Report from SEGAS (Southeast Amp and Guitar Show)

[Tonegeek]

Just returned from the Mojo SEGAS. It was a great event and I got to play some cool guitars and demo some excellent amps.

The Guitar Mill guitars are to die for. They do light-weight Fender copies relic style and they sound and play like real vintage Fenders. It is similar to what LSL is doing.

An old friend Sam Timberlake (SamAmps) was there with some of his gear. We had breakfast Sunday morning and talked amp tech and got caught up on life since I had not seen him in 15 years or so. Sam has some unique amps using his own take on power scaling.

I got to hear Greg Germino demo several of his Marshall inspired amps. Greg is a Marshall historian and charismatic, entertaining figure. I would safely say his amps are the best vintage Marshall (Plexi, JTM45, etc.) reproductions I have ever heard. Clean to mean with the guitar volume knob alone. BTW- Jason Barker was helping Greg out. Remember Steelbender.com, the site that had tons of amp clips, pix, etc. including that incredible 100 watt EL-34 based Dumble? That is Jason's site and he told me he is bringing it back on line soon with a whole new look. Can't wait for that!

I heard what sounded like a Dumble and traced it down to the Fuchs booth. It was Andy playing some clean stuff on one of his amps. Not sure what model it was but it had separate tone stacks for the clean and OD channel (Triple Drive?). He also said it had a HRM type stack that was user adjustable. The amp sounded very dumbly in clean and OD modes. Andy is a super nice guy and was very generous with his time and knowledge.

Reinhardt also had his own take on the Dumble thing but I did not get to hear it. Looks like it had a variable mid control for the OD channel and maybe an extra gain control (OD entrance trimmer replacment?). I did hear a Marshall-like amp of his that sounded really good.

The 3 Monkeys amps are interesting if not just for the visual appeal. I felt like the demo did not do them justice though. They were loud as hell, I can say that.

I also met the amp builders for ValveTrain, Swart and Megatone.

I tried out a Les Paul outfitted with some custom wound Mojo pickups and it sounded really good. Nice balance and even tones all the way around. The Mojo kit amp I played through was excellent, like a Tweed Deluxe.

Mojo is doing their own faceplates now. I spoke with Logan who is the guy who actually does the plates and he can do one-offs and it sounds like it might be something reasonably priced that would benefit AG folks. I wish I had met him a week ago before I got my plates done at Kinkos. They do all of them with a laser either from the back or the front. It says on the Mojo site they need a DXF file, but Logan said they could work with Corel, PDF too.

The best part of all this was the incredible talent that was hanging around the event and the night life that Mojo had lined up. I got to see Johnny Hiland and Michael Landau on the same show. There was also this young dude named Andy Wood who was incredible. His tone was a bit thin, but he has some great chops and lightning speed. Landau was on another planet. It appeared that he was using Fender Deville amps with a pedal board. His tone was wonderful and he is like the Miles Davis of guitar players; just outside, pushing the boundary of what constitutes music. I did not understand but about half of what he did. Still he created something magical. Hiland is just the best at what he does. He had great tones, and was a machine with his delivery with some great phrasing. All the bands had excellent rhythm sections. Landau had a drummer that i think played with Robben Ford also. I wish I could remember his name - shaved head, attacked his drums with total authority over the instrument. Also the drummer for Andy Wood was really impressive.

Finally this guy Ben Lacey was playing solo electric in a hallway at the event. You must check this guy out. I will say no more...
'geek

[Structo]

Great write up.

Did you happen to take any pictures of the show?

[Tonegeek]

Great write up.

Did you happen to take any pictures of the show?

I was kicking myself for not bringing a camera but Mojo employees had cameras running the entire time. I will contact Andy Turner and see if I can round up some pictures of the concert. Most of the amps and guitars from the main event can be seen on the individual vendor websites.
whit

[FUCHSAUDIO]

Hey Tonegeek, nice to meet you !

The amp in question was a TDS-100 HRM, through a 212 Red White and Blues cabinet. Glad you dug the tones ! The guitar was from www.IvoryLutherie.com (his TC model) with Holmes pickups.

[Tonegeek]

Hey Tonegeek, nice to meet you !

The amp in question was a TDS-100 HRM, through a 212 Red White and Blues cabinet. Glad you dug the tones ! The guitar was from www.IvoryLutherie.com (his TC model) with Holmes pickups.

Andy, same here!

Those Ivory guitars were nice too. Every time I turned around I ran into some cool piece of gear. It was hard to keep focused on any one thing. I did dig your amp, wish I could have heard it cranked. I was tempted to ask for more volume, but I sensed you were showing more respect than some of the other vendors and keeping the volume under control. Besides, of all amps the D-style ones are the best at sounding consistent at any volume. It was more chaotic than a Saturday at Guitar Center in there! I tried to get Sam (Samamps) and Greg Germino to go to the Landau show on Saturday night and they both said they were fried and going home to rest. It was the din of amp junkies like me that did it I think.

[FUCHSAUDIO]

Hey Tonegeek, nice to meet you !

The amp in question was a TDS-100 HRM, through a 212 Red White and Blues cabinet. Glad you dug the tones ! The guitar was from www.IvoryLutherie.com (his TC model) with Holmes pickups.

Andy, same here!

Those Ivory guitars were nice too. Every time I turned around I ran into some cool piece of gear. It was hard to keep focused on any one thing. I did dig your amp, wish I could have heard it cranked. I was tempted to ask for more volume, but I sensed you were showing more respect than some of the other vendors and keeping the volume under control. Besides, of all amps the D-style ones are the best at sounding consistent at any volume. It was more chaotic than a Saturday at Guitar Center in there! I tried to get Sam (Samamps) and Greg Germino to go to the Landau show on Saturday night and they both said they were fried and going home to rest. It was the din of amp junkies like me that did it I think.

Thanks man. Chris is a promising builder, and I think he will eventually do very well. I also loved the Engel guitars (at the next table from mine). Hope to get one of those soon ! Landau was, well, amazing....what a vocabulary of guitar....amazing stuff. He's a true artist.