1979 Sunn Alpha 112p Combo Amp

Vintage amp from a classic name, still looks great and in perfect working order

 

The Summer of Amps has spilled over into Fall and the latest find is particularly sweet. The first bass amp that I ever owned was an old Sunn combo with a 15" speaker and I would bet that it was built around the same time as this beast.

I knew nothing of the Alpha series when I saw the ad for this one, but I know that Sunn is highly regarded and jumped on it just about as soon as it was posted. I got it home and plugged the Ibanez Iceman IC-50 into it and was immediately happy. The previous owner showcased the Mid Freq knob, which works like an EQ and the natural overdrive it produces is super dirty.

This amp is popular with the stoner rock and doom metal scenes and its easy to see why. You can get nice, clean overdrive sounds with this amp at most of the dial and when you crank the drive knob, it really starts to break up, especially at higher volumes. The Mid Freq and overdrive combinations makes for the ability of a wide range of sounds. With this and the Ibanez GX-60 that I scored earlier in the year, I have two great options for anything that requires a hard rock/heavy metal sound.

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1970s Acoustic Control & Randall Bass Rig

Vintage So. Cal bass half stack, super warm tone, excellent gigging condition

Keeping with the longtime pieces of the collection, this has been my main gigging setup since late-1999. The Acoustic Model 450 head doubles as a bass or guitar amp. No onboard effects, other than the distortion (which is good for solid state amp), but the 5-band EQ helps you dial in a good sound. I've never used any pedals with this amp and have only gigged with it as a bass player. Now that the 150b has been added to the collection, this will strictly be used for guitars.

I didn't have a rig when this came my way, but I had started playing with a new band and needed something for shows. This was sitting in my friend's garage and he didn't even play, so I asked to borrow it for our first show. Every time my friend would come by my place, I would try to get him to take his rig back, but he never would. He's since long moved out of state and this has sort of become my adopted vintage bass half stack.

The footswitch is pretty hard to find and I don't believe I've ever seen one for sale. It controls the distortion and auxiliary volume. I missed out on the rare switch for the 230 head last weekend and was pretty upset about it. I would also love to find a Randall name plate for the R215BH cab, but finding one that is period-correct would probably be difficult. I'm not sure what speakers are loaded in there, I've just never pulled them out, but they look like old Eminence or Black Widows from the front.

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1977 Gibson Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar

Vintage American-made classic, upgraded pickups and aftermarket bridge 

The Takamine that was featured the other day is easily the guitar that I've put the most hours on, but this is the guitar that I've owned the longest and its the crown jewel of the collection. I picked it up at Westminster Jewelry and Loan in January 1991, for $550. I was 14 years old and had gone in the shop to buy an acoustic guitar, which I needed for a guitar class that I was taking as a freshman at Fountain Valley High School.

Once I saw a genuine Les Paul sitting on a hook for an attainable amount of money, there was no way it wasn't going to be mine. I had a decent first guitar at the time, a Kramer Striker 300ST, but it didn't really inspire me the way this did. I put down a certain amount of money and was on a layaway plan, I had 30 days to pay off the balance. Of course, I worked my ass off to earn the rest of the money and picked it up a few weeks later.

The same friend who customized the Ibanez Iceman IC-50 went through this guitar first and fixed the ground. He also told me that it had a Seymour Duncan Invader and DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup. That makes sense, because these pickups are absolutely screaming. Although I've owned this for nearly a quarter of a century, being a primarily a bass player, I've only used this myself in public a handful of times. However, nearly every guitar player in every band that I've played in has used it at some point, so it's seen its fair share of glory.

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1988 Peavey Studio Chorus 210 Combo Amp

Another sweet Peavey amp is added to the collection, vintage Made in the USA

All of the pieces featured here have some sort of history and sometimes you end up with something that once belonged to a classic artist. This one seems to be an early model and was owned by guitarist Lanny Cordola, who Peavey once sponsored while he was in House of Lords and signed to RCA records in the late-80s.

