Vox MV50.

Big, loud guitar amps are part of rock’n’roll mythology. You can’t imagine Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin onstage with only a 20-watt amp with a 1×12  cab, can you? But, back in the real world in 2017, things are a little bit different. As we mentioned on a previous blog, amps don’t need to be too loud now. Most guitarists, if not playing stadiums, will be more than happy with smaller, quieter and more affordable guitar amps. Perhaps that explains the popularity of mini amps!

But one question remains: how BIG does an amp have to be? The answer seems to be… not very big! Since Orange released the ground-breaking Tiny Terror  head 10 years ago, the trend for mini and micro heap amps has only become more popular – and the new Vox MV50 amp, announced at the last NAMM show in January 2017, just reinforces this trend.

The MV50 is very affordable – which in a way might get in the way of some people fully appreciating it. Why? Because guitarists who buy a “budget” gear usually do so because, well, they are on a tighter budget. So it follows that a potential buyer will get a MV50 because they can’t afford a bigger and more expensive head – which probably means they’ll use the MV50 with a cheaper and not very great cab, too! In this case – you can expect the MV50 to sound poor!

Vox MV50 rear view.

However – if you do have a great cab, you might choose the MV50 for the right reasons: because it sounds pretty good and it’s so tiny and light! The price tag, then, becomes just a welcome bonus. So, just as with the best mini/micro head amps out there, the MV50 sounds good and is very useable – if you use it correctly, ie., paired with a good cab! 

Check this demo, comparing the MV50 against a Vox AC15 (also featuring an Airline 59 3P): 

There’s no doubt that today, in 2017, mini amps such as the MV50 can be good enough for rocking out, not just at home but at gigs. Of course, many of us guitarists are not creatures of logic. We’ll stick to big, loud amps – because they rock, and a tiny amp will never look as cool… maybe Jimi was right all along!

What about YOU? What kind of amp do you prefer? Post your comments and let us know!

Learn more:

Vox MV50 page

Vox MV50 Review: Are Mini Amps Any Good? from MyRareGuitars.com

1990 PBC GTS 200S Electric Guitar

The usual scenario, of course, involves holding onto a poker face, disguising your interest in some treasure or other, and finally ending up in a negotiation to wrangle the prize at the best—that is lowest—price. Not this time. I was casually cruising through Cintioli Music in Philadelphia, a legendary music store, when a salesman who knew me said “Psst,” and pointed to this guitar sitting on a stand on the counter. “Take this off my hands, please.” I shrugged. I had no idea what it was. Then he said the magic words. “Seventy five bucks.” Well, it did have a cool lightning bolt and the original hardshell case. What the hey. It was mine. Another mystery to solve…

It turned out that this guitar featured some very cool technology, had a really interesting pedigree, and was actually a local product built—in nearby Coopersburg, Pennsylvania—by a significant guitar designer, Dave Bunker. Yes, of the Boston Bunkers, though some generations and a century or so removed to the Pacific Northwest.

1990 PBC GTS 200S Electric Guitar

Dave was born on January 3, 1935, in Bunker Creek, Washington (his family has a knack for naming places). His was a musical family and he learned guitar and began teaching in Puyallup. Then in 1955 he went to one of those promotional workshops Gretsch was throwing starring the Ohio-born tapping-style genius Jimmie Webster. Bunker had his mission.

Bunker went on to have several successful music acts playing Las Vegas and later cruise ships. He designed the guitars for his act and Bunker guitars are some of the coolest unique guitars in guitar history. All were designed to maximize his “touch” technique. Detachable wings off a central core body, six individual pole pickups. Eventually leading to his “Touch Guitar.” Locking nuts and butt-end tuners? Dave. But those are all ancillary to this story!

1990 PBC GTS 200S Electric Guitar

Probably the central theme of Dave Bunker’s guitar contributions was his development of the “tension-free” neck in the 1960s. Bunker found that he was getting dead spots above the 10th fret caused by the tightening of the truss rod, which anchored right around there. He came up with the notion of taking all the tension off the neck by putting a metal bar into a channel through the neck, attaching the bar to the body and the head, leaving the neck itself to float free and be more resonant. Good for tapping!

