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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1990s Squier 15 Practice Amp

Vintage jam box, made in Taiwan under the Fender banner

Normally the Squier brand isn't something that I would purchase, especially after spending a little time with the more recent guitars they've put out. This amp, however, carries a large amount of nostalgia with me. The 2nd amp that I ever owned was a Squier 15 and I traded a fellow classmate of mine my first amp, a Boss MG-10, because he came by to jam and I just fell in love with the old school crunch that it was pumping out through my Les Paul.

Sure enough, it still kicks and this youtube video (not me) demonstrates just some of the sounds that this little guy is capable of. That guy is playing a 50-year old Fender through the amp in that video and my Custom is a 1977, so maybe that does play a (large) role in the final sound, but I was happy to score one. These are still available all over this place somehow, I must see one or two every month. If you're an amp person and you're looking for something new to play with, you can find these for as little as $20.

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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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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.

Thanks for looking, more high-resolution photos here.