1995 I asked my dad for a Marshall JTM30. He came home with a 1957 Tweed Princeton. I didn't talk to him for a week. CANT PLAY SWEET CHILD O MINE ON THAT DAD. 28 years later I still have the amp. Wish I still had my dad to tell him how amazing and thoughtful a gift that turned out to be. :(
But, that’s how it sounds to the microphone. Still proof it’s better to spend a little for a few amps vs one dumble when building a recording rig/studio.
Love these - blown away by the Pignose. I recently lucked into an old 5 watt Maestro Reverb Echo GA-1RT and crank it to 8 and it's now my favorite amp. Picked it up for almost free. Small speakers sound so nice.
The Pignose is the clear winner for my taste. They were all great but the Pignose was just about perfect for me. Very interesting video,..Thankyou for the upload of this.
I literally burst out laughing when you switched to the Pignose. It sounds so huge for it's tiny size it's ridiculous. Can you imagine showing up for a gig carrying that thing; you'd be laughed right off the stage (till you mic-ed it)! Overall, I preferred the Champ clone.
Those old Harmony amps were made by a Chicago-based company named Sound Projects, they also made amps under the brand name Lectrolabs...be careful though, some of those lower wattage offerings were what's referred to as "widowmakers" and may need some modification to bring them up to modern safety standards
The individual tones each sound good. The thing to remember if you don't like these tones solo'd out, is that within a mix, as initially presented, they sound KILLER. Context is key. An amp/guitar combination that sounds amazing by itself, might not sound good at all in a mix, and vice versa.
Zappa played black napkins with only a pig nose on the mike Douglas show and it was amazing. Also, Matt Pike has said that he uses a dimed pig nose mic'ed up as a part of his live sound.
Ive done shows with a pignose, outdoor shows with no pa even. Big cabs are a watse of money. A 2x12 combo is all you will ever need. Built in fx, no pedalboard.🍻
Great demo! I literally laughed out loud when you first switched to the Pignose because I was expecting it to sound like a pocket transistor radio but it sounded so huge.
Ben great video! I'm with you man. I have the Harmony 303B and Pignose. 1960's Sears Silvertone 1451- 6"speaker. Early 1960's Sound project co R-200B 8" Jenson alnico speaker and an oddball 1950's Sears Silvertone hi-fi amp cabinet head that powered a console stereo 1-6v6 5y3 12ax7 with 6" Jenson! All TONE TO DIE FOR!! Thanks for sharing. Love your music.
One Pignose to rule them all... There is a video of Zappa playing through a cranked Pig live on a talk show and his tone is fantastic. I think it was modified but still such a killer little amp.
Yes! He used that Pignose to record some of his best albums of the 1970's - Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, and One Size Fits All. Seriously. His guitar tone on those albums was ridiculous.
Grateful for your willingness to share some of how you get those glorious sounds. Especially when they're completely attainable like the Harmony and Pignose 🤘
Big amps can feel like driving around in first gear all day. Small amps you can wring their neck. I went from 150 watts down to 5 or 10 watts chasing nice sounds. Rock on.
Funny in the mix they all sound the same. Played by themselves all different sounds. Cool video. I have been playing through a tweed champ kit and love it.
The Pignose sound really amazing !!! I’ve got a jensen blackbird 40 in my 5e3 clone and i love it, the compression is just like i wanted and when I push it, the sag sound nice !
Great video. For the Tweed Deluxe i would suggest trying a Celestion G12H30 Anniversary, preferably a used one as they are a bit spiky before broken in. The Celestion Neo Creamback could also be a cool option. You should also look into changing the coupling caps on one or both channels to eliminate the «farting». For diming these amps you should go to 9-10 on the volume. If you go as far as 12 it will get very saggy. Also try to jumper the channels!
