Guitar
A couple of years ago a buddy of mine was kind enough to give me a Smokey Supro micro amp for my birthday. I'd always wanted a Smokey; what could be cooler than a guitar amp built into an old cigarette pack? The Smokey was designed by famed amp designer Bruce Zinky as a lark, when he got out of college. He gave a bunch of these 1 watt, 1.5" speaker demons to friends, got on with his legit career and forgot about the whole thing. Years later he began building 'em again; I first saw one in Champaign, Illinois back in 2001.
As is often the case with gear you do not purchase for specific purposes it languished, largely unused; I always felt that it would be a useful recording tool, but I lacked a speaker cabinet to plug it in to. The built in speaker is cute and fun to bring along in the van or hotel room, but it's pretty crackly and accentuates the already prevalent hum. I mean, what do you expect from a 1.5" speaker?
I promised that I would do a post on the Smokey a little while back, which got me on a Craigslist hunt for an ultra cheap and vibey speaker cabinet to use for the recording. A couple of days ago I scored: I purchased two (2!) Electro Harmonix Freedom Brothers battery powered amps loaded with two 5 inch CTS speakers for ten bucks each. One of the amps has been wired as a speaker cabinet. I suspect both need electronic attention. I lack the power supply to plug in the one that is intact, so I have no way of knowing if it works. The plan is to part out the board in the incomplete/cabinet Brother, and try to save the intact one. In the meantime I have an 8 ohm 2x5 recording cabinet that cost ten dollars.
As I suspected, the Smokey really comes alive when you plug it into an external cabinet. Through the Freedom Bros. box it sounded rich, bright and warm. I also plugged it into the Celestion 70/80 that's loaded in my Traynor YCV-40 combo and much preferred the CTS 5 inchers. The Smokey always has a bit of hair on it; it gets pretty clean, but boy, does it ever like to rock! It excels at raunchy, grainy distortion and is extraordinarily sensitive to pinch harmonics. I was delighted with its dynamics and sensitivity to volume tweaks. Your guitar's tone knob will definitely come into play, though; this is a very bright one watt.
I also plugged it direct into the recording desk (into a Twin simulation) and into the Traynor as you would any dirt pedal. In both situations one is struck by the sheer insane gain boost; it's like having two MXR Micro Amps running full tilt. While recording direct, I had to basically turn off the input gain at the board. Interestingly, this seems to alleviate the signal-to-noise issues you get plugging it into a cabinet.
Overall I found it really easy to get useable tones both direct or through a cabinet. It makes a gonzo preamp for staid amps. It plays well with other pedals. It's cheap like borscht. What's not to like?
For the demo I laid down the basic groove (panned hard left) with my D-tuned Danelectro '63 through the 2x5 cab, with a really short slap-back acting as a doubling effect. The "cleanish" rhythm guitar (panned center left) is a Gibson ES-335 (both pickups, volume pot barely cracked open) through the same rig with a longer slap. The lead slide (panned to the center) is the Dano' plugged direct through the Smokey. To the right side of the mix is the Gibson neck pickup with a long delay and phase through the Smokey/Freedom Brothers cabinet combo.
I gotta' say: you could spend hundreds of dollars to get a mini amp that does what this rig does. This rig is worth about forty-five dollars. Two thumbs up, Mr. Zinky.
I'll keep you guys posted on the Freedom Brothers amps. If I can't get one to work, I've still got two or three Big Muffs worth of EHX components; we'll see how this all transpires.
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Guitar
Smokey! It Smokes!
A couple of years ago a buddy of mine was kind enough to give me a Smokey Supro micro amp for my birthday. I'd always wanted a Smokey; what could be cooler than a guitar amp built into an old cigarette pack? The Smokey was designed by famed amp designer Bruce Zinky as a lark, when he got out of college. He gave a bunch of these 1 watt, 1.5" speaker demons to friends, got on with his legit career and forgot about the whole thing. Years later he began building 'em again; I first saw one in Champaign, Illinois back in 2001.
As is often the case with gear you do not purchase for specific purposes it languished, largely unused; I always felt that it would be a useful recording tool, but I lacked a speaker cabinet to plug it in to. The built in speaker is cute and fun to bring along in the van or hotel room, but it's pretty crackly and accentuates the already prevalent hum. I mean, what do you expect from a 1.5" speaker?
I promised that I would do a post on the Smokey a little while back, which got me on a Craigslist hunt for an ultra cheap and vibey speaker cabinet to use for the recording. A couple of days ago I scored: I purchased two (2!) Electro Harmonix Freedom Brothers battery powered amps loaded with two 5 inch CTS speakers for ten bucks each. One of the amps has been wired as a speaker cabinet. I suspect both need electronic attention. I lack the power supply to plug in the one that is intact, so I have no way of knowing if it works. The plan is to part out the board in the incomplete/cabinet Brother, and try to save the intact one. In the meantime I have an 8 ohm 2x5 recording cabinet that cost ten dollars.
As I suspected, the Smokey really comes alive when you plug it into an external cabinet. Through the Freedom Bros. box it sounded rich, bright and warm. I also plugged it into the Celestion 70/80 that's loaded in my Traynor YCV-40 combo and much preferred the CTS 5 inchers. The Smokey always has a bit of hair on it; it gets pretty clean, but boy, does it ever like to rock! It excels at raunchy, grainy distortion and is extraordinarily sensitive to pinch harmonics. I was delighted with its dynamics and sensitivity to volume tweaks. Your guitar's tone knob will definitely come into play, though; this is a very bright one watt.
I also plugged it direct into the recording desk (into a Twin simulation) and into the Traynor as you would any dirt pedal. In both situations one is struck by the sheer insane gain boost; it's like having two MXR Micro Amps running full tilt. While recording direct, I had to basically turn off the input gain at the board. Interestingly, this seems to alleviate the signal-to-noise issues you get plugging it into a cabinet.
Overall I found it really easy to get useable tones both direct or through a cabinet. It makes a gonzo preamp for staid amps. It plays well with other pedals. It's cheap like borscht. What's not to like?
 |
| A new meaning to "smokin' guitar". |
I gotta' say: you could spend hundreds of dollars to get a mini amp that does what this rig does. This rig is worth about forty-five dollars. Two thumbs up, Mr. Zinky.
I'll keep you guys posted on the Freedom Brothers amps. If I can't get one to work, I've still got two or three Big Muffs worth of EHX components; we'll see how this all transpires.
- Silvertone 5xl Tube Amp In San Diego Ca Area For $100
The seller put this 5XL into a new little wooden cabient - may or may not be an improvement over the original. these are low watt amps but lot of fun and cool for the bedroom and recording. You could either paint this cabinet or wrap...
- Marshall Jcm2000 Tsl Half Stack In Cleveland For $700
You won't see me highlighting Marshall Stacks too often on this blog (just not my cup of tea) however, this one is a good deal and, of course, Cleveland Rocks! There is a ton of info online about the TSL and this is the 100 watt version it...
- West 115 H "grande" Guitar/ Bass Head And Cabinet In Grand Rapids Mi - Could Be Cheap?
These WEST branded Amplifiers show up every once in a while and usually only in Michigan. Dave West was an amp builder out of Flint Michigan who made amps for guys like Dick Wagner (lead guitar with Lou Reed & Alice Cooper) and Mark Farner...
- My Mobile Solo-gig Rig.
The bus-friendly full solo rig, complete with mic stand and guitar stand. I've been gigging a lot lately. I mean a lot. About forty shows over July and August, with multiple artists and quite a few solo shows. I've had...
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