Dave Gant grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and whereas the town of 17,000 won’t ever be confused with Memphis or Nashville when it comes to musical impression, it’s the birthplace of a handful of noteworthy personalities together with nation singer Blake Shelton, NFL tight finish Jeremy Shockey, and Gant, who when he’s not serving as musical director for now-mostly-retired nation famous person Garth Brooks spends time tending to and enjoying by a powerful assortment of guitar amplifiers.

Gant was in his early teenagers when rock and roll got here of age. And being the son of two music lecturers – certainly one of whom who purchased loads of new gear – his burgeoning curiosity was amply fostered, not solely in regard to the music, however within the tools used to make it within the mid Nineteen Sixties.

“Music was a relentless round our home,” mentioned Gant. “My father was a school band director, and he made frequent journeys to Jenkins Music in Oklahoma Metropolis to purchase music and band provides. Jenkins caught on to the rock factor early, and its guitar room had a wall of Fender, a wall of Vox, and a wall of Kustom. So whereas dad was shopping for band tools, I’d head straight to the guitar room and go wild – particularly with the amps! They had been fascinating. I’d play with the knobs, have a look at tubes, and take a look at audio system. If I received up sufficient nerve or a salesman noticed my enthusiasm, I’d flip one on and pay attention. Not having any guitar data on the time, I’d play a Farfisa or Vox organ by an amp and pay attention in sheer amazement.”

Again:  ’67 Bassman, ’72 Bandmaster Reverb, ’67 Twin Showman ’68 speaker cupboard, ’69 Princeton,  ’75 Quad Reverb, ’71 Deluxe Reverb, ’75 Bassman 10. Entrance: ’65 Tremolux, ’64 Bassman, ’57 Professional, ’62 Bandmaster, ’67 Professional Reverb.

For a child like Gant, Jenkins was approach higher than any sweet retailer. “It was the place the love began,” he mentioned. “I’d watch rock-and-roll and nation TV exhibits to get a glimpse of the amps everyone was utilizing – The Beatles with their Voxes, or somebody enjoying a Thomas Organ Vox on ‘American Bandstand.’ Paul Revere and the Raiders had been on ‘Taking place ’68’ and ‘The Smothers Brothers Present.’ The nation exhibits often used Fender, Kustom, or Standel.” Alongside the best way, major-act live shows launched him to the sights and sounds of Marshall, Orange, and different British amps, in addition to Ampegs and Acoustics.

When he was 10, Gant began enjoying viola and piano. Whereas in junior excessive, he started enjoying in bands. “In case you wished any consideration from chicks, you both performed soccer or performed in a rock band,” he laughed. “And I’m no athlete!”

Again (from left) ’72 Sunn Sonaro, ’74 Sunn Live performance bass amp, ’76 Sunn Live performance and ’74 speaker cupboard,  ’87 Marshall 2203 JCM 800, ’69 Standel Artist, ’75 Acoustic 270 head, ’73 Acoustic 140 with mannequin 106 cupboard, ’78 Acoustic 230 head, ’70 Acoustic 150 head with 104 cupboard. Entrance: ’68 Gretch Tremendous Bass, ’82 Marshall JCM800 4104, ’65 Standel Customized XV, ’73 Ampeg VT-22.

So it was that Gant spent many hours listening to KOMA-AM and sitting on the piano making an attempt to raise “Form of a Drag” and “Mild My Fireplace” on his first instrument – a Farfisa Combo Compact he performed by a Silvertone 1485 6×10″ amp. “I purchased the organ at a neighborhood furnishings retailer known as Hudson’s, and the amp at a Sears in Shawnee, Oklahoma,” he mentioned. “They had been each repos, and to pay for them I threw newspapers and offered broasted rooster.”

Piano classes bolstered his persevering with musical training, however Gant says the higher a part of his studying got here “by dropping the needle on 45s time and again whereas lifting components, possibly slowing the turntable all the way down to 33 sometimes.”

Again: ’71 150 Kustom PA cab, ’69 Charcoal 100, ’69 Pink 100, ’68 Cascade 200, ’69 Blue 200, ’69 Blue 200 PA.
His first band performed junior excessive dances and events. “Our drummer was Machine Gun Kelly, the radio deejay, and we used to do a bang-up model of ‘Wipe Out!’” he mentioned. Issues took a pure development from there. “My first highway gig was with Ray Wylie Hubbard – one of many unique Texas outlaws. And we warmed up for Willie Nelson for six months in 1978.”

