Two years ago in his blog Adam Gussow challenged me to an amp
“Throwdown” between the new Memphis Mini amp and his Harpgear HG2 amp, both
small “Champ” style amps. He wanted me
to ship him an amp so he could do a comparison test. I declined for two reasons: I didn’t have any spare MM amps to send to
anyone, and since Adam is an official endorser of the HG2 amp I didn’t expect
an unbiased result.
A few months ago Ronnie Shellist asked me to co-sponsor a
Blues Harmonica Workshop he and Adam would be presenting at Ziggies in Denver
on January 16. I wasn’t certain that
Adam would be bringing his HG2 amp since he was flying in for the event, so I
didn’t expect the throwdown to happen.
But, as soon as I walked in and carried the MM amp to the stage some of
the attendees at the event started yelling “Throwdown!” It was on!
Ronnie Shellist is an official endorser of the Memphis Mini,
and Adam endorses the HG2 so this was a level playing field. Both are monster players, and the room was
full of enthusiastic and talented harp
players attending the event. It was
perfect.
In my opinion both amps are excellent, both have great
vintage tone, but there are some notable differences. You cannot hear all the differences in the
video, which tends to compress the audio signal. To my ear – and to most of the attendees who
spoke to me later -- the MM amp sounded much bigger and punchier, with more
crunch and presence. The MM also had
significantly more volume before feedback.
The MM seemed more giggable.
Some people will prefer the HG2 amp, and for good
reasons. I was very proud of the
comparison, and gratified by the enthusiasm of the players in the room. The bottom line is this: The MM amp sells for more than $400 less than
the HG2, and it sounds at least as good.
I booked several orders that day.
One of my favorite parts of the video is when Ronnie wondered
if perhaps the HG2 amp has a little more bottom end, and most of the people in
the audience immediately disagreed with him.
You can hear them on the video.
The discussion is funny. BTW,
when you are standing close to your amp, as Ronnie was, it is hard to hear the
low end.
I am grateful to Ronnie and to Adam for doing this. I didn’t direct it at all: They ran with it themselves spontaneously,
chose their own amp settings, and I think they tried hard to wring out the
similarities and differences in the two amps.
I hope you enjoy the video.