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Not much surf guitar content here except for the reverb units:
A new guitar store opened up in my town and I paid a visit over lunch.
Nothing really exciting in the guitar department, except for a very odd 1965
Vox "Phantom" guitar. Three single coil pickups, a zero fret, big funky
tremolo like a Bigsby, a Jazzmaster/Jaguar looking bridge and saddles
(except bridge was very low to the body), and it had a string mute! The mute
was this weird contraption that pivoted on the bridge itself. The muting
material had long petrified or fossilized (I assume it was some kind of foam
rubber at one time). And the guitar had that weird
rhombus/parallelogram/whatever Vox shape.
But in the amp department, this place was going for the boutique angle I
think. They had amps from amp makers I had never heard of: CARR, Victoria
Amp Co, and some others that sounded European. All cosmetically gorgeous,
all tube jobs, most of them 2x12" combos, around 50W or so, and all around
the $3000 mark!
They had two Victoria Amp Co reverb units, one in black tolex and the other
brown. Both had reverb and tremelo and looked all tube. Physically they were
larger than the Fender units. I think they were called "Reverberato". And
get this....$1495.00!!! Yikes.
Here are some links (Who played these? British
Invasion bands?)
Victoria amps are actually really great and pretty
common in the Bay Area. I haven't seen too many down
here in Southern California. I've played their 4X10
version of the '59 Fender bassman and it is much, much
better than the Fender. Tighter, warmer, and it has
the option to have a built-in 3 knob reverb like on a
vibroking.
Sick amps, buy one if you can afford it.
Damon
--- Brian Neal <> wrote:
> Not much surf guitar content here except for the
> reverb units:
>
> A new guitar store opened up in my town and I paid a
> visit over lunch.
> Nothing really exciting in the guitar department,
> except for a very odd 1965
> Vox "Phantom" guitar. Three single coil pickups, a
> zero fret, big funky
> tremolo like a Bigsby, a Jazzmaster/Jaguar looking
> bridge and saddles
> (except bridge was very low to the body), and it had
> a string mute! The mute
> was this weird contraption that pivoted on the
> bridge itself. The muting
> material had long petrified or fossilized (I assume
> it was some kind of foam
> rubber at one time). And the guitar had that weird
> rhombus/parallelogram/whatever Vox shape.
>
> But in the amp department, this place was going for
> the boutique angle I
> think. They had amps from amp makers I had never
> heard of: CARR, Victoria
> Amp Co, and some others that sounded European. All
> cosmetically gorgeous,
> all tube jobs, most of them 2x12" combos, around 50W
> or so, and all around
> the $3000 mark!
>
> They had two Victoria Amp Co reverb units, one in
> black tolex and the other
> brown. Both had reverb and tremelo and looked all
> tube. Physically they were
> larger than the Fender units. I think they were
> called "Reverberato". And
> get this....$1495.00!!! Yikes.
>
> Here are some links
>
>
>
>
> (Who played these? British
> Invasion bands?)
>
>
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I've been looking for a reverb, checking out EBAY (Fender stand-
alones, etc.). Some information on the Reverberatos is that they are
NOT surf monsters! 'More toned down'.
I have built some solid-state versions (Anderton's, Stompbox
Cookbook). I can't get that 'over the top' sound out of them yet
either. I am working on the design at , but no luck so far. I believe
it has the right design features (driving the springs hard). I
suspect it is similar to the Little Lanilei Reverb pedal or vice
versa.
Bruce
> They had two Victoria Amp Co reverb units, one in black tolex and
the other
> brown. Both had reverb and tremelo and looked all tube.
>
> (Who played these? British
> Invasion bands?)
This guy does:
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: ebbindem [mailto:]
>
> I've been looking for a reverb, checking out EBAY (Fender stand-
> alones, etc.). Some information on the Reverberatos is that they are
> NOT surf monsters! 'More toned down'.
>
Interesting... If I paid $1495 for a Reverberato I would expect to actually
get wet playing it.
I paid $335 or so for a new Fender Reissue unit and thought that was a bit
much.