Are there any guys out there that have done clones of these old amps? I did some searching and found that Megatone did the Wezo 45 and Me18 which is supposed to be a clone. Any idea of the difference between the two and if their circuits are similar to the old pa heads?
Don't know, but if you want a clone of an amp there are more than a few custom builders out there you just have to be willing to spend some cash If your serious about it try this one, https://www.tonetronamps.com/index.html He built me a killer 40 watt amp we went over in great detail of exactly what my needs were and He delivered a quality custom amp that everyone who hears it or plays through it loves it. Lou
If you can find one (and they do come up for sale), my understanding is the Original Sonny Jr amp, the "SJ1" (1997+/-) with Tweed Cabinets done by Sam Hutton himself!, with the 4 x 8" speaker configuration, were modeled directly after the Masco MA-17 amps. The pre-amp tubes were changed to 9-pins (12AX7, AU7, AY7, etc.) to allow for tube substitutions and to obtain more easily available tubes. You could also go with 5Y3 (they wore out quicker though), 5U4, GZ34 on rectifiers. The "SJ2" came next, same pre-amp but two Output Transformers and power section, in a 6x8" cabinet. Mark Hummel played on a while and I believe still Bill Barrett does. For what it's worth, I met Sonny Jr in 1976 at his first "Sonny & Brownie" gig. I owned the prototype (just amp head) of the SJ2 and gigged/recorded with the SJ1 for a few years (1998-2000). Played in a variety of venues and these for sure sound like cranking up a Masco. My SJ1 went to one of Norton Buffalo's drummers Brian Knave. I later switched to Bassmans after sitting in with Mark Hummel and playing his. We discussed the SJ2, although it sounded just like a Masco (great) it didn't "carry the sound" to the "back of the room" and fill up to room as nicely as a Bassman. For small (they sound good at any volume with any mic) to medium venues with full band the 4x8" model. Kim Wilson played one on, as I recall, his "My Blues" album, if you have the CD he mentions in liner notes. Anyway, these do come up for sale and if you are into Masco tone and reliable, cool amps. the 4x8" I believe is 41 lbs. it's about like a Tweed Bandmaster or Pro.
p.s. to my post above. In the Sonny Jr amps, the later models of the SH410, Super Sonny, Cruncher, Super Cruncher and Avenger are all based more on the Fender Bassman 5F6-A circuit, not the Masco as were the SJ1 & SJ2 (in case you are searching). In my reference to Mark Hummel, after the SJ2 he went to Victoria Bassman copy (did not sound as good as his original) and later (in case you see videos) the Sonny Junior amps he went to were the Cruncher and Avenger.
“This is the best amp out of the box” In 1996 this custom built single 12” Sonny Jr #1 was presented to Kim Wilson, which he used exclusively on My Blues. From reports I get, he still uses it to record or play smaller venues. Thank you, Kim for being one of the original Sonny Jr. supporters!
Sonny sent this info to me for an old web page I had back in the day"
Fellow Harp Players:
My Name is Sonny Jr., former aid, driver, and duet harmonica partner of Sonny Terry from 1976 - 1978. I've been playing professsionally over 25 years and have gone through a countless number of amps (including original Bassmans) trying to get that "Little Walter Tone". I have finally developed an amp in conjunction with Cotton Amps in Tolland, Ct. who have redesigned one of the amp circuits Little Walter actually used to bring you The Ultimate Harmonica Amp, the SONNY JR. Every minute detail has been designed into this amp from a harp player's perspective. Tom Ellis of Tom's Mic's in Dallas Texas (214-328-3225) owns a Sonny Jr. amp and brought it to a Kim Wilson's gig in Fort Worth Texas for him to use. Kim was very impressed and is having one built for him to tour with.
