[Harp-L] Sonny Jr. Products and Customer service

["Brian McDonald" <bullato@xxxxxxx>]

I just wanted to post my experiences in my recent dealings with Sonny(Gary).
I have been thinking about buying a Harmonica specific amplifier for quite
some time now. I currently own a Super reverb, a Victoria 35210 and my
favorite amp is my 59' Princeton. The Princeton has the tone I love but not
the balls to play larger venues. The other Amps are quality pieces and I
think very fine amplifiers particularly the Victoria, however the SJ 410 I
recently purchased is far and away the best amp I have ever plugged into. I
can't say enough about the Amp. It gives me everything I need in terms of
tone and reacts to how I play the instrument with the precision that I need.
I started out as a lip pursing, single note player about 35 years ago and
became quite efficient at playing quick riffs/runs with a lot of precision.
I knew nothing about tone and it showed when I would plug into an amp. I
would hear other players play through the same rig and get far better tone
than I could achieve. Over the years , I began to use more tongue blocking
and worked on my unamplified tone and I feel have become a much more well
rounded player. ENOUGH ABOUT ME! What I love about the SJ 410 is that it
allows me to play single notes with an incredibly  thick/fat natural
sounding tone with such accurate response that it's really hard to put into
words just how satisfying it is. Furthermore when you do start playing
chords and octaves the tone is so rich and warm that it almost feels as
though you have more than one amp at your disposal. I have read a lot of
very positive reviews about these amps and am very happy to add my name to
the list of satisfied owners of an SJ 410. I say owner, rather than
customer, because I didn't even purchase the Amp from Sonny. So now I want
to tell you about my experience in dealing with him. I had been in
correspondence with him for a few weeks about purchasing a Cruncher, when I
stumbled upon an opportunity to purchase the SJ 410 privately. I live in
Canada where our dollar is 4/5 of US dollar and we have unfairly high import
taxes not to mention Provincial sales tax and GST on and on and on..I bought
the 410 in the private deal because I'm not a wealthy guy, and it saved me
money -bottom line! When I emailed Sonny to tell him that I wouldn't be
purchasing the Cruncher after all , his response was to congratulate me on
my purchase and to help me (through an extended number of emails) to
understand how to get the most out of the 410. He went on to give me same
type of courtesy and service as though I had purchased the amp directly from
him. After further correspondence, I had Sonny build a microphone for me
that just arrived the other day. It is thing of beauty! It looks Fabulous,
and I'm sure that esthetics are important to some people, but to me the tone
is everything! I have to say that it delivered beyond my wildest
expectations. When it comes to Sonny JR. I can't say enough good things
about the man and his products! I feel as though I finally have the
equipment to allow me to be the best player I can be, and I can finally
retire my Princeton to the practice room where it can grow old and be
treated with the dignity it's earned!