What Amp Have You Had the Longest?

FuzzyAce

Rock Star
TGF Recording Artist
Messages
8,910
Mine is a Traynor YGM-3 I've had since '95. My bandmate and I used this live for years, got it at a pawnshop for $100. He ended up spray painting the whole thing with shades of blue and muted pink colors, with a drippy smilie face on the grill cloth. :grin It looked pretty cool actually. I need to dig up some old pics.
I ended up taking full ownership of it a bit afterwards and some years later decided to refurbish it. In hindsight, I probably should have just left the look alone for nostalgic reasons, but such is life. Other than the cosmetic mods, I've only done a speaker change to an EVM12S, updated the E-caps, and a few resistors. It really is a great amp.

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It's a 1973 amp btw.
 
That's a great amp to have though. (y)

I’ve gotten more than a few amps since and have all those still, but yeah. That one’s been a staple. Every now and again I think maybe I should sell it and get the Mk II but this one still sounds perfect to me so why fuck with a good thing?
 
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My 1959 clone started as a Granger M100 - basically a EVH spec Plexi head with the early filtering, etc. That ended up not being my thing so I converted it to straight up 70s spec Superlead with the stiffer filtering and then added a bright cap switch and post phase inverter master.

I bought it new 16 years ago. I still love it, gets cranked up pretty regularly.
 
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My 1959 clone started as a Granger M100 - basically a EVH spec Plexi head with the early filtering, etc. That ended up not being my thing so I converted it to straight up 70s spec Superlead with the stiffer filtering and then added a bright cap switch and post phase inverter master.

I bought it new 16 years ago. I still love it, gets cranked up pretty regularly.
Looks loud! :love :grin
 
My Peavey XXL, the solid state XXX, which I go in 2003 or 2004 when I first moved to Florida and needed something to start putting a band together. Then it was the backup amp for every and any band that was playing when I was also playing or watching a show, the entire time I was only singing in bands it was in the trunk of a car just waiting for someone's amp to shit the bed.

The volume drops on it at random now, which I've never heard a solid state amp do. If I could spend $150 and have it fixed I would, I'll most likely never use it to any legit capacity but it's served me and a half dozen or so others very well over the years. I had a few periods, in between Dual Recs/5150's where it was my only amp I had to rely on and while I wasn't a huge fan of the way it sounded all the time, I really learned how to squeeze water from a rock with that thing.
 
I had just been laid off the day after Christmas 1992 (had I known that was coming, I wouldn't have bought my boss a present!), so while on unemployment, collecting a fraction of my pay, I said f-it, and bought a new, all-the-rage, ADA MP-1 in January. $500 at the time was a lot of money for me, especially w/o a job! But I never regretted it! Eventually bought a 2nd one used, as a backup, since I was gigging with it.

So, 32 years old. I replaced the internal battery once in that time. I had heard they lasted about 20 years. Still works perfectly!
 
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I've had the BluGuitar Amp 1 Mercury Edition for about 6 years now. That might be the longest I've owned an amp.


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Another amp I owned for a long time was the Yamaha DG80 combo. Might've had it about as long as the BluGuitar, don't even remember anymore. Still the best modeling amp design ever made in terms of functionality with its motorized pots and ease of use.
 
I have no place posting in this thread but I will anyway :)

I've had this Vypyr 60 the longest. This particular unit I've only had since May 2022 which tells you just how much of a gearwhore I am--nothing lasts long. This was my second one; I bought my first back in 2011.

This one went from stock...

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To modded with an FX loop and a new shell...

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The new shell was built by Brian at BFG Cabs who does phenomenal work. The aesthetics were based on a TC50 combo I saw and fell in love with (pic attached below).
 

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I basically don't keep gear I don't use therefore I don't have any of my previous amps - other than my first Marshall: a Valvestate 8080 I have since the early 90s.

I don't use it anymore, not even as a practice amp, and is stored in my basement because I can't let it go.
 
Peavey Rockmaster preamp and Classic 50/50 power amp, which I bought around 1993.

I used that very power amp along with my Soldano SP-77. Bought them both around 1998 or so. The power amp is long gone, but the Soldano is still there. So that's my longest owned (pre-)amp. Needs servicing...

The longest owned full amp has been a Boogie MkIV, had it for around 20+ years. Sold it when I decided it was time to go DI all the way.
 
The volume drops on it at random now, which I've never heard a solid state amp do. If I could spend $150 and have it fixed I would, I'll most likely never use it to any legit capacity but it's served me and a half dozen or so others very well over the years. I had a few periods, in between Dual Recs/5150's where it was my only amp I had to rely on and while I wasn't a huge fan of the way it sounded all the time, I really learned how to squeeze water from a rock with that thing.
I couldn't write it any better, as this describes my original, (I actually have 2, both have problems), Tech 21 Trademark 60. I've had it since 2004.

I'm getting some cross talk between channels, the clean channel has some dirty in it, VERY far in the background. It's probably not audible, in a band atmosphere, as I can barely hear it alone. The other one I have, I recently got the XLR output fixed, but now the amp completely drops out at band and higher volumes. I should send them both in to Tech 21 for servicing, because they have seen A LOT of different situations, and I've always gotten compliments on my tone with them.

I literally could take that amp anywhere, and use it, 8 days a week.
 
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I’ve had this Loudbox Mini, pre-wireless model, since 2013. At the moment, it’s mostly used with a Roland piano in the living room. On occasion, a guest who plays piano and I can jam through it, and it can connect to a phone with a wire to play backing tracks. A good home workhorse, though I use it to play a gig once in while.
 
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