The tension-free neck would provide the basis for all of Bunker’s subsequent guitar designing.

In 1989 while demonstrating his Touch Guitar at the Los Angeles NAMM show, Bunker met John Pearse, the colorful guitarist and string/accessory maven living in Pennsylvania. While performing on a cruise ship in Alaska the following year, Pearse contacted Dave about joining a new guitar manufacturing venture. With a partner named Paul Chernay to handle financing, Bunker found himself in charge of design and production of guitars for PBC Guitar Technology—Pearse-Bunker-Chernay—located just outside Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles north of Philly. Pearse quickly left the partnership over a disagreement.

1990 PBC GTS 200S Electric Guitar

In any case, the result was a line of interesting, mostly hollowbody guitars with Bunker-designed pickups…and the patented tension-free neck. The PBC line met with moderate success, but PBCs came into being at a time when retro guitars and, ironically, the Seattle sound were hitting big. Still, things really began to take off when Bunker’s guitars were discovered by Jim Donahue, then designing guitars for Ibanez in nearby Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Ibanez contracted with PBC to make its USA Custom USRG Series with Bunker’s floating necks, a line that debuted in 1994. Ibanez was pleased with the project and wanted to expand the relationship in 1996. However, Chernay had issues with working with the Japanese, and deep-sixed the contract. And, as it happened, PBC, which bit the dust along with the USRGs that year.

Probably the most conventional-looking guitar in the PBC line was this GTS 200S, with its Strat-style solid body. There was a GTS 200, the same except without the lightning graphics. Nevertheless, it had the tension-free neck, plus the quite-respectable PBC Spectrutone humbucker and two PBC Banshee singles. Not to mention a “sound reflection shield,” a recessed Kahler Spyder vibrato, and a coil-tap on the ‘bucker. A two-octave neck is never bad! Turns out this is one heck of a shred machine! Good price, too! This guitar originally listed for $900! It’s pretty much in like new condition.

And probably pretty rare. PBC output never got that large, and this model was only made for a couple of years.

After the PBC and Ibanez fiasco, Dave Bunker—now in his 70s—moved back to his native Washington State and began custom building Bunker guitars again, making guitars more-or-less based on his PBC designs. He’s still doing it today.

So, that salesman’s “Psst” worked out pretty good! Cool guitar. Cool piece of history. Like I said, a great price! And no negotiations. Glad I listened.

Tension Reduction, But Not With Shiatsu (1990 PBC GTS 200S Electric Guitar) from MyRareGuitars.com

Peter McCracken and me after the booth setup

Dumb Luck Wins in the End – for our first 5 years we decided not to exibit in the NAMM show. Most companies would think this was a mistake – a new product, a new audience – damn, you have to get out there and tell the world!! But for five years we stayed at home and just serviced our customers on-line. In hindsight, (dumb luck) I think we were right to do so. By the time we hit the NAMM show last week, we had an army of friends and followers that were beating down the door to meet and greet us! It was a genuine Eastwood love-in. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life to finally meet face-to-face with so many customers that have supported us through the first few years.

We were espeically happy to expand the dealer network in USA and Europe with some of my favorite guitar stores picking up the Eastwood line. Although the list is too long, some of those new dealers include Rudy’s in New York City, True Tone in Santa Monica and McKenzie River Music in Oregon. Check the Eastwood Website for a full listing of new dealers in the next two weeks. Thanks to all the new dealers for joining us, and we look forward to a fun and profitable 2007!

I was fortunate to enlist the help of some friends and customers at NAMM to work the booth with us, we all had a blast! Thanks again to Pete McCracken, Don Mackrill, Phil Meyrick, Rob Roberge and my brother Peter for his on-booth Surf Cinema entertainment.

Who has more fun than Eastwood?

Peter Robinson from Surf Cinema entertains on the MAP guitar:

Peter Robinson from Surf Cinema

Danny Amis from Los Straitjackets takes an AIRLINE 3P DLX for a test drive:

Danny Amis from Los Straitjackets

Not sure who this guy is, but he dropped by the booth and posed for some pictures with our new AIRLINE MAP BASS prototype:

Our new AIRLINE MAP BASS prototype

This is a 30″ scale model that will be available in April.

