Rubes
25 posts
May 21, 2010
6:27 PM
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Ok guys, been lurking for a while now, time to beg for a bit of amplifier advice! My guitar friend has an old Roland Bolt 60 that he's keen to part with. I'm ready for something especially with valves so I'm thinkin about it!? Anyone got one or can advise me to its suitability etc? Pretty sure it's gonna need new valves,caps, (should manage myself-I have a trade in electronics)and a new skin. He's said $200Aus, seems ok but I don't want to waste money if the end sound is not "harp friendly"! Any info appreciated, I'm aware of a dedicated Bolt site but info is a bit old...........
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Harpaholic
109 posts
May 21, 2010
7:02 PM
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It's a hybrid amp voiced for guitar. Best advice is to try it first with a couple different mics.
A good vocal mic would be your best bet.
Buying a guitar amp to use for harp without knowing if it's harp friendly is a crap shoot. You may end up with a garage ornament, or you could take guitar lessons.
It has a SS preamp section, and tube power amp section so you won't be able to swap preamp tubes if it has too much gain, or feedback.
Last Edited by on May 21, 2010 7:04 PM
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Rubes
26 posts
May 21, 2010
7:22 PM
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Hmmmm, thanx Harpaholic, I'm currently using a Shaker crystal mic, he's lent me the amp for a while and I'd go for something better If I had the cash...........But............
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Harpaholic
111 posts
May 21, 2010
7:52 PM
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Keep in mind the input of the amp may not be set up for the impedance of crystal mics, so it may affect the tone a little, but usually not a big deal if it's close to 1 Meg.
I suggested a vocal mic, because it would be probably be more feedback friendly, and everyone has one.
Let us know what happens. I'm curious to hear your opinion on the amp. Tone, feedback, etc:
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Thievin' Heathen
973 posts
Mar 10, 2018
10:25 AM
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I wonder how this turned out? There's a BOLT 60 on Craigslist for $150 today.
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Prento
32 posts
Mar 10, 2018
2:54 PM
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Hey Rubes,
As you're in Oz and you can handle a soldering iron, look up valve heaven and build yourself a Lamington amp. You can do that for probably less than $200 and you will have an all valve amp that you can tweak components and voltages to suit playing harp through. There's plenty of info on them on the Australian Guitar Gear Heads site as well as the Valve Heaven site. You can then look at the Lone Wolf site and read Randy's information about modding Valve Junior amps as well as building his 6l6 single ended amp. You can apply some of the principles of Randy's pre amp structure to the Lamington to help voice it for harp.
I would leave the Roland for the guitarists.
Good luck
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Rubes
1028 posts
Mar 14, 2018
5:54 AM
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Wow blast from the past or what!!!!Nearly eight years ago my first question!!
Thanx guys but since then I've mostly ran a champ re-issue with a Greg Heumann custom mic....Love it....still going!!!Also go thru the PA a lot and am happy with my sound pretty much with any rig!!....
Also i lashed out on a Masco MA-17 that I've been fussing around with for a while......YEEEHAAAARRRRRR!!1 (the Roland is on a shelf high up in my cupboard....was gonna recover and give back to my guitarist buddy)
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Old man Rubes website
Old Man Rubes at Reverbnation
Dads in Space at Reverbnation
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Thievin' Heathen
977 posts
Mar 14, 2018
6:10 AM
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It looked interesting, and this thread turned up when I googled "Roland Bolt Harmonica", so I thought I'd reach out to see if there might be a harp gem hiding out there in obscurity. I will most certainly pass on this one. Too many other diversions at the moment.
In the interim, I stumbled across this.., http://sluckeyamps.com/hammond_2/AO-63.pdf
Now, if I could just find a Hammond AO-63. Wait a minute, I do have one.
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