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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

1:59

thank my patreon members and everyone

2:01

that's done uh you know put money in the

2:05

tip jar or super thanks or yeah I really

2:08

appreciate it you guys are fantastic and

2:11

and mean the world to me and you're what

2:13

keeps the show going so thank you if you

2:15

want to find out more about patreon or

2:17

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

3:25

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]

4:44

[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]

4:58

[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

7:33

[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

11:34

eminent speaker Studio Pro 40 get you

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one