Before heading home we did the Hollywood tourist trek. Here I am having a quick snooze beside Clint EASTWOOD mark:

Hollywood tourist trek: Here I am having a quick snooze beside Clint EASTWOOD mark

Report from NAMM 2007: Wow! What a Trip! from MyRareGuitars.com

• The NAMM show is incredibly HUGE. It’s fitting that it’s across the street from Disneyland, as you end up walking just as much as you would at the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth (not when there’s a million guitars across the street, Walt). On a further plus, there’s a lot less puke and fewer children at the NAMM show.
• Parking is a slice of hell. Maybe two slices. And that’s with Disney running the parking, and Disney does parking with an efficiency that rivals the train schedules of Fascist Governments.
• NAMM is, however, one of the most incredibly organized colossal endeavors I’ve ever seen. We’re not just talking about hundreds upon hundreds of booths with guitars and amps and accordions and ukuleles, but full rooms of grand pianos and other enormous instruments. Add to this the complexity of visitor lists, vendors, exhibitors, performers, and so on, and it’s just incredible that the whole thing comes off without a train wreck of disasters.
• People who wear sunglasses indoors look like idiots. The NAMM show is no exception. Knock it off, people. If you don’t have some eye condition and you’re wearing sunglasses inside during the day, you look stupid. You do not look like a rock star. You look like a guy trying to look like a rock star. Which is really not an admirable goal for anyone over 14.
• The guys at the Eastwood booth were a kick and a half to hang out with for four days. Many laughs, much guitar geek love and a cool surf guitar show for the first two days by fellow Buster Keaton fan Peter Robinson of the CA surf band Surf Cinema. Thanks for the great time, guys!
• Metal and shredding are with us to stay. As is guitar-face. And sunglasses inside. And men in their fifties in leather pants. We can ask why, or we can accept it and move on.

I also learned there were a lot of guitars I wanted. The short list:

• A radical Fritz Bros Jimmy Reed Thin Twin model (high end…got a spare four grand for a fellow down on his luck?)
• A cheapie (retail under three bills) Dano Pro (in Aqua, and several colors that were not Aqua…which is what happens to me when a guitar is offered in Aqua and/or Sea Foam Green…I know only that it is offered in other, non-essential colors. Aqua, people!). It played really well, and it had an improved bridge over the last re-issues. And it comes in Aqua.
• Some very cool Italia models, including an absolutely stunning twelve string electric with a beautiful headstock. Why aren’t there more sparkly guitars in the world? Well, Italia is doing their part to right that wrong. A big sparkly thanks, folks!
• See-through Ampeg Dan Armstrong. I didn’t play it, but it’s see-through. That’s enough cool factor.
• SEVERAL Eastwood models released at NAMM, but there were also a couple of others that will be ready in April – the AIRLINE Tuxedo “Kay Barney Kessel” Model and the Map Shaped Bass. The Saturn (man, that’s a fun guitar to play…and I got one!), The Town & Country (ditto), but the big hit was the Map Shaped Guitars. I’m guessing EASTWOOD sold out of those at the show. All great lookers and players.

And a bunch more. What else did I learn?

• Peavey continues to make solid, well-made really ugly stuff. 40 years and counting of truly aesthetically challenged design. You would think they might have accidentally made a cool looking guitar by now, but nope, you’d be wrong.
• There was a guy who always dressed in camouflage and sold machine-gun shaped electric guitars. I kept my distance.
• In a world of large booths, Fender and Gibson have REALLY large booths. No stunner there, but the Fender booth did have some cool historic guitars. They also had a new Eddie Van Halen model that costs a lot of money for something that looks like it was made in a high school shop class by a stoner in 1982.
• Randy Bachman seems like a nice guy in addition to being a legend who has played on lots of great tunes.
• I learned there were a lot of amps I wanted.

