Well, after much deliberation with myself, I ordered a Sonny Jr. Avenger a couple of weeks ago. The amp arrived late last week and I took it to my Monday night jam this week.
Talk about a trial by fire...My first set had 9 players on stage...Drum, Bass, 3 Guitars, 2 Sax, 1 Trumpet and me on harp. I'm telling you it was LOUD, I mean deafening loud. Much to my dismay, I could not persuade anyone to turn down.
Bottom line, the Avenger cut through the mix and people in the audience said I could be heard no problem. I had the channels bridged and both volumes set at 8. There were no feedback issues.
A guitar playing friend of mine was in the audience and had this to say "Man, that amp kicks some serious ass! The tone was outstanding and the breakup was perfect. Absolutely perfect. You could hear every single note and when you hit a chord, it punched you in the chest". Amazingly, this amp seems to have the same great tone whether quiet or screaming loud.
At last nights jam, I let a great harp player use my rig. Afterward, he said "Man, that's the best harp amp I've ever played through". After listening to him play ....I had to agree...If only I could make it sound so sweet! LOL
I think those comments pretty much say it all. In my opinion, if you're even thinking about a top end harp amp, I would give the Avenger a SERIOUS look.
"Talk about a trial by fire...My first set had 9 players on stage...Drum, Bass, 3 Guitars, 2 Sax, 1 Trumpet and me on harp. I'm telling you it was LOUD, I mean deafening loud. Much to my dismay, I could not persuade anyone to turn down."
Boy can I relate...
First night I tried out my Kalamazoo Deuce at a jam...2 guitars, bass, 2 drummers doing complementary beats together, Hammond, sax, and trumpet.
"Aaaaaand in this corner..."
Luckily, Greg's line out modification lemme go in through the PA. Managed to keep up pretty well with the pandemonium. That's awesome that you were able to cut above standing on your own though! Keep it up King!
---------- Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by on Nov 04, 2011 1:37 PM
Here's a clip from Wed night. The Avenger can definitely cut through! This particular jam set was one of those magical ones where you get up there with outstanding musicians and everyone comes up! The vocalist is Paula Harris. The guitar player is Kid Andersen (Rick Estrin and the Nightcats.) The drummer is Derrick Martin - not only a great drummer but a great showman - keep an eye on him.
In this vid the Avenger's normal volume is on 7, the bright on about 4. It just goes louder and louder and feedback is not a problem.
Greg - that was a fun night and you sounded fantastic. Derrick Martin used to play drums with Little Richard.
I've used Greg's Avenger quite a few times. It's really fun playing through that amp. I really like the tone that I can get out of it. That amp gets incredibly loud. Sonny Jr makes a fine amplifier.
No. It's not a full size guitar. It's one of those small guitars that Junior Watson plays. That guitar belong to Johnny Cat. He's the guitar player in the Terry Hanck Band. I think Johnny said its a Harmony.
It's the recording. I was in the house. Greg's tone was huge. If the player has tone, that amp sounds bad ass. Greg has some serious tone.
In fact, the tone of that amp is deeper and more rich than the Super Sonny, which he sold to me. The Super Sonny is probably the finest repro Bassman that I've played through.
Wow again! Harmony's arent all that easy to find anymore. I myself have a Harmony dreadnaught acoustic that my mom found in the JC Penney Catalog when I was in the fifth grade, but I think it's one of the rebadged Korean knock-offs. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
It's a reissue, but it's a really good sounding guitar. I've played with both Johnny and Chris playing that guitar. In the proper hands, it kills. ---------- The Blues Photo Gallery
@walterharp-I am quite sure Greg is using an F harp for this song-something about that key harp when recorded always sounds shrill-Low F or Bb in third position are always great options-just my two cents FWIW>I undertsand what you are saying. Sonny does build some killer amps,and knowing him personally,stands behind his product like nobody I have ever met. He is dedicated to tone,with a passion and a vision only a truly great harp player could turn into a wonderful product. Currently,Sonny is working on a product that will allow all of his amps to be heard through the house speakers-these units will be made available through a large,well known musical instrument and accesories outlet.
Last Edited by on Nov 05, 2011 5:53 AM
@LSB: Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of time with the Wezo, and I didn't have the Avenger in the same room, so I won't draw any comparisons. The Wezo is a very flexible amp - there are lots of knobs to turn and switches to switch - and speaker cabinets to connect. It is a very good amp.
Paula just put up the vid of the second tune we did - Dr. Feelgood - She did it in E so you can hear the amp with an A harp. The harp solo starts about 4:20 in.
really nice playing greg..paula harris is really good too.
sounds like a very nice amp around a bassman sound.
it has more balls with the lower harp, but sort of a brittle sound (i don't mean this in a bad way, just trying to describe what it sounds like where the breakup is happening).. maybe from the speakers that break up at lower volumes? that is also probably why it cuts so hard with the higher harp
