My audition is tommorrow

Pine Apple Slim

Armchair Expert
As a 2nd guitar player for the 50s-60s band. I'm stoked to get to play some guitar. They actually have gigs lined up. I went to see them play last weekend and I'm confident I can do the job, which is basically to take some pressure off the other guitarist as he also sings most of the male lead. It's a cool bunch of older 50-60 yr olds like me. 2 female singers, the guitarist, bass, & drums.
At first I was enamoured with my new HH Strat build and Mustang combo, but after hearing them last week and cycling thru my collection again I've decided to use my Gretsch 5120. The other guitarist plays very clean with a Strat, delay, and a Frontman combo. The 5120 will be a slightly different sound that I think will compliment their music nicely. Plus I think I could used the Bigsby some with this music. Otherwise I'd prb just take my best tele.
As for amp,I've narrowed it down to 2 options. Not gonna take the Mustsang 1. It sounds great at home but ive used it at jams a couple of times and was not happy with it. Could never get it dialed in to the room. My home settings just did not work with a full band at volume.
The buckers in my HH Strat are just to hot for good cleans with my other amps.
So, it's either
1.My VC2110R straight in. Only drawback is the small verb tank is a little week. I got the problem fixed with it, it just had a loose tube. This has been my main amp for 20yrs, and it's sounding great with a fresh tubes.
But IMO, it's a straight to amp, it's never sounded that great to me with pedals driving the front end.
2. Micro Terror-1-12 cab. The 5120 is awesome thru this thing, but I'll need pedals, at least reverb. I cobbled together a stripped down board, comp. OD, delay, and reverb. It's an awesome setup but Im nervous about bringing all those pieces to my debut. worried something will malfunction, I'll be too distracted with pedals and so forth.
The Micro & pedals is my fav the 5120 plays so well with em.
But the ol standby sounds good too and is simple, plug in and play.
I can't make up my mind, but I'm leaning toward the VC, and maybe break out the MT and pedals after I settle in (if they keep me).
 
Here's the VC if you've never seen one. Bought it new around 93-94.
Made in St Louis before they moved production overseas.
18 watts, 2 EL84s , 10" 16ohm Eminence speaker, small reverb tank.
1 channel, gain & master vol, bass & treble knobs, and mid boost button.
No effects loop. I've never owned a Marshall or a Vox but people say it has characteristics of each.
Can't do pristine cleans, but nice hairy cleans when the master is cranked. The lower output you pickups the better the cleans are. Of course if you overdrive the preamp you get nice dirt.
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The 5120

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I would say that your thoughts on keeping it simple for the audition are good ones. Good luck, and have a great time.
 
you want to put your best foot forward for that first impression. i'd do the gretsch, microterror and board IF all pieces were functioning perfectly. if i had even the slightest concern, then i'd go with the gretsch straight into the amp.

best of luck and have fun with it!
 
Thanks everybody for the encouragement!
I just realized I don't have any spare 11-49 strings for the Gretsch, so I'm gonna take my parts tele with the Wylde rails as a backup if I break a string.
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Have fun PAS :thu:

As for which guitar to use, try them all when you are playing with them. Some songs will sound better with one guitar versus the other pending the song.
 
I have the non-reverb equipped version of that VC20. It hasn't gotten much use since I got the Marshall Class 5 though. I still have it's bigger brother, the VC30 too.
 
How did it go?

Great. The Gretsch and VC was all I needed. Complimented the clean/delayed Strat very well.
Ran thru 20+ tunes with no problems. Mostly 50s girl group stuff like the Shirells and so forth.
All just variations on 1 6m 4 5 for the most part. it's gonna be fun learning all the little runs and fills, and imitating keys or horn riffs, etc. I mean it's not my favorite genre but it means I get to play some live electric guitar.

Turns out the bass player was an old mate I hadn't seen in 30 yrs. and I played Little League with the drummer, lol.
 
Great. The Gretsch and VC was all I needed. Complimented the clean/delayed Strat very well.
Ran thru 20+ tunes with no problems. Mostly 50s girl group stuff like the Shirells and so forth.
All just variations on 1 6m 4 5 for the most part. it's gonna be fun learning all the little runs and fills, and imitating keys or horn riffs, etc. I mean it's not my favorite genre but it means I get to play some live electric guitar.

Turns out the bass player was an old mate I hadn't seen in 30 yrs. and I played Little League with the drummer, lol.
Very cool; it sounds like it will be a fun gig. Enjoy!
 
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