bodia
Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
New Old Used Amp Day! PRS Harmonic Generator (HG-70). I actually got this a couple of months ago. Story to follow, of course!
When I traded my DG30 (and '04 HBII) to Mike a couple of months ago I commented that I was going to need something to replace the DG30. I couldn't let a sweet 1x12 sit there with nothing on it. Sergio and I had been talking about a particular used HG-70 that was on Ebay for about $300 (plus $80 shipping). It looked a little rough, and there was just something that turned both of us away, at the time. That and the fact that I couldn't really find any info on it.
Anyway, fast forward a month, or 6 weeks, amd Sergio sends me a link to a video from 25 years ago that had about 10 or 15 minutes of Paul and the HG-70. After seeing that, I decided to check and see if the HG70 was still around. Low and behold, it was. Now it was a ridiculous $244.76. At that price, what the heck, worth a shot (even though I'd already found something to sit on that 1x12!).
It shows up and looks like hell, and smells like a barn. Cleaned it up a bit, and rubbed it down with Febreeze, and let it sit for a few days with a bunch of Odor Eliminators around it. When I got around to plugging it in, it made a little bit of sound. Volume and Gain pots on both channels were severely scratchy, and only had a couple of spots that would produce sound. Seller didn't mention that it was barely functional, but at that price I figured no big deal. That's what contact cleaner is for. I mentioned that in a text to Mike and Sergio, and Mike said to bring it on over. We set up a time, and I stopped on by. Of course, I was toting a 12 pack of New Glarus for his troubles!
Ok, this thing was dirty, faded, and a little tattered on the outside (sorry, no before pics). When it got cracked open Mike and I were shocked by two things:
1) It was built like a tank. Big metal (transformers), lots of covers, really well laid out. High end design, components, and build
2) It was SPOTLESS on the inside. Not a speck of dust or dirt.
Contact cleaner helped a little, but Mike suggested letting him take it to work so he and his guys could see if they could squirrel up some new pots for the Volume and Gain. Took a few weeks as the original pots are long out of production. Got an update, and a couple of quick clips from Mike last week. He buttoned it up Friday night, and I swung by and picked it up Saturday.
It still looked like crap on the outside. I grabbed my shoe shine kit, from back in the day when I didn't sit in the basement, in sweats and bright shoes, and went to work. I was going to use Mink Oil, but it had been so long since I'd cracked that shine kit, I didn't have any. Best I had; Doc Martens Wonder Shoe Balsam. Grabbed that, an applicator sponge, brush and buffing towel. Spent about 30 minutes on it. Looks A LOT better. Still needs a little work on the face plate, and a toothbrush on the knobs.
Sounds pretty good. Here's a clip from a recent thread. It's around the 30:00 mark.
And, here it is! Of course, that 1x12 already had something on it by the time the HG-70 showed up. I had to find something to put it on! I still need to find some suitable footswitches for Reverb and Channel switching. Any ideas?
When I traded my DG30 (and '04 HBII) to Mike a couple of months ago I commented that I was going to need something to replace the DG30. I couldn't let a sweet 1x12 sit there with nothing on it. Sergio and I had been talking about a particular used HG-70 that was on Ebay for about $300 (plus $80 shipping). It looked a little rough, and there was just something that turned both of us away, at the time. That and the fact that I couldn't really find any info on it.
Anyway, fast forward a month, or 6 weeks, amd Sergio sends me a link to a video from 25 years ago that had about 10 or 15 minutes of Paul and the HG-70. After seeing that, I decided to check and see if the HG70 was still around. Low and behold, it was. Now it was a ridiculous $244.76. At that price, what the heck, worth a shot (even though I'd already found something to sit on that 1x12!).
It shows up and looks like hell, and smells like a barn. Cleaned it up a bit, and rubbed it down with Febreeze, and let it sit for a few days with a bunch of Odor Eliminators around it. When I got around to plugging it in, it made a little bit of sound. Volume and Gain pots on both channels were severely scratchy, and only had a couple of spots that would produce sound. Seller didn't mention that it was barely functional, but at that price I figured no big deal. That's what contact cleaner is for. I mentioned that in a text to Mike and Sergio, and Mike said to bring it on over. We set up a time, and I stopped on by. Of course, I was toting a 12 pack of New Glarus for his troubles!
Ok, this thing was dirty, faded, and a little tattered on the outside (sorry, no before pics). When it got cracked open Mike and I were shocked by two things:
1) It was built like a tank. Big metal (transformers), lots of covers, really well laid out. High end design, components, and build
2) It was SPOTLESS on the inside. Not a speck of dust or dirt.
Contact cleaner helped a little, but Mike suggested letting him take it to work so he and his guys could see if they could squirrel up some new pots for the Volume and Gain. Took a few weeks as the original pots are long out of production. Got an update, and a couple of quick clips from Mike last week. He buttoned it up Friday night, and I swung by and picked it up Saturday.
It still looked like crap on the outside. I grabbed my shoe shine kit, from back in the day when I didn't sit in the basement, in sweats and bright shoes, and went to work. I was going to use Mink Oil, but it had been so long since I'd cracked that shine kit, I didn't have any. Best I had; Doc Martens Wonder Shoe Balsam. Grabbed that, an applicator sponge, brush and buffing towel. Spent about 30 minutes on it. Looks A LOT better. Still needs a little work on the face plate, and a toothbrush on the knobs.
Sounds pretty good. Here's a clip from a recent thread. It's around the 30:00 mark.
And, here it is! Of course, that 1x12 already had something on it by the time the HG-70 showed up. I had to find something to put it on! I still need to find some suitable footswitches for Reverb and Channel switching. Any ideas?