I will leave you with one more quote from Brad "Harptone" Emmons in California. "Well I have been working out with Sonny Jr. #001 and I got to say it's a killer harp amp. Great tone all through the register, excellent bass rsponse, strong mids and decent highs. Amp breaks up in the right places. Rips when you want it to rip, clean when yu want it clean. Nothing made in the last 30 years sounds as good as this amp does for harp, thanks to Sonny Jr. and Cotton Amps.
Sonny is deeply grateful to Sam Hutton, whose help and guidance were instrumental in getting our project off the ground. Sam (the orignial tweed master) was always there when you needed him and did all he could to help the little guys compete. You will be missed.
I have been using an SJ2 as my main amp the last couple of years. Have yet to try driving an extension cab with it but I harbor the idea that a pair of 12”s or 10”s or maybe 1 of each might deal with the projection issue. Of course it also has a line out although all the sound engineers seem keen to just mic the cab and don’t ever show any interest in the line output. I always feel a bit nervous about close-miking a single speaker as I feel there’s a synergy from the multiple 8”s which might not really come across when close-miked and pumped up through the FOH but I realize that’s irrational. Once it’s in the PA it’s not gonna sound like what I hear from the cab regardless.
I know there is an SJ1 somewhere around here but the guy doesn’t play out. I’ve seen the amp on the floor of a local music shop though. I am going to track it down as my experience with the 2 leads me to believe the 1 may be perfect for a lot of my pub gigs. The 2 is fantastic but it’s a big lump of cab. I toyed with the idea of setting it into a head cab and running a couple of separate speaker cabs. I still like that idea.
for @tmf714 - I had not seen that video, cool. I knew gary had built that one with just the 1 x 12" for KW but, knew Harplover1977 might be able to find a 4 x 8 so didn't want to go too far. Thanks for sharing that video. for @sydeman That looks like the text/ad copy from the "Kevin's Harps" mail catalog (I believe 1997), when I saw that: "My Name is Sonny Jr., former aid, driver, and duet harmonica partner of Sonny Terry from 1976 - 1978." I actually called the number, since I saw Sonny & Brownie in 1976 and met his driver, we went out to the parking lot and were playing harps on the breaks, and sat with Sonny & Brownie at their table- they had a table right in the middle of the "Stuckey's" restaurant in Florida where the gig was and we all chatted. Anyway, sure enough, it was Gary and we have stayed in touch since.
for @ SuperBee - for what it may be worth, some of my expereince with the SJ1 & SJ2. First SJ amp I has was Gary's prototype of the SJ2 (1997 or 1998) and it was built into a head only, I believe it was an old Fender Showman, tolex stripped off and clear coated. All the channels, jacks, controls, etc. were hand-drilled and hand labeled but, it was the SJ pre-amp and then the large/heavy double output transformers with multi-ohm outlet choices, for what speaker combo. I played it with an Ampeg 4 x 8 Bass Cabinet and sometimes ran a second single 15" in it's own cabinet, a suggestion by Gary. It was heavy to haul around but, it cranked out tone. I sold it and bought an SJ1 and gigged with that for a a couple years, until Mark Hummel invited me to sit-in and play through his original Bassman- I went and found a 1958 that Rod Piazza had re-tweeded and went that direction. Anyway, the SJ1 worked with my band at the time- Swing Dance- Drums, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Female vocals, me and a tenor sax. Moderate to healthy volumes, the only time it lacked was outdoor stages, compared to later having Bassman amps- 1 or sometimes 2. If you like the Masco/Sonny Jr SJ1/SJ2 tones (same) then the SJ1 4 x 8" is great and easy to carry. I also played it with the additional single 15" in it's cabinet and that worked fine. From also having used it on a few recording sessions and outdoors, I prefer a mic on one speaker, as you said, sound persons usually do.
@sydeman, yes, I understand. It was just the first place I saw it, in an issue of the catalog Gary had printed a single unattached sheet that was slipped into the catalog, that may not have been the first place he used the copy. It just distinctly stood out when I saw the 1976-78 reference and I called. As it turned out that gig I met Gary on was his very first gig as their driver.
