New Pignose Day

ICBM

Crackling!!



And yes it is, quite badly... it may need a new pot. It also looks like it's been dropped onto the power socket which is damaged, but apart from that and a few small nicks in the hide, it's in pretty good nick.

I have a love-hate relationship with these, I've owned several of them before, all bar the first one acquired in the same way as this - bought very cheaply either not working or needing more than the owner wants to pay for... the build quality is terrible and they're not easy to make really good. They sound awful/great too - in a unique way, not like any other amp I can think of, valve or solid-state.

This one seems to be quite an old one - not an original US one, but the sticker inside says Made In Hong Kong instead of Made In China, so I don't think it's very recent.

Not sure if I'll keep it for ever, but it's a fun thing to have again .

Bridgehouse

Seems an odd choice to pair with your Ric Bass tho.....

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

Seems an odd choice to pair with your Ric Bass tho.....

I hadn't thought of that but I'll have to try it . The speaker is actually quite chunky so I don't think it will blow it.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

Seems an odd choice to pair with your Ric Bass tho.....

I hadn't thought of that but I'll have to try it . The speaker is actually quite chunky so I don't think it will blow it.

You need to report back/post a clip or something... 

Babones

I have a late 80s, I believe and it's a lot cleaner than the modern ones, which fuzz up a lot quicker.

ICBM

This one is pretty fuzzy, but the batteries look old and the power socket is currently broken...

bingefeller

This amp reminds me of MIchael Schenker, specifically Obsession and parts of Lights Out.  I wanted one, because of Schenker, a lot of years ago and tried one and thought it sounded terrible so I never bothered! 

blobb

Just because, we can all dream eh.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0nImsfMvE

blobb

Took mine to a festival last summer, little delay pedal to go with. Bliss.

"OY! you're keeping me awake!"

Festi's not what they used to be.

ICBM

My dream is more like this...



So I'd quite like an old Lake Placid Blue Esquire as well .

Philtre

blobb said:

Just because, we can all dream eh.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0nImsfMvE

Beat me to it. ;-)

bingefeller

blobb said:

Just because, we can all dream eh.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q0nImsfMvE

On one of Dweezil's rig rundowns he's re-created that filtered Pignose tone with his Axe-FX rig, sounds dead on accurate. 

blobb

I thought Frank only modified the pignose to give him studio connectivity, the sound was pretty much 'as is'. The real tone came from the baby snakes sg mods (and fingers of course), probably tone-wood too but not let's get into that eh? All I know is it doesn't sound anything like me through a pignose. Festival guy probably agreed.........

mr-mac

What people also forget as that pignose was layed on it's back on floor of a 6x6 room and mic'd at the ceiling.  Which is why it sounds different to just plugging into a pignose.

edit... May be talking crap, may have been one used on led zeppelin recordings that was done like that

ICBM

blobb said:

I thought Frank only modified the pignose to give him studio connectivity, the sound was pretty much 'as is'.

The modern ones have the line out socket as standard.

blobb said:

The real tone came from the baby snakes sg mods

I think it's this - the guitar had an active EQ/boost circuit in it which makes the amp sound totally different - the Pignose has a very low input impedance which makes a normal guitar straight in sound odd. Of course, you can easily do that with a pedal in front as well.

mr-mac

Also makes a great Blues Harp amp sold mine and never got round to replacing it yet

ICBM

mr-mac said:

Also makes a great Blues Harp amp

Because it's not loud enough to be heard over the rest of the band.

Sassafras

How you set the tone control (the door) on these amps is critical to getting a good sound.

blobb

^^ yeah. Firmly, on the way out of the room.

impmann

ICBM said:

blobb said:

The real tone came from the baby snakes sg mods

I think it's this - the guitar had an active EQ/boost circuit in it which makes the amp sound totally different - the Pignose has a very low input impedance which makes a normal guitar straight in sound odd. Of course, you can easily do that with a pedal in front as well.

There used to be a video on YT where Dweezil talks about how he taught himself all of Frank's guitar parts and he plays excerts from the Black Page etc on the Baby Snakes SG. At one point he makes the point that the Pignose was just a standard amp - no mods. He unplugs Baby Snakes and plugs in his own SG and it sounds horrible - flat, lifeless and lacking any real tone. He then plugs Baby Snakes back in and the sound is incredible. Its all in that guitar - its got some kind of parametric booster on board that he can sweep certain frequencies. Plus there's an on board ring modulator IIRC.

richardhomer

As used extensively on 461 Ocean Boulevard by EC - slide parts on Motherless Children and I Can’t Hold Out IIRC. I had a US one but but moved it on ages ago. Looking at that, I quite fancy another....