no, i meant i stood on top of the amplifier while i played.
 

I'm diggin' all these low wattage practice amps... especially the Sears guitar case one. As horrible sounding as we remember our first beasts as being I'd imagine with the right guits/effects coupled with years of experience tweaking our sounds we could all get some pretty interesting tones out them for our recordings. After the "grunge/alternarock" revolution those cranky/squawky guitar sounds are more acceptable and even desirable for certain material. The nicest thing about those tiny amps is being able to push them to the max without any structural damage to whatever building they are being blasted in. I actually kept a couple low watters I had acquired over the years for that specific purpose. My current place is too lacking in soundproofing for even those (ugh) but I'm sure they'll be of use at some point.
 
I really want one of those little Fender Blues champs (the beige one with the tube) or that wacky Yamaha with the modelling capabilities and line outs (I forget the model number but they are cool).
 
Hurray for mini amps!!!
 
Oh... and did anyone ever have one of those mini Marshall stacks? My buddy had one as a kid. It was kind of hokey in a cool way but he was the envy of our circle of guitar dorks in middle school. lol

but absolutely NOTHING...
 
beats moving air.
 
it's like bacon bits versus filet mignon.
LOL

True, but filet mignon is quite nice as well.

My first was a Peavey Backstage I got at the local music shop. I still have it in the garage somewhere (I'm a sentimental pack rat) and I bet it still works. It's got to be at least 20 years old now.
 

batsbrew
but absolutely NOTHING...
 
beats moving air.
 
it's like bacon bits versus filet mignon.
LOL

Certainly nothing like a bowel rattling behemoth behind ya shredding everyone's ear drums but I've occasionally had some problems with TOO much power. I got hired to play with one band and they went and rented me this ridiculous 100w Hi-Watt stack to play through as if we were going to be playing stadiums or something. First gig we played was in this medium sized bar with no stage. All excited about our acquisition we hooked up the stack ready to cause mayhem for the packed room. The blapping thing was SOOOOOO loud it cleared out the entire room (which was filled with biker type dudes and various other rockers). We though it was because perhaps we simply sucked but they had all moved to an adjoining room and to the other bar upstairs to listen. I had the amp as low as it could go without losing tone. After that night we left the second cab completely unplugged and only used it for visual purposes even in the larger clubs. The next time I toured with that band we opted for a single cab to save the rental fees and extra equipment moving. After I bailed on that project they started using fake cabinets even though they were playing MUCH larger stages.
 
lulz...
 
I couldn't imagine that rig in my teeny little apt. I can't even BEGIN to turn up my Traynor. If I put it at 0.2 it would probably peeve someone off.
 
In other news... I hate this freaking place. :-/

How awesome is that! I didn't anticipate that this would generate so many cool stories. It's great to see what you guys cut your teeth on.
 
My best buddy back then had a Sears copy of a strat - olympic white, maple neck. Man, I envied him. He bought his first amp from one of our older friends. The cheapest thing - originally it was in a plastic casing, but the guy had built a plywood box and put the electronic and speaker into that.
 
Since neither of us had pedals, we used to run our signal through an old 8-track tape deck, which, when the cartridge wasn't properly inserted, generated generous amounts of fuzzing. How it really worked and how he'd figured that one out I cannot tell. As a matter of fact, it doest seem to make any sense, but that was our fuzz box.

First rigs are kind of like first girlfriends. You aren't quite sure what all the knobs and buttons do but you fiddle with them with great vigor and enthusiasm usually resulting in all sorts of strange and awkward noises you'd rather not have your friends hear. Time moves on, you develop new skills and acquire more refined tastes but you always think back fondly of your "first".
 
Some even get the chance to reunite for a nostalgic session of knob/button fiddling just like in the good ole days but inevitably it's never quite the same as those first eager, youthful indulgences.
 
Memoooooorrrriiiieeesss.... of the way we weeeeeerreeeee....
 
...
 
hmm... i should probably be doing something less.... weird...

I was doing some more research on old gear I used to rent and remembered that modular pedalboard by Korg...
 

 
The one I used to rent had distortion, delay, whatever modulation I can't remember and a 4th unit which I just can't remember. I first rented it because I wanted distortion and that pedalboard was the only thing they had with distortion.
 
The cool thing I discovered was that you could actually play the pedalboard almost like a synth, on it own. Just get it to generate some noise and you could create those otherworldly, insane "special effects" by tweaking the parameters on the effects...
 
I wouldn't be that curious to try my first rig again, but this Korg thingie, I'd sure like to give it another spin...

I acquired a weird Korg multi-effects pedal unit a few years back (not nearly as old as that thing but still looks pretty old). I was gonna mess around with it yesterday through the Traynor but opted for the MT-2. Maybe tomorrow.
 
It's got a ton of banks and a teeny tiny rocker pedal. The first time I tried it it was really confusing and hard to work but it seem to pump out some cool effects. It's the only rocker pedal device I have too so I think it might be worth some kernoodling if only to use as a wah effect.
 
It uses AA batteries though... which is a little weird.