Tuesday, August 24, 2010

“The 5f2h amp is ridiculously awesome”


A note from Bill L. in NY, the lucky harp player who bought my 5F2H harp amp:
“The 5f2h amp is ridiculously awesome. It screams, growls, honks, kicks ass and is pretty thunderous for a ten-watt amp. I played it on every volume setting from 4 to 12, and I found a tone control setting that works for each volume. The amp simply shines. It made me want to play less notes and be more toneful with each note... I am thrilled with it to say the least. Your recent blog post about the basic elements of quality harp tone comes to mind -- the 5f2h exemplifies all those qualities. I couldn't imagine ever needing anything else.

The new Mission amp must be truly a thing of wonder for you to be able to part with the 5f2h.”

Wow! Thanks, Bill!

Bill brings up some interesting points about the 5F2H harp amp that I thought I’d expand upon a bit here.

It was originally designed by Bruce Collins of Mission amps as a pure harp amp, inspired by the tone circuitry of the classic 1960 Premier Twin 8 amplifier. Weber sold it as a kit in a smaller cabinet with a 10-inch speaker. The one I sold to Bill is in a larger tweed Deluxe cab with a 12-inch speaker.

During the two years I owned and played the amp I learned much of what I know about good harp amp tone and how to wring it out of an amp. I spent many hours testing and listening to different components and circuits in the amp to get that fat chunky harp tone we all crave.

Indeed, much of the philosophy behind the amazing Mission Chicago amp came from my experience with the 5F2H. The Chicago amp has much different circuitry, but shares some of the same demon tweaks. They have the same sonic DNA.

Bill’s 5F2H amps was my gigging amp for a year, and was the prototype for a new small harp amp from Mission, named “The Memphis.” Contact Bruce Collins at Mission Amps for details.

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