Pearce amp info

Lex Luthier · Mar 21, 2009

I recently picked up a Pearce G1 preamp (had a couple back in the day) and was surfing around for more info and stumbled across this website somebody started. Lots of pix and other info. Kinda cool.
http://web.me.com/travishartnett/Pearce_Amps/Home.html

:banana

gulliver · Mar 21, 2009

These were made here in my city of Buffalo. Oddly, they were never very popular here, but I guess they were never very popular anywhere. I remember seeing a couple of them around, and I still see them pop up now and then in the local musician's flea. If you like it, probably not a bad thing to hold on to, their value seems to be slowly increasing.

How do you like the distortion? Many find it very unique. I can't remember it other than the fact that it was very different then the tube amp I had at the time.

Lex Luthier · Mar 21, 2009

gulliver said:
These were made here in my city of Buffalo. Oddly, they were never very popular here, but I guess they were never very popular anywhere. I remember seeing a couple of them around, and I still see them pop up now and then in the local musician's flea. If you like it, probably not a bad thing to hold on to, their value seems to be slowly increasing.

How do you like the distortion? Many find it very unique. I can't remember it other than the fact that it was very different then the tube amp I had at the time.

I always regretted getting rid of my G1. I pulled my brothers G1 combo out of storage a while back and I had forgotten about how interesting they sounded if you dialed them in right, in a Holdsworth/Phil Keaggy fluid toned kind of way.

GtrWiz · Mar 21, 2009

I had a G2r and loved it. I loaned it to my brothers guitar player and, tragically, he died. I didn't feel right about calling his family and asking for my amp back, but I would like to find another one....

blastastick · Mar 21, 2009

They are great, and Phil Keaggy used them into 2 Mesa Thiele ported 1x12 cabs with EV 200 watters. Amazing tone. Have played 1, but never owned it. Very nice.

splatt · Mar 21, 2009

i still have at least one pearce amp;
unfortunately, it's back in ny at my home.

i loved that amp ---- as well,
pearce was my first interactive amp-endorsement;
i too a strong part in the "torn mod",
which became the G2/G2R, and eventually influenced
the design of the G3.

i noticed that travis' website, listed in the OP,
does not include the advert which andy summers & i
did for both pearce amps + klein electric guitars,
together.....

history's mysteries, i guess!

dt / spltrcl

Lex Luthier · Mar 21, 2009

splatt said:
i still have at least one pearce amp;
unfortunately, it's back in ny at my home.

i loved that amp ---- as well,
pearce was my first interactive amp-endorsement;
i too a strong part in the "torn mod",
which became the G2/G2R, and eventually influenced
the design of the G3.

i noticed that travis' website, listed in the OP,
does not include the advert which andy summers & i
did for both pearce amps + klein electric guitars,
together.....

history's mysteries, i guess!

dt / spltrcl

Was that the 1.5 and 1.7 mods? BTW, I think I remember that ad. I had a G2R for while, too.

tlainhart · Mar 21, 2009

Lex Luthier said:
I recently picked up a Pearce G1 preamp (had a couple back in the day) and was surfing around for more info and stumbled across this website somebody started. Lots of pix and other info. Kinda cool.
http://web.me.com/travishartnett/Pearce_Amps/Home.html

Thanks for this. I'm a Pearce fan as well (own the 1.7), and have forwarded a bunch of info to the page owner for inclusion on his site.

-- Todd

Dajbro · Mar 21, 2009

I still have and play through my G2r. It was my main amp for a long time until the Sig X recently took that role.

To this day the Ch. 1 distortion is one of my favorite sounds for fluid, legato playing. It's a thing of beauty.

rwe333 · Mar 21, 2009

I was a big fan and played them for years - first a G1, then a G2r... Was gonna pick up a G3, then they went under... Dan Pearce was/is a good man.
In addition to Torn and Summers, other notable users included Allan Holdsworth, Ronnie Montrose, Mick Goodrick, and (still) Mike Stern.

anoobis · Mar 21, 2009

I had a Pearce back in '91. Cool amp but it just did not have the dynamics of my tube amps at that time. Still, it had a killer crunch and nice lead tones. Great SS amp. Best ever high gain SS, IMO.

sfarnell · Mar 21, 2009

anoobis said:
I had a Pearce back in '91. Cool amp but it just did not have the dynamics of my tube amps at that time. Still, it had a killer crunch and nice lead tones. Great SS amp. Best ever high gain SS, IMO.

I have an oak Pearce 1X12 cab that is ported and looks like a Dumble cab. It came loaded with an EVM-12L and has a huge sound.

What happened to Pearce?

rwe333 · Mar 21, 2009

sfarnell said:
What happened to Pearce?

To paraphrase Dan, venture capital powers-that-be (and debt) basically caught up w/ 'em, i.e., a move to direct sales didn't pan out, etc. Dan moved on to ART, not sure what he's doing now...

Lex Luthier · Mar 21, 2009

Steve Khan used them for some time, too.

I remember back around 1986 or so, the closest Pearce dealer was 300 miles away. My brother and I took a road trip to check them out and ended up buying.

doralin · Mar 22, 2009

I still use my G2r

Best clean sounds in my opinion and a distortion channel that reminds me of Mesa's Dual Recto (*reminds me*).

Ethereal. The fact I managed to pick a near mint one up down here in AU for AU$700 that came serviced with the ribbon replacement by a noteworthy amp builder (tim at labsystems) AND also 240v power rating meant that Someone up there must be looking out for me.

I'll be bringing this to my grave.

fyrwyr · Mar 22, 2009

Last I heard Dan was working for one of the Studio rack gear companies, I forgot the name but they are well known.

I have his bass preamp now, the BC1 and really dig it

tlainhart · Mar 22, 2009

Last I heard Dan was working at Bose.

Strung Up · Mar 22, 2009

Thought it was at ART, but that was 5-6 years ago.

Great amps. Loved the post-OD tone stack w/ semi-parametric mids - brilliant tone-shaping.

Gigged a G2R for a while on the clean channel for jazz gigs, and got numerous compliments on my tone (with non-standard guitars) from horn guys. The Holdsworth aficionados seem to prefer the G1.

Moat · Mar 22, 2009

Anywhere to get schematics for these (G2r)? I've searched far and wide, only to come up empty-handed.

I still have mine, bought new around '90 (?) - probably near 1000 gigs, with nary a whimper. I'll probably never part with it - it's an excellent clean, powerful, reliable and flexible platform for pedals/effects. Lacks some fullness and sparkle of a good tube amp... but still can be "fat", and the treble cuts thru a dense stage mix in a satisfying way. And amazingly consistent tone, from night to night/room to room!

That said - and it's probably just my particular G2r - I never bonded with the dirty channel. Flat, transistory/papery... like a very mediocre TS'ish pedal. About as far from a Holdsworth tone imaginable, IMO! But that's OK - as quality OD pedals/preamps can sound excellent thru it's cleaner side(s). And the onboard Alesis effects sound very good/useable, too.

A real workhorse of an amp, for sure!

Lucky Dog Guitars · Mar 23, 2009

I loved my G2R.. I've had 5 of them.. but dont have any now. I'd love to find another nice G2R or a G3 if I could find one for a decent price.

You know, Reb Beach used a Pearce during the Winger days for some of his clean tones in the studio

Anyone got one for sale?

Pearce amp info

Lex Luthier

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