I am officially powerless...
I was slightly taken aback that waaay before the end of the eBay auction for my old VS100 amp ended someone stumped up for the Buy-It-Now price. That's twice in a row. Must be doing something right, eh?
So, chappie came around on Saturday morning and carted the old warhorse away. I didn't sugar the pill. I told him that it was starting to get ropey and might be on its last legs, but nevertheless he drove away with a gleam in his eye. Methinks he'll be on the next series of "Neighbours at War". It's a very loud beast when let out of its cage.
So, right now, as I take a break from Rockschool practice to type this, my only 'amplification' is through a little Vox Amplug. They're decent enough gadgets for practice, but not exactly versatile. It's pretty hard to get a decent 'funk' tone out of the 'Classic Rock' box that I've got. It sounds okay for the blues-rock piece that I'm working on, though. 
"X Blues III" isn't a particularly challenging song but everything takes time, particularly as it's becoming increasingly clear that nobody's bothered proofing the tab. It's got some real howlers in it, for example where you can either play a simple run on one string... or if you follow the notation you'll be string-skipping all over the place and going up and down the neck randomly, stretching from fret 1 on the D-string over to fret 5 on the low E. Mmmmm... methinks not.
On the amp front I'm getting really excited about having a shiny new box to play through. I'm doing the smart thing (I'm certain I'll stick to this decision...) and getting a good quality low power all valve jobbie, as opposed to a high-end switchable boutique amp. Maybe when I'm rich and famous I'll have a music room full of such kit (and no neighbours for, like, 10 miles) but for now a basic, appropriately-sized low-power combo is what fits the bill.
I actually went out to try and demo my 'shortlist' but it seems that all the shops had 'just sold their last one'. Hey ho...
Ah well, back to it, I suppose!
January 25, 2009
Amp No More...
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4 comments:
I have the straight AC30 amplug jobbie and I love it. It's all I need for sitting on the sofa and watching the kids playing Wii. It annoys the hell out of 'em!
The amplug's actually a cool device. My only gripe is that you need different ones for different styles... gee, how spoilt am I?
I was pleased to see that I managed to grab one before the prices went up! Now they're about half the price of a practice amp!
The worst thing is that I keep leaving my decent small headphones at work so I end up with a tiny little amp and massive DJ stylee ear muffs!
Girlfriend-of-Son-of-Furtheron (need a snappier pseudonym than that :-)) bought said son one of those Vox things for Christmas - impressed. I might sell my pocket Pod and go for one of them I think, simpler, easier all of that stuff.
They're definitely convenient for jamming around the house. No amp, no cable catching on everything and strangling the cat.
I think they've gone up to around £35 a pop, though. Seems expensive, but maybe that's just me.
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