So, as hinted at earlier in the week with my traded PRS thread, I've been busily clearing out gear I don't want/use/like. As you'll remember in another thread or two, I also recently, but somewhat stupidly sold off my Vox AC15, so have been looking for a replacement. One such offer came up, from the guy I traded my Gretsch Projet (for the PRS SE Santana) who mentioned he was also interested in my black PRS SE Semi-hollow that I had up for sale. So we agreed on a trade.... He traded me this...
Its a VHT Special 12/20 handwired valve amp (none Reverb/Trem model, which I was slightly gutted about). Its in rather good condition, although one of the screw caps for one of the speaker output jacks is missing, so I just need to replace that socket, and all's good! He also took the rear feet off the amp to help angle it upwards more, but can't find what he's done with them. Not insurmountable!
So, first impressions of this amp where that it was brutally honest, and incredibly clean! Having said that it wasn't as brutal as the Fender Blues Jnr I tried a week or two earlier. I really wasn't sure if I was going to like this amp as a result, as I tend to like my amps to say '
Thats great, you're doing really well... With a bit more practice you'll be there! Together we'll make it sound good' rather than '
No, no, no, thats terrible! Your playing is all over the place! Your execution was terrible, and if I'm brutally honest, you should probably consider getting a real job!' (do your amps talk to you in either of these ways? hehe). Or to put it in another way, I like my amps to burp or fart or cough really loudly as a distraction, just at the part where you mess up, rather than yell at the top of its voice '
Did everyone hear that? He screwed up right there!'. I'm the kind of player that thrives on encouragement, rather than heavy criticism.
I also found that at first, it really didn't seem to like my EMG fitted LTD, so that was also somewhat off-putting, as that's currently my favourite guitar! But after a good deal of playing around and twisting and turning knobs, I started to warm to this amp. I had to work hard to get the nice tones out of it, as it is incredibly clean, but they are there, and when you get them, boy are they nice!
I reckon that they have deliberately created this amp to stay as clean as possible, and just be an excellent springboard to enhance your pedals sounds, rather than trying to be a jack of all trades that you'll never need to run a pedal through. I think I may grow to like this amp with time, and who knows, eventually I may even love it! Would I trade it to have my AC15 back, absolutely, but I think I would look back at it later, and question whether I made the right choice! Ideally, I'd have both!
BUT THERE's MORE!!!! Having now potentially resolved my amp issue, this meant that the money I had been saving for a new amp was no longer tied up. And literally, the following day after trading for this, and only two days after trading my beloved Gretsch, I came across an unbelievable bargain on 'the tree'.....
As you know, I absolutely love hollowbodies, and really struggle to resist temptation when a real nice one comes up, and I have the ability to grab it, and so, I spotted this yesterday, and contacted the seller, and negotiated a price.... But because I could only get there today, I was worried that someone would have snatched it out from under my wings before I got my grubby mitts on it, but this morning after virtually no sleep, I went to fetch this.....
Its a Gretsch Historical Series G3151 Hollow body. And I have to say that its flippin gorgeous! There does however appear to be a lot of confusion about this particular model, and in fact the entire Historical series... Many sites say its US built, including a few Gretsch talk/chat sites, whilst another Gretsch dedicated site suggests that they are actually Korean, but assembled/wired/setup in US. There is no real agreement about this? Also, many sites suggest that its not actually a hollowbody, but only a semi-hollow, but this one I've picked up is most certainly a full hollow!
The only thing that seem to be agreed upon is that the pickups are DeArmand 2K's, and that its one mighty fine instrument! I'd have to agree! Its bloomin' marvelous! As you'll also remember, I've never been a fan of Black guitars, hence why the PRS SE Semi had to go, but the only guitars that I have liked in black have been Gretsch's and Dusenbergs! Just something about the lines of these guitars makes the black work!
And to top off an almost prefect week of trading and buying, I also picked up a set of TV Jones 'magnatrons'! I'm considering fitting them to my Ibanez AF95? Although I haven't decided yet?!
So, now, I truly believe that I have settled on my collection, and that these babies will keep me busy for some time?! I hope that's it now? The only guitars that may just tempt me to trade now would be a Vox HDC77 or Virage II, a really nice Tele or Alans Dean 12 string. The hardest part now is that I have to make a decision about which of my beauties must go? I told the wife that I'd let one go if I got this Gretsch (me and my big mouth!). How do you decide? Its like trying to choose which kid you love more?
Thanks for looking!
Regards
G!
