 Headkase has made cases like this amp head case for acts like Sugarland and Saliva |
PG staffer Brett Petrusek pointed us in the direction of Headkase at NAMM. The bright colors, engraved logos and unique plastic material were enough for us to take notice, so when we got back from the show we called up Chad Falls, Operations Manager for Headkase, and he filled us in on the details of this new company.
A plastic manufacturer with more than 20 years experience, APR''s usual fare runs along the lines of plastic tanks used for nickel and gold plating -- activities that use highly abrasive chemicals. A crack in one of these cases could cost someone their limb or worse, so these guys have certainly perfected their craft. Translation: your precious gear is more than protected.
"We use high-density polyethylene, which is five times stronger than what everybody else uses, but weighs the same," explains Falls. Polyethylene is the most popularly used plastic in the world, and it is probably found all over your house, from plastic bags to shampoo bottles to bullet proof vests (who doesn''t have one of those around the house?). Falls says it won''t crack or break like the wood you find in normal cases. Simply put, "You can hit it with a sledgehammer," he says. "Other cases would shatter, but ours won''t."
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The company makes cases for guitars, amp heads, combo amps, cables, mixers, pedal boards, projectors, LCD screens, speakers, wardrobe, and racks. And if you''re in the medical business, they make cases to protect your organs as well -- no joke. They even make lighter-weight cases from corrugated polypropylene. While they run about the same price as the regular cases, they weigh 40 percent less and their strength is comparable to wood laminate.
With no distribution and little advertising, Headkase''s reputation is spreading thanks to bands Sugarland and Saliva. The company is still working on distribution, orders can be taken directly through the company''s website, headkase.com, or by e-mailing Chad directly at chad@headkase.com. Cases starts at $129, but most of the company''s products run about $400.
One of the reasons classic Queens of the Stone Age tracks leap from radio speakers like striking vipers is because Josh Homme is a true recording artist—an individual that chases and realizes the sounds in his mind by any means necessary. When you play the 10-watt, solid-state Peavey Decade Too with Homme and QOTSA in mind you understand why the original Peavey Decade became integral to that process. It’s feral, present, nasty, bursting with punky attitude, and when tracked and mixed with a booming bass, sounds positively menacing. But it’s also a lovely clean jangle machine that will lend energy to paisley psych pop or punch to a Bakersfield Telecaster solo.
Objectively speaking, if you’ve played an ’80s Peavey practice amp before, you will know many of these sounds well. (Many of my own early amplified experiences came courtesy of a borrowed Backstage 30, so they are etched deep in my marrow and consciousness.) Like any small amp with a little speaker and cabinet, it’s marked by an inherent, pronounced midrange honk—no doubt, an ingredient that Homme found appealing in his original Decade. The saturation is thick and surprisingly dimensional. But it’s the 3-band EQ, with added bass and top-end boost buttons, that really extends the versatility of the Decade Too. In many contexts, it made a cherished vintage Fender Champ sound like a one-trick pony. The Decade Too may not excel at cooking-tubes-style distortion, but in terms of punch, clarity, and versatility in the studio environment, it delivers the goods.
Peavey Josh Homme Decade Too 10-watt 1 x 8-inch Combo Amplifier
