There's a Bogen Challenger head for sale within a couple hours of me, and it's all original (so claimed). I've read up a bit on what guitar players need to do to convert old PA heads to usable amps, mostly messing with tone stacks and gain stages. But for harp, I wonder if it's as simple as changing out input and speaker jacks? Didn't the old greats mostly play through these types of amps anyway?
They did, but often times, in many club situations, these weren't powerful enough to be heard over a loud, raucus club full of drunks and more often than not, if you've ever looked at any guitar amp made prior to the mid 50's, there were always two inputs, one being marked instrument (for the guitar) and the other marked microphone (it had absolutely ZERO to do with the harmonica, contrary to many players since the 80's) because that input was voiced specifically to carry over the guitar and this actually was functioning as the band's PA and were often a lot more powerful than those Masco or Bogen PA heads, which were fine for high school auditoriums, but too weak for a club. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
1. The tone from some of those PA heads is really great.
2. They aren't really loud enough to be heard unless you are playing with a real sympathetic band. You can mic them, but you're fighting a losing battle.
3. If it is original, you should expect to spend some dough on potential repairs. Some of those parts are going to be 50+ years old and could possibly fail.
4. Each of the brands can vary. Some are better than others. According to Skip Simmons, the single tube Masco's are great. The Masco 17 and 18 watt units are great, too. Some of the other Masco's are not as good. Some of the other brands are good or not so good depending on make, model and circuit.
5. You might want to ask Skip Simmons for some advice on a particular model or ask on the Weber forum. There are some people with PA head conversion experience there.
6. Even after you get one going strong, see item #2 in this list. It'll still apply.
All of that said, if you are going to play around the house or play in small venues, you can have some fun with these things. I had a Masco MA-17 that Skip Simmons had restored to the original specs. It was a lot of fun to mess with.
It should be as simple as changing the inputs & outputs to female jack you might even be able to use it without doing that. I have used a couple Bogens that have worked for Harp & Guitar. some old tube PA sound better for Guitar it depends how they are voiced. I think when all the caps & circuitry is original it sounds better for harp. If it has a HIZ mic input it should be fine. The ones that haven't been modded for harp normally sound a lot louder. I had a Masco ME 27 which was very LOUD to begin with
The Masco 17N and 18 are excellent PA amps for harp. BBQ and Joe L have said it all. They are not great gig amps. I wonder if you can get one with a line out?
The Bogan Challengers would not be my choice for a harp amp. I like the smaller Bogan CH8.
Call Skip Simmons. There is a reason Joe L said his name 3 times! LOL!
Last Edited by on Oct 21, 2010 8:43 PM
yeah - that's some sweet compression and sustain you got going. Skip is great - but you won't be paying garage sale prices. - you won't have to futz with it either. ----------
