OK!!! THE AMP SHOW!!!! 5/10/2008. It was held at the Embassy Suites in Pissthataway NJ. It was my
first time there and I did not know what to expect. I didnt know if there would be vintage or custom or what. SO....
.the hotel was REALLY nice, and each custom builder had a room to show their amps. It was very cool and I will
DEFINITELY go again next year. There are no vintage vendors at this show. There are also no guitars except what the
amp builders bring to try out the amps. I brought my own guitar and I strongly recommend you bring the guitar you know
to try out the amps.
The vendors are VERY friendly and encourage you to plug in. It's really great and it is a pretty large show. Hope to see u
there next year!
My 'coverage' here is geared toward jazzers...although you rockers would LOVE this show.
Lots of very high end stacks and 4x12s galore. In fact, most of the show is slanted toward high gain
equipment. I would love to hear from you guys, because I kept asking myself, what these guys do with
such high powered amps? Are there places to use these things?
On the other hand, the major trend for the amp makers here, is to make low wattage amps ..like 25w
amps that will break up at around 4 or 5. These amps are usable for rockers and blues guys on low
volume gigs. Some of these amps were GREAT for jazz and I have pics of them below. I didnt cover
every amp (none of the stacks are here..sorry) and am gearing this toward jazzers with hollow body
guitars. There were a few great ones! See below and be sure to email me with comments and questions.
Again..this was a GREAT day..you can really spend all day here trying out amps, then going back and
hearing things a second time. At the end of the show, there was a raffle. I won one of those REALLY
expensive cables...they go for $100 ea. More on that later. Some folks won entire amps! Some great
prizes were given out.
THere were no guitar players there like at the Long Island guitar show who perform. THe noise level was
awesome at times, and there customers actually staying at the hotel while this was going on. Hope they
werent trying to sleep!! See below and lemme hear ya.
Xman
Above is from ARK Amps. Great furniture !! Just kidding, these amps were awesome. The woods are beautiful and these things
are great in living room. The guy can make anything to your specs. These were geared toward rock and really cranked.
Above is a tele, but its the paint job that was for sale. I must say, I have NO CONNECTION whatsoever
with ANY of these vendors. I dont even remember all of the names. So the ones that I mention or endorse are not
because of a connection. Its just me saying what i like and what I remember. This guys paint jobs were amazing and ranged
from $400 to $4000. He can paint any guitar, so if you have an idea he is the guy. I will post his name later...when i remember it.
This is a pic of the courtyard or lobby of the hotel. That is the suite for AXL amps..one of the many vendors.
THis is the FUCHS room. You just go in, plug in and crank it all you want! This room was ROCKIN.
THis was an acrylic SG. Also one of the painters guitars. very neat huh?
Lobby again with some of the great paint jobs. Yes, there is a fountain in the middle of the lobby.
Here are the winners of the raffle. Some cool prizes just for showing up and paying the $20 admission.
More paint...ok..i better get to some amps already.
This is the PORT CITY room. I played these and they are very good for jazz. I played these amps and used these
Xotic pedals. I played them dry and also with the overdrive. For straight tone, these amps were very good and had a lot of
headroom. I really liked these and would consider buying the 50 watter. These cabs have ports all across the front. Check them
out at the website. The builder 'Dan' was a nice guy and answered a lot of questions. These are great amps.
Sorry for the blur, but these were actually good sounding amps for jazz. I used the low gain channel and got a really nice
scooped sound. I went home after and plugged into my old Marshall Super Lead 100 watter from the 60s...i went into the
low gain channel and may consider using it again. I will build a 212 cab for it though...the 4x12 things is too much for me at this age!
These Reins are really great amps.
THis was called the pedal board from hell. This is the guy I won the expensive cable from. I didnt get to hear this board, but
that would be one tired signal by the time it got from your fingers to the speaker. Here is another shot below.
This is the Pigtronics room. These effects (from the 5 minutes i spent listening) sounded more geared to sound effect as
opposed to guitar effects. I thought the aliens were landing in the hotel room . Some AMAZING sounds.
THere was a LOT of HEAVY noise at the show, yet this guy was in the lobby taking it all in:
Here is where I got in trouble. This amp REALLY sounded GREAT with my 7 string. I mean, if this amp was not
already sold, I would have bought it. The tone was GREAT and i mean REALLY GREAT. It s from Valvetech in Indiana.
I spent a lot of time with this amp which was only 25 watts. He makes a 50 watter and can do it in the head form also.
I may order one of these in the near future. Another great amp was the VVT Lindy Fralin model. I took a lot of pics of it,
but...they were somehow deleted before I could upload them. Do a search and you will see them on the VVT site. All of the above
amps are reviewed at Harmony Central. THe VVT was as good as the Valvetech or Port City on a first impression.
I did not go back and 'replay' them because I was afraid I would buy one or ALL! Those were my top 3 picks for jazz
at the show. See u there next year!!
