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Garnet

#2
they were made here,and there is a website.....in the early 70's a lot of local bands used them.....gar was notorious for fronting gear to start up bands on a pay me when you can basis,and some of his stuff is sought after,even today....his book on tube amps is a good read......near my house there is a mural honoring gar on a building......
 
#3
I never owned one but played through a few of them. Most recently was about 1995 when someone brought one for me to play though at a rehearsal. I never cared for them as bass amps. Some guitar players liked them. They were cheaper in Canada, being made here. There were a lot of them around then.
 
#4
I'm pretty sure there's something that says Garnet on it in my parents basement. Did they make small pa type speakers or a powered mixer by chance? They would have aquired this stuff used sometime in the mid 80's in minnesota, some may have spilled over the border.
 
#5
will33 said:
I'm pretty sure there's something that says Garnet on it in my parents basement. Did they make small pa type speakers or a powered mixer by chance? They would have aquired this stuff used sometime in the mid 80's in minnesota, some may have spilled over the border.
Click to expand...
the big bto cabs had a couple of horns on top but i think the guys that used them disabled them....they were guitar cabs,i think with 15's....
 
#6
I must be getting confused here, it's been a long time. We had a family band when I was a kid and something said garnet on it and it wasn't my bass amp at the time, that would've been the venerable fender sidekick 50watts I think. Going up there in a month or so, I'll have a look. The only other gear we had was a powered mixer and a couple speakers, none of which was overly large stuff.
 
#7
will33 said:
I must be getting confused here, it's been a long time. We had a family band when I was a kid and something said garnet on it and it wasn't my bass amp at the time, that would've been the venerable fender sidekick 50watts I think. Going up there in a month or so, I'll have a look. The only other gear we had was a powered mixer and a couple speakers, none of which was overly large stuff.
Click to expand...
check out garnet amps.com
 
#8
My first 'serious' bass amp, 35 years ago was a Garnet. It was a tube head (about 35 watts) on a huge (probably 15" speaker) cabinet. Great sound from what I remember but of course hugely underpowered. My experience with them since has been they have been more popular for guitarists than for bass players...
 
#9
Boy this is a trip down memory lane. In 1968 I completed my Garnet rig with a second 2x15 cab. The all tube bass head was, iirc, a B-190 (190 watts) with Hammond tremelo and the infamous Garnet Stinger fuzz circuit.
The 15's were branded with a Marsland label, I'll have to Google those for grins.
Unfortunately no pix survived, b&w Polaroid Swinger shots, they all faded just like the fuzzy memory.
I miss that rig, the sound not the weight and bulk, but it had a pretty solid Tonk and thump for the covers back then.

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR
 
#11
Greetings from the North,

I've got a Garnet Swinger 15" combo that was a cast off from an old university buddy. I used it as a practice amp (long ago) although I I think it was for guitar. I can't remember if it had tremolo or reverb or both, but it did make some cool sounds. Or at least I thought so at the time lol. It's buried under a bunch a stuff at my rehearsal space. Maybe I might take it into a tech and have it brought back to life hmm.....

Rezdog
 
#14
Garnet made a tube drive head - it was a big piece of gear that was essentially a guitar tube preamp - and if you can find one I suggest you get it. It's a hassle to gig with but it's really one of those pieces of gear that you'll never regret using.

Gordie Johnson of Grady (Big Sugar) uses one regularly when he gigs and I bet it works as well for bass tone as it does for electric guitar.
 
#15
Greetings,

I dug out the Garnet Swinger and it has -Volume-Treble-Bass-2 Inputs...-Tremolo-Reverb. Wattage I'm not sure of as yet but this is gonna be the next restoration project. Thanks sammyfallen, I forgot what was under the pile of stuff in the corner lol.

Rezdog
 

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