Played my Thunder 1 RVT at a gig last night!

gilded

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Hey Guys,

So I brought my Thunder 1 to a gig last night as a back-up amp.

I was going to use a Princeton Reverb and the Band Leader asked me to bring a spare amp. I had meant to bring a Deluxe Reverb, but I was carrying a lot of stuff and I didn't want to heft the DR along with the powered speaks, etc., so the Thunder won out. Of course, 10 years ago, I was hefting Marshall half stacks and 50 watt heads, but that was then!!!!

I arrived at the gig to find that the keyboard amp was kaput. We put the keys through a Roland Cube 80 back-up amp, the Band leader switched to my Princeton and I plugged the Strat into the T1 RVT. No headroom, but it sounded great! The drummer and I were side-by-side and he kept leaning over to me. I thought, 'Surely he can't be trying to complain that the 10 watt Thunder1 is too loud!' At the end of the gig, I apologized for the volume and he said, 'no, I just wanted to listen, you sounded great!' What? This never, ever happens!

Amp settings: I dimed the amp but it got too fuzzy and I finally pulled it back a little bit, maybe 8.5. It was a little grungy sounding, but it held together on the big chords, so that was a good thing. The Strat was too tinny on the Bright input, so I used the normal input. Bass & Treble set and 10 and 2, respectively. The vibrato/trem, as always, sounded great, but it was covered up by the grunge, so that was a no-go. It would have worked in a trio setting, as opposed to our five piece format. Finally, a little bit of reverb.

The gig was fun, too, which we weren't expecting. We were booked to play at a Day Resource Center, for the specific purpose of entertaining homeless people. We figured they'd come in, eat a piece of pie, drink some lemonade, get a good 'sugar shock' going and buzz on out the door!

Well, it didn't turn out that way. About 100 people stayed to the end and we 'finally sang up every song that driver knew', to quote Kristofferson.

We had a blast. They had a blast. The Band Leader pulled out a banjo and I shouted to the audience, 'Banjo, Run!', but they cheered and stayed anyway. People were calling out songs and we'd play them if we could. Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman, Amy by Pure Prairie, Driving My Life Away, Pancho & Lefty, Born on the Bayou, My Girl, Wagon Wheel, some old standards like Moonlight Serenade and As Time Goes By (trumpet in the band; sounds good). We even played Mustang Sally, the Buddy Guy version. Since the crowd wasn't hip, they could admit that they liked it.

Different band story, with Guild content:

We also played a Veteran's party last Sunday. Mr. Santiago Diaz, a 100 year old WWII vet showed up on a walker, but under his own steam. Mr. Diaz was a Mexican national who became an American citizen through his participation as a SeaBee in the War. He stayed for a couple of hours, right by the band. He even danced a little with a 2 year old relative and took a pic with the Band. He called us, 'La Banda'! Pretty cool, huh?


I'm the guy with the white beard behind the band leader. Keyboard player has the straw hat, drummer has the red shirt, bass player is the tall guy. Sound guy, an old player and an old friend, is standing behind me.

Oh, you can't see it, but I played my 2000 Black and Bluesbird for that gig, with the Princeton Reverb.

That's all!!!
 

fronobulax

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Nice.

I guess I have always owned over powered amps. "dimed" was a new one on me, perhaps because some amps go to 11, but I don't think I have ever played through a rig with the volume at max. Ears always started bleeding before that.
 

sailingshoes72

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I enjoyed those stories! You do a good job describing the amp's strengths and weaknesses. I'm always surprised to find out that a 10 watt amp can hang in there with a bass, drums and keyboards. Great photo for Memorial Day weekend. :loyal:

Bill
 

AcornHouse

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Nice.

I guess I have always owned over powered amps. "dimed" was a new one on me, perhaps because some amps go to 11, but I don't think I have ever played through a rig with the volume at max. Ears always started bleeding before that.
It's amazing how some low watt amps "wake up" when pushed to the max. My '41 National is a nice amp, nothing to write home about, until you crank it up. Then you have Layla tones at small room friendly volumes (but no drums.)
 

gilded

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Nice.

I guess I have always owned over powered amps. "dimed" was a new one on me, perhaps because some amps go to 11, but I don't think I have ever played through a rig with the volume at max. Ears always started bleeding before that.

frono', it doesn't get louder beyond a certain point, it just gets dirtier. It actually lost volume set at 10, so pulling it back to 8.5 made it louder.
I played a late '69 Marshall 50 watt on 10 one time and then I kicked in some boost pedals. Guess what? The amp didn't get any louder, it couldn't, it was already all the way up!!

When you figure that out, call me.... :)

I enjoyed those stories! You do a good job describing the amp's strengths and weaknesses. I'm always surprised to find out that a 10 watt amp can hang in there with a bass, drums and keyboards. Great photo for Memorial Day weekend. :loyal:

Bill

A Thunder1 RVT can't hang with a band, but neither can a Princeton Rev. Volume-wise, the Thunder at 8.5 was on a par with the Princeton at 4 or 5.

FYI, the room was small, plus we had a very limited PA. We set the guitar amps to slightly below the volume of the mic'd singers. Also, the drummer used a large djembe in place of a drum kit, to keep the sound floor down. The singers were the only thing coming through the mains.

Thanks for looking at the photo, too. Mr. Diaz looks kind of serious in the photo, but he smiled a lot when he was sitting down. A lot of the younger Vets and their family members came up to shake his hand, take pics with him, get autographs, etc. He was gracious to all comers and you could tell he was enjoying himself. His family showed us a pic of him as a Seabee in the Pacific, standing shirtless with his hands on his hips in front of some palm trees, smiling into the Future. Gosh, he was young!

And Cougar, Chris and Walrus, thanks for reading! I'm going to check out your vid on the National, Chris.

One last thought. To me, volume-wise, a Thunder 1 RVT is truly a bedroom amp, not even a living room amp! The vibrato trem is amazing, but the lack of headroom catches up to you, even in a recording situation. That said, it used to sound really good with a Rick 12 and a compressor.

They are very cool amps!
 

sailingshoes72

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Cool! I like the idea of a djembe in place of a drum set for a small room.

By the way... Mustang Sally is ALWAYS hip! Wilson Pickett w/ the studio musicians at FAME Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, AL. It doesn't get any more hip than that. :cool-new:

Bill
 
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