Question of the Month: What Was Your First Amplifier?

Joey La Neve DeFrancesco (Downtown Boys)

A: My older brother played guitar and I inherited his old Peavey Rage amp when I started playing in high school. It seemed like the coolest, greatest amp in the world. Somehow it was already very beat up, even though it never left the house. It was way louder than I needed for home practice, and I wasn’t allowed to turn it up past being barely audible. To make it sound decent, you really had to crank up the gain and the highs, and I’m sure I’ve been chasing that treble-y distortion ever since. I no longer have a Peavey, but I do get excited when a venue has one for the backline.

Obsession: I’ve always loved her music, but I’ve been especially obsessed with Yasmine Hamdan over the past year. Her latest record I remember I forget is incredible. My band Downtown Boys loved her animated video for the title track “I Remember I Forget,” and we hired her animator Khalil to make the stunning music video for our recent single, “You’re a Ghost.”

Jon Levy, Publisher

A: I still have my first amp: a 1973 Fender Vibro Champ. It reigns over my home studio and I use it almost every day! This baby has endured more abuse than a one-legged rodeo clown. I’ve blown it up several times. (Did you know that amps don’t like it when you plug in a cranked MXR Distortion+ through a Morley Power Wah? My Vibro Champ taught me that valuable life lesson when I was 17.) After each repair it has returned stronger than ever … and it still sounds great. It has outlasted guitars, pedals, bands, and relationships. Hell, it’ll probably outlast me. I love that damn amp.

Obsession: Playing bass again. I recently gigged on bass for the first time in a few years. It reminded me how much I love playing bass, and how it improves my playing/listening when I’m back on guitar. My advice: Embrace the opportunity to play other instruments. It’ll infuse and benefit your guitar playing in cool, unexpected ways.

Richard Bienstock, Editorial Director

A: My first amp was a Gorilla GG-20, which doesn’t speak so much to their popularity at the time—though plenty of kids starting out in my day had one—but more to the fact that it was what the mom-and-pop music store in my town, which was also where you took lessons, had in stock. Solid state, harsh, unforgiving—it was exactly what you expect from a first amp. Disclaimer: The “Tube Stack” distortion switch did not, in fact, offer up authentic-sounding tube tone. Paired with an Aria Pro II superstrat in searing neon yellow (the color didn’t affect the tone, but it certainly didn’t help) and a Boss HM-2, and you were ready for maximum buzzsaw.

Obsession: Harmony guitar. I’ve loved it since the first time I heard “The Boys Are Back in Town” (or maybe it was Ratt’s “Round and Round”?), but I’m back on it in a big way—mostly because my son plays now, so we’ve got our own twin-guitar team in-house. Thirds, sixths, majors, minors, octaves—endless combinations, all of them killer.

Luke Ottenhof, Associate Editor

A: I think I must’ve been around 10 years old when my parents bought me a Barracuda Strat copy along with a Kustom Solo 16R combo. God, could that thing squeal. It was tinny and thin and vicious, and I didn’t do much with it besides dime the gain and try to get as close to Randy Rhoads’ tone as I could. (Spoiler: I did not get very close!) I also had a Zoom G1 multi-effects unit with a tone like Steve Lukather’s solo on “Hold the Line,” and I can only imagine how insane it must have sounded through my little Solo 16R. I might have to recreate that rig one of these days…

Obsession: Biking. Warm weather is finally back in Montreal after a particularly snowy winter, and I’m so thrilled to be zipping around on my two-wheeled chariot again. It’s one of the fastest and most enjoyable ways to move around the city—provided you keep your pothole radar sharp. Those things will kill you and your bike.