My Bass amps

[zontar]

Just felt like sharing about the amps--as I've already shared the basses.

Keep in mind I don't gig, so I don't need a highend amp or anything like that--these two do the job nicely, although I can see myself getting rid of one of them and buying a second small amp some day--something a little different.

The big one is a Garnet Stencil--amps made by Garnet for other companies to put their name on.
Mine came used from a music school that had their name on it.
It's a tube amp, and loud--but bulky and awkward to move/carry.

At one point someone else was borrowing this one and so I bought a practice amp to use at home, and I wanted one that was easy to carry around. I found a great deal on a Traynor TBM 10.
For playing at home or with a small group without drums it's more than enough.
I've also used it as a monitor when playing with others and went through a PA for my main sound.
It's posing here with a G-Dec Jr I bought for a practice amp for guitar I could easily move around at home.

 

[JimmyM]

Seen the Garnet name around but not too familiar. How many watts and what kind of tubes?

 

[beans-on-toast]

There were a several revisions to the Garnet Stencil. Some had reverb or tremolo, some were just a basic amp. The earliest one that I can remember had a single 6V6 output tube. Later versions had a pair of 6V6 output tubes, 15-20W output. The pre-amps used 12AX7 tubes. Point to point wiring. Very quiet.

These models were considered student amps and sold in department stores along with Supros, Silvertones, and other similar brands. I had a Garnet made Silvertone that I bought at Sears. Garnet also offered professional lines. They were interesting amps. The designs were often unique and ahead of their time. Ideas used in these early amps were also found in boutique amps such as the cascading gain stages to add distortion that Randy Smith used in his first Mesa Boogie.

 

[JimmyM]

No kidding? That's pretty awesome...the cascading gain stages are pretty much a staple in amps today. Cool piece of history, if a little low wattage, but hey, the B-15 isn't much more wattage

 

[zontar]

Seen the Garnet name around but not too familiar. How many watts and what kind of tubes?

You know I'd have to go check.
I don't use it too much any more--it's a bit loud, and bulky.
If I check I'll let you know.

There were a several revisions to the Garnet Stencil. Some had reverb or tremolo, some were just a basic amp. The earliest one that I can remember had a single 6V6 output tube. Later versions had a pair of 6V6 output tubes, 15-20W output. The pre-amps used 12AX7 tubes. Point to point wiring. Very quiet.

These models were considered student amps and sold in department stores along with Supros, Silvertones, and other similar brands. I had a Garnet made Silvertone that I bought at Sears. Garnet also offered professional lines. They were interesting amps. The designs were often unique and ahead of their time. Ideas used in these early amps were also found in boutique amps such as the cascading gain stages to add distortion that Randy Smith used in his first Mesa Boogie.

Actually I would say they are versions, not revisions, as they made amps for several sources-not just department stores.
They also sold through music schools, where I got mine (Although mine was used.), as well as making amps that got labelled things like Lab Series.
Check here for a list of some of them, and some pictures on a great site about Garnet amps. Lots of good stuff about them.

 

[uglyrumor]

Garnet made the LabSeries 2 amps, not the original Norlin-owned Moog LabSeries.

 

[zontar]

Garnet made the LabSeries 2 amps, not the original Norlin-owned Moog LabSeries.

I was merely listing that they made more than department store amps in their Stencil line.
ANd they still made Lab Series amps--and it was for Gibson/Norlin/whatever you want to call them.