A Journey
I am beginning
to write this article the same day that I received my "off the assembly
line" Pritchard Sword 4 x 10 amp. I have been playing a hollow body jazz
guitar through it on which I recently dressed the frets for a client. Using
the "A" voice on the clean channel, I bring down the mids, turn
up the bass and treble and turn off the reverb. Sound is clean, full, woody,
bouncy, and I don't want to stop playing. Earlier, I was playing my Callaham
"S" model using the Practice Jack™. A good sound at such a
low volume. No buzzy master volume for me thanks!
I first
heard about Eric Pritchard from a mutual friend, the late great Bud Armel,
who's band "The Country Krackers" used to back up Patsy Cline in
Winchester, Va. before she became famous. Bud told me about some guy who was
building these three channel solid state amps up in West "by God"
Virginia. I didn't think much of it at the time as I was pretty content with
my 65' Blackface Super Reverb with Kendrick speakers. Although my setup was
not perfect, I had gotten frustrated with the "tone" quest of many
years.
There
appeared an ad in the classified section of Vintage Guitar
Magazine in which Eric was looking for guitarists to try out
his amps. I called to see if he could do a modification on
my Super. I took the 40 minute ride, and a beautiful ride
it is, to Eric's house out in the boonies. I found Eric to
be a warm, funny, and brilliant person who was on a mission.
During that visit, I learned of Eric's association with Paul
Reed Smith. I was impressed that he had designed and built
much of the equipment that Paul used to build his guitars
in his first factory. Eric had also designed the Harmonic
Generator amp that PRS had on the market years ago. A couple
of the PRS amps still sit in Eric's shop.
I
played through some of Eric's amps. The amp 11 had interchangeable
preamps to emulate the sound of different amps. It was quite
fancy. He also had a simple single channel amp which I liked
the best for a clean sound. I was not too crazy about the
distortion sounds.
I
left a little disappointed, but was happy to check out something
new. Not too long after that, Eric called to see if I would
come up to try some modified amps. I couldn't resist. After
several trips, I realized that Eric was not going to give
up.
I
was impressed enough that I became part of the team. How often
do you get the opportunity to have an amplifier custom built
to your specs! I had no idea what I was doing. I could play
through an amp and say whether I liked it or not, but trying
to put into words what I was hearing was uncharted territory.
It was more involved than simply "less bass", "
more treble", etc. I had to learn the vocabulary of the
engineer. Frequencies, decibels, ripple, and more.
Eric
and I became each others teachers. We would get an amp sounding
pretty good, and then Eric would build all new prototypes.
Different names for knobs, different speaker cabinets, different
speakers, different output section, multiple models! With
each new batch of proto-types, it was like starting all over
again. After getting the amps sounding good in the shop, I
would use them on a gig and they would not sound as good.
We couldn't figure it out. We finally realized that testing
the amps indoors with standing waves and reflective surfaces
was part of the problem. So out we go into the driveway with
the hot sun, bugs, barking dogs, rain, snow, whatever. We
only had my Super Reverb to use as a comparison.
At
some gigs, I would have four or five amps plugged in and would
switch from amp to amp during the night to test them and take
notes.
There
were many times that I wanted to give up and I felt like I
didn't know what I was doing. On many occasions, we would
just keep trying different things until we found something
that worked. Luckily, our visits were intermittent enough
that time would heal my aching head and I could get back to
it again. This went on for about ten years.
Finally,
Eric was ready to start selling the amps Jan. 03', but I still
was not happy with them. We spent a couple of long days going
over everything, and sorted out the problems I was hearing.
Hopefully, the rest will be history.
My
approach with the amps has been to come up with a good clean
sound at a loud volume, and then be able to switch to the
sound of output distortion at a controlled volume. I was going
after a SRV sound. The Pritchard Amp gives me that and more.
I also like not having to mess with tubes and distortion pedals
anymore. When I have had problems with my Super in the past,
it usually was a tube problem.
My
opinion is that the Pritchard Amp is designed for live performance.
It is loud enough to cut through the mix and works well in
an outdoor setting. Most amps the same size played outside
sound like toys compared to the Pritchard.
The
amps were tested primarily using my Callaham "S"
model guitar with Fralin pickups. If you own a strat, you
will like the amp. Less time was spent using Eric's PRS. We
also had an inexpensive strat that was used.
Much
time was spent on the "A" voice. It is intended
to simulate the sound of an amplified acoustic guitar. I believe
it is a more pleasing sound because it does not have the "quack"
of an under the saddle acoustic pickup. You also do not have
the feedback issue at higher volumes.
I
had stopped performing in 2001 after 30 some years, because
I did not enjoy it as much as I used to. It is like a part
of me had died, which was pretty depressing. I recently decided
to start playing again, and part of the reason, is that I
know I have an amp that will be fun to play, and will sound
good every night. I am also looking forward to recording a
new CD using the Pritchard.
I
hope that there will be more products from Eric. We have discussed
many ideas from foot pedals to guitars. I also hope to continue
as a consultant and will definitely continue as a fan and
friend of Eric Pritchard.
Phil
"Fly" Zuckerman
click for Phil's website
8 - 1 - 03'
More
history:
History summary page
Carver Stories
Phil Zuckerman
PRS History
Deja Vu Audio
Pritchard Amps
