Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Do they still make Mouse amps? I have an ancient one that sounds
    great. It has a switch that cuts the master volume so you can wack it
    up full and get great overdrive sounds. It's mains/built-in
    rechargeable battery.
    
    Richard.

    
    Re: .0
    
    To make a speaker jack:
    
    Open up the amp, you should find a pair of resistors going to the
    headphone jack, one connected to the "tip", one to the "ring". 
    Disconnect the one going to the "ring" and solder a wire across the
    other resistor (or remove and replace with a wire).  
    
    You will now get full amp power out this jack, and plugging in here
    will disconnect the internal speaker.
    
    							Brian

	> Do they still make Mouse amps? I have an ancient one that sounds
	> great.

	Wurlitzers (Boston) quoted around $250 for the Maxi.  They do sound
	great, though.  We invested in a 12V battery and a power inverter
	and rented a conventional Sunn and 2 CVs for playing at Harvard Sq.

	The inverter's not a super one, but if you have a fully charged
	battery (important!), the setup works pretty well.  Otherwise, you
	may pick up a slight 60Hz buzz from the inverter.

	/ravi

    I just bought the $100 Markley amp at Mr. C's in Marlborough, and
    I'm very pleased with it.  I checked out some other practice amps but
    this one had that 'sound' I was looking for-LOUD, sounds great clean
    or dirty, excellent sustain.  I looked at some more expensive Fender 
    amps and they didn't seem to pack the same punch that the Markleys
    did.  I'm just a beginning guitarist, but I'd strongly recommend
    them to anyone shopping for an amp in this price range.

    Does anyone have any info on the applause amps. I think it's an older
    company and if I'm not mistaken they were advertized in guitar player
    years ago. I recently saw an ad for (actually it was in a cat.) a small
    amp for cheap money (probably cheap equipment too) but thought I'd ask
    anyhow.
                                            Jim

    
    Re: .5
    
    Just a guess, Ovation has used the Applause brand on some low priced
    guitars for about ten years now, they may have used it on some amps as
    well.

    
    Rathole...
    
    I have the Applause AE-38 electro-acoustic, and its great.
                  
    Great quality.

	Since my 1989 note praising my Mouse amp, it has died. Or rather,
	it died, was fixed locally, and has died again. 

	So I'm looking for info on LectroSonics who made the thing.
	Anyone know of a number where I might get hold of them?

	Thanks,   --Richard.

    Yeah, my little Marshall MS-2 practice amp thing died over the holiday
    as well.  It may just be a bad (new) battery, but I don't really think
    so.  So, I may be in the market for something like this again.  This
    time I'm thinking about something a little more substantial, but not
    much bigger, like a Pignose or something.  Any suggestions?
    
    Greg

	Many thanks to Brian Rost for the Lectrosonics number.
	
	505-892 4501.

	I bought the amp in the U.K. 15 or so years ago, but Lectrosonics
	reckon they never had a U.K. franchise.

	Well, maybe I won't buy another one -- I'll start an import business!

	RE -1 -- the Pignose has just gone back on sale here in the U.K..
	No changes to the original (shame, I'd have liked a charger input
	so's it could be stocked with rechargeable AA batteries).

	Richard.

>	RE -1 -- the Pignose has just gone back on sale here in the U.K..
>	No changes to the original (shame, I'd have liked a charger input
>	so's it could be stocked with rechargeable AA batteries).

    Yeah, they're back on sale here in the US as well.  Decent price, but
    I've never actually heard one.  I'd like an amp I can get a little
    distortion out of without having to carry a stomp box too.  But I don't
    want something large, anything much bigger then the Pignose isn't gonna
    cut it for what I need.
    
    Greg

I had a pignose once, once!

Personally I always thought they sounded like crap. And they were way 
overpriced. A friend of mine's died. We opened it up and discovered it had
a 3 watt audio amp board that could be bought for $9.99 at Layfayette
Electronics, a battery holder, one pot and a cheezy speaker. we then
proceeded to build about 10 of them for friends getting said parts at
Lafayette....but we put a power supply in so we could do away with the 
batteries.

