Joe Bonamassa wrote:thats Great DUDE!! I am honored that you have used my four amp model... Two things.. What are the Cabinets? they look like old style DumbleLand 4 x12s.. (Dumbleland was the 300 watt Dumble) and are they 50 or 100 watters or a mixture of both.. and do you find the shield useful? I guess thats three things.. Great looking rig Yo!!
Joe B
Hey Joe - Thanks man - that totally made my day that you dig it! It took a while and I'm still learning and constantly changing settings on things. IDK how you came up with this idea, but it works lol. The cabs are all 2x12's with EV's and were made by a guy I found making cabs on eBay. I originally purchased one to match my Fuchs and I had a matching cab for the Mesa. Well about a year ago I asked about speakers and you recommended the EV's. I grabbed them and put them in the Fuchs cab. I demoed the Mesa through it and WOW 100% better. I took apart the Mesa cab and it was loaded with extra wood and it was thick and heavy - it made my amp sound so dark and blanketed. So I contacted the guy and worked out a deal for 3 more matching cabs so it looked uniform and sized up properly. They are great cabs. Front loaded and not a lot of excess wood - I believe it makes the sound breathe more. I wish they were 4x12's, but for the ease of mobility ( no road crew yet lol) and not playing great big theaters like you, I opted for the 2x12's. If I ever did a tour or anything I would def. get 4x12's. Do you do the oversized cabs to get a better bass response? You are the only person I've seen do that.
The amps are all 50 watters except the Mesa which is selectable, but I leave it on 100 b/c it rolls off nicer.
The shields are amazing. I like to play pretty loud and before I built the shields, I could feel the sound blasting me in the chest. Even though its in a room, I can stand in front of it and not feel it (but hear it, and so does the families around the block lol). I can only imagine how much it works in a live stage setting. Even your rig is loud, but when you hear it, your just hearing it. It's nice instead of getting blasted with an amp lol. Even at low volumes I would totally recommend them to anybody now just b/c it pushes the sound towards your ears. The red things are also isolators. I saw one in GC and showed my dad (carpenter by trade) and he helped design and build them and the shields. They make a huge difference in tone, articulation, and drive. Both were super easy to build.
The desert burst I'm holding in the pic is my favorite. It was the first Gibson I bought for myself new a while ago so its a part of me. I play it so hard, in a good - the way they should be played, but I baby it when I’m done jamming lol. All my guitars have a certain personality to them though and thats why I grabbed them up.
Anyway, I'm stoked that you like my rig Joe and I've been listening to your advice. I greatly appreciate it. I'm looking forward to seeing you at Westbury and West Hampton.
Ben
PS - Joe your pic is up there between Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy, under Santana. I wasn't planning on such a huge rig when I did the pics of my hero’s, so I have to do a little rearranging of the photos, but you are up there!