The Voxes are a ’66 Vox Tremendous Beatle, ’66 Royal Guardsman, ’66 Buckingham. In entrance are a 1970 Kustom Black 25, ’69 Gold 100, ’71 Cascade 150, ’71 Blue 150, ’71 Black 150, ’66 Vox Berkley II, ’66 Viscount, ’66 Cambridge Reverb.

Gant then spent 10 years in Los Angeles starting in 1979, the place he was lucky sufficient to work with nice guitar gamers together with Jerry Cole, Al Bruno, Redd Volkaert, and Pete Anderson. And naturally, he was very conscious of their rigs. “Al was utilizing a Fender Twin Reverb with a Gibson ES-345; Pete used two blackface Deluxe Reverbs with a tube Echoplex and a 1960 Fender Telecaster; Jerry had a Music Man 65 Leo Fender gave him, alongside along with his ’56 Strat.”

A mid-’80s stint with Reba McIntire’s brother, Pake, had Gant enjoying in a band with a high-profile opening slot for Reba. However when work started to sluggish within the late ’80s, he loaded the station wagon another time and moved to Nashville, the place luck, it turned out, awaited.

Two prime classic Standel amps from 1965 – an Artist X and a Customized XV.

“I had a type of ‘proper place, proper time, proper product’ issues occur,” he recalled. “Reba’s previous bandleader was writing with this new child named Garth Brooks, and gave him my telephone quantity – this was earlier than he’d launched any albums – and I received the gig as his fiddle/keyboard participant.”

In case you adopted pop music within the early Nineties, you want no introduction to the identify; Brooks grew to become one of many greatest stars in any style of the period, promoting some 113 million albums within the U.S. –  second solely to The Beatles – and releasing six albums that achieved Recording Trade of America (RIAA) diamond standing for promoting greater than 10 million models every whereas enterprise enormous sell-out excursions. Being knowledgeable musician at that stage supplied Gant the chance to purchase some cool toys. And like so many musicians earlier than him, that form of freedom received him bit by the “classic bug.”

Marshall 32203 JCM JCM 800 with matching cupboards. ’66 Vox Tremendous Beatle.

“Throughout a break in touring in ’95, I purchased a pair ADAT recorders so I might strive my hand at songwriting, and I wanted a guitar amp for demos,” he mentioned. “So I purchased a ’70s Fender Bassman 10… The obsession was began!

“Due to consignment shops, web websites, and each music and pawn store I used to be fortunate sufficient to go to whereas on tour, the gathering has grown,”  he provides. “However I’ve been selective, which has supplied bragging rights to a various assortment. I’ve tweed, blond, blackface, silverface, and solidstate Fender. I’ve most colours of Kustom, an entire set of ’66 Thomas Voxes, a number of Standels, Acoustics, Sunns, Marshalls, Ampeg, Music Man, Gibson, Gretsch, Kay, and Alamo.” All advised, he owns greater than 60 amps, together with a handful of prime Fenders like a ’57 Professional, a ’62 Bandmaster, and a ’64 Bassman.

Fender two-fer; a 1957 narrow-panel Fender Professional and a ’64 Bassman.

For Gant, discovering and shopping for uncommon amps is a enjoyable pastime, in fact, and he’s firmly of the assumption that amps are supposed to be heard and that his ought to have a function. “However what?” he requested himself.

“What might I do with a group of classic amps? Then it hit me. I reside in Nashville – Music Metropolis – nation stars make music movies. I figured I’d lease my classic amps for video shoots.”

Kustom klatch; a ’68 Cascade 200 4×10 with JBL audio system, and a ’69 Mannequin 100 in Pink Sparkle.

So he composed and mailed fliers, dropped enterprise playing cards at video-production firms, and began a rental service. And the response has been good. One high-profile video that options his multi-colored Kustom amps is “These Days” by Rascal Flatts.

“Since then, I’ve had one other brainstorm. Whereas looking for a calendar final 12 months, I seen that each one the Beatles, guitar, and Corvette calendars had been stuffed with photos I’d already seen,” he mentioned. “I wished one thing totally different. I’ve received all these cool amps, why not an amp calendar?”

Nowadays, Gant’s time is occupied working his rental enterprise, in search of classic amp offers, advertising and marketing his new amp calendar, and enjoying gigs, together with the ocassional Garth gig, with Gordon Kennedy or Johnny Garcia, who performs guitar for Brooks’ spouse, Trisha Yearwood.

So it has gone for the keyboard participant whose fascination with guitar amplifiers started as a toddler, then performed a job in main him down a musical path in life, and within the years since has brought about him to sometimes sleep with an amp in a bunk aboard a tour bus!

This text initially appeared in VG’s March 2009 situation. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.