Two new additions to the Ohlinger Amplifiers' family of distinguished players include North Carolina native picker
Randy Saxon, lead guitarist for David Childers and the Modern Don Juans, and Detroit's own blues blaster
Larry McCray. Each of them chose to have their custom head built on the Model 844 platform and driving a
2X12 cabinet. We're building now and hope to have them finished in time for both artists to tour with them this
spring. Look for us to feature more about these guys on this page soon.
Local musician and my good friend, Wes
"Perk" Perkins, was happy to receive his
new amp recently. It's the first Ohlinger
bass amp made and we named it in his
honor. The Wes Perkins Special Bass will
be offered as a regular model and features
our most powerful chassis yet. Four 6550
100 watts of beautiful, warm tone to the specially designed three speaker
cabinet. I got to jam with Perk and his new amp at a friend's anniversary
shindig last week and everyone on stage agreed it was some of the best bass
guitar tone they had ever heard. Thanks Perk!
Blues fans from all over dropped into Pomeroy, Ohio once again
making this year's Bash one of the best ever. Albert Castiglia, playing
his new signature model, produced some stellar sounds. Bill Perry
followed with his own signature amp. It was interesting to hear the
contrast in tone between the two amps in a large outdoor setting. Both
amps performed superbly and got many compliments including some
kind words from Larry McCray, who brought Bill and his amp up for
some blistering jams during his headline performance.
The 2006 edition of the Pomeroy Big Bend Blues Bash is set to
take place July 28 and 29 and the roster will include our friends
Bill Perry and Albert Castiglia. Both of them will be playing their
Ohlinger Amps. Bill has been out on the road with his for a few
months but Albert will be playing his amp for the first time.
Based loosely on a famous '59 vintage design, the Castiglia
model features two 10 inch speakers in a combo configuration
with a unique dual sound switchable preamp and our first
vacuum tube rectifier circuit. We also have finished a bass
amp for my good friend Wes Perkins and I'll be adding pictures
of both amps soon. Look for sound bites of our amps to be
added to the site in the coming weeks. For more info on The
Blues Bash go to See you there!
Bill Perry arrived in Pomeroy late Thursday afternoon and played his new Ohlinger amp for the first time. He
brought a nice old '335 and a custom "relic" strat style guitar that was built for him by a guy in Manhattan. Both
guitars sounded outstanding through the amp. He was very pleased with the voicing and when I offered to swap
some tubes around so he could try some different sounds he said it was perfect the way it was. I was a bit
concerned when he showed up with the 335 as I had tweaked things with a strat in mind and was afraid it might
come off a little dull with the semi-hollow body and humbuckers but the amp was fairly bright and quite articulate.
Of course, in the hands of a player with Bill's touch it couldn't help but sound good. He liked it so well that he
left his regular amp in the van and played the show that night with the new one (even though I offered him an
a/b box so he could switch between them). On Friday night he pushed it a little harder and everything held up
nicely. We got many compliments on the tone and Bill told me he was very comfortable using it as his main amp.
We plan to make it a standard model. Our first signature amp!
