The "My First Amp Story" Thread

[ripper]

They say you never forget the first time. I have a similiar question. What amp did you first start out with?! There's always a long story behind that question, and it should be fun sharing it with each other!

I remember saving up for months to buy my first amp which was a 10 watt piece of junk made by Hondo. I think I was 12. I remember how proud I was of the little baby. It's a funny story actually. My first guitar was also an unbranded piece of junk and for two years I played on that amp with this annoying buzzing sound that used to sweeten my music at pretty much every setting. I kept thinking it was my guitar's fault. Turns out the guitar wasn't as bad as the amp. When I finally switched to a Marshall I realized what I'd been missing. The sound was clean as a whistle. While my second amp wasn't a million dollar baby (that's a whole other story!), it was my first taste of a real amplifier.

Having said that, I still have the Hondo lying around. I use it as a mic speaker when having improptu jamm sessions in my basement. I also let me nephew mess around with it when he's over. However big of a piece of crap it might be, I aint letting my first amp go!

[Alex]

My very first amp was a Fender but can't remember the model. Then it was the Line 6 Spider II which was alright. Then I got the Marshall Micro Stack and thought it was a good small amp I could use in my bedroom.

These days the only amps I use the most are my DSL50 and 2555SL, both at 50 watts. I've been reading good things about the new Vintage Modern and I'm gonna go to my local GC one day to try it out.

[GuitarGal]

Curious question - do you have photo of your first amp?

Unfortunately, I never own guitar or amp but I do like the Les Pauls because they are beautiful instruments, and I have a few friends that play them~

[Alex]

No but it looks like this one in the pic:



Notice how small it is compared to my regular half-stack shown below:

[ripper]

Aah I remember almost going with the micro stack. When I bought my first Marshall I knew absolutely nothing about amps and made my choice based on hearsay, and more importantly, my budget.

For some reason I was told the micro stack was a portable, mini amp that I would have little use for and that couldn't tick off the parents even at full volume. I decided it was more important to tick off the parents then go for reverb (which seemed like the only difference between the micro stack and MG10CD at the time).

[ripper]

Originally Posted by Alex

Oh and I'm loving your guitars Alex!

[MrSticky]

My first amp was a 9v powered speaker built in just under the tone controls of the Silvertone s style guitar I had. After that I got a Fender Champ in '74. I needed more power so when the weekend rolled around I'd go to the local shop and for 25 bucks of my car wash earnings I rented a Fender Twin. Man, that thing was loud. My parents never once asked me to turn it down, something I'll always be grateful for. Now of course, my kids ask me to turn it down.

[GuitarGal]

Originally Posted by Alex

No but it looks like this one in the pic:



Notice how small it is compared to my regular half-stack shown below:

Beautiful amps Alex~

[GuitarGal]

Originally Posted by MrSticky

My parents never once asked me to turn it down, something I'll always be grateful for. Now of course, my kids ask me to turn it down.

Maybe your parents wore their ear plugs~ J/K

[fiftycalibre]

My first amp was a 15 watt Peavey. Nothing fancy.
It was stolen along with my first electric in a house break in.
Oh well.

.50

[lpaholic59Don]

My first amp I got from my second guitar teacher, Pete Kennedy( of the Kennedy's- NOT Dead Kennedy's) had just gotten my Les Paul I busted my butt all summer for and wanted a decent amp, preferbly tubes , Asked Pete if he knew anyone selling an affordable tube amp, and he told me he'd sell my his 64' Deluxe Reverb , I was like Ah Man that thing is prolly worth as much as my Les Paul ! and he said no reverb pan, non orginal speaker ( this was 74) Said he'd sell it for $150 to me, I went and practically begged my mom for it, told her what it was worth , ect, She just said" I'll talk to Pete" Welp that amp was under or infront of, Our Christmas Tree and I had it for 29 Years, Speaker was replaced twice, only went to two service techs in that time it was strangly much louder than any other Deluxe I put it next to , Pete had bought it second hand in 65, along with his Strat I miss that amp incredibly lived over 24 of its years with me, without a reverb pan, just sounded THAT good

[Adwex]

My first amp was a (crappy) solid state 30 watt Marshall "Master Lead Combo" 1x12. It was a Marshall, but I never liked the way it sounded. The only possible "story" associated with it is that John Petrucci once borrowed it for a jam. He grew up in my hometown, and he jammed with a drummer friend of mine back in high school, 25 years ago or so.

