Solomon Burke is dead.

RIP - Solomon Burke 1940-2010

Seattle Amp Porn - Pt. 1

Our good friend and excellent guitarist/bassist/singer Greg Roberts recently invited Jet City Blues to his Seattle home to check out his collection of vintage amps and guitars.  Here are some photos from that visit for you gearheads out there.  Enjoy!

Greg Roberts with his 1956 Alden guitar.  Similar to the Stratotone guitars, these axes were manufactured by the Harmony company and were available through Montgomery Ward back in the day.

A 1938 Gibson EH-185 amp and matching 11-string lap steel guitar.

The amp and cabinet is in beautiful condition.  The amp has both bass and treble controls, an unusual feature at the time.

The amp is actually a head that can be removed from the cabinet.  Here you can see the original 12" speaker, which still sounds great!

A 1950 Fender Pro Amp with a Jensen P-15N speaker.  This "TV" model cabinet would have had a tweed covering originally, but someone thoughtfully covered it with fake snakeskin sometime in the past.

It's not unusual to find old Fender tweed amps recovered or painted black (a friend of mine has a old Bassman that someone painted red!).  It's a mystery why someone cut the two holes in the bottom back panel here.

A 1963 Fender Reverb tank, prized by many players as the best sounding outboard reverb units.

This cabinet is also the wrong color, with the exception of the back panel.  Fender made the brown tolex covered amps for only three years.

Guild amp, circa 1961-62.  Similar to the Fender Pro it also has a single 15" (Utah) speaker.

Rear view of the Guild amp.  Note the wood reverb/tremolo footswitch.

A 1969 Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp.  This was manufactured shortly after Fender was bought by CBS, but still has the pre-CBS circuitry.  This is the same type of amp that Roy Buchanan played.

Rear view of the Fender Vibrolux Reverb.  Two 10" speakers and reverb/vibrato footswitch.

A Magnatone Model 213 Troubadour amp with reverb, vibrato, and one 12" Utah speaker.

These Magnatone amps have a beautiful true pitch-bending vibrato. 

An early '50s Leilani amp with a 6" speaker and Mother of Toilet Seat covering.  All distortion, all the time!

Last but not least - a very nice 1967 Gibson ES-330 guitar with single-coil pickups.

I am aware of a couple of other amp/guitar collections here in the Seattle area.  Keep an eye out for more amp porn to follow soon!