Aki's deville
Hi David, thanks for your excellent bassman chronicles; it's been fascinating. Well-planned and logical, A:B testing, contributions from Mark and Gary as experts. As always your approach clears up a lot which is often quite confusing. My problem has been finding one. They are not so common here, and when they do come up are generally a bit more like $1200-$1400. I became interested when I saw Aki's DeVille story, because those amps are common here and much cheaper. I'd never considered them; the general feeling seems to be they are nasty bright feedback demons. Aki's sounds great though, and the mods seem straightforward. Aki seemed very happy with it. I wonder if you may be able to pass on some questions to Aki? Mainly I want to know if he Is happy with the volume he can get from the amp on stage and any general guidelines for the settings he has found. Also is he using any devices in conjunction with it, such as an AFB etc.
Thanks very much,
Dave.
Dear Aki,
Hi, my name is Dave Hall. i play harp in a couple of bands in Tasmania, and became aware of your work through my subscription to BluesHarmonica.com
Thanks for your submissions on BluesHarmonica.com. I've really enjoyed them.
I found your latest submission about your Hot Rod DeVille amplifier interesting. I have one available, but i'd never thought of it as a good harp amp. After watching your submission I'm reconsidering; maybe it could do the job.
I have a few questions about your experience with the amp, which i hope you may be able to answer:
Are you now happy with the volume level you can achieve before feedback?
Do you think it works better with any particular type of mic
Are you using any other devices with it (effects or anti-feedback) and if so do you use the effects loop for them, or just on the line from mic to input?
I'm also interested in any 'general rules' you may have found for the tone settings. I'm guessing you just use the clean channel?
Really I'm interested in anything you can tell me about the amp which you think worth sharing.
Thanks very much,
Dave Hall
Just sent it to him...
Thanks very much David,
Dave
Here's what Aki said...
Are you now happy with the volume level you can achieve before feedback?
Yes, this amp cuts and can hold its own at any gig setting.
Do you think it works better with any particular type of mic
I prefer using my CR bullet through this amp. My crystal mic sounds mid-rangey and clean through it, so I don't use it much.
Are you using any other devices with it (effects or anti-feedback) and if so do you use the effects loop for them, or just on the line from mic to input?
No effects. I just use the built in Reverb if needed.
I'm also interested in any 'general rules' you may have found for the tone settings. I'm guessing you just use the clean channel?
My current tone settings for this amp/mic combo are: max Bass, no Mid, Treble at 2 o clock. Presence varies, depending on the setting. The reason for maxing out the bass is because I don't get a whole lot of bottom-end from this amp right now compared to say a Bassman.
Thats awesome. Thanks so much, both Aki and David.
My HRD arrives next week!
Sure... write the letter here and I'll forward it to him...