It started when a friend told me about an acquaintance of his who was looking to swap amps – he was looking for something quieter.
I’d been thinking about a louder amp, since I don’t have a PA to mic one and Dylan may be gigging later this year and.. I just wanted a louder amp. The guy (a 19yo kid actually) had a HR Deville. I’ve heard good and bad about this amp, but I figured I could decide for myself – and it beats going to a bigbox store to try it.
So I call the guy up and propose we swap amps for a week – if either one of us is not happy, we can call off the deal. He also brought over a nice G&L Legacy (not a Tribute) he was looking to sell, but I told him I’m not a Strat guy. Turns out his Dad owns a chain of pawn shops and gets some decent gear through there from time to time.
Well, after a week, I had decided the HR Deville was not for me. The clean channel was pretty good, but the gain/more gain channels were wasted on me. I called the kid to arrange the swap back, and when I arrived, he told me he didn’t have my Blues Jr. He had “lent it out”. Dylan told me later he thought I was going to go werewolf on the kid –I guess I must have looked pretty mad. He was genuinely scared – literally shaking and told me “I’ll do anything to make this right”.
So I told the guy I was taking the Deville and the Legacy. If he got the Jr. back to me in a week, he could have his gear back. Otherwise, it was gone.
I think he had the Jr. the whole time but I don’t care – now.
With the HR Deville, the Legacy, and $170, I ended up with this:
A ’59 RI Bassman and a Zinky Blue Velvet. The Bassman is great – it is two years old, nicely broken in, and sounds great with all of our guitars and is LOUD. The Zinky is the real jewel though - a superb amp. Not a ton of clean headroom, but when it breaks up it is sweet! And the gain channel is fantastic - no pedals need apply.
I don’t miss the Jr. at all.
