2LoudAudio User Review
Like a lot of people, I was heavily influenced by the movie Gimme Shelter, which besides documenting the Rolling Stones’ travels across the United States in 1969, provided a tantalizing view of the guitars and stage amps used on that notable tour. Sure you could ogle over Mick Taylor’s sunburst Les Paul, but a lot of lead guitarists had those by then. No, this was the debut of the Ampeg Dan Armstrong plexiglas guitar, which in the hands of the grim reaper himself, Mr. Keith Richards, began a sonic legend that continues to this day. Powerful, cutting, mid-range sound plugged directly into a bank of hotter-than-hell SVT’s, and recorded for all posterity by David and Albert Maysles. Listen to Keith playing Under My Thumb at Altamont, with the driving sound of the Dan Armstrong providing a perfect complement to the violence and anarchy surrounding the stage. Is it any wonder that thousands of guitarists went out and bought their own Dan Armstrong’s between 1969 and 1971, hoping to unlock the sound of the devil himself?
Fast forward now about thirty years. I’m well past my starving garage band days, gainfully employed, and Gimme Shelter only gets watched about twice a year. But I finally have some extra money to indulge my high school guitar fantasies, and one Saturday in 2005 finds me walking through the aisles of the Fall Philly guitar show. Hundreds of Les Pauls, hundreds of Fenders, but there tucked into a small booth sponsored by Gordy’s Music sits a single, beautiful, plexiglas beacon of ice coolness just waiting for me to buy it. And bought it is, scoring an early A931D serial number, fuller ’59-style neck, two pickups, and an OEM case with handle and latches all intact. Thrown in for free are 40 years of mojo and a hand-stitched purple suede guitar strap from back in the day.
After that first guitar it started to get more serious, with numerous Dan Armstrong purchases on eBay and the occasional sale of a guitar when I could trade up to something even better. Along the way I scored my first guitar with a Sustain Treble pickup, considered by many to be the holy grail of DA accessories. I’m now down to just about half a dozen guitars, representing a cross-section of early ’69’s, a couple with particularly good action, one with a modified Strat-style bridge for opening tuning, and one with what appears to be a leftover prototype body. It’s an honor just to own them.
What’s amazing to realize after all this time is how well the guitar is designed and constructed. Dan Armstrong was known as a repairman, not a luthier. Ampeg was a well-known amp manufacturer with zero experience in electric guitars. It’s a testament to everyone involved that the guitars came out as well as they did, and are constructed to such a high level of quality that most are still going strong 40 years later. Hard maple necks, Brazilian fret boards, highly machined plexiglas bodies and Schaller tuners – these things were built to last.
So when the wife’s out and you can finally turn it up, strap on the Dan Armstrong and play along to Dead Flowers, Sympathy, or even Midnight Rambler. Pretend it’s 1969, channel your inner Keef into those first position chords and let it ring out, right on your hip, enjoying the tone and sustain that only this unique combination of materials and workmanship can provide. A time channel to the days when Dan Armstrong’s, SVT’s and Mr. Keef created a stage sound that will last the ages.
2LoudAudio
July 2013
Fast forward now about thirty years. I’m well past my starving garage band days, gainfully employed, and Gimme Shelter only gets watched about twice a year. But I finally have some extra money to indulge my high school guitar fantasies, and one Saturday in 2005 finds me walking through the aisles of the Fall Philly guitar show. Hundreds of Les Pauls, hundreds of Fenders, but there tucked into a small booth sponsored by Gordy’s Music sits a single, beautiful, plexiglas beacon of ice coolness just waiting for me to buy it. And bought it is, scoring an early A931D serial number, fuller ’59-style neck, two pickups, and an OEM case with handle and latches all intact. Thrown in for free are 40 years of mojo and a hand-stitched purple suede guitar strap from back in the day.
After that first guitar it started to get more serious, with numerous Dan Armstrong purchases on eBay and the occasional sale of a guitar when I could trade up to something even better. Along the way I scored my first guitar with a Sustain Treble pickup, considered by many to be the holy grail of DA accessories. I’m now down to just about half a dozen guitars, representing a cross-section of early ’69’s, a couple with particularly good action, one with a modified Strat-style bridge for opening tuning, and one with what appears to be a leftover prototype body. It’s an honor just to own them.
What’s amazing to realize after all this time is how well the guitar is designed and constructed. Dan Armstrong was known as a repairman, not a luthier. Ampeg was a well-known amp manufacturer with zero experience in electric guitars. It’s a testament to everyone involved that the guitars came out as well as they did, and are constructed to such a high level of quality that most are still going strong 40 years later. Hard maple necks, Brazilian fret boards, highly machined plexiglas bodies and Schaller tuners – these things were built to last.
So when the wife’s out and you can finally turn it up, strap on the Dan Armstrong and play along to Dead Flowers, Sympathy, or even Midnight Rambler. Pretend it’s 1969, channel your inner Keef into those first position chords and let it ring out, right on your hip, enjoying the tone and sustain that only this unique combination of materials and workmanship can provide. A time channel to the days when Dan Armstrong’s, SVT’s and Mr. Keef created a stage sound that will last the ages.
2LoudAudio
July 2013