The Great Vintage Amp Shootout! | Plugged In Ep. 8

Transcription:

Hi folks we are back with this just plugged in uh not an unplugged version this time. thanks for all the love on that was a lot of fun and a great suggestion as well this week we're going to be doing the best amps in the shop or our favorite or the coolest you know there's a lot there.

We're going to be choosing a lot of these amps from the vault. You know, some are out on the floor as well, and we're going to be bringing them downstairs to plug them in so I can be a bit louder. But we're just going to have fun, and of course, let us know which you think sounds the best.

Going to start sweating here now; it's not even full volume. I'm going to go with, is it this? I think that's a 68 Epiphone Casino—an interesting piece. It's a great piece. That'll be it for me, you know, just really nice and clean.

So we're going to head out to the floor now. This is actually just going to be part one of two. There is going to be another episode to this, and I would urge you to stay tuned for the second one because we're going to have a very special amp. I mean, this one's going to be good too. This one, this one's going to be great, obviously, but part two is going to be pretty special as well. We're going to have a Holy Grail kind of amp. I can't say what it is, but it rhymes with "the place is going to," because "the place is going to" so much from the noise from that amp, which is called a... there we go, right? Tease, a little bit of a tease, right?

Obviously, the shop is open at the moment, so we're going to be noodling. So if you see yourself in this video, apologies, um, or you're welcome, you know. Uh, the amp we're looking for is over there. Ren, like, how we doing? So we're filming, but hello, all right. I'll say hello shortly. Yeah.

So here is our first amp of the day, which is a Supro Thunderbolt S6420 from 1965. This a great-looking amp, $1,500. Let's go plug it in.

I mean, that's no surprise, obviously, but it's cool though. It's a great-looking amp. I've got a modern-day Supro. I've got the Black Magic Reverb. Great. All right, so we have brought the Supro down. Uh, I've also gone into a 53 Tele, which ain't bad, um, and we've just cranked... there's no pedals. I've just got a tuner. You see how it sounds.

Yeah, I mean, not quite the Zeppelin tone. Well, it's not far off. Probably need that Tone Bender. I mean, that sounds good to me. I won't bother playing that one.

I mean, that sounds pretty good. Um, I do like how you can be, you know, dynamic with your right hand. Um, you get clean, it can clean up a little bit. The overdriven sound is that really kind of bright, punchy sound. I like that. Um, obviously, I'm, well me personally, I'm a big fan of reverb in an amp. That obviously doesn't have it. Got two knobs. It's got two knobs. Um, very old school, very cool. It looks great. Historic amps, of course. Overall, it's a great amp. Um, I dig that. All right, folks, now change guitar. As you can see, I've got a 1952 Gibson ES-295. Personally, one of my dream guitars—gorgeous. Um, but anyway, we're chatting about the amps now. I am using an Echo-Fix spring reverb pedal, which is kind of cool, so it's going to be nice and clean.

I mean, obviously, that sounds good, nice and clean. Um, sounds good with the reverb. That's good that sounds great. I love it with a little bit of reverb.

Yeah, I mean, unexpected combo that I feel like is working.

Yeah, I mean, just really nice, you know. Um, that helps that I love this guitar as well, but the amp, it's digging out reasonable too. It's, yeah, so it's $1,500 for that, uh, a 1965 Supro, which does a nice clean sound, uh, does a nice kind of overdriven sound as well. Um, I'd have it for $1,500, wouldn't you? All right, next up now, we got quite a selection of guitars here. Not bad. So I've done these two. Uh, I mean, let's take a pick really. Probably not the green one because that... the people probably don't know what that's from, but I kept... that's good. I kept it on the wall for an Easter egg. I'm going to go with this. So 330 Sunburst. It's a 330, right? Yeah. Oh, that's gorgeous. Uh, now the amp... forgive the mess in here at the moment. We're doing a little bit of shifting around here at the shop, but we've got this cool Magnatone. I'll bring it into the light. You know, it's a big one. It's not crazy heavy. It looks heavy, but it's not too bad. Not light either, don't get me wrong. But Magnatone, I do love a Magnatone. Uh, I haven't much experience with the old ones though. Magnatone Model 260 Custom 200 two-channel 35-watt 2x12 guitar combo from the 50s. Who's writing these things? Uh, it's $1,500. Um, I'm sure it sounds great. Like I said, I do like a Magnatone. I don't think I have much experience at all with vintage ones. Also going into the uh, that thing from the Ghostbusters that they chuck on the floor. So we are now plugged into the 1950s Magnatone, um, and we're using a 1960 Gibson ES-330. Let's give it a whirl.

Right, that sounds really nice. Just, uh, I'm kind of rolled off a little bit on the tone now. Full volume on the guitar. It does break up a little bit, well, more than a little, I suppose. So I mean, just roll back on the tone.

It's really nice. Now, I do have a little bit of reverb.