He sounded alot better through it than I did LOL.

[coldsteal2]

My first amp was a 67 Fender Bassman Blackface
guess i was lucky in the amp department. (bought brand new yes im old)
Before that i had to borrow amps from freinds,
the first amp i used on stage was a Vox Essex.

[Rocketman_85]

I was lucky enough for my first amp to have actually been a Marshall.





September of 2000 was when I got my first electric guitar, and as a result, my first amp. It was a birthday gift from my grandmother, the Marshall G10 Mk.II. Not the greatest thing in the world, but to a 15 year old just starting out, it was hot shit for me. A few months later, I had my dad get me the MG80RCD for Christmas as a step-up.

And this little amp really is what sold me once and for all on Marshall. On Thanksgiving of 2003, I was in a car wreck. Wet slippery curve had me sliding sideways into a telephone pole at 40 MPH. Had the seatbelt on of course, so it was nothing to worry about, but my poor little amp was totally unrestrained in the back seat. It became the pin ball when my car hit the pole.

The car was gone, snapped the frame entirely on the passenger side, so when I pull my amp out of the car, I figured it was toast. After talking with the cop that showed up on scene, having the car towed off, then returning home and eating Thanksgiving dinner, I plugged it it to see how it would do, if anything.

Nothing wrong with it. It sounded the same as it did before it had gone in the car, and the little rip in the covering was the only sign that it had been slapped around at all. At that point, I was pretty much sold on Marshalls.

[coldsteal2]

Awwwww hes cute!!................did he ever grow up into
a big Marshall?

[Rocketman_85]

Originally Posted by coldsteal2

Awwwww hes cute!!................did he ever grow up into
a big Marshall?

Naw, poor guy suffers from stunted growth! But he's got some big bothers though, check out my posts in the "Show us your Marshall" thread.

Show us your Marshall

[thomaslattamiller]

My first amp was a Kustom 10w with only a gain and volume switch with an overdrive button, when i gotit 7 years ago it was alright for a first amp clean sound but the overdrive was the nastiest sound i have ever heard somethin only EVH could love, if he hadnt already made the Brownsound, this is what i would have classed as a brown sound

[poeman33]

Now it's time to cringe when I see what they go for on eBay...
My first amp was a 70's something Fender Twin. Everyone had them in those days so they were cheap used. I think I paid $600.00 for it in 77. I rarely had the chance to turn it up loud enough to make it sound good, so I traded it in on a new Gibson L5. (and got ripped off I'm sure) Another rare gem that goes for a fortune on eBay now. It sounded okay, but wasn't quite what I wanted. I was into high gain then and traded that in...for practically nothing...and got a Hi-Watt 50 head and a 4x12. That was a great sounding amp. I added a Marshall JCM 800 a little while later. Those were the days of spending all my money on equipment. Sadly I had to sell of of it later on.

[ECwomantoneman]

A Marshall MG15DFX. In all fairness it was absolute pants, but it did the job that was required of it at the time

[codyfarmer]

Mine was a Fender Roc Pro 700. It was a tube amp Fender with a very good gain...it has since been discontinued. I'd like to find one again for simply sentimental value.

[Pearse]

My first amp was a 15w MG15RCD with a strat copy i got as a christmas present when i was about 9. i played it then left it for a while but when i was 10 i had another stab at it i got a "how to play lead guitar" book cus i wanted to be like Scott Gorham from Thin lizzy or Brian Robertson when they were touring. jump 6 or 7 years. i now use an epiphone les paul and sometimes a strat depends on what im playin. Recently i got a 100w JMP from ebay and an old marshall cab for 300 euro found the speakers were from 1956 so i think i made a bargin of some sort, sounds great never imagined it to sound the way it did, real crunchy like nothin i played before even some tubed stuff, blew me away. im now 17 and still have all my old gear looking at my strat copy there is nearly no fret wire left and the fret board is startin to show up still plays, thow is quite painfull..... wouldnt sell it for the world.

[RiverRatt]

My first amp was one of those cheap late 60's or early 70's made of fiberboard. One knob. I got it from my next door neighbor when I was 11. I bough a Tiesco Del Rey guitar from him and he threw the amp in. My folks were against buying an electric guitar to start with, but that's what I wanted. My dad already had an old J-45 acoustic so I already knew that wasn't for me. I remember walking to the drugstore to buy Black Diamond strings for the thing. Kept them on until I broke one. After they saw that I was serious about learning to play, they took me to the local music store and bought me a Kustom Lead 1 amp. I really thought I was big time then.

