She's coming home...

GoldenEraGuitars

Although I'm Scottish being and bred I moved to Northern Ireland in my mid teens and from there I moved to England to go to university. Once I had blown all my money on lavish gear I returned to Northern Ireland and decided to trade in a lot of the equipment at a local music shop. 

So... I ended up with a credit note for about £2k which was outstanding. While nosying down the length of the shop I spotted a Marshall half stack. Assuming it was an old amp in for repair I wandered past it and nearly left the shop with nothing other than a piece of paper worth £2,000. But something made me ask about the amp... turned out it was sale AND it was cheap, REALLY cheap. The chap selling it was wanting it gone as he had developed serious arthritis and couldn't play any more. I decided to go for it and I was a happy man. Having owned several vintage Marshalls while in England I hadn't seen this one. It turned out to be a JMP from 79 with a matching 4 x 12.

What a tone MONSTER! It's the perfect bridge between typical vintage Marshall and the JCM series.. it did EVERYTHING. Fast forward a year and I was left with a serious financial situation (wasn't my own doing) so the amp had to go. A friend paid me market value for it which was 3 times what I had paid for it tbh. I felt awful helping him load up the gear into his car... awful. I saw the amp now and then, it always upset me. You never know what you have until it's gone, huh.

Now, fast forward 13 years and all of a sudden I get a message from my friend offering it to me! I was in the process of selling the LoneStar I had to fund my new business and foolishly I rejected the offer (WHAT??!!). That was a few weeks back and tbh I have erased it from my mind. Then, for some reason I started to feel a draw back to the conversation. I had just put all my money into building my new workshop so I hastily got a loan and contacted my friend again to say "DEAL"!

After many happy memories with the amp, a long tone journey and going full circle I think it's safe to say it all happened for a reason.

She'll be home in a few days... and I can't wait!


http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f21/Lonestar83/Mobile Uploads/46A0A79B-E585-4CD9-8179-8A78A6BF73E5_zpsbusbynu9.jpg

ThePrettyDamned

Looks on great nick! Cool story too, glad you've been reunited. 

GoldenEraGuitars

ThePrettyDamned said:

Looks on great nick! Cool story too, glad you've been reunited. 

Thanks bud. I'm so happy right now. I'll post more pics once it's back with me

usedtobe

Nice one!

Chester

Some things are just meant to be ..

citizen68

Love a happy ending... out of interest which shop did you trade all your gear in to get the amp? 

GoldenEraGuitars

Thanks guys.

citizen68 said:

Love a happy ending... out of interest which shop did you trade all your gear in to get the amp? 

When I came back I went into Trevor keys music in Ballymena with about 4 guitars and 2 amps.

Voxman

Ahhhh what a lovely love story...I'm an old romantic at heart. 

John_P

Nice story - you did the right thing grabbing that  - my jmp (super bass) is my favourite amp at the moment - it's great when you feel an attachment to a piece of gear as well as it serving a purpose.   

GoldenEraGuitars

Voxman said:

Ahhhh what a lovely love story...I'm an old romantic at heart. 

John_P said:

Nice story - you did the right thing grabbing that  - my jmp (super bass) is my favourite amp at the moment - it's great when you feel an attachment to a piece of gear as well as it serving a purpose.   

I think that's the weird thing guys... this is the only amp I've felt like I'm meant to be with, as such. I always wished I could have that amp back. It's going to be mega, I can't wait. It looks like it'll be Tuesday before I can pick it up and I'm stupidly excited!

Adam_MD

lonestar said:

When I came back I went into Trevor keys music in Ballymena with about 4 guitars and 2 amps.

Wow Trevor keys in Ballymena that's a blast from the past. 

GoldenEraGuitars

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

When I came back I went into Trevor keys music in Ballymena with about 4 guitars and 2 amps.

Wow Trevor keys in Ballymena that's a blast from the past. 

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

When I came back I went into Trevor keys music in Ballymena with about 4 guitars and 2 amps.

Wow Trevor keys in Ballymena that's a blast from the past. 

Haha yeah I haven't been in there for a long time tbh. It's ashame... once you get outside Belfast there isn't really a proper music shop worth travelling to see. 

Adam_MD

lonestar said:

Haha yeah I haven't been in there for a long time tbh. It's ashame... once you get outside Belfast there isn't really a proper music shop worth travelling to see. 

I was back in Ballymena to see my folks at Christmas and went down to Trevor keys for a look to see if I could find a secondhand beater to play while I was there but it's closed.  There's no guitar stores left in Ballymena anymore sadly.  

GoldenEraGuitars

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

Haha yeah I haven't been in there for a long time tbh. It's ashame... once you get outside Belfast there isn't really a proper music shop worth travelling to see. 

I was back in Ballymena to see my folks at Christmas and went down to Trevor keys for a look to see if I could find a secondhand beater to play while I was there but it's closed.  There's no guitar stores left in Ballymena anymore sadly.  

The Music Rooms is around the corner but it's the same sort of setup.... the best gear is the second hand stuff that occasionally comes in.

GoldenEraGuitars

The JMP is being collected tomorrow night.. I can't wait. Pictures to follow

Adam_MD

lonestar said:

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

Haha yeah I haven't been in there for a long time tbh. It's ashame... once you get outside Belfast there isn't really a proper music shop worth travelling to see. 

I was back in Ballymena to see my folks at Christmas and went down to Trevor keys for a look to see if I could find a secondhand beater to play while I was there but it's closed.  There's no guitar stores left in Ballymena anymore sadly.  

The Music Rooms is around the corner but it's the same sort of setup.... the best gear is the second hand stuff that occasionally comes in.

Good to know I didn't even know it was there.  I'll check it out next time I'm back in Norn Iron seeing my folks.

GoldenEraGuitars

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

Adam_MD said:

lonestar said:

Haha yeah I haven't been in there for a long time tbh. It's ashame... once you get outside Belfast there isn't really a proper music shop worth travelling to see. 

I was back in Ballymena to see my folks at Christmas and went down to Trevor keys for a look to see if I could find a secondhand beater to play while I was there but it's closed.  There's no guitar stores left in Ballymena anymore sadly.  

The Music Rooms is around the corner but it's the same sort of setup.... the best gear is the second hand stuff that occasionally comes in.

Good to know I didn't even know it was there.  I'll check it out next time I'm back in Norn Iron seeing my folks.

Church Street? Something like that. More or less the same shop tbh. You remember Gerry?

samzadgan

great story mate...happy you are now re-united. 

57Deluxe

let's take a moment...

GoldenEraGuitars

Picking it up at 8pm... just an hour and a half to go 

Adam_MD

lonestar said:

Church Street? Something like that. More or less the same shop tbh. You remember Gerry?

 Hmm I don't really remember anyone's name apart from Phil Coulter was Gerry the dark haired guy who was always in there?  

Also good luck with your amp when you get it back