I power it with a One Spot adapter so there is no hassling with batteries.

The transmitter is about the size and shape of a deck of cards, and requires a 9-volt alkaline battery. Line 6 claims a battery life of about 11 hours. I've gotten two gigs on a new battery (about 9 hours) with no problems.

There are no antennas on either unit. They seem sturdy and well made. There are 5 selectable frequencies on each unit, so you can have 5 of these on your stage with no interference from each other. The guitar player in Roadhouse Joe uses an identical X2 and he loves it, although his battery life has been a little shorter than mine for whatever reason.

The Line 6 X2 Digital Wireless XDS95 is available from Guitar Center online or behind the accessories counter in their stores. I bought mine at the GC on Colorado Blvd. in Denver. They are marked at $199.99, but they will deal.

Walking around the club while playing is thought of by some as high cheese. Maybe so, but it is still fun. The biggest benefit of the wireless is not stepping on my cable and unplugging myself 2 or 3 times during a show. This X2 unit works very well for not a lot of money. That earns it the Blues Harp Amps Blog seal of approval.

Jason Ricci workin' his Delay Pedals

This is great. Jason sent me a heads-up on a new YouTube vid he made that compares two good delay pedals: The BBE Two Timer and the vintage Boss DM-2. Beyond being an interesting comparison, it is a quick lesson in how to set up your pedal.



In the comments on YouTube, Mike asked what the exact settings were and Jason shot back with this: "Man come on mike ...Just mess with the thing for two seconds till it sounds good...My settings would be different with different pedals and a a different amp...unless you got the exact same ferrets as I do then you need to weasel your rhinocerous n shit." Yep, ya gotta weasel your rhinocerous...

What I noticed is that Jason uses more repeats than I do... I have the "Repeats" control on my delay pedal all the way down so there is only one repeat: a "slap back." Jason and Adam Gussow both use more repeats and slightly more time. So I plugged in and weaseled my rhino and dang... that sounds pretty good! Maybe Jason and Adam know something 'bout harp tone.

I'm gonna try this at our gig Wednesday night at Herman's in Denver, but the ferrets in that room may be different than at home. We'll see how it sounds.