Tag Archives: Guitar Amp

Custom “Peavey Renown” 160watt Guitar Amp/ Half Stack

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I was looking around at some of my old gear in my basement the other night, trying to figure out what I have and what I could probably stand to replace. I came across a really, really powerful Peavey Renown combo amp that I never use because it has blown speakers and suddenly found myself reasoning this way:

In a perfect world:

  • The Peavey Renown is such a great, powerful, classic amp and I would LOVE to be able to use it. I always considered this the ultimate jam-space amp and was very welcome in my guitar gear.

But there is an issue:

  • It’s going to cost me more than 300 bucks to get decent, powerful enough replacement speakers. At that cost, I may as well bite the bullet and get a new amp.

Hmmm… Now, what do I have lying around?

  • There is a 4×12 Peavey speaker cab that I don’t use much
  • A new shiny skill saw with various other power tools that I’m itching to use
  • A few pints and a Viking instinct

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Playing a gig at Milly’s Tavern tonight…

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Ok, day two of me trying to actually use this blog thing and I’m already wondering what the hell I can talk about…

The only real item of interest today is that my band (Building James) is playing tonight at Milly’s Tavern in Manchester, NH. I’m actually really pumped about this show. We play around pretty regularly, but Milly’s is sort of our original “stomping grounds”. Every month or so we go back and tear the roof off that place. For those that are Building James “Milly’s Regulars”, you won’t want to miss this one – we have a little something special planned you all. ;)

Speaking of gigs, our last one was freaking hilarious. We played at a little hole in the woods in Londonderry called “The 1st Players Club” with the bluesy Joe Mazzari Band last Saturday. We’ve played with these guys before, and I really dig their vibe. The funny thing was that our band is a “power-pop” rock band – we didn’t exactly “fit the bill” sort of speak.

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Line6 Spider III 120 – probably the best guitar amp I’ve ever heard

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I’ve been pondering buying a new guitar amp for a while now. I currently use this old Crate Guitar Combo Amplifier that I bought off a friend like six years ago. It’s good and all, but the clean channels crackle and the effects are only fair. I want to begin recording some tracks in my basement and the sound from the Crate just isn’t what I am looking for. I’ve had it for years, driven it hard, and it owes me nothing. I guess it’s time to move on.

Over the years I’ve developed what I consider to be a unique progressive funk-rock style of playing. When it comes to electric guitar, I primarily play my Gibson Les Paul Studio. For my sound, I like strong mid-range, a decent amount of gain, and rarely use any effects aside from reverb. I’m not sure why, but I’ve had this mental block about muddying up the guitar tone with needless effects. It’s strange, I’m a huge Joe Satriani fan and he uses a bunch of effects. I guess I’ve always thought that he just uses them with a certain level of “taste” that other guitar players, myself included, just can’t seem to be able to duplicate. For me, too much effect can ruin the sound. For example, in my opinion Steve Vai just seemed to pile up the effects layers as high as he could, like someone buying a big truck or fast car to make up for something. Needless to say, I was never a big Steve Vai fan. (Go ahead, start the hate mail… ;) )

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