HH IC100 in a pedal

EricTheWeary

I'm fairly sure this doesn't exist (I'd be very happy to be told otherwise) but these HH amps were the sound of Wilko era Dr Feelgood and Daniel Ash in Bauhaus as well as some Marc Bolan (The Slider album I gather), some early Rush (apparently) and loads of punk, new wave, two tone and goth bands. If they can make a reasonable facsimile of a valve Marshall, Vox or Fender in a pedal then something derived from the fairly early solid state design of the HH ought to be doable. That slightly farty distortion, that never quite clean clean channel. 
Something you can plug into a boutique valve amp and make it sound like an SS combo from the 70s that's been rescued off a skip. I think some people would like that  

ICBM

Yes, I would. I'd quite like the late-70s/early-80s Peavey 'Saturation' circuit in a pedal too.

EricTheWeary

There is nothing (or at least very little, maybe there are HH and Peavey models buried in the Helix somewhere)being made that does this stuff now and if you find the actual amps they are quite old and probably not the best all rounders. However, these are familiar sounds and those listening to Marc Bolan, Dr Feelgood or The Buzzcocks are now of the weekend warrior/disposable income generation (although I don't know what happened to my disposable income). I think there would be a reasonable level of interest. 

Sassafras

King of Tone. Sorted.
  

EricTheWeary

Sassafras said:

King of Tone. Sorted.
  

 

DarnWeight

Nearest thing out there is the Tronographic Boxidizer (or its bass-centric predecessor, the Rusty Box), which is based on a '70s Traynor SS amp (the TS50B, I think).  There's a review of it in PG here.  Not sure if they have any distribution or dealers in the UK, but they do pop up used from time to time...I bought mine off this very forum about a year ago.

monquixote

I'm not that familiar with the HH IC 100, but would the JHS Colour Box be able to do something if that nature (Not that I advocate buying JHS pedals).

Moe_Zambeek

Not so long ago you could get an entire H|H amp head for less than most overdrive pedals.

Danny1969

I remember repairing these in the nineties, the band I was in had 2 of them which were used for monitoring duties.  Strange physical design in as much as the boards used to be in vertical. Other than that they were just typical SS amps with opamp pre amp and discrete tranny power .... any distortion would have come from clipping the opamps. 
Got to say, I don't remember anything great about them other than the fact they were robust and reasonably reliable. 

EricTheWeary

The original amps do seem to be edging into collectible territory which might suggest somebody, somewhere likes that sound. I'm not sure it's as distinctive as,say,that Boxidizer but it's part of that pallet of tones that amp manufacturers have worked hard to avoid yet is quite distinctive of a certain era. I read that Wilko Johnson's combo had incorrectly wired replacement speakers so it was quieter than it should have been and so he was pushing the power amp stage in order to be heard which would tally with what Danny says. 

I do do have an op amp based fuzz pedal somewhere so I might try that out again at low-key gain, just for those moments when I imagine I'm in the Buzzcocks. 

The Colour Box is an eye watering amount of money for an overdrive, it does have an active EQ which was part of the HH charm (I think).

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

The original amps do seem to be edging into collectible territory which might suggest somebody, somewhere likes that sound.

I sold an IC100 head to Lou Barlow a couple of years ago.

Really .

thecolourbox

DarnWeight said:

Nearest thing out there is the Tronographic Boxidizer (or its bass-centric predecessor, the Rusty Box), which is based on a '70s Traynor SS amp (the TS50B, I think).  There's a review of it in PG here.  Not sure if they have any distribution or dealers in the UK, but they do pop up used from time to time...I bought mine off this very forum about a year ago.

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

robinbowes

thecolourbox said:

DarnWeight said:

Nearest thing out there is the Tronographic Boxidizer (or its bass-centric predecessor, the Rusty Box), which is based on a '70s Traynor SS amp (the TS50B, I think).  There's a review of it in PG here.  Not sure if they have any distribution or dealers in the UK, but they do pop up used from time to time...I bought mine off this very forum about a year ago.

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

R.

ICBM

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

I knew that would be right over the heads of most of the forum .

monquixote

ICBM said:

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

I knew that would be right over the heads of most of the forum .

I believe that Traynor's bass has that boom boom that all the boys like.

robinbowes

ICBM said:

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

I knew that would be right over the heads of most of the forum .

Ooohhhhhhhh, I geddit. 

...goes to make more coffee...

R.

timmysoft

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

DarnWeight said:

Nearest thing out there is the Tronographic Boxidizer (or its bass-centric predecessor, the Rusty Box), which is based on a '70s Traynor SS amp (the TS50B, I think).  There's a review of it in PG here.  Not sure if they have any distribution or dealers in the UK, but they do pop up used from time to time...I bought mine off this very forum about a year ago.

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

R.

I used a ts50b for guitar for a few years through an old HH 212, it sounded great! 

Clarky

I used to have an IC100 2x12 combo.. the one with the sustain switch on it

it's the only music related thing I've ever sold that I regretted..
and I regretted it within days...

thecolourbox

robinbowes said:

ICBM said:

robinbowes said:

thecolourbox said:

Not really a surprise that something Traynor based is bass centric (no treble)?

Er, the TS50B is a bass amp. There's no particular lack of treble with Traynors in general, even the bass amps.

I knew that would be right over the heads of most of the forum .

Ooohhhhhhhh, I geddit. 

...goes to make more coffee...

R.

Lol sorry, I couldn't resist just to see if people got it or not. Maybe I should put a disclaimer in my signature that probably around 75% of my posts on here are actually reworded music lyrics

Back on topic a bit though, it does generally seem that all the modeling kit or the amp-in-a-box pedals go for the classic sounds and not the slightly more obscure sounds that do also sound good in the right context. There would definitely be a market for pedal makers that target the sounds of these sorts of amps and drive sounds

RandallFlagg

ICBM said:

Yes, I would. I'd quite like the late-70s/early-80s Peavey 'Saturation' circuit in a pedal too.

Yes, I loved it on my 1980/1 Peavey Studio Pro 40, especially with the 'pull thick' on the treble control. Really fattened a Tele up a treat!

ESBlonde

Our keys player still uses an HH pa head and swears by it. Slave out to the PA job done.