There is no evidence to my knowledge, Scott Dirks and Joe Filisko would probably know best about suspect amps Walter was said to use. The only one I know of personally, and this is when I had my Dano Commandos, was he used one of those, Billy Boy Arnold saw mine at the Harmonica Masterclass in 98 or 99 and said, yeah, like that, where you split the two pieces apart. The GA90 was used by Kim on Tiger man, it has good tone, but when you start to get more volume out of it, she does not cooperate. You can check with anyone that has owned one, I have had 4 or 5. Eric Besanko has one of the cleanest collections of Gibson amps possibly available for sale, you can check the _www.harmonicamasterlcass.com_ (http://www.harmonicamasterlcass.com) vintage amps page. Plus Gibson's of that area always need major cap work and are not a walk in the park to service. Search if you must. Walter was known to take old PA systems and put the two speaker cabs on the wall, as can be seen in a pic from Scott's book. I had heard he used Masco MA17 which is what I based my Sonny Jr 1 and Sonny Jr 2 on, we used the low voltage to the plates from those amps, the power section, and Tom of Cotton Amps designed the preamp section for modern day application with harp, and I went searching for the best 8" speakers, and the custom big Pyle's outdid any vintage Jensen, and trust me, I tried them all, so that is where we went , Initially in our search. First the SJ1 to capture Walter's recorded sound, then we knew the Harpking was coming out and designed the Sonny Jr, which drove yes that six 8" speakers, only with us we used two output transformers to keep it fatter and thicker. Of course we tried bigger outputs running all 4 6L6's but not the same sound. I believe the Gibson GA90 ran one output for their small 3-5 watt speakers they used, usually Rolas, 285 manufacturer code. The guys with the really loud bands had commented that the 8 inchers did not project far enough into the audience, and besides, Pyle went out of business hence ending any other ideas of using 8" speakers. I have tried every new one on the market and they all use a smooth shiny cone that sounds like buzzing bees.
Cool Amp, must be sweet with those speakers, mine was serial # in the 100-200 range and had the Pyle speakers. They were crunchy but, likely not as sweet as those Jensens. A few other nuggets related to the copy posted above from Gary: 1. I sold a mic element, MC-151 to replace his dead one on his studio JT-30, to Stuart Sullivan in Austin. He was the Engineer/Producer on all those early Antone's records, did Gary Primach's records, also was engineer on Kim Wilson's Tigerman album. He confirmed with me it was a GA-90 Gibson and they put it in the next room from the main live room where the band was set-up for the sessions. I had one of the GA-90's from Eric Besanko, sounded good as Gary says, up to a certain volume, received compliments on tone from musicians but, in addition to being heavy it did not fill the room with sound the way other amps do. 2. Did a New year's Eve gig once (2002/'03 I believe) with Bo Diddley. About 900 people, my band opened, then we backed up Bo for about a 2 hour set that included him doing MC to bring in the New Year. In our greenroom conversation I asked him about Little Walter. He said Walter had these two speaker columns (he either built them or had them built ((BTW Bo built those square box guitars himself he said, he loved woodworking and why Walter's description and speaker cabinets interested him)) and Walter was very proud of them. He said each one was several feet tall and narrow and contained about 4 or 5 speakers each, in a vertical arrangement, and they were very small, he thought 5" speakers. Bo was very engaging (It was just me and him) and as he described things he seemed very clear in his memory. 3. I was one of the "The guys with the really loud bands had commented that the 8 inchers did not project far enough into the audience", since I had 7-piece swing band, sometimes 8, 1 or 2 horns with me and had the SJ2 protoype. Mark Hummel was playing one too and we discussed this issue, same night I was sat in and played his '59 Bassman, we were comparing the Bassman and SJ2 in our conversation. Back to the original poster, if you can find an amp like this one by tmf714, then you have yourself a great Masco based and very useful band amp!
