Sunday, June 13, 2010

Two Fender DeVille amps for a Harp Rig?

Yep, that's what Kim Wilson was playing at the Greeley Blues Jam this year, June 12th. I've played harp through a DeVille and I thought it was one of the worst harp amps I'd heard: WAY too bright and spikey. But then, I'm not Kim Wilson.

There are two boxes on top of his amps: The one on the left is an ART Tube Preamp V3. What is that white one on the left? I looks like a pedal with no knobs. (click on the image to enlarge) I didn't get a chance to ask him about it.

Needless to say, Kim Wilson got good tone with these amps, and it was VERY loud. (watch the video) He was playing through his Astatic JT-30 microphone.

UPDATE:

This photo was kindly sent by a reader, showing Kim Wilson's rig for a show in CT late last year. It looks like the Kinder Mid Bass Cut is in the middle, with a Kinder AFB+ on the right. The ART Tube Preamp is not evident here. (click on the image to enlarge)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks like a Kinder Midbass cut. Two 1/4" jacks on one end, adjustment on the other.

http://www.kinder-instruments.com/midbasscut.htm

Rick Davis said...

I think you're right.

scooter said...

Whenever Kim travel's he typically requests 2 Devilles in his contract. I was talking to him recently and he did mention both the mid bass cut as well as Lone Wolf either harp attack or tone + (don't remember which). Judging by the pic it's not the LW pedal he's using.

Big Ernie Fuller said...

Don't you just hate how an all time great player like Kim can plug into a standard production amp (like those DeVilles) and sound fantastic?

I made a road trip this weekend to catch the Nighthawks, and got an opportunity to ask Mark Wenner about his rig. Sure enough, he plays an out of the box reissue Bassman with NO mods or outboard effects, except for using a 5U4GB recto tube in place of the stock solid state. Needless to say, his tone was right on. Great night of music.

It only shows the old cliche is true; the player is the sound!

Anonymous said...

Kim is using a Kinder AFB and has been for some time with great success.

Anonymous said...

Alos,Kim is performing tube substitutions on both amps.

Rick Davis said...

Anon, there may have been an AFB+ pedal in his rig but I didn't see one. The white pedal on top of his amp was not an AFB+. I'm now convinced it was the Mid Bass Cut.

Anonymous said...

I have a picture from 11-15-09-Infinty Hall,Norfolk,Ct showing the Mid Bass cut in the middle and the AFB+ on the right-just no way for me to upload it here. Same twin DeVille setup.

Rick Davis said...

Anon, if you like you can email the photo to me at bluesharpamps@gmail.com. I'll post it in this article.

Rick Davis said...

I don't doubt for a moment that Kim Wilson was using the Kinder AFB+ anti-feedback device at the Greeley Blues Jam. I was surprised when I didn't see it. With the two DeVille amps he was WAY loud without a hint of feedback.

His tone was good, but lacked some of the subtle organic tones you hear from great harp amps. The main feature of his playing at this fest was punch and volume. It wasn't subtle at all.

Anonymous said...

I agreee about the loudness-it was very loud and punchy. He needs it to cut through the Moeller brothers rock guitar/drums.
He did change tubes at the show I saw-it did not help smoooth out amps brutish sound.

Anonymous said...

Goes to show a great player PLUS A BOUTIQUE HARP PEDAL OR TWO can make any shitty production amp sound great.

;)