The Chetboard

I admit my weakness. I don't know a lot about amps and guitars. I know how to play 'em, but I only have a smattering of knowledge on the collector's side, because I never had the money for 'em.  Never had time to look into guitar varieties  because too busy playing and learning to pick' what I had. Years ago a family member helped me purchase a nylon string electric, (Epiphone) and boy was I ever proud. Even has Chet's signature written across it.  With no amp for it,  I focused on my classical guitar. Ironic, isn't it?

Then my job went to Mexico, and I had no income, so, believe it or not, I went years without an amp. It stood as an unfulfilled longing for years. 

Well, recently, with help from my church, I was able to purchase a Peavy Vypyr 3, 40 watt amp, and I'm pretty tickled with it. What attracted me was the wide variety of controls. There is a knob on it which has several stomp box effects, without resorting to a pedal. Very cool. And the price was also very attractive. Only 200 bucks on Amazon with free shipping. Local music store would only go $253. 

Amazon won.


So for weeks now, I've been tweaking the settings, looking for the ideal tone setting. At first I tended to go a little heavy on the effects, but I'm pretty much settled and have the effects a lot more subtle, kind of like Chet would do. From the start, I was wanting a clean sound, for the most part. Chet played clean most of the time. Not that he never experimented with effects, but it was the exception, not the rule with him.

Now for the question: From you guys out there in Chet-land, how could I have done better in trying to get a tone similar to Chet's? (For a comparable price range) 

I've heard that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.. So teach me, I'm willing to learn.

Chet has his own personal touch with his fingers on the guitar. No amp can copy that. Even if you had Chet's own original standel amp it would still sound like you and me. I'm sure Chet could make any amp sound good due to having that magic touch. Glad that you like your amp. Cool! Now have fun using it. All the best Joeb.

Believe me, I'm enjoying it. I had not priced amps for a long time, and I was shocked that they could pack so many effects and value into two hundred bucks. When I first sew and heard the amp, I was thinking I would have to shell out four or five hundred for it.

Actually, the music store was asking $253 for it, and wouldn't go any lower. But when I saw Amazon offering it for 200, I nearly fainted.