This is now the 2nd Peavey amp in the vault and this one is their answer to the Roland Jazz Chorus. When I posted the photos on Facebook, someone chimed in and questioned the ability of this amp to create heavy metal sounds. As recently stated when discussing the Squier 15 Practice Amp, my main guitar is a 1977 Gibson Les Paul Custom and it's loaded with a vintage Seymour Duncan Invader and a vintage DiMarzio Super Distortion. This is probably why I'm able to get such heavy sounds out of these amps and last night, the Super D (bridge) was churning out Paranoid-era Black Sabbath and the Invader was replicating GNR and AC/DC sounds.

I bought this amp for the stereo chorus, as I prefer the sound of the effects on these old amps to what I'm getting out of vintage pedals and some rack units that I've accumulated. Another thing about this amp is that its loud. It goes from barely audible to stadium rock and there is seemingly no in between. I love it... Back to Lanny Cordola, he has a charity project where he teaches music to children in poverty-stricken countries. Lanny & The MLKs is the name of his band and the bassist/previous owner, Billy the Fist is a local player who also works as the touring bassist for legendary Hollywood glam band, London.

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1980s Fender Eighty-Five Combo Amp

Vintage combo amp, built in the USA and made famous by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood

This amp apparently made its debut in 1988 and the serial number on the back probably means it was made in 1988 or 1989. When I first started playing, the Fender M80 amp was a favorite among my peers and this sounds alot like those boxes to me.

In a bit of a reversal for Fender amps, the cleans on this one don't really sound all that great. Very heavy metal, but the distortion channel is actually better. When I picked this up last weekend and played through it with the Aria Pro II strat, the sounds coming out were a bit like those on the Weezer Blue Album.

That makes sense, as posted in the abstract, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead made this amp famous when he used it to record one of their most well-known songs, 1994's Creep and those albums came out the same year. This is one of my better finds, as its a great amp and I'm probably going to end up paying around the same amount to find the original footswitch. These can go for as much as $200, thanks in large part to Mr. Greenwood's influence.

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1970s Acoustic Control 150 & 150b Amplifier Heads

Vintage solid state amps, made in So. Cal

Recently, I've made it known that Takamine is the favorite among acoustic guitars and Ibanez the preference of electric guitars. With that in mind, Acoustic Control is the brand of choice when it comes to amplifiers. The first pro rig that I ever had is an ACC 450 plugged into a Randall RB215 and that plays a large role in the interest.

Years later, I would score the ACC 230/403 half-stack that was featured in post #2 here at SCGM and the beast was unleashed. The guitar head was found at a great price just a few months after the 230 and also featured with a Sunn 412L cabinet that was picked up just down the road. One of the previous owners modified this head by adding a pot where one of the input jacks used to be and I think it was a way of controlling the level of the reverb and tremolo effects without a footswitch.

The bass head was found earlier this year by a local seller and is in great shape. The power cord has a couple of rough spots, but it still in working order. These are essentially the same amps, but the guitar version has the effects. The other cool thing is that I was finally able to find a footswitch for a decent price. These things can sometimes cost close to $100 on their own and that is just outrageous.

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1979 Peavey Deuce VT Series Guitar Amplifier

Vintage American-made 2x12 combo amp, loaded with CTS speakers

The last few weeks have seen some super sweet vintage pieces added to the arsenal and this one is probably the best combination of quality and condition. This amp was purchased from the original owner and he even gave me the original receipt and manual that he had kept all this time.

Peavey amps have generally been known for volume over the years. I won't be using it for that purpose, but mainly for the on-board effects that are installed. The reverb is very clean and I've had alot of fun with the phase effect, doing some of my best Todd Rundgren impersonations. I haven't really tried to get any overdrive sounds on this amp yet, but some youtube demos I've watched show a wide range.

This is only the 2nd amp that I've ever owned that is powered by tubes, the Carvin X-60B being the top dog among the current lineup. This one is powered by (4) 6L6 tubes and the owner had them replaced just a couple of years ago. Of course, 6L6s are very common tubes and I could possibly find a vintage set to install, just to keep everything vintage.

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1980s DOD FX20 & FX60 Effects Pedals

Vintage American-made stomp boxes, still held in high regard to this day

The pedal parade continues, after researching countless online forums for information on what to look for and what to stay away from, around 15 pedals were recently acquired to put together a couple of boards for rhythm and lead guitar rigs and of course, most of the pedals will be featured here.

