Back in the Northwest my son Drew ( a folk singer / songwriter ) had a gig at a local Cider press . We took the Circa74 out for a test spin . We plugged a Shure SM-58 vocal mic into the Vocals side of the amp and plugged an acoustic guitar with just a regular Fishman pickup system onboard into the guitar side of the amp . The venue was two stories with audience members sitting on both levels . The slanted wood amp stool that comes as part of the amp worked perfectly as you could hear well on both floors . We were only at 3 on the volume knob and both guitar and vocals were warm and clear . Wow – this was the test drive that confirmed it for me .
Then the Wintergrass ( Bluegrass ) Festival arrived , and we had an exhibit booth there with 15 guitars to sell . We demo-ed the Circa74 and played a mandolin with a pickup through it , a Gibson ES-175 electric jazz guitar , as well as acoustic guitars – they all sounded great . I could have sold three of these Circa74 ’ s if I had them with me . Rats !
The next event up was my Renton Guitar Show and Taylor had shipped me another unit so I had the ‘ one to show and the one to go ’ ready . In the first 30 minutes of my show the amp in the box sold and then an hour or so later one of my vendors told me he couldn ’ t find any Circa74 ’ s for sale anywhere and would I please sell him my demo amp ? He had visited Taylor himself three weeks prior and played one there . Well , it is hard to say no to that . So , I sold out of amps ! Fear not , I have ordered more and am waiting my turn in line . The Circa74 sells for $ 1,199 retail . Check out our Reverb page … and AragornGuitars . com .
I was so impressed with the amp that I wanted to go right back to the man himself , Bob Taylor and ask him about this process of bringing a whole new guitar and vocal combo amp into the world . Here is that conversation …
[ WM ] Bob , what sparked this new amp idea in the first place ?
The man himself . Bob ’ s welcoming nature encouraged me to make the trip in the first place ...
[ Bob Taylor ] Fasten your seatbelt because [ WM ] You are a “ wood ” guy . The fit and finish the idea was sparked in early 2020 when I was of both the amp cabinet and its stand are very in one of our huge wood warehouses looking appealing … a mid-century modern aesthetic . at towers of short mahogany blocks wondering But the type of wood you used leverages the what I could make from the wood ? Also , after sound quality too . Tell us about it ? making something , who would buy it ? What would it be ? Amplifiers came to mind . Being a [ Bob ] Starting with the fact that I had furniture maker , I know how to make a box look mahogany available I worked on good visual elegant . And so , all I needed was to formulate design . It ’ s hard to make a square box have in my mind what an acoustic guitar amp could architecture , so we designed the corners . The be . This was the spark . stand completes the mid-century modern look . But mahogany is a tone wood . We didn ’ t follow
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