I bought a Peavey 5w Nanovalve about 13 years ago and hands down is my favourite amp. The sound is insane from it, top notch. My marshall 2x12 has been gathering dust
I play a Kay 803c every day and love it! Had two 66 Champs which really weren’t better. 3 watts for home distortion, SUPER cheap and abundant NOS tubes. Great with a Weber alnico speaker…just need a good buffer (Boss Reverb pedal) because the amp’s 22kOhm input impedance kills all treble without it!! Sounds huge through a wide 1x12 cab. Belonged to my grandfather- grandma couldn’t sell it at a yard sale for $3 when he passed and let me have it 20 years ago.
They all sound great! Fun! The Pignose IS a gain monster ! Actually surprising how nice it sounds? Try a WGS (Warehouse Guitar Speakers) G12Q for the Deluxe? It’s a great sounding low watt speaker. Ceramic, but very open sounding. Nice chime. Nice break up. Half the price of a Blackbird. Also, try bringing up the Normal Volume, while you’re maxing the Bright channel. The volumes are interactive. It will shave off a bit of the low end that’s flubbing the speaker out.
@@Haze763 It’s a 12” speaker. It’s “American” voiced, so the mid’s are not the same as a Celestion. It’s not expensive. Try it out? It’s definitely clearer than most at low volumes and breaks up easily, though it will handle anything a 4 watt amp can dish out.
i was shocked at how good the pignose sounded , when you first introduced it i kinda snickered at all those great tube amps and then the little ole pignose with its battery power, i thought it was a joke till i heard it and i got humbled real quick and i agree the deluxe sounded weak compared to the rest, i really enjoyed this video i hope you can do more like this.
The dominant reason for the sound of ‘tiny’ amps is the size of their speaker. It turns out 8-10” has just the right natural rolloff characteristic for the electric guitar in a mix. The first company to produce an external speaker cab with an 8” speaker and resistive loading to drop power by , say… 50-75%, will have a great product. We already have our favorite amps. Connect them to the right speaker and voila!
Ben, Thanks for not overplaying and the mic setups. Loved ‘em all but the tweed. Just ok. Kids! You CANNOT go wrong with a Pignose! Smaller than a shoebox, but clean or dirty, open or closed; it WILL kill you with delight.
That wee Pignose was sweet!. You have to get yourself a Moviola URS if you're into tiny monstrous amps, the Ediquip 1027A is incredible too. They where used for synchronizing sound onto film way back in the day, Black Sabbath used them in the studio so you know they're legit!.
First off , love your riffs , tasty ! That Pignose and Harmony sound massive ! The Champ was unique , fuzzy wussy niceness ......The Deluxe is a rich fatty almost drippy .......fun
Please do a video of you upgrade/change the speaker in the tweed deluxe. Speakers and transformers make the biggest difference in amps. The rest is how you put the ingredients together so all components, lead dress, lay out etc effect the amp. But speakers have the biggest impact followed by transformers. Great video, that harmony was super cool. And I really dig those pig nose amps!
The Pignose makes me angry lol! It has NO right being that good hahahahaha! WOW! To be fair, your playing certainly has a lot to do with it. I could never make my rig sound this good. You are a brilliant player, my dude.
The one I liked best was the one you were playin at any given time. Most of em got a little “farty” down on the low strings but not terrible at all. I have a late model Fender Frontman 15G on my workbench just for testing stuff, I replaced the speaker with a better one and realized I liked the way it sounds! I spend more time jammin to an iPad at my workbench now than upstairs in my music room (and there’s some nice stuff up there). I’ll probably get over it but yea, small amps can be cool! 👍
I also have a pignose love it there is some history I have seen it used on stage on video of course, with carlos santana and eric clapton, I dont have your ability... yet, but great video! I will mic it and see whats up! thanx!
My favorite is the Pignose followed by the Victoria, then the tweed with a different speaker😁😁, then the Harmony. I guess that my taste is different than yours😂😂. Great video, great playing!!