I mean, it sounds good, you know, just a nice clean up at eight, that is.

Yeah, nice sound of that. So we are now plugged into a 1966 cherry red Gibson Trini Lopez, great-looking guitar. The amp is now cracked. I think it's, it's kind of maxed out. Um, so here is the tone.

The... I mean, that sounds great. I think for, you know, kind of big crunchy chords, rock and roll chords, more crunches, I feel like, right? Yeah, yeah. Uh, not too dissimilar really from Supro at all. I mean, just a great kind of rhythm. I thought a great rhythm rock, rhythm kind of rock and roll kind of tone.

Lead sounds good. For lead, I'd probably want a little bit more, um, behind it, but yeah, great sound of Magnatone. Come check it out. It's cheap as well, $1,500. So that was two amps down. We got another one upstairs in the vault. So we're going to head back up, and, uh, I think we're going to try it with maybe a Strat. Um, so I think it might be Fender with Fender or maybe Marshall with Fender. We're going to keep you on your toes. We're going to look in the, in the depths, the depths of CME, and all the work that goes on. So we're back in here. Look who it is, Eric.

Yeah, sorry, I'm just kind of looking at some of these. Uh, right, the next one. It's not that one. It's not that one. It's not that one. They're all pretty good. It's not that one. Is it this one? It's this one now. Fender Twin 2x12 combo from 1953. Uh, we've gone up in price. I love it. Uh, the other two are what, 1500? This is 14 grand, and it's shockingly light. I thought this was going to weigh a ton. When Joe Bonamassa was here at the shop, he walked by this and he said, "That's a good amp. You can tell by looking. You can"...tell just by looking." And if he knows what he's talking about, so let's go downstairs, getting a great workout in here. Right back in the room. Jeez, we're doing guitars for the next six episodes after this, yes, please. On the floor, on the floor, sat down.

So, Fender Twin 2x12 combo from 1953. $14,000. So we're now plugged into a Strat, as you can see. It's a 1958 Strat, a great-looking one. I'm on the neck pickup. I'm all the way at 10. I might roll off. I'm at 9 now. Sounds good. Sounds like a Strat, a nice clean Strat. Uh, yeah, sounds good, kind of how you'd expect it, really. Just nice, clean, loud, um, which I'm a fan of. No reverb, of course, but yeah, it looks great, sounds good with this.

So we got a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom, great-looking guitar. The amp, more importantly, is this basically all the way to 11, um, really loud. My left eardrum is gone. Here's how it sounds. Now, um, it sounds good, you know. Um, glad we're downstairs. Yes, I'm glad, and I'm glad we got that done. It sounds good. Um, again, I think it's a great kind of digging-in kind of chord, just thrashing away. Just sounds good to me, you know, um, through this, which sounds great. So, yeah, 1953, that was it cranked. It's not cheap, but it sounds good, sounds great in fact. Um, so come check it out. Uh, little bonus piece here. Uh, this is a '53, and that is a '53 Telecaster. I'm using the reverb pedal, having a little bit of fun. I will turn it down because it is a little bit crazy.

So we have just done uh, the '53 Fender, great amp. We're now going to go back up to the Vault. We're going to get some cabs, uh, because we're going to need to plug into this Hiwatt, quite a rare one as well, I believe. So we're going to choose a cab from upstairs. We have cabs here.

So we're back on the '58 Strat. We've already played this. Uh, we have a '67 Hiwatt head, 100-watt head, uh, we think one of the oldest ones, if not the very first 100-watt uh, Hiwatt Script, gold script, gold script. So very well, quite rare. It's in great condition as well, and we got a 1966 Marshall Cab. Also, if you want to know more about this uh, very cool Hiwatt, we do have a video. Uh, the link will be in the description, or Drew will put it in the corner somewhere. So, nice clean now. From my previous experience with this amp, it's, it's very clean, um, from what I remember, it doesn't really break up at all, or it takes a lot to break up, right? The Presence knob is where the gain is.

Really nice and clean. I mean, that's, I think that's probably my favorite clean so far. It is just clean, you know. That's just, I like that a lot. A great clean amp. I could play that all day. Oh, turn it, yeah, yeah, I'm going to turn the reverb up a little bit. That'll be it for me, you know, just really nice and clean. Oh, oh, I'm slightly out of tune anyway, so don't worry. Hey, it's a great song. I don't know why, you know, people seem to [...] on that song. It's a wonderful song. It's a great riff. We all wish we wrote it. Let's be honest. We all wish we did. I certainly do. It's a great song. Um, yeah, I'd play that all day. Just nice. I think that changed my mind on, I, it's, well, it's changed my mind. I'll be honest, folks. I wasn't a big fan of this, um, not that it wasn't, not, of course, it's a great, you know, some things just aren't for you. But even just messed around here for five minutes, that with a little bit of reverb, and it helps to have a nice guitar, obviously. I think I'm a changed, a changed man.

