I had an awesome time. Nick’s a bud for sure, but it was beyond cool to watch the guy work; play prototypes and and see the ‘evolution’ of the amps and pedals.
Mostly I concentrated on playing and hearing the amps I haven’t had the pleasure to yet, so I’ll detail a few.
Special 20:
This really amazed me. I’ve called it the ‘American Cousin’ to the Cam, but it’s really RADICALLY different. Non master volume, fixed bias, and a FAC control that changes the tone Stack. Very interactve with the tone control. This to me sounded vaguely reminiscent of the Brown/Tweed deluxe type tones, but capable of the most fantastic chime and shimmer. The Pentode preamp tube (similar to an EF86 but more stable) really made it extremely pedal friendly, and just so enveloping. The tone just sucked you in. Really a bold overdrive, or a killer clean. Again very american voiced, but radically different depending on the FAC control. I played it with both 6v6 and 5881s. (It’s fixed bias, so it’s NOT plug and play like the CAM).
Thunderchief:
What can I say. This is the newest amp in the greer line, and I was really taken with it. To me, it sounded like the best AC30 ever, but with more girth and thump to it. Plenty of that great chime, but as it an quad 6v6, it had that OOMPH to it that EL84s can sometime lack. The boost switch on the back really added a nice dimension to it. Runs all 12ax7’s but was really open as if it did run a pentode preamp. Neat trick. Interesting design, and very versitile tone controls. Impressive.
Maurader:
This was one I was REALLY dying to hear. The Maurader is a subtle 35 watts. What I mean is, you sorta think it would be louder, but it gets away from you. It’s not ‘painful’ loud, so it’s really deceiving how loud it is. With a strat or tele, it was like SRV in a box. You instantly got that great texas tone, which is what Nick was going for. This was with 5881 tubes. With Nick’s R8 it was a different beast. Sorta equal parts JTM45 and Super. Fantastic set of tones, and a full rich clean.
Rev50:
I think this is Nick’s favorite amp! Sounds like the perfect marriage of HIWATT and Marshall. With Nickism’s all over it!
The Tone controls work like gain stages to push the amp into saturation. BIG CLEANS or HUGE OVERDRIVES abound in this sucker. Its a serious BEAST! With P90’s I was feeling some serious ‘Who’ Vibe, but it was really more versitile than that. Mindblowing how the tones worked. Each tone overdrove it’s set of frequecies or cleaned them up. As usual, back off on the guitar volume to clean up further, dig in for more meat!
There were also a couple protos I’m not at liberty to talk about yet, some amazing stuff. Nick’s a young cat, but he’s really got a ’sky’s the limit’ sort of attitude about his builds. It’s very impressive.
Also got to hear some other great pedals. Buttertone, Razor Burn and some prototype stuff.
The only thing better than spending a week with your buddy in Georgia, is when that buddy makes some killer toyz!
Thanks again to Nick and Serena for the Southern Hospitality, the beautiful ladies of Athens GA. WOW. I’m moving!
Any questions folks, I’m really excited to have a better handle on some of this stuff I hadn’t played yet.
Make sure you come see me and Ron Thorn at the amp show, I’ll have both Nick’s amps, and Bob Reinhardt’s killer amps and a selection of pedals!
Nick and I the morning of the trip home.
Current Stock:
WB Pickups NOS WIRE VTP and VTPH 67-07 Humbuckers with NOS wire!
Greer Relic Drive RD2. Latest Relic Drive update, this is a Klon/Landgraff/Eternity killer!
Greer Ghetto Stomp pedal
Reinhardt Vintage 50 in Red. Running KT66 tubes. HUGE tones!!!
Curt Mangan Strings
