Johnny Smith
jazz guitarist
Johnny Smith's Amplifiers
Johnny Smith worked in conjunction with Jess Oliver of Ampeg to design the second incarnation of Smith’s signature amp in Ampeg’s professional “Guitaramp” series. The unique Fountain of Sound was named as such due its upward pointing 15”, high efficiency, JBL or Altec Lansing speaker. The idea behind the design was to use a higher powered amplifier — 35 watts RMS was a lot of power by mid to late 1950s standards — with the speaker pointed at the ceiling so that no one in the band or audience would have the misfortune of being seated directly in line with the amp’s speaker cone. Oliver also worked closely with Smith to satisfy his desire for a guitar amp with a flat frequency response. The Fountain of Sound had a closed back and a Baxandall tone stack more common to hi-fi sets of the day than to guitar amplifiers.
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Discography
Spring Is Here - The Guitar Genius Of
1952
Johnny Smith Plays Jimmy Van Heusen
1955
Moonlight In Vermont
1956
The Sound Of Johnny Smith
1961
Kaleidoscope
1967
Legends: Solo Guitar Performances
1994
Contemporaries of the Jazz Guitar
2008
Softly
2021
The Last Night at Shaner's (Live)
2024
Jazz in the Springs (Live)
2024
