Bass Player walks into a jam session....

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, the guitar player in the roots/rock/country band I'm in sometimes plays at a local Sunday afternoon jam session. The drummer and I will usually stop by to play a few songs, and then back up anyone who wants to sing. It's fun.

This Earth Amp and Kustom Cabinet was in the backline today. The owner claims he bought it a 'GrandPa Pidgeons in the 70's....back when they had an electronics section'. GrandPa's was a Midwest discount store that was a little trashy. Amp was a little noisy, but I still sounded like me.... plus I didn't have to carry it and I didn't get electrocuted.

Sorry for the crappy photo...there was dim light, thick smoke, loud loud music...plus a couple beers.

 

[dougjwray]

It has a Peaveyesque look.

 

[SJan3]

It has a Peaveyesque look.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Geri O]

It has a Peaveyesque look.

I think there was some legal action between Peavey and Earth on the Earth look of those amplifiers.

Apparently, those legal eagles never compared how the insides of a Peavey CS800 looked next to the old BGW 750 series amplifiers….

 

[Marko 1]

Yeah, I think Earth was a hand-wired version of Peavey. Kinda rare, but (unless things have changed in the past ten years) not worth much on the market.

My next-door neighbor has one, for guitar, I guess... doesn't play much guitar these days, I have no idea how it sounds, but prolly like a Peavey, lol.

 

[bignote]

Old School for sure.

 

[J Wilson]

I used to see the ads for these in the old GUITAR PLAYER back in the days. They were dead ripoffs of Peavey designs, and died a natural death due to their relative un-reliability, and Peavey was so cheap back then it was hard to under-cut them and their massive distribution.

 

[DirtDog]

I owned, at one time, the matching 1x15 cab for at Earth amp. Cheaply made but sounded surprisingly decent

 

[Michedelic]

Earth evolved out of the Plush company, which started on Long Island circa 1968, but somehow moved to the LA area before they faded away by the mid-70’s. Plush was initially famous for their giant amps that had the appearance of Kustoms with the tuck and roll upholstery, but actually had noticeable differences. Under the hood, they couldn’t be more different. They were tube amps, essentially a budget imitation of Fender Showmans, and weren’t half bad if you could snag one that was built on a Monday. As Kustom’s popularity faded, they looked for a new visual hook. After the name change, they briefly cranked out some models that looked like Sunn, then zeroed in on the new kid on the block, Peavey, but first imitated Peavey’s imitation of Fender tweeds, still tube. After that they went for the then contemporary PV look and transistor gear, but withered away in the face of legal action.

 

[definenredefine]

I think there was some legal action between Peavey and Earth on the Earth look of those amplifiers.

Apparently, those legal eagles never compared how the insides of a Peavey CS800 looked next to the old BGW 750 series amplifiers….

I just found this guy on the ol' 'Verb -

Earth Super Bass Producer Series 70s | Reverb

And it looks an awful lot like the Peavey 400 Bass currently in my band room...

 

[JimmyM]

A long time ago, a kid we jammed with had an Earth guitar amp. Blech! But hey, like you said, not your amp

 

[MegaSwing]

I had always heard that Plush/Earth were respected as decent among players. You just didn’t see that many of either. Seems like Earth came and went pretty quickly.

 

[brianrost]

Earth and Plush might be respected now, but back in the day I gigged with a guy whose tweed Earth amp was always in the shop. As far as the tuck and roll models, I saw a few "as-is" heads gathering dust in the back of music stores. Not exactly a glowing endorsement. For a tube amp based on Fender designs, how hard is it to make it reliable?

Although I grew up in Connecticut and now live in Massachusetts, I've seen very few of these around. Considering they were based in New York, it seems they didn't sell very well. Either that or there's a lot of them in landfills...

 

[beans-on-toast]

An Untold History of Earth Sound Research Amplifiers | Pedal Haven

 

[Juststanley]

Dwight would be pleased....

 

[MegaSwing]

My only direct experience with a Plush bass amp was with a silver tuck-and-roll 2x15 system someone left in my basement for a few days after an audition when I was about 15, in the mid-70s. It had a funky charm to it and got pretty dang loud, as I recall. I would’ve gladly used the hell out of it, as it was the best bass amp I had seen up to that point, and it was pretty manageable size-wise. But I could never afford a truly giggable amp in my teens. Even then, the architecture of the head looked a little puny to me. But it seemed to work fine.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Earth was kingd of the Behringer of its day.

 

[Michedelic]

Dwight would be pleased....

Dwight?


Here’s a site, not very current, that covers Plush amps, and they weren’t sure about the
Plush/Earth connection….
A Wonderful Plush Equipment Site!

Earth’s pseudo-Sunn(with 6L6 instead of 6550 power tubes)…

Earth’s tweed style…

…and some Plush/Earth comparisons…

Plush even got into the folded horn thing; I don’t know how practical this would be, but it looks pretty badass…

 

[rojo412]

I revived an Earth Sound Research tube guitar amp once. My buddy found it in the garbage, and the fix turned out to be relatively easy. It was based completely on a Peavey amp, they didn't even hide that fact.

 

[Juststanley]

OK...Dwight didn't write it. Joe Maphis 1952