Tried it. Didn’t like it.
I was interested in the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 because it is switchable from 15 class A watts to 30 class AB watts. It has two 12-inch Eminence Lady Luck speakers, which sound great for blues harp in the little Epi Valve Jr. stack. It uses 5881 power tubes, similar to 6L6 tubes. The price is low, selling new for $549 everywhere.
So I went to Rockley Music in Denver a couple months ago to check it out. They had five of these amps and were evidently having trouble moving them, so they offered it to me for $475. I plugged in my favorite bullet mic, fiddled with the gain and EQ, and tried a Bb harp.
Terrible. It reminded me of all the reasons I hate using guitar amps at blues jams: Shrill ice-pick tone with lots of feedback. I fiddled with the amp controls some more with no improvement. And this was in a rather large room using only the 15-watt setting. Maybe I could have taken it home, tinkered with the tubes and speakers and made a decent harp amp out of it, but I just didn’t have the patience for all that. Too many other projects.
Besides the terrible tone, the downside of the amp is its weight: about 65 pounds. I don’t really have room to talk on the amp weight issue since my 1973 Fender Twin Reverb weighs even more (especially with the Altec speakers), but the Fender is way more powerful (100 watts) and actually sounds pretty dang good for harp.
I have a pro guitar buddy who LOVES his Epi Blues Custom amp, but only after tweaking the crap out of it. (He installed Jensen Neo speakers to lose weight and improve tone, and he swapped the tubes for RCA NOS Blackplates.) Here is my advice: If you want to spend $500 on a harp amp, find a used Fender tube amp such as the Hot Rod Deluxe and swap a few tubes. You will easily get to a great harp tone the Epi Blues Custom (and many other guitar amps) just can't produce.
I was interested in the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 because it is switchable from 15 class A watts to 30 class AB watts. It has two 12-inch Eminence Lady Luck speakers, which sound great for blues harp in the little Epi Valve Jr. stack. It uses 5881 power tubes, similar to 6L6 tubes. The price is low, selling new for $549 everywhere.
So I went to Rockley Music in Denver a couple months ago to check it out. They had five of these amps and were evidently having trouble moving them, so they offered it to me for $475. I plugged in my favorite bullet mic, fiddled with the gain and EQ, and tried a Bb harp.
Terrible. It reminded me of all the reasons I hate using guitar amps at blues jams: Shrill ice-pick tone with lots of feedback. I fiddled with the amp controls some more with no improvement. And this was in a rather large room using only the 15-watt setting. Maybe I could have taken it home, tinkered with the tubes and speakers and made a decent harp amp out of it, but I just didn’t have the patience for all that. Too many other projects.
Besides the terrible tone, the downside of the amp is its weight: about 65 pounds. I don’t really have room to talk on the amp weight issue since my 1973 Fender Twin Reverb weighs even more (especially with the Altec speakers), but the Fender is way more powerful (100 watts) and actually sounds pretty dang good for harp.
I have a pro guitar buddy who LOVES his Epi Blues Custom amp, but only after tweaking the crap out of it. (He installed Jensen Neo speakers to lose weight and improve tone, and he swapped the tubes for RCA NOS Blackplates.) Here is my advice: If you want to spend $500 on a harp amp, find a used Fender tube amp such as the Hot Rod Deluxe and swap a few tubes. You will easily get to a great harp tone the Epi Blues Custom (and many other guitar amps) just can't produce.
5 comments:
I NEED TO DATE AN EPIPHONE AMP A ZEPHYR MODEL EA-15RV I KNOW IT'S OLD JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW OLD. I HAVE TRIED ON LIND DIDN'T HAVE ANY LUCK.
You need to stop worrying about your tone and start playing some music.
At the end of the day, tone doesn't make you a better musician or the music you play any better.
Maybe you're right, Anon... We should all play crappy sounding amps to sound better. Good tone is not as good as bad tone.
Yeah, I didn't imply that in any way.
Well, what is it you are struggling to imply?
Tone is a product of the player and his gear. Gear won't give you good tone, but it can surely ruin it. I didn't like the stock Epiphone Blues Custom; perhaps you do. That's all jake with me...
You say "tone doesn't make you play better" (an odd thought), but the Epi Blues Custom, while a dandy guitar amp, made my harp playing sound much worse. In the interest of good sound, I'd choose a different amp. And this blog is, after all, about amps.
Get it?
Post a Comment