I scored an HH VS Musician 100 watts Guitar Head

[zhivago]

Is this the sort of thing you guys have .. or is that a PA not a guitar amp? It's cheap at the moment, and pickup only, in my backyard .. hmm ..

Not too much info out there on HH amps via google. I did find this old HH ad from '74 though:

that looks like the guitar one...

I use the PA head...I adore it.


I don't know about collectibility, but as far as sound and performance goes, these amps are the best kept secret out there.

I have gigged mine hard and it just kicks ass.

It overdrives like a Super Duper (it's a mosfet design)

I'm picking up a backup PA one on payday

[zhivago]

one thing...the one in the pic is the guitar one.

the one you link is the PA one I use, by the way

[mjet]

I should take photos of all of mine but here's a shot of a IC100 guitar head with some decent level of detail.

[zhivago]

and let us not forget the most important thing about these amps:

the panel GLOWS in the dark!


it looks fucking cool onstage! 

[k o y l]

Mine is a guitar amp. It even has a "tube setting".
But there is also another input that, from what I read, is more flat sounding (and no EQ) and could be use for almost anything.

I found a couple of reviews of my head on Harmony Central but that's it, no other infos.

one thing...the one in the pic is the guitar one.

the one you link is the PA one I use, by the way

Do you have chicken head knobs ? They look cool.
...and do you put a skull on top of it for live shows ?? 

and let us not forget the most important thing about these amps:

the panel GLOWS in the dark!


it looks fucking cool onstage! 

Yep.. we are a bunch of fucking cool glowers... 

[zhivago]

mine has no chicken head knobs...just the standard ones

no skull ontop either...I'd knock it over all the time when grinding the Jazzmaster across it

[mezcalhead]

Yeah, sorry, I meant the one in the link. Since it's pickup only it'll probably stay cheap .. but I'm actually put off by the non-original knobs. I bet the originals are hard to come by even though they'd be pretty cheap if you did. Also, one of the handles is missing, and it sounds like the handle is an important part of the design!

So what's the difference between the guitar and PA heads?

[k o y l]

Yeah, sorry, I meant the one in the link. Since it's pickup only it'll probably stay cheap .. but I'm actually put off by the non-original knobs. I bet the originals are hard to come by even though they'd be pretty cheap if you did. Also, one of the handles is missing, and it sounds like the handle is an important part of the design!

Tou can get some knobs here: http://www.majelectronic.co.uk/

Laney and HH REPLACEMENT CONTROL KNOBS

HH IC100/IC100S/IC100L/VS Musician/VS Bassamp/MA100 etc. Original knobs are NO longer made or available. We have two options to replace these: 1) Our official replacement is sized between the large and small originals. They are chrome electroplated with knurled sides and look very good. 2) Send in the old knobs and we will refurbish them. This is not rocket science but involves stripping, flatting, priming, washing, and then painting in one of the now available "Chrome look" paints. It is NOT electroplating as the originals were but the results are very good. Very labour intensive - our charge is £2.50 per knob with a minimum order of 10 knobs. For details of how to do this yourself see the M101 service manual. Better wear your finger out than mine...

But since I'm not so interested in having a vintage correct amp, we could trade our knobs.
The only thing is I doubt my amp will have enough knobs for this PA amp.

Anyway if you buy it and get rid of the chicken knobs, I'm your man... 

[k o y l]

I finally plugged the amp.
The front panel lighted up beautifully but I hadn't been able to get a sound from the Mixer ouput. 
2 reasons possible:
- it doesn't work
- I need a stereo cable.

It's quite scary that this output doesn't work because I won't know if the amp work before I get a cab.. not so soon (I don't even know what to choose !)

[mjet]

I finally plugged the amp.
The front panel lighted up beautifully but I hadn't been able to get a sound from the Mixer ouput. 
2 reasons possible:
- it doesn't work
- I need a stereo cable.

It's quite scary that this output doesn't work because I won't know if the amp work before I get a cab.. not so soon (I don't even know what to choose !)

Why would you want to use the mixer output instead of the regular two output jacks?

[k o y l]

regarding using it with no cab, no I wouldn't do that to the amp, it would wreck it   :o

actually, if it's Solid State it's fine to switch it on without connecting it to anything (although why you'd want to do that is beyond me). It's only valve amps that get damaged when you don't have a load connected.

Ok thanks. 
I want to do that because, first I'd like to try it before I can get a cab (to check out if it works well basically) and, if it's not sounding too bad like this, I could you use it plugged in my laptop and play wwithout waking up the neighbours.

The more I think of the features of thiw amp, the more I'm happy I bought it.
This mixer output will be very convenient, even when I'll use a cab. I'll be able to use this output to go in the laptop for live sampling purpose and I'll have the cab sound for the direct guitar parts... Ths cab and direct out sound will probably be very different but that's a good thing, it will help to make the difference between guitar loops and direct guitar playing.

[mjet]

Aha. Maybe something like a Weber attenuator (or some other cabinet simulator) would work to make a direct out with the regular outputs?

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/hpa50.htm

Ce dispositif est une charge factice de 50 watts avec un cric de rendement de écouteur. Le niveau de rendement aux écouteurs est sans interruption réglable d'au loin au plein volume. Une ligne variable dehors est également fournie. Le commutateur de charge commute entre le haut-parleur normal pour l'amplificateur et la charge factice interne. Le cric de rendement de écouteur et sa commande de volume est toujours en activité indépendamment de la position du commutateur de charge.

[k o y l]

I wazs thinking about those kind of things too... but I think I'll go for a power attenuator with a line out.
I bought the HH head mainly for live use and even if I would have like to hear it asap, it would be some kind of waste to not use with a cab at all.

It would have been nice to know if the HH really work but if I buy the Headphone Tap and Dummy Load thing, it will delay the cab acquisition a little bit more..

Ce dispositif est une charge factice de 50 watts avec un cric de rendement de écouteur. Le niveau de rendement aux écouteurs est sans interruption réglable d'au loin au plein volume. Une ligne variable dehors est également fournie. Le commutateur de charge commute entre le haut-parleur normal pour l'amplificateur et la charge factice interne. Le cric de rendement de écouteur et sa commande de volume est toujours en activité indépendamment de la position du commutateur de charge.

Aah those Google translations !    It's even easier for me to understand the english version than the googled french one ! 

[flatfiver]

Bring it with you to a guitar shop under the guise of demo-ing cabinets - that'll tell you if it works!

[mjet]

Aah those Google translations !    It's even easier for me to understand the english version than the googled french one ! 

I didn't even read through it - those are the descriptions that Ted Weber has on his webpage. I always assumed that he had them done professionally. Mind you, sometimes the English versions of things dealing with electronics, wiring, ohmage/impedance, etc are pretty confusing for me too (I can only tell one end of the soldering iron from the other by touching the tip - OW!!)