Again, the short list:

• The new. Which isn’t really a re-issue, as I don’t think they ever did a Jet with 6V6 output tubes (a early Reverberocket, yes, maybe a Jet, but I don’t remember that…I’m pretty sure they all had 7591’s). But, anyway, it sounded great, and had only Volume, Tone and Tremolo Speed and Intensity knobs. Cool. Low wattage, few knobs. Gotta love that.
• Our very own Don Mackrill’s Airline 18 Watt amplifier. Just a great looking and sounding amplifier. Hand made, with style and care and great tone. What’s not to love? Don, I want one in Sea Foam Green! (Everything should come in Sea Foam Green with a Bigsby option. I’d put a Bigsby on my Sea Foam kitchen table if I could).
• Ben Fargen’s 4x6V6 amp. Yummy. Four 6V6’s, which is such a cool way to get to your 30-40 watts, rather than the more conventional two 6L6’s.

What else?

• Joel Weaver of Home Brew Electronics, in addition to making my favorite overdrive pedal (The Power Screamer), is a nice guy. Check out his pedals. Great stuff.
• I begged Groove Tubes…I cajoled JJ Tubes…Nobody is going to make a new 7189A tube. Argh. This is sad news to a Magnatone M10 lover. They just don’t run on EL84’s, no matter how rugged, and there is an ever-dwindling (and ever-expensive) supply of 7189A’s. As my niece likes to say, this news is “poopy.” Poopy, indeed.
• A lot more people that I might have expected wanted Paul Stanley’s autograph. But, hey, it’s a big world. More power to him, I suppose.
• There’s one very cranky and not incredibly competent woman who checks your bags on the way out. There may be more than her, but I kept running into the same one. She would demand I open my bag, not really look in, and then bark at me to move on. I could have had a severed head in that bag for all she knew. (I did NOT have a severed head, for those wondering at home).
• There are a LOT of people who play guitar better than me. That’s not a huge surprise to me, but when they’re all in the same room with you (albeit a VERY LARGE room), it’s pretty humbling. A lot of people who can play out there in the world. Pretty cool.
• I learned that I had to sell some stuff to make some room for what I carried out of there. NAMM is a heady experience, a gear freak’s nirvana (or close…maybe it would be nirvana with vintage axes, too), and a tiring sensory overload that’s a ball.

There’s nothing quite like it, and I can’t wait until next year to see what’s new.

See you in next month’s newsletter.

What I Learned at My First NAMM Show from MyRareGuitars.com

We will be exhibiting at the 2007 NAMM show in Anaheim California

For the first time since we started Eastwood Guitars in 2002, we will be exhibiting at the NAMM show in Anaheim California. For those who don’t know, NAMM is the National Assc. of Music Makers. This trade show is a once a year event where music industry people meet to share their knowledge and check out “what’s new” in the world of music.

NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, CA

For many store owners and guitar dealers, this is their once-a-year trip to stock up their shelves for the coming year with some new and improved goodies. Although predominately a North American event, dealers come from all over the world to this 4-day convention. Since we have never exhibited at the show, this will be the first opportunity for most dealers to check out EASTWOOD. We will have most of our 30+ models at the show, including some new releases. Here are some sneak peaks at the new stuff:

Eastwood EEB-1 Bass (like the Ampeg AEB-1)

Full 34″ scale tribute to the AMPEG AEB-1 from the late 1960’s. Yes, those F-holes go right through the body! Available this month. Black or Sunburst.

Eastwood Red Special: our tribute to the beautiful Brian May model

Here is our tribute to the beautiful Brian May model. Set mahogany neck, bound mahogany body, replica switching system. Red or Sunburst. Available this month.

Nice huh? We also have a few other goodies up our sleeves for NAMM. We finally gave in to the pressure, and have created a “correct” 30 1/2″ scale model of the Hi-Flyer BASS. This might be the most powerful short scale bass on the market. Also, we are ready to release the production model of the MAP guitar. It will have all the standard components of the other AIRLINE models in that family, and will be available in Black, White, Red or SEAFOAM Green. $799. We will have the pictures ready in 2 weeks. Here is a picture of the LIMITED EDITION version that SOLD OUT last year:

Eastwood Airline Map Guitar (Surf Green)

NOTE: The new MAP production model will NOT include the case or the upgraded VVSC pickups.

So, if your are planning to attend the NAMM show this year, please send us an EMAIL to schedule an appointment or just drop by booth #`1151 to say hello and to test out some of these new beauties!

See you at NAMM!

Preview of NAMM 2007 in Anaheim, California from MyRareGuitars.com