Features
Blues Artist Dave Specter Lists and Comments on His Five Favourite Guitar Amplifiers
In celebration of his November 2019 album, Blues From the Inside Out (Delmark Records), Chicago-based blues musician Dave Specter joins us for this fun, exclusive feature to run down his five favourite amplifiers.

Veteran, Chicago-based blues musician Dave Specter is continuing to celebrate the November 2019 release of his new album, Blues From the Inside Out, via Delmark Records, and we’re joining in the festivities with a fun, exclusive feature.
With a career spanning thirty-five years, Dave has a vast wealth of experience and knowledge to share with music lovers everywhere. What does a blues guitarist know? Keys and scales and the circle of fifths? Sure, but what does he spend his hours lugging around the world? Less glamorous than guitars, but a hell of a lot heavier? Why, amplifiers of course!
The tone-defining monsters behind every great axe and every great guitarist, amplifiers are criminally overlooked by the casual music fan. But now it’s time to get enlightened, so leave solid state behind and jump into this tube-filled journey as Specter runs down his current five favourite amps.”
Dave asks just “How Low Can One Man Go?”
05. Vero 20th Century Limited
– “Vero is an excellent boutique amp company, based in Joliet, IL. The beautiful, art deco design of their amps just blows me away. This model is perfect for small clubs and the studio, with a great clean tone and really strong reverb/tremolo.”
04. Fender Vibrolux
– “This 1990’s Custom Vibrolux was one of my main live amps for many years and has a lot of the same qualities as the my all time fave Super Reverb amp, in a smaller 2×10 cabinet. These amps have tremolo reminiscent of late 50’s/early 60’s Fender brown face amps.
03. Victoria Golden Specialty
– “Victoria is an excellent boutique amp company based in Naperville, IL, just outside of Chicago. Mark Baier, who owns the company, made me this custom amp as I wanted a smaller, single 1×12 version of my other Victoria amp for use in smaller clubs. It has all the great qualities of a larger amp in a smaller cabinet.”
Yep, we’ve got some snazzy, exclusives pics of Dave’s amps. Check ‘em out!
02. Victoria Golden Melody
– “This 2×12 tone machine has been my favourite amp to use on bigger live shows over the last 6-7 years. It features amazing reverb and outrageously cool tremolo. Around 50 watts with tone qualities combining Fender Bassman and vintage Gibson amp sounds. I used this amp on recent recordings including Message in Blue and Blues From the Inside Out.”
01. Fender Super Reverb
– “Probably my all-time favorite amp, this 1966 model was my my main live/studio amp for many years. The combination of the big airy 4×10 sound with Fender’s reverb and tremolo make it just about a perfect amp for blues guitar. I upgrade most of my Fender amps, including this one, with Eminence ceramic magnet speakers for more headroom and bottom end. I used this amp on many of my early recordings.”
Blues From the inside out dropped November 6th, 2019, via Delmark Records.
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