[RachelMorgan]

I started with a Peavey Rage 258. It was part of my starter set. I have nothing left from it except a souvenier of my first pedal that's in a box -- a Danelectro Mini Black Coffee, which some day I'm going to take apart and figure out if there is a way of making it into something useable with a clean amp. I had it for 6 weeks and a friend of mine talked me into buying her Fender Deville. From there I went to a Marshall Vintage Modern, but found it wasn't suited to my style (higher gain type with channel switching) and swapped it for a JVM which I've got and I'm quite happy with.

[bosrocker51]

Originally Posted by lpaholic59Don

My first amp I got from my second guitar teacher, Pete Kennedy( of the Kennedy's- NOT Dead Kennedy's) had just gotten my Les Paul I busted my butt all summer for and wanted a decent amp, preferbly tubes , Asked Pete if he knew anyone selling an affordable tube amp, and he told me he'd sell my his 64' Deluxe Reverb , I was like Ah Man that thing is prolly worth as much as my Les Paul ! and he said no reverb pan, non orginal speaker ( this was 74) Said he'd sell it for $150 to me, I went and practically begged my mom for it, told her what it was worth , ect, She just said" I'll talk to Pete" Welp that amp was under or infront of, Our Christmas Tree and I had it for 29 Years, Speaker was replaced twice, only went to two service techs in that time it was strangly much louder than any other Deluxe I put it next to , Pete had bought it second hand in 65, along with his Strat I miss that amp incredibly lived over 24 of its years with me, without a reverb pan, just sounded THAT good

wow - what a great story. thanks for posting it...

My first amp was a solid stater that sounded really nice into a hand made lightweight cab w 2-12's. That was followed by a Silvertone with 6-10" Jensens. Tons of punch, a great sound, but the worst reverb in the world...

[poeman33]

The first amp I played were my older brothers, as he had the guitar, but never really played much. Some really cheap no name thing with about 1 watt I think...so quite. The first amp I owned was a Fender Twin. I was 16 and had my parents co-sign for a loan to buy it mint used for $600.00. It sounded great when I tried it out because the guy had it cranked. I never got the chance to play it that loud again and it was just too clean played quiet. I could never turn it up at home. (no wonder I moved out when I was 17) And even when I started playing in later on, I could rarely play it loud enough to get a good sound out of it, so I sold it for even less. I can't believe what they get for them now, and I wish I still had it, just for the clean sounds..and I would have a power brake now.

[mike sicowitz]

Dude,
We all made mistakes, I traded a 72 thinline for a Gibson L6. Check out what a 72 thinline is worth today--it's a healthy down payment on a house. As for the twins, we had the same problems in my early bands. Ya, they sounded great in the hands of some guy who knew pedals and put a drain on the head. Around here that meant getting an Eros 4x15 cab, they were made by a guy in Waukesha, just down the road about 10 miles, if that sounds familiar it's because Les Paul grew up there, and we are all proud of that guy. Back to your story, we had the same problems with the early Marshalls. My best friend, still is, went with a 100 watt Marshall head and two 60 cabs, a real stack. It was the best they made, my friend was 14 yrs old, had the stack and a 58 Les Paul, his dad was a doctor with bread, and it sounded bad. So what do you do when you have the very best and it sounds really bad? Well, we all went smaller so we could load our heads. Same cabs, smaller heads, and it worked. I came into some bread myself a few years ago and started to collect the old stuff. I passed on the twin because I have nowhere to play that loud. I did score a Musicman 2x12 HD 130--even more clean than the twin. But I did it for memories of seeing that thing on stage everynight in the late 70s. Look at it this way, at least we were lucky enough to have good stuff which helped a lot to become better musicians. But sometimes it hurts real bad when we think of the stuff we traded or sold. In the end, we are much smarter at buying things and people should listen to our advise. Great question I think about often. Those old amps were great and we had fun. Thanks for the memories. Mike Sicowitz

[lerxst88]

my first amp was a Crate 15 watter. and i was only 10 at the time and i had been playing through my dads old music man 65. i remember the first thing i thought about it was that "it warms up really fast" since i used to plug into the music man and strum open strings till the tubes came to life. i also loved the distortion on the crate since the music man was basically a fender and didnt have any crunchy distortion. i actually used to use a wah pedal in the treble position to get distortion out of the music man. anyone else ever done something like that?