amps

[Orange]

i just bought a crate limo, and i'm very happy with it. it's very light (lighter than the older models were), very loud and clear. very, very nice. what systems are other people using, and are you happy with them?

[Kim]

Hey Aiden,
I still have the taxi, which is great... not quite as munty as the Limo, but that's ok.
I miss my ampcan though... might have to buy another....

See you in Singapore
Kim

[Zack!]

Hi kim,

I'm curious as to why you prefer the Amp Can. I'm using one right now, and I'm considering switching to the taxi. Reasons:

The taxi 30 has twice the wattage for about the same price.

The amp can's cylindrical shape is annoying. It's too heavy to carry by hand, and it slips around in my cart. It sometimes falls down when I use the tilt thing. I ended up putting inside a square plastic trashcan, so it wiuld ride nicely in the cart. When you include the handle the thing takes up the same amount of space that a larger square amp would.

Maybe we can trade.

--Zack

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

I like the limo. Its sound is good enough to make the weight worth it. I also have "light limo envy", as the newer ones are all plastic and sometimes actually float on air. You can run a cigarette lighter outlet from the battery and use it to plug in your mike. Its about ten minutes work with a solder gun. Limos rock. See you in Singapore.

[Orange]

the new limos aren't much lighter than the old ones! i compared mine against phil and colin's the other day, and there was not much difference.

see you there!

[Dan Tastik]

Does anyone know anything about the Ashton BSK 158?
Crap?
Passable?
Anyone?

[Lee Nelson]

hey dan, how is it??? Anitta and I are in Perth now.
Are you sure that is an amp???? It sounds like the number plate on a James Bond car!!!!
I think youve been had....maybe you could sell it on ebay in the memorabilia section

See you soon
Derek
p.s because I was too lazy b4....Tuia 2003 pay a good retainer, the shows themselves are hot with no shade and you are performing in a part of NZ with the lowest socio economic demographic. You do the maths. Contact me private if you would like some other contacts for this period in the same area.

[Kim]

Hey Zak,

(About the Amp Can...)
I never felt too disadvantaged by the ampcan, though I do notice the extra grunt from the taxi. It's the size of the ampcan which I like... much easier to travel with than the taxi... But, I don't know if I'd head off for months without the taxi... Seeing as I've got it, it'd be kinda stupid to end up on a huge noisy pitch needing more than the little fender can provide. Small is sexy though... hmmm....

So, as you can see, I'm pretty decisive about amps.
[img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Kim ]</p>

[Dr. Harmonica]

I "Dr. Harmonica" Self proclaimed street amp expert says....Street Amps, You want to know about street amps. I'll tell you about street amps. Way back around 1976 I first started using two little Pig Nose amps. People said I sounded like an old 78 rpm record. That was O K because at the time I was playing delta blues which always sounded like old 78's because they were recorded on old 78's. Some years later I started using a pair of Mouse amps. Big improvement, Now I sounded like an old 45. They were good for guitars and vocals but didn't make it for bass and drum playback. Still they worked well enough to get me arrested a few times for being too loud. Several years ago I got a pair of Taxi's. Not bad but a little light on the bass. Especially after I added two extra batteries in each one so they would play all day and play all day they would and all night too before they needed to be recharged. Problem was that they were VERY heavy. The amp was so filled with batteries that the bass tone was restricted because there was no room for the air to move around. They did however last a long time between charges which is a reasonable trade off. Unfortunatly they were covered in bright yellow vinyl. Not so good when playing the "hide the amp" game.
Perhapes here I should explain. My act contains bass and drum playback, screaming electric guitat solo's, blues harmonica riffs,raunchy vocals, harmonizing machines, the whole shabang so I need a wide range sonic spectrum. Not like "jugglers" who are usually happy with the loud but shitty sounding Fender Can.
The next step up would be a Crate Limo. This is a very hi tech amp. Digital reverbs and delays and good tone. Again the problem with Crate amps is that they need bigger batteries but that's easy to solve. Just buy an extra and mount it in.The Limo fortunatly is covered in discrete black. To my knowledge, unless one wants to go the South American route and get a gasoline generator and a 10,000 watt power mixer, the ultimate reasonably small street amp is the A E R compact 60 mobile. This waighs about 17 kilo and has built in digital reverb and delay but more important it sounds like a real professional amp at a reasonable size and weight. Again the main problem seems to be battery duration. Amplifier manufactures do not seem to realize that buskers may work many hours and sometimes have to play day and night shifts before getting a chance to recharge. The A E R fortunatly has a plug in the back where an extra battery can be attached. Of course that means carring around an extra several kilos of battery but that's the life.
I hope this helps out anyone who needs to know about street amps.
Hang in there and keep on doing what ever it is you do and a curse on all South American street bands
DR. HARMONICA