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 that 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 or 18w amps that will break up at around 3 or 4. These amps are usable for rockers and blues guys on low volume gigs and the bedroom. I guess a lot of kids buy these who dont play in bands or with drummers. Some of these amps sounded good for jazz at very low volumes, but would never have the headroom to cut through with a drummer. 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. UPDATE: I went to the 2009 show also..the raffles have been scaled back big time and though they did give out one nice speaker cab, no amps were given away.

There were no guitar players there like at the Long Island guitar show who perform. The noise level was awesome at times, and there were 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 thing is too much for me at my 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 recently ordered one of these for Christmas delivery and will report on it when i get it. 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. Another great amp for jazz was the CLUB amp. They are made in California and use weber speakers. Very good sounds from them and they are on my short list!

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!!

UPDATE: I got the Valvetech amp. I got the 50w combo with a celestion and el34s. I didnt think it would be as good for jazz, but im telling you, this thing is good. However, I heard some talk that this is a 'parts' amp and not an actual design, using off the shelf parts from a parts house and simply assembled as a kit that you can buy for about 1/2 price. I have no idea if thats true, but for the price, these are good amps and very versitile. Going from one channel to the other can be a chore however, but for jazzers who just want the one tone, its VERY good. I also hear that the 50w model is no longer offered.

I went to the 2009 show in May, and enjoyed it, but due to the economy, it was a little lackluster. I do look forward to 2010.

 

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