I always liked the dwarfs, but they're long gone...

get a zoom 9002 and some headphones, much better tone!

dbii

    Problem is that I hate headphones.  I really like to hear something
    coming from a speaker, even a little one.  Guess I could get a
    headphone amp and a set of powered walkman speakers or something. 
    Donno if they'd handle the transients without blowing up though...
    
    Greg

   I think the new Pignoses (Pigni?  Pignostrils?) do have an A/C chord in
   addition to battery power.  Don't know what they use for batteries, either.
   Not too bad if it's a few D cells or something, but I've seen some small
   amps that take 8-10 D cells.  That can get expensive, especially if there's
   no A/C option.

   Personally I don't really like the sound of the Pignose.  You have to turn
   it up too loud to get it to distort much, and before the breakup point it
   just sounds like a cheesy amp in a cardboard box (well, that's what it is,
   actually...  :-)).  If you're looking for an amp to play quietly while the
   kid(s) are asleep I think you could do better.

   I have a Pignose clone called a "ColorSound" which suffered from all of
   the above problems.  Even worse, it takes two 6v weirdo batteries that you
   can't get anymore (haven't seen 'em for years).  When I was last able to
   get the batteries for it they ran about $6 each, too.  This amp is
   currently collecting dust in my music room (and doesn't work due to some
   hackery that was attempted on it at one time).  The best sound I ever got
   from this puppy was to run it wide open with the speaker face down on the
   floor.

   -- Sam

   P.S.  Greg, I have one of those Radio Snack telephone amps which were
   discussed somewhere in here if you want to try it.  It sucks too.  :-)

>   P.S.  Greg, I have one of those Radio Snack telephone amps which were
>   discussed somewhere in here if you want to try it.  It sucks too.  :-)
    
    Haha!  Might be worth a shot.
    
    No, I wasn't looking for something with a good tone at low volumes, I'm
    looking for something small to take with me on vacation.  I have a
    little Marshall Microstack and a Fender Sidekick 10 that sound ok for
    practicing at home, but I want something smaller for trips, tone is
    secondary.
    
    Greg

    Brand new Pignose amps sell for about $100. I bought mine used for
    $50 about 5 years ago. I did a little bit of recording with it and 
    got pretty good results by sticking an SM57 in front of it. I usually
    run it with a battery eliminator, otherwise it eats batteries fast.
    
    I've also got a Fender Champ that I paid $100 for. Best C-note I've 
    ever spent. Since I bought this amp, it's all I've been using for
    practice.
    
    Mark  
    
    

    BTW, The small Pignose amp in question is a model 7-100 R. 
    It uses 6 AA batteries. They're definately not bad for what
    Greg has in mind. You could always buy 6 rechargeble nicads
    and a charger if you're planning to use it a lot. 
    
    Mark
    

    I just added a PARK G10R to my collection and it is incredible tone, I
    have a 9002 Zoom, Full Marshall Stack, and Champ 25 SE. This Amp holds
    up great and I have never been happier with a purchase.
    
    Patla

	The thing about the small (8 watt) Mouse, though, is the tone.

	They really do sound good both in 'clean' mode, and with the overdrive
	switched in. They have a really notchy tone control that gives 
	lots of boost all over the place, too. Maybe it's to do with the
	fact that they run off two 6-volt ni-cads. Point them at the wall,
	turn them up and they really pick out the harmonics.
	
	Anyway, I have the entrails of mine here on the desk. I hope to
	get a hardware person to name a few parts so's I can perform major
	surgery on the important bits later in the week. 

	I'd recommend them -- unless the price is silly, of course. (I 
	expect the batteries are at least half the price -- though mine are
	still fine after 15 years!)

	Richard.

>    Brand new Pignose amps sell for about $100. 
    
    I got a catalog from some place recently that wanted $70 for a new one.
    
    Greg

	Just in case this turns out to be useful to anybody else..

	Turned out that in my mouse the preamp chip kept blowing. 
	This was eventually tracked down to a  dodgy poweramp that was
	pulling too much current out of it (or something -- I don't know
	anything about electronics other than what I learned from the 
	multimeter instruction book).

	Replaced the power amp with a new type with the same ins and outs
	(actually, a bit higher power) and it works a treat. Cost of repair
	98 pennies.

	I'll post the chip numbers for the pre- and power amp replacements
	ifanyone's interested (don't have them to hand). 

	Richard.