[Brian Krashpad]

OK, we've covered most of my acquisitions up into the 1990's. Guitar-wise, the main rig went from Kustom to Super Reverb, and bass-wise, from Kustom to Woodson to Crate/Ampeg SVT.

Although I'll always keep my Super, towards the end of the 90's she was really beginning to show wear. She really needs a new grillcloth especially, though she still sounds great. So I decided to find something less "vintage" and retire the Super from active gigging.

I came across a Sovtek Mig 50H, the "Tube Midget" model, on scratch-n-dent sale at Musician's Friend for $250, so I snapped her up. Here's a stock model shot:



This is a single channel (albeit with low and high inputs) 50W master volume amp. Very early Marshall sound. I like the compact size, which makes it easier to haul and pack in a cramped vehicle. Only downside to the amp is cheap plastic input jack collars, the rest is built like a (Russian) tank.

I originally played the Sovtek with my existing Kustom 1x15 cab, which sounds great, but when I put a small tear in the sparkly Kustom vinyl, I decided I should also get a new cab I wouldn't fear to bash up. I found a mis-wired, beaten-up Laney flat-front 1980's AOR Series 4x12 cab in a local pawn and snapped her up for $75! Took about 30 minutes to rewire properly. The Laney cab is visible above in the garage photo. Here's a shot of the Sovtek/Laney rig onstage, on our right:



I gigged with the Sovtek /Laney rig for awhile and happened upon a second 4x12 slant cab, made by a small Cali company called Risson in the early 80's, which I got in a local sale for $100. It has two of the original Risson/Celestion speakers in it, and two Pioneer replacement speakers, and, like the Laney, is missing the front badge. The Laney cab I then kept at church to play guitar and bass through every Sunday, and I gigged with the Risson cab and Sovtek head. Here's the Laney cab at church:



When I subsequently stopped playing at church, I sold the Laney cab to a bandmate in my side band. Here's a shot of the Sovtek head with the Risson slant cab:



Here's a pic from Risson's promo material back when these were still being sold;