Called Gregg Germino today...

[Gr8Scott]

I wanted to know if the Masonette 25 was going to be totally dead or if he would make them again in the future. He said that he wouldn't be producing them anymore. He told me to try the Club 40 instead. Says the cleans are a little better on the Club 40. I think he might be right from the clips I've heard. Really nice guy. Called me back after he had to take another call.

I also asked about the colors. I don't like anything but the black option and the white option. I really don't like the garish red or purple. He mentioned that Fat Sounds sometimes get orange versions of his amps. Orange I can live with too. Much better than the other choices IMHO.

 

[wixedmords]

Re: Called Gregg Germino today...

Thats cool G8S, is he going to create another low wattage amp?

I want to own one Germino before old age takes me. I am just not sure if it would be the Lead or Bass version of the Headroom 100.

I know he is building more "classic" amps, but it would be interesting to hear something with an extra pre tube, even though I am finding more gain provides less definition, the older I get.

His stuff sure looks and sounds great.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Called Gregg Germino today...

I think the Club 40 will be his lowest wattage offering. It's got the same transformer tha the Lo Vo 55 has, but it's layering material isn't as efficient. Very neat concept IMHO. As soon as my car is fixed and sold and the doctor bills are paid for, I'll work on getting myself a Club 40. He's right about the cleans. They are very nice and are no doubt better than any of his other offerings. The lead tone is still sweet plexi with very EL-34 like flavor, but the cleans are very fender 6L6. I think it's his best creation to date from what I gather. A bluesbreaker type combo with 2x12 in an orange cab would be the ultimate tone machine IMHO. Great cleans and great distortion. I need me one of these and a Splawn Pro Mod with KT-88's in it. That would cover most playing that I do quite nicely.

I don't think he's moving in the low wattage direction. He's been moving up in wattage rather than down in wattage. He's made a few different 100W versions of the super lead that Hendrix and others used.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Called Gregg Germino today...

There's been a few popping up on Ebay recently, like the Rockgrinder. He's the type of builder, where you just describe what your favorite tones are, and he tells you which one to get. I like those amps to look as classic as possible, so I'd go with the black ones. You might get tired of looking at an orange or green amp after awhile. Are you wanting a combo or head/cab? It looks like his amps would be tighter sounding with a closed back cab, instead of the combo.

Scroll down the page on this link, to hear the Germino amps.
http://www.steelbender.com/videogallery.html