Bad News Blues

Vintage Boss DM-2 For Sale

You know what this is: Boss DM-2. The best sounding analog delay pedal ever made. They sold from 1981 to 1984, and today they fetch around $350 on eBay. Very highly coveted by blues guitarists and harp players. A pro harp buddy of mine has one for sale, and I know he's asking less that that. Let me know if you are interested.

Wezo Megatone ME-18 Amp

The Wezo Megatone ME-18 blues harp amp is all that, and then some.  It is faithful to the vintage Masco tone it is designed to emulate, with a glorious crunch.  It is feedback resistant (at least it was in Ziggies) and at a rated 35 watts it has plenty of volume before feedback for strong gig levels.  The amp is a keeper.

It is a keeper if you are looking for a distorted sound, and many blues players are in search of this tone.  It sounds very much like the 50’s vintage tube amps used by the famous blues harp players of the era, only louder.

Until a few weeks ago I owned a 1953 Masco ME-18 amp for about 5 years, so I am familiar with the kind of sound Mike Wesolowski was looking for in this amp.  It nails the flavor of the vintage tone, if not the exact recipe.  It does not compress the sound as much as the original and it has a brighter tone that does not quite sing as much.  These differences may be intentional in the design; compromises along the way to the great tone it does deliver.  It made me smile as soon as I heard it.

This was not a comprehensive and thorough test…  It is just playing impressions from a blues jam.  Gary Yates, the owner of the amp, has had it for only a couple of weeks and may not have it dialed in just yet.  We played it without much adjustment, and the amp has LOTS of flexibility in its adjustments.  It would take more time and focus than I could provide at a busy blues jam to really explore all the limits of the amp.

But I was very impressed.  It has a big, forward sound that gets attention and is immediately recognizable as “Chicago Blues Harp” even by people not really familiar with the genre.  It sounds old and gritty, and I mean that in a very good way.  If that is the sound to which you aspire, this is the amp for you.

I played both my Bassman and the Megatone a couple of times during the jam.  The Bassman sounds bigger and warmer, as you might imagine.  It is impossible for me to say which was “better” since they both rock in different ways.

The Megatone amp seemed very heavy for its size, almost as heavy as my Bassman which weighs in at 63 pounds.  That is a load, and something to consider.  And they ain’t cheap, ranging in price from $2000 to $2160.  That is something to consider, too.

Still, the Wezo Megatone ME-18 amp gets the Blues Harp Amps Blog seal of approval.  That crunch is sick.

In this video Dan Treanor is playing the Megatone ME-18 amp and using my 1959 Shure 440SL bullet microphone.

NOTE:  The owner of the amp (Gary Yates) tells me that both "Pull Boost" switches were in the down position when this recording was made, meaning the amp was in it's cleanest mode.

Ultimate 545 w/Bulletizer into Mission 32-20 amp

Ultimate 545 mic with Bulletizer from Greg Heumann, played into a 1x12 Mission Chicago 32-20 amp.  No delay or effects on the amp.  (Al blows some high notes into the PA first...)

Comparison: Masco ME-18 vs Sonny Jr 410

At Ziggies last night Dan compared two amps:  My 1953 Masco ME-18 and his Sonny Junior 410 amp.  It is an interesting study in contrasting tones.

The SJ amp sounds like a lot of Bassman-type amps:  Smooth and strong; not a lot of crunch.  The Masco, because of it's more primitive cathode biased circuit, crunches happily along.  At 20 watts it does not get the big thump of the 410 but it sure gets more color.

For you guys who love tube amp distortion (like I do) this is about as good as it gets.

UPDATE:  Dan decided he liked the Masco so much be bought if from me.  Now it is his.

I didn't need the money, and I loved the amp, so why did I sell it?  I almost never played it any more because it plays in the same power and tone category as my Mission Chicago 32-20 amp, whose milder crunch I actually prefer.  I was thinking it was time to find a good home for the Masco.  Dan is a great local player who is devoted to vintage tone, so I know the amp will get played and appreciated a lot.  I bought my Bassman from Dan and he gave me a great deal, so I sort of owed him one.  Mostly I sold it to Dan because he is a friend and a true bluesman.

Now I have three harp amps:  The hot-rodded 1971 Fender Champ, the Mission Chicago 32-20 1x12, and the beastly Fender Bassman RI.  I'm good with that for a while.

Irrational Amp Tinkering

This Champ is ridiculous. No sane person would ever spend so much time and money on such an inexpensive small amp, would they? It is irrational.

I got the amp in Sacramento in 2005 from the estate of a woman who bought it new in 1971 along with her new electronic organ. The amp sat in her living room, occasionally singing church music, for 35 years. The picture above was taken the day I brought it home.

It was the coolest little amp I had ever heard for harp, but I just could not leave it alone. First I tried several new input tubes, and that is when I learned that the 12AT7 tube is a terrible tone generator and the 5751 is great. The Champ is a good test bed for things like that because its circuit is so simple.

Next I replaced the speaker with a Jensen reissue P8R. Hated it. Then I altered the baffle so it would accept a 10-inch speaker and tried a Jensen P10R. Hated it. I tried several other various speakers and finally settled on the Weber 10A-1250 with H dustcap. Now we were getting somewhere. The Champ settled into that configuration for several years. 

Then one day I lost my mind and decided to trick the amp out more. (Read: spend more money on it.) 

First I installed a pot in the negative feedback circuit so I could adjust it to find the optimal mix for crunchy tone. I discovered the optimal mix was ZERO, so I removed the NFB circuit and the pot (which was mounted on the back part of the chassis) and used the hole where the pot had been to mount a line out jack.