These DOD pedals always had good reviews and the prices were consistently lower than more-popular brands like Boss and Ibanez. In fact, the FX60 was chosen over a reissue Ibanez CS-9, considered a top rival to the Boss CE-2, arguably the most-famous chorus pedal of all-time. 

The Phasor actually hasn't been able to be used yet, as one of the eyes on the battery pad is busted and I don't have the correct adapter yet, so I'll either have to fix it or get a power supply. I paired the FX60 with an overdrive pedal and was dialing in on some classic Def Leppard sounds, stuff like Photograph and Armageddon It. That's usually the first thing that I do when I get these babies in the mail, just plug them in to make sure they work and try to replicate the sounds of bands or songs that I love.

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1981 MXR Distortion + Effects Pedal

Vintage top-quality stomp box, made in the USA and used by Guitar Gods Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I hadn't really played with many effects in 20+ years of strumming guitars, but much has changed since then. This was the first piece that was acquired after that beautiful Cry Baby Wah and it's another classic boutique-type pedal.

MXR pedals were among the best in the business back in the late-70s, Eddie Van Halen changed the face of rock guitar with help from the Phase 90 pedal on the first two VH albums and Randy Rhoads gave it another makeover while using this model Distortion + unit with Ozzy Osbourne a few years later in the early 80's.

Like most distortion pedals, it's a little noisy and on it's own, it's a little dirty for my taste and doesn't quite have the amount of gain that I like. Another weird thing is that the distortion seems to have a small amount of flange built-in to it, not sure how to tone that down yet. I've paired it with a vintage overdrive pedal, which will also be featured soon, and that got closer to the tone that I like.

This is vintage, the old ones don't have LED lights or AC adapter jacks. They are very expensive too. The Phase pedals generally go for $150+ and these D+ units usually can't be had for anything less than $100. Like old guitars, these vintage pedals contain higher-quality parts and generally give off better tone.

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1987 Gallien-Krueger 200RCB Bass Amplifier Head

Vintage micro-sized amp, in excellent cosmetic and working condition

This is something that just fell into my lap yesterday, a killer little bass head with an on-board EQ and chorus. And of course, it's GK, one of the top names in bass amps.

I haven't messed around with this too much yet, having it for just over 24 hours, but it looks and sounds really clean. No noises whatsoever when pushing the knobs around and the chorus is right in line with 1987. This is a 100-watt amp, so it should be perfect for playing bars and small clubs, which is most likely what it will be used for from here on out.

Series II is listed on the back, but I haven't been able to find much information on this amp to know exactly what that means. I've read that this amp does contain many of the same parts as the 400RB from the same period, one of the top bass heads of all-time and still in production to this day.

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1974 Thomas Int'l Corp. Cry-Baby Wah Pedal

Vintage pedal, loaded with organ parts and made in Chicago, IL

This is the first effects piece that we've featured at SCGM, but it will be first of many to come here in the near future. This one is a very worn Cry-Baby Wah, pushing 40 years old and made before Dunlop purchased the rights and dominated the market.

I've never really played with many effects in my near 25 years as a player, but seeing all of the things that are flying around this area at a good price, no harm in picking up a few and seeing how it goes. Serious players love these older versions, because they're loaded with higher-quality parts and that usually makes for a warmer sound.

So far, I've been messing around with this pedal going through that Hohner Telecaster below, plugged directly into the recording deck and have mimicked everything from old school country western to euphoric Jimi-type sounds. Definitely money well-spent, if you're in the market for one, go older...

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1980s Carvin X-60B Guitar Amplifier Head

Vintage mid-80s tube amp, in original and excellent condition

Like the Acoustic Control amps that we've featured here in the past, Carvin is another local So. Cal company that doesn't get the same respect as industry heavies Marshall and Ampeg, but longtime players know they deliver similar quality for roughly half the price. 

From what I've been able to find out about this particular head, it was made somewhere between 1984 and 1986. It has 2 channels, a 5-band EQ and on-board reverb. The clean channel sounds super sweet and there are only 2 of the 4 tube slots being used right now. The only visual flaw on this amp is one of the metal corner pieces is missing, but that is a cheap and easy fix.

