The year - 1984, and I'm in college. My amp? A Crate. Not the Crates we all see today, but the original Crate. It actually looked like a Crate - it was a wooden box, unpainted, and gereally sounded like it looked - aweful. Solid state. I had a 60 watt combo, and 3 1x12 cabs - so it was like a half stack.
So, I'm at college, not doing much besides drinking beer, smoking and thinking about and playing guitar. Thought I was good - thought I knew what I was doing - basically thought I was the campus guitar hot-shot. One day a friend is telling me about this guy who's a preacher in the graduate seminary who also plays - tells me he's pretty good. So I get in touch with the guy, and we set up a jam with a guy I know who plays drums, a real amateur-hour bass player, me and the preacher, who's name is Howie. You read that right - he was a preacher. Not the type with the collar and black duds and all - but a preacher nonetheless. (A truly great guy, by the way, who I still talk to once in a while. He had a profound influence on me, my playing, and my philosophical outlook on life - in a non-religious sense).
So...we all show up at the appointed place and time. I'm there with my wall of Crates and 12-pack of Rolling Rock, the drummer has like a 16-piece kit (remember - it was the 80s guys), and the bass player has this old Fender amp. Howie shows up with this tiny little black box with one word on it: "Boogie". I'm thinking to myself - how is this guy going to be heard? He straps on his telecaster, plugs in, and starts to rip. I almost crapped my pants. I had never heard anything like it in my life - well I HAD heard that sound before, but not from anything in real life - only on records (again - this was the 80s, folks). Besides being an incredible guitarist, Howie's sound floored me. It was LOUD, full, articulate - just gave me goosebumps.
He was playing an original Mark I. I had never even heard of Mesa/Boogie. I ask him what kind of amp is that, and he goes - "This? It's a Boogie. Sounds good, doesn't it!" Sounds good? It sounds freaking unbelievable. He let me plug in, and after noodling for something like 3 seconds I knew I had to get my hands on a Boogie. So being a piss-poor college kid I had to save all my money, cut down on the beer intake, and start playing out as much as I could in order to obtain the funds to get one. I quit college, and started playing seriously. It took almost three years to amass the princely sum of $650 which I used to pay for a Studio .22.
That little amp was so good to me. I had found my sound, and I had found my amp. Finally. I have never looked back. I no longer own that little Studio .22, and since then I have owned a .50 Caliber + head and 2x12 road ready cab. Sold all of that to buy a DC-3 (we live and learn, right?). Still have the DC-3 and work with it regularly - it's a lot like the Studio .22. And now finally (and I mean finally - or at least that's what I told the missus) I'm onto a bubinga and wicker F-50 - the acquisition of which is the standard "you're kidding me - I have to wait three months for this to arrive?" story told by many others.
I did end up finishing my education by the way - something I would highly recommend to all - it helps provide the income to buy MORE GEAR!
Thaty's my story.
