uburoibob
09-08-2011, 08:09 PM
First, my Mackie VT-12. These may be the rarest amps on the planet. Everyone has heard of them and nobody has seen one in person. With good reason...there were only 100 made - Ever. At least according to the folks I spoke with at Mackie.
Here's the story:
Mackie was VERY late in delivering these. First they continued working on the voicing algorithms well after they started advertising it. Then, it had some production issues as they were trying to get manufacturing going. Then LOUD technologies bought Mackie and proceeded to do to it what they've done to Mackie. Then, once they got the voicing to their liking and got the manufacturing kinks out, a year and a half had gone by since they started advertising it. There were a lot of deposits held by dealers where the buyers gave up and demanded their money back. THEN, after they produced only the first 100 units, the factory where they were making them burned down, taking the tooling for the mechanicals and electrical components with it.
LOUD decided enough was enough, pulled the ads, divided up the 100 amps among dealers who had a hard time convincing the people who'd had deposits to re-up. Then a couple of bad reviews got circulated.
NOW, for the good news...
It's actually a very cool and INCREDIBLY versatile amp!
The presets, for the most part, suck (which to my ears is the case with most multi-effect pedals) but the amp and effects are totally tweakable. From the amp itself, you have somewhat limited tweaking capabilities. BUT...Plug it into a USB port and bring up the software editor on your computer, and it's a MUCH broader palette, including rewiring the way the preamp tubes are mapped, revoicing the speaker, control over all the effects, etc. So, if you ever wanted the equivalent of an amp construction kit, this is it. Very cool if you want absolute control over every nuance of your sound.
For 120 watts solid state, it's not the loudest amp in the world, but there's an extra 60 watts in the power amp that can feed another speaker. The downside is that the second speaker does not work in stereo, despite the fact that the effects are in stereo (you can use it as a USB interface I believe). You can also set it to work at 60, 30, 16, 8, 4, 2 or 1 watt of output power which makes all your preset amps sound great at any volume. It uses a pair of 12AX7s in the preamp stage.
The exceptional part and one of the most attractive things about it is that it weighs 24 lbs and has a mic input circuit that, no matter how dirty your guitar is, delivers clean output to the same speaker.
And, while not a collector's item, it's kinda cool knowing you have one of 100 that will ever be made!
So... long story short, I wanted one of these forever. When a brand new one came up on eBay last year, I snagged it. I also snagged the long floorboard that gives you complete switching control as well as the little pedal that just lets you switch between the four sounds in a bank.
Price: $1100 for the works - Amp, cover, two pedals, software plus shipping
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_1.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_2.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_3.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_4.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_5.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_6.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_7.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_8.JPG
Second, this 1980s, Made In Japan Fender Sidekick 35. In great shape, complete with footswitch. Solid State.
Price: $150 plus shipping
http://bobmartin1111.com/FenderSidekick/Sidekick35_1.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/FenderSidekick/Sidekick35_3.JPG
Here's the story:
Mackie was VERY late in delivering these. First they continued working on the voicing algorithms well after they started advertising it. Then, it had some production issues as they were trying to get manufacturing going. Then LOUD technologies bought Mackie and proceeded to do to it what they've done to Mackie. Then, once they got the voicing to their liking and got the manufacturing kinks out, a year and a half had gone by since they started advertising it. There were a lot of deposits held by dealers where the buyers gave up and demanded their money back. THEN, after they produced only the first 100 units, the factory where they were making them burned down, taking the tooling for the mechanicals and electrical components with it.
LOUD decided enough was enough, pulled the ads, divided up the 100 amps among dealers who had a hard time convincing the people who'd had deposits to re-up. Then a couple of bad reviews got circulated.
NOW, for the good news...
It's actually a very cool and INCREDIBLY versatile amp!
The presets, for the most part, suck (which to my ears is the case with most multi-effect pedals) but the amp and effects are totally tweakable. From the amp itself, you have somewhat limited tweaking capabilities. BUT...Plug it into a USB port and bring up the software editor on your computer, and it's a MUCH broader palette, including rewiring the way the preamp tubes are mapped, revoicing the speaker, control over all the effects, etc. So, if you ever wanted the equivalent of an amp construction kit, this is it. Very cool if you want absolute control over every nuance of your sound.
For 120 watts solid state, it's not the loudest amp in the world, but there's an extra 60 watts in the power amp that can feed another speaker. The downside is that the second speaker does not work in stereo, despite the fact that the effects are in stereo (you can use it as a USB interface I believe). You can also set it to work at 60, 30, 16, 8, 4, 2 or 1 watt of output power which makes all your preset amps sound great at any volume. It uses a pair of 12AX7s in the preamp stage.
The exceptional part and one of the most attractive things about it is that it weighs 24 lbs and has a mic input circuit that, no matter how dirty your guitar is, delivers clean output to the same speaker.
And, while not a collector's item, it's kinda cool knowing you have one of 100 that will ever be made!
So... long story short, I wanted one of these forever. When a brand new one came up on eBay last year, I snagged it. I also snagged the long floorboard that gives you complete switching control as well as the little pedal that just lets you switch between the four sounds in a bank.
Price: $1100 for the works - Amp, cover, two pedals, software plus shipping
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_1.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_2.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_3.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_4.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_5.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_6.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_7.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/MackieAmp/MACKIE_VT12_8.JPG
Second, this 1980s, Made In Japan Fender Sidekick 35. In great shape, complete with footswitch. Solid State.
Price: $150 plus shipping
http://bobmartin1111.com/FenderSidekick/Sidekick35_1.JPG
http://bobmartin1111.com/FenderSidekick/Sidekick35_3.JPG