I'll be honest, uh, so folks, uh, I am about to some put some uh, Skull Screws, or whatever they're called, hearing protection in because it's going to get very loud now. You hear that buzzing coming out of the amp? So those of you with the keen eye, uh, volume is, we call it what, 11:00? Uh, presence is at 3:00. Up, it's already extremely loud. We're kind of afraid to do it even more, but I think for the video, we should, right? Yeah, one second. If it blows up, it blows up. Uh, so folks, there's quite a loud hum. Uh, we're kind of scared, I'll be honest. We, where volume is at what, call it half, 12:00? Yeah, we got a long way to go, and it's frightening how loud it is. So I've got the, you know, hang on, let's just be extra safe, Skull Screw, Skull Screws, and a, and this going to your head, it's, is this even going to work? So here's a couple of strums.

This is also a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, by the way. Um, sorry, folks, crazy circumstances here. Uh, right, so we're going to try and go even louder. I don't know if it sounds good. I can feel it, right? It's so far, look, I bring it back a touch. It's not even full volume. It's, it's close, but here we go. We're going to make this quick, folks. That's enough, right? Damn. I'm surprised Deb is, I'm just waiting for someone to come running down the stairs. But yeah, clean, wonderful, loud, ridiculous, like loud. Uh, so yeah, come check it out and wear protection. So that was loud. Uh, we got one more very loud amp to do as well. We're going to go back up to the Vault, probably will need these, uh, and I think it might be a Marshall. I'm not actually going to be doing anymore. We're not going to the Vault anymore. There's an obstacle course trying to do, just dive in, breaking down walls here, CME. That sounds good, by the way.

1949 Deluxe TV front, oh, TV front now. Uh, we are in the Vault. Um, I think it'd be rude if we didn't have a quick glance at some of the cool guitars in here. So I think that's a 1968 Epiphone Casino, which is stunning, by the way. Look at the color of that. Obviously, a White Falcon. That's, I can't remember what year is, hang on, what year is that? I mean, this is stunning. That is from 1963, I think. Great nick as well. I mean, looks, looks gorgeous. Very, very good Firebird Three Two. Yes, video this coming soon. Yeah, well, it's not a Gibson ES-345, as you can tell, 4, I think it's 6, yeah. Gibson Firebird II from 1964. That sounds really good, but also more importantly for me, it's actually easy to play. Um, I think some of you might have seen this video coming soon. Wonderful Gretsch Roundup. Got uh, we got a Malcolm, so I, I can never remember the name, 6131 Jet Fire Bird, 1962. Great guitar, that's cool. Don't know what year it is, but it's great. Some of the cases are empty. That's because people are trying them out and, you know, being worked on. The one pickup guitar, I think they look great. Um, acoustically, that's wonderful. What a color this is. If this isn't one of the best underrated colors around. So is this burnt copper, or no, was it no, you know, I can't even remember what the color is. Later, yeah, or burgundy or something like that. I know it's a wonderful color. This an interesting piece. It's a great piece. Uh, but yeah, a lot of cool stuff, but we're going to head back downstairs. We do have some more cool amps, and, uh, shout out to David A in there jamming away. Man, if you're interested in some of these guitars and amps, go—that's one of the guys here. Yeah, definitely reach out. Uh, so 66 uh, JTM45 head, 66 cab, 59 burst. Uh, we're not going to play it clean 'cause no one wants to hear this clean, I don't think so anyway. Um, also apologies for my dodgy playing, still recovering.

Genuinely getting there though. It's a good stretch.

All that sounds great, loud. Um, I mean, that's, it's wonderful.

Yeah, I mean, it sounds how you kind of want it to sound, really. Now, just while we're plugged into the Benson as well, so that was just the amp.

Anyway, all those are silly licks. It's fun though. Sounds good. My ears are [...], and if you are really into Marshalls, not so long ago we had a crazy Marshall collection, uh, that you can check out on YouTube. If you haven't watched it, why haven't you? But that's okay, you can go ahead and watch it. Um, let us know what you think of that. Also, let us know which has been your favorite amp in this entire video. Uh, standout ones for me, the Hiwatt for the cleans, I think. Uh, I mean, this kind of cranked up sounds pretty phenom, you know. Um, yeah, I mean, that sounds good to me. What else did we—that was good, right? Uh, the C—yeah, so yeah, I think for me, I don't know. See, we got the Fender, the 53 uh, Fender. That was good as well. I got to say, it's a tough one. Let us know what you thought, folks. Right, that was part one, folks, of this "Just Plugged In" amp edition. I did hint at a particular amp earlier on. It's right here on the, on the watch. Might as well just see it there. I'm not going to get him to smile. There we go. Give me—so make sure you check out the next episode where we're featuring this. Anyway, like and subscribe, and we'll see you later. Cheers.