Thinking of organizing an "Amp Fest" in my area...

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Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

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So, I kind had an idea today. I am a huge collector of guitar gear in general, but I always get more excited to try out amps over anything else.

My buddies and I have a pretty nice collection of amps going, and we are actually planning to get together at my place next weekend and just shoot out all of the amps in our collection, just for fun. My place is a bit cramped, so I'll be doing a re-arranging of things to try and fit everything in one room.

This got me thinking....our local show venue is huge, and I know the owner personally. He always has given me great deals and my pick of dates if I ever wanted to book anything, so the thought crossed my mind.....

If I rented out the venue for a day, would people actually pay a couple dollars to come and be able to check out a bunch of boutique amps? It's a budding idea. I'm not entirely sure how to structure it. May be difficult to have all the amps be playable at once, how do I keep people from not fucking up my gear, how do I attract enough people to make it worth the effort, would people even be into this idea?

So I'm coming to you guys. does this idea sound dumb? I know if someone else did this in my area, I'd be all about meeting up with local musicians, trying out some awesome gear and making new friends/contacts in the process. How should I structure it? Should I have other people bring their stuff if they were interested? Or limit to friends and acquaintances? I have about 22 amps in my possession right now. Is that enough to attract people?

Give me your thoughts on this, how to best organize it or if it's just a dumb idea all together. PS: I'm in Erie PA, which is within 3 or so hours of Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Akron, Youngstown and Columbus, so there is some decent population around me.
 
I think yngzakynch and his friends live near you....
 
We used to do ampfests a lot. They kind of died off for some reason, but they were always fun. I got to try amps I never would have had the chance otherwise. I don't think most people would have an issue with paying $10 to rent a place. The only issue is make sure nobody is a hog and just stands there soloing for 25 minutes when there are other amps to be played. Oh yeah, also invoke the NO BEER BOTTLES OR CANS ON AMPS rule.
 
sutepaj":33d6h6uz said:
We used to do ampfests a lot. They kind of died off for some reason, but they were always fun. I got to try amps I never would have had the chance otherwise. I don't think most people would have an issue with paying $10 to rent a place. The only issue is make sure nobody is a hog and just stands there soloing for 25 minutes when there are other amps to be played. Oh yeah, also invoke the NO BEER BOTTLES OR CANS ON AMPS rule.
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How did you go about it? Did you try to advertise it anywhere? Or was it just among friends and local musicians?
 
Bad.Seed":2f71ztwo said:
sutepaj":2f71ztwo said:
We used to do ampfests a lot. They kind of died off for some reason, but they were always fun. I got to try amps I never would have had the chance otherwise. I don't think most people would have an issue with paying $10 to rent a place. The only issue is make sure nobody is a hog and just stands there soloing for 25 minutes when there are other amps to be played. Oh yeah, also invoke the NO BEER BOTTLES OR CANS ON AMPS rule.
Click to expand...

How did you go about it? Did you try to advertise it anywhere? Or was it just among friends and local musicians?
Click to expand...

It was from other local musicians from our area. We all met on HCAF. I really would not worry about it being "too small"...you would be surprised how long it takes if you have 20 amps and everyone wants a shot. I think 10-15 guys is just about the right size.
 
I’m about an hour and a half from Buffalo or Erie so I would be interested. I remember hearing about amp fears on here but it certainly has been a while.
 
I am in Cleveland and would be in! We had one around here a few years ago and it was pretty sweet!

My amp collection is quite light these days however. Down to a new Marshall DSL100HR and a Randall RM100KH that was built for Kirk's personal use. He received 2 of them and I picked up the third from a friend of the Randall rep at the time.
 
Sounds like a great idea.
Maybe a spring thing since winter hasn't even touched us yet.

I am from Meadville originally and lived in "Dreary" for a few years.
Wheres the venue yins play at /or planning to rent?

Used to go see Billy Sheahan's band down on Peach close to the dock years ago.
Cant recall the name of the bar though.
 
If anyone ever does a South Florida jam I have a 2203 and a TSL 100. Bunch of guitars. :shrug:
 
I have ran and been to several. You need lots of space to do it right. A church has great sound and if you use one on a off day everyone pitch in a few bucks and donation to the church. Band practice space also works good if big enough. Not a bad idea to have a drummer and bass player set up.
Have everyone take a space and set up what gear they bring. Take turns going around as a group letting the individual show how they use the gear. Follow with questions and let anyone try out the gear at that spot. Each sould take less than a half hour probably.

After that have a loose jam taking turns with the drummer and bass.

Make sure water or whatever is there. Bring your own food. It can easy take most of a day.

You can find people to do it on forums and Facebook. Ten, twenty people is plenty.
 
IMO one of the reasons there are not as many amp fests as there were back in the HCAF days, is that it ends up being 20 pages worth of blowhards making up excuses/bragging/lying as to why they can't make it.

"My daughter's second cousin's grandaddy uncle-aunt is celebrating her 6 month birthday that day and I have to be there so obviously I can't make the fest."

"Pending the acceptance of my passport and clearance by the Department of Homeland Security, I will be vacationing in the south of France the entire month of the amp fest so you will need to reschedule it."

"I was recently appointed squad leader of the Covert Strike Force Special Operations Team (CSFSOT)." "I don't know about you but I answer to God and Country before Amp Fest."

"According to the record company my new single "drops" the same day as the amp fest, so I need to be available to conduct interviews, hold press conferences and catch planes to fly gigs and likely will not make the fest."
 
We used to have cool ampfests in Austin every year, but after awhile there were excuses just like those ^
 
I sometimes wonder if it is because amps were not so "available". Daver101 used to get all of the newest modded Marshall style amps and have the sweetest gear, so every ampfest you knew there would be some awesome new amps, coupled with SgtThump and HMJ (made me fall in love with VHT) and the rotating cast. There was always some awesome shit that was not around everywhere and so available. Now it seems like with youtube everyone thinks they can just hear a clip and decide, but it is apparent to me that is impossible. Ampfests rule.
 
I would love to do one here in the MD/DC/southern PA area.

The mother of all amps fests was James Lugo's many years ago when he was in LA. It was a very controlled shootout that was recorded in very high quality audio. I still reference that when I want to remind myself how different amps actually sound (and how so many actually sound very similar).
 
I have tried getting similar things together in the Seattle area, but things always happen. Now im down to mostly preamps and A Fractal plus a couple Mesa's, so not much to contribute.

The one thing I did learn while trying to make one work was.

Either get insurance or make everyone sign a waiver taking responsibility for there own gear. Make sure its in writing and everyone signs. Even if everyone is friends, someone will show up with a friends cousins drunk nephew.
 
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