This one becomes the undisputed top amp in my collection, it will be paired with the Sunn 412L cab that was posted here a few months back and should add to future recordings for lead guitars and clean channel tracks. I'll probably take it in to the local Carvin shop and have them go over it too.

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2000s Crate GFX-15 Combo Practice Amp

Great little practice amp, with on-board effects, made in the USA

Kind of the little brother of the GFX-212T that was featured a little while back, this guy is a great amp for the aspiring metal guitar god and an above average chorus effect makes it a versatile piece for a practice amp.

These were manufactured in the early 2000s in the USA and they're fairly solid amps. This one did need to go in for service at one point, but I haven't had any issues with it myself.

This came with an electric guitar that I bought a few months back and I basically use it to demonstrate that electric guitars are in working order. It gets a decent distortion, Crates have always been known as having a tinny sound anyway, and the on-board effects really put it over the top. These generally go for around $50 online today.

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1970s-80s Acoustic Control & Sunn Guitar Rig

Vintage half stack, featuring two of the top names in classic solid state amplification, ACC 150 head and Sunn 412L cab

This is a killer rig that I pieced together late last summer, the head was purchased from a student at UCI and is modified, someone put in an extra knob where the 2nd input jack was and it seems to control the volume and reverb. This was made in 1971 or 1972, from what I can find.

The cab was found in Huntington Beach and is loaded with (4) Made in England Celestion G12-80s. Sunn Amplifiers have been a big name since the 1960s, but with the Celestions being added later and the ACC head, it's basically a Sunn in name only.

Still kicks though, finding these old Celestions is easy, but you will have to pay for them, between $75-$150 each and these ACC heads generally run anywhere from $150-$350, depending on the model. Any of them that you find in working condition, you should give it a shot.

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1987 Peavey Companion 15 Guitar Practice Amp

Classic take-along amp, battery operated

This little amp is fairly high-quality for what it is, but that's to be expected from one of the top names in the history of American amplifiers.
It came with the instruction booklet and spec sheet, which is probably even more rare than the amp itself.

Inputs:1
Power: 12V
Channels: 1
Overdrive: Gain, E/Q, Saturation, Thickness
Out: 1 (Headphones)
Speakers: (1) 8”
Speaker Impedance: 10W

No effects and only one channel, but it's still nice to have on the go and the battery-powered option gives you the ability to play anytime, anyplace.

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2000s Crate GFX-212T Guitar Combo Amp

Great Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Amp in like-new condition 

 

This one comes from the my own personal collection, purchased brand new in the summer of 2002.

The amp is still close to brand-new, as it's barely ever been used, aside from some light use for recording in 2004 and exactly 2 live shows in 2005.

It comes with the original foot-switch, has a built-in tuner, which always comes in handy and 8 built-in effects. Reverb, Delay, Chorus and Flange have multiple notches on the dial and the level knob allows you to control just how thick or thin you want the extra sound in there.

Inputs: 1
Power: 120 VAC, 60Hz, 95VA; 100/115VAC, 50/60Hz, 95VA; 100/115VAC, 50/60Hz, 95VA
Channels: 2 (Overdrive and Clean)
Overdrive: Gain 1/2, Shape, Gain Select, Low, High, Level and Channel Switch
Clean: Level, Mid, Low and High

In/Out: Connects external effects and speaker cabinets

Speakers: (2) Crate Custom Design 12”, 8
Speaker Impedance: 120W RMS @ 5% THD, 4

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1978 Acoustic 230 Guitar Amp & 403 Cabinet

Vintage solid-state half-stack guitar rig, all original

The original Acoustic Control Corporation started up right here in So. Cal back in the late-60s, they closed up shop in the 1980s, but their legend lives on with an army of rabid collectors worldwide.

No distortion on this model, but the EQ makes it very versatile and when coupled with a quality overdrive or distortion pedal, this thing just cranks that old-school power rock sound.

Inputs: (2) Normal, Active
Power: 125W @ 4 Ohm, 160W @ 2 Ohm
Controls: Bright Switch, Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass, Reverb, Master Volume, 5-band EQ
Rear Dash: (2) Speaker Outputs, 6-pin Footswitch Jack, Power Amp in and Pre Amp out

Speakers: (4) 12" Eminence Speakers
Speaker Impedance: 200W @ 4 Ohm

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