Quick report about a new amp I obtained recently and am sort of over the moon about. But first, for probably 25 years I've been toting a 2 1/2' tall Trace Elliot amp to gigs, hefting it in the back of my car, wheeling it in and out of the house on a little two-wheeler cart. I hate schlepping gear but that thing was a monster and served me well. Not sure what it weights but easily 35 lbs I'd think.
I became intrigued with Schertler products a long time ago and, caveat--they advertise on this site--so take that as you may. You'll notice I rarely make posts like this. So it had become time to scale down in weight but I didn't want to give up the big sound the Trace Eliot provided. All the guys I was playing with had amps 1/5 the size. Settled sight unseen on Schertler's small GIULIA Y amp. There's a reason they're known for their superb quality and I got wind gypsy jazz cats in Europe were using this one for club dates. Good enough for them, good enough for a mandolin player I thought.
My setup for this is I have an ancient (but wonderful sounding) AKG C406 microphone and a custom-made rig that mounts over the tailpiece and extends the mic up towards the treble F-hole on my Nugget. There, I have a real acoustic sound, lots of control and all the volume I could ever need for 99% of the gigs I play, usually small outdoor events, weddings, clubs, etc.
Here's what that custom mount attachment looks like and I've been talking about this on the Cafe since 1996, one of the oldest single pages on the site.
Here's the amp, picture taken from the Schertler web site:
What I like about this amp, why I'm posting this:
- It's small, compact, and comparably light compared to what I had.
- Affordable, in my opinion
- Great sound, particularly warm mid tones... I want a mandolin that still sounds like an acoustic mandolin when amplified. This allows my Nugget to sound exactly the way I hear it, only amplified.
- Simple to use--I'm not necessarily an electronics/P.A. geek so this really works for me.
- And, well, it looks great, also my opinion. A local amp guy at a gig this weekend flipped over it. Said one of the best crafted cabinets he'd ever seen.
So there's also another reason I'm posting this. I was so impressed by it that I asked the rep Drago at the NAMM Show if they'd consider doing one as a giveaway. They were enthusiastic and said yes, and a version of this in black is sitting in the Cafe office this moment, so after we finish this Collings MT2 giveaway this will probably be next.
I know there are a lot of great small amps out there and the technology has really advanced. This post is not to suggest anything other than how pleased I am with my purchase, that's all. Lots of good gear to be had.
Link to all the specs, questions you may have.
Taking an eyeball approach, I'd say the face is 1' x 1' and about 9" deep.
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