I have a 60s vintage Jensen C12N in my 5e3. It's a seriously kickass speaker in that amp. I run mine way different though. I'm going for touch sensitive overdrive and not as much fuzz.
Great video! My thoughts: Harmony, an amp of character, with a unique tone. Pignose, my favourite overall - which surprised me! Champ: Sounds like a fuzz pedal Deluxe: Again, sounds like a Fuzz pedal.
Pignose❤❤❤❤ DEF GONNA GET ONE! I think all Amps sounded good. I would do different things, one is to not dime them, instead put a boost into them. I would also mod the Amps with speaker outputs AND speaker inputs and connect Amps to different speakers. WOULD KEEP THAT WEBER SPEAKER! It sounded wonderfully horrible! Great video, by the way.
A few more Pignose tunes: Joe Walsh “Rocky Mountain Way” (slide, not the talkbox) Eric Clapton “Keep On Growing” on the Layla album…layered guitars are all Eric thru a Pignose (Bobby Whitlock tells the amazing story about the song on his channel) Frank Zappa on most of the “Apostrophe” album
Pretty sure Ben could plug into anything and have absolutely amazing tone. The amps are part of it, and the Knaggs, but the man has got something special going on.
The Pignose amp was designed by Richard Edlund, who was also a founder of Industrial Light and Magic (George Lucas’s special effects company). It was also the best sounding amp here! They all sounded rad though.
when i built m< tweed deluxe clone i first put an "era-correct" jensen P12R speaker into it, its not very efficient and rated only for 25W. with that speaker it only farted i then put a celestion vintage 30 in it, the amp opened up and became wonderfull and i never looked back any higher rated more efficient speaker will change the sound dramatically, which one depends on what you prefer
I prefer the Deluxe on 9 or 10 vs 12. My wife had a 518 and it just just amazing how your fingers could feel the paper of the speaker. Sounded better with a Weber speaker. Swapped it for a Swart ast jr and I prefer that. It’s true point to point.
After hearing the Pignose I found a Pignose in NAM that sound close to what I heard fro you. Sounds really nice,- both alone or if I choose it for a second amp blended with another amp.
I started out on a pignose and a Rockman X100. I have owned 25 guitar amps in my 40 plus years of playing. I have just recently went back to the Pignose over Spark 40 and before that a Roland Micro Cube. I sold the Rockman years and years ago. I think I have come full circle looking for tone.
Good video, heading to ebay now to pick up a pignose lol. I also have a deluxe, changed speaker last week from Jensen P12Q ? To Celestion alnico blue. Was a tough decision as it has to be one of the dearer guitar speakers but, was worth it. Before i struggled with low volume in band context (our regular drummer really likes to play hard), now volume has jumped up, and i like what it has done tonally as well, it is a rock and roll beast now!
Over 50 years of playing, there's 2 pieces of gear on my "wish I still had it" list. One was a no name L6S copy - the other was an original Pignose. A pocket beast - and you could keep your stash in it. Edit - heard in iso, that Champ has insane sag. Should be on cholesterol meds.
The Harmony almost sounds like the Beatles Revolution guitar tone. The tweed deluxe sounds like a can of bees. I bet that Weber speaker has little bass response like an old Jensen and that's why it sucks.
We can not have the vibration feeling behind the screen (!) but for me the winner is the Pignose then the Harmony. Not the same texture, a question of taste. The Champ didn’t ring my bell. Yes, the 5e3 sounds like crap here … 🤷♀️ Thanks a lot 👍👍👍
DUUD! Awesome (!!!) playing! And awesome video! But please tell us, that the pignose sound in reality was a 412.........I deny to believe anything else!
I've been looking for a good desk amp/modeler and had an old pignose in the closet I completely forgot about. It used to be my entire rig with a cheap Ibanez effect pedal that had distortion, chorus and something else I can't remember.
Not sure about Dopesmoker specifically, but Matt Pike is known to mix in some Pignose both in the studio and live (in an iso-box) so it's definitely believable.
