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on today's ask Zack we're going to talk
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about my favorite little PV practice amp
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it's you know 100 200 bucks tops the py
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mid 80s Studio Pro
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[Music]
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40 all right guys welcome again to ask
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Zack hope you're doing well today you
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know of course cou uh years ago I did an
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episode on the PV special
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130 and I really liked it used it but it
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was just a pain in the butt to haul
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around just cuz of how heavy it was it
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was it's a just a heavy amp part of it
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has to do with the cabinet the
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Transformer it's got a heavy speaker in
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it and it was just louder than what I
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needed for most situations and uh I
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would barely turn the volume up and so I
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ended up selling it
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and the same guy that convinced me to
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get one in the first place uh Mike
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leento who plays guitar with Chris
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Stapleton I you know I told him about
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the situation how I'd sold a special 130
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and he said what you need to get is the
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Studio Pro 40 and I was kind of like eh
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I'm kind of done with the PV thing and
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he said no you really need to uh check
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one of these out so I ended up going
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over to his house and I played through
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it and I was like wow it sounds you know
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just as good as a special 130 it's kind
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of easier to
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use but uh you know then he said pick it
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up and I lifted it up and it was light
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uh not as tone Master light but I mean
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it was a much lighter than the special
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130 so yeah so we're going to dive in a
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bit uh about this amp and just just have
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some
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fun all right first thing I need to
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thank my patreon members and everyone
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that's done uh you know put money in the
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tip jar or super thanks or yeah I really
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appreciate it you guys are fantastic and
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and mean the world to me and you're what
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keeps the show going so thank you if you
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want to find out more about patreon or
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anything else there's information in the
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description all right so the Studio Pro
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40 was you know part of pey's lineup in
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the uh in the mid 1980s it started out
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just this Studio Pro then it became the
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40 then it became the 50 and then it you
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know kind of went to the 112 went to
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different stylings but this is my
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favorite uh era of this amp and so
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there's the 40 and there the 50 that are
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the same amp and then you know the
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earlier amps and the later amps are a
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little different but I really like these
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again I found this one that was uh you
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know I bought it from M leento my friend
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and you know bought it for 150 bucks but
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you know a lot of times they're 150 200
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bucks and it's just you know it's loud
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enough that you could gig with it you
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know I mean it's loud enough to get you
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fired and uh and then it's just really
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easy to carry around and it's nice to
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have uh a fun inexpensive amp that uh
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you know you could take to a biker rally
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gig or something that you don't want to
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take a head strong amp or a vintage
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Fender or something like that or it's a
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great backup amp so you know you could
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have this in your trunk of your car or
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with you you know you know cuz it
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doesn't take up a lot of space you know
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it's you've got an excellent backup amp
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that doesn't have tubes and it doesn't
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have you know the uh all the maintenance
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issues that uh the amps that we love
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have so it's got a lot of advantages
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over the special 130 uh one it's not as
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loud which I don't need 130 even if it's
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transistorized Watts I don't need that
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much volume uh two again you know it's
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it's light three it's simpler and easier
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to use so it doesn't have the mid shift
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which to me that was kind of a it's a
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nice control but it's like I don't have
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to be able to boost or cut all these
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different midrange frequencies I just
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need a good mid-range knob and so it
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just has straight up treble middle and
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base
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and then it has a good you know sanding
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spring reverb uh you
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[Music]
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[Music]
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know you it'll do the uh Baker field you
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know thing or it'll do
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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you know it'll uh it'll do your spooky
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stuff but yeah you know and it's kind of
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the same thing you know The Sweet Spot
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in between two and three
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uh uh the the mid-range and the
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highs uh they can get out of control
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really fast especially on a
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transistorized amp and so as you can see
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I have the mid-range turned pretty low
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it's actually at like 1 and a half and
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here's what it does if you start turning
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it a
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high the highest two will get out of
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control pretty quick
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[Laughter]
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does have a pull thick which is kind of
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interesting you can see I've got the
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lows turned up
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somewhat about four and a half uh and it
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can get you know
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pretty you uh one of the Great things
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again I I mentioned the weight and it
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still has it's a size of a Princeton but
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it has a 12-in speaker and it's louder
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than a Princeton uh and the 12-in
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speaker is not like one of those black
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widows or a
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scorpion it's a straight up Maiden
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Kentucky emminent speaker ceramic magnet
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and just really good simple you know 40
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50 watt speaker and it's a great mate
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you know for the amp um it does have a
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pre pre and post
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control and it has saturation now it
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doesn't have the channel switching per
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se but uh you know you can turn up the
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saturation knob and you can uh you know
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you can get a little dirt on it here I'm
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going to turn the post down a little bit
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[Music]
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turn it up a little bit more
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[Music]
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and it sounds okay um you know is that
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the greatest overdrive sound in the
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world hopefully you'd have a you know
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something something else but this could
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do in a pinch and if you have the foot
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pedal which I mean you can buy one when
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you hit the uh you of course it's a two
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button foot switch that you can get for
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these one of them turns the Reverb off
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and on and the other one would turn the
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saturation off and on so you could kind
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of have in a pinch you have your uh
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overdrive sound right there yeah these
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are uh just yeah they're they're really
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fun now I'm just going to say right now
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would I rather have my Little King or a
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vintage Fender amp or something like
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that yes but there's situations where
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you don't want to take those and these
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things are under $200 and you can find
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them all the time uh on Craigslist
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Facebook Marketplace whatever it is and
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uh yeah and they're really easy to clean
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up I cleaned this thing like crazy I
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completely disassembled it which was
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really easy all I needed was a
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screwdriver and uh you know took the
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face plate took the the electronics out
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cleaned it with deoxit I actually have a
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a big sink that I was able to put the
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entire cabinet in and I was able to just
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wash it off and then use some tox
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cleaner on it I washed off the grill
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cloth you know took maybe 45 minutes to
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completely clean
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and uh you know spray deoxide in all of
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the uh in all the pots and just make
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sure and also and all the Jacks and
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everything make sure everything was
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working right and yeah it's just you
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know one of those little amps that uh
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you know really will do a lot and when
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you're talking about the difference
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between This and like a Princeton or you
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know a nice tube amp what you're talking
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about as far as the difference to me is
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like there's a transient quality there's
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like a there's a really fast attack
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thing with with a transistor I stamp
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it's like it's responding so fast it has
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a really low uh or maybe it's a high
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dampening factor and so you know the
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speaker kind of becomes active and comes
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to rest really quick and
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so uh I find that I I kind of have to
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maybe roll the tone control back some on
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the guitar or you know of course here
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you know roll the highs down a fair
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amount and you just kind of have to get
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right with it to a to to a degree but
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it's still a very good and very usable
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sound and you know something where you
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could you know do a gig and and be happy
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and uh yeah and I have a number of
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friends here in town that have these and
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they've done videos with them without
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telling people and people think it's
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it's other amps and guys have run
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sessions with them and stuff so this is
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really a cool little amp that uh I would
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I would get on your your Craigslist your
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Facebook Marketplace place and uh
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wherever and look around and and find
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one of these and pick them up because
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they you know usually I mean unless
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they've been abused they just need a
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little bit of uh you know tender loving
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care as it were and then their uh fun
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and great little amps that will uh and
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they're easy to carry up and down the
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stairs yeah unlike the special 130 that
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I thought was like I was carrying a tank
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around all right so there you have it
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the uh mid 8s heart
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py made in Mississippi with a Kentucky
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eminent speaker Studio Pro 40 get you
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one