More tube swaps followed, finally ending with the 5751 in the input section, a vintage black plate GE 6V6 in the power section, and an NOS “Coke Bottle” Sylvania 5V4G rectifier. Again, the Champ settled into this configuration for some time. It was sounding GOOD.

But not good enough. So I asked Bruce Collins at Mission Amps to voice the tone stack for harp using NOS Soviet K40Y paper in oil tone caps. Big improvement, but I wasn’t finished quite yet. A few months later Bruce installed a Hammond 15-watt output transformer and a choke. There! The amp was finished. A sleeper amp, with big punch and crunch in a small package.

Which brings us to today. Before guitar player Steve Mignano headed off to tour with Cassie Taylor and the Soul Cavalry he gave me a Warehouse Veteran 10-inch speaker and said, “It crunches like a motherf---er.” Hmmmmm, this I had to hear.

I looked around for a 10-inch cabinet and finding none I decided to swap it into my Champ, removing the nice Weber alnico speaker. The Weber speaker made the Champ darker and warmer, and Steve was right: The Veteran speaker crunches like a mutha with a brighter, raspier tone. It’s fun. Ratty!

I really don’t know how much I have invested in the Champ now, but it is a ridiculous amount – certainly more than the value of the amp. I have learned more about harp amp tone from the Champ than from any other amp. It is now the amp I have owned longest. Purists might sneer at me for altering a classic but it has been a blast. And the amp is a little beast.

Choke and 15-watt transformer

Silver bullet-shaped Soviet military PIO caps

Rectifier and power tube, and Veteran speaker

The Champ at work

Jam Amps

Players often leave their amps at home when heading to my jam since they know there will be at least one good harp rig they can use.  But a recent thread in Adam Gussow's blues harp forum got me thinking about all the different amps that have been honked on the stage at Ziggies over the last three years.  (At least the amps I can recall right now, in no particular order)

-Original 1959 Fender Bassman

-Fender '59 Bassman Reissue

-Mission Chicago 32-20 1x12 and 3x10

-Harpgear HG50 410

-Harpgear HG30 and 35

-Harpgear HG2

-Sonny Jr 410 and Super Sonny

-Sonny Jr Cruncher and Super Cruncher
-Fender BF Super Reverb

-Fender silverface Princeton

-Fender silverface Champ
-Fender Champion 600

-Fender Blues Jr.

-Fender Pro Jr.

-Fender’65 Princeton Reverb RI

-Peavey Delta Blues 210

-Kendrick Texas Crude

-Kalamazoo Model 1 from Greg Heumann

-Pignose 7-100 and HOG30

-VHT Special 6 Combo

-Weber 5F2H custom

-Masco ME-18

-Edward ED amp
-Fat Dog 2A and 4A

Mission 32-20 Amp at a Typical Blues Jam

At the blues jam I host at Ziggies in Denver last night a member of The Dirty South Blues Harp forum showed up to boogie! His name is Johnny, from Los Angeles, and he was in town to visit his 23-year old son Ryan.

Here is a video of two of the harp player from last night, Johnny in the first clip and then Dex.



Both players are using my 1x12 Mission Chicago 32-20 amp with no effects or delay. The volume is set on 4 out of 12.

I don’t like harmonicas very much

It’s true: I don’t really like harps. They are too fragile and too expensive. They are too delicate to work on; at least I do not have the dexterity or patience required for that. I don’t get excited when I see a vintage harp or a custom harp or a big collection of harps. Harmonicas are pretty much a pain in the neck. Honestly.

I don’t play because I like harps… I play because I love the sound they make when played well. If I could make that sound with another instrument I would do it. Sure, harps are handy and portable if you want to carry one around, but so what? You need a collection of at least 12 harps that you are constantly fixing or tweaking or replacing. It never ends.

What gets me excited is hearing them played well in the blues context, either acoustically (Tom Ball, Hans Olson, many others) or amped (Gary Primich, Gary Smith, many others). That is what does it for me. I like amps and mics and all the other accoutrement that go along with harps. I just don’t like harps.

I know there will be some who will claim they have harps that have lasted them YEARS and I must be doing it wrong. No, let’s dismiss that right away. I know several pro players and I’ve asked them about this. They all blow out harps, some more quickly than others. Gary Smith says we destroy them a little every time we play them. If you bend reeds they eventually fatigue.

Given all the shortcomings of harmonicas – the temperamental nature and stigma and expense and on and on – it is remarkable we become so dedicated to them for so long, for all of our lives. For me it is the tone. That’s it.

The Top Harp Amp Builders

Who are the top harp amp builders now?  Over the last several years it was pretty clear cut that Sonny Jr. amps were the biggest sellers and most respected among the dedicated harp amps available for sale.  But Gary Onofrio, the proprietor of SJ, has become ill and his website is gone.  As far as I know his amps are no longer available for sale.

Similarly, Meteor was a big player in the harp amp market but they seem to have taken a hiatus.  Their website has not been updated in years and I have not heard of anybody buying a new Meteor amp in quite a long time.  

Who does that leave?

-Harpgear.  They recently picked up the endorsement of RJ Mischo.  Their webite is active and they appear busy.

-Mission.  Bruce Collins is very busy delivering orders for his new amps.  And he has plans for future amps that I think will capture a big share of the “big amp”market.

-Megatone.  Wezo’s amps are excellent, and I suspect his ME-18 combo amp is selling very well.  He has the endorsement of David Barrett.

Who else is out there that sells this kind of volume?  Who am I overlooking?  Kinder Harp King amps are great but not really retail items.  I’d bet VHT has sold more amps to harp players than all other amp makers combined over the last couple years, but their amps are not really dedicated harp amps.  More gigging players use Fender amps than any other brand, but again, they are not harp specific.

What is the top harp amp today?   I’d like to hear your opinions.