Tubes part 1: John wants an AC30?

It started with a sound.

I kept hearing this guitar sound.. on the radio, on albums, on television shows.. and it was a good sound. "Crazy-good", even. Kind of this clean-yet-melty, gritty-but-smooth tone. It sounded good with rock drums. It sounded good with slide players. It sounded good with jazz bass. mmm...

Invariably, the camera would pan across the stage, and there it would be--the Vox AC30.

I also noticed that a lot of the guitarists were playing Gibson guitars. Ones with "Classic '57" pickups in them.

Now, I'm perfectly happy with my amplifier. At least, mostly perfectly. I'm playing a Peavey Delta Blues with two 10" speakers in it, and it's a really nice sounding little amp. Pretty versatile while at the same time retaining a distinct tone of its own. And I'm perfectly happy with my guitars. (although I would like to add my dream guitar--a Yamaha AES1500B--to the stable)

Suddenly, though, it occured to me. "Hey! Maybe I should be looking at a different amp/guitar combo!" You know, because if this is the sound I want, and I'm not getting it, and this is the way to get it... then...

I try to be a pragmatist when it comes to musical equipment. I'm not one. But I try to be. Mostly because of my severely limitted cash flow. So when I decide that I need some new piece of gear, that usually means I have to sell off whatever piece it is "replacing." ("Replacing" in quotes, because to me, gear is like children. You can get new ones, but they can never really replace an older one.)

So now I had to drop into "scheme" mode, and figure out a way that this might actually be possible. No point in wasting precious emotional and mental energy deciding to make a purchase and then not being able to!

But at this point in my personal gear game, the scheme is getting pretty complex. Especially when I'm trying to come up with at least $1,000 (the price of the cheapest AC30)! I've got 5 guitars, and only one of them is even remotely negociable, in my mind. It'd bring about $300, but I don't think I can part with it unless it's replaced by the aforementioned dream guitar. Then I've got a small fender amp that's worth about $150. That doesn't bring us up to a grand now, does it? What to do?

Then it hit me. I've got another amp! It was my grandfather's, and has been with me for years--both before and after his death. It's a "blackface" Fender Pro Reverb, circa 1967, and is worth about $1,500. I don't play the amp, because it and I don't really get along too well. I want it to do one thing, it wants to do another, and that's where we sit.

Grandpa was a country/western and bluegrass picker back in the day, travelling around calling squaredances--his old epiphone archtop plugged into channel 2, and an EV microphone plugged into channel 1. After his playing days were behind him, and I began my own, the amp came to live with me. I've always kind of hated it, but beggars can't be choosers, and eventually, like we do with so many things family-related, I became emotionally attached to it. I didn't play it, but I sure wasn't going to sell it. Or was I.. ?

Now we had the means. (for both the AC30 and the '57 classics, if I so desired!) Time to see if the prize was worth the price. Time to play some amps!

(Coming up: Kirk throws me a curve, and Scott & John go to town.)