The Origin of the Species.
Here is the impossibly rare amp I was going apesh*t about seeing on Saturday:
~1996 Bernard Raunig "#Bernie" amp (#Filmosound 385 conversion), owned by @chriswstringer8
If you own, have ever played, or covet a converted "Filmosound" movie projector amp - here is one of its rare forefathers. This one magically appeared on Marketplace last week and sold instantaneously, Chris being the lucky winner! Originals like this NEVER come up for sale...there were only ~25 ever made.
Bernard Raunig of was an electronics repair person and tinkerer, who purchased a lot of surplus Bell & Howell model 385 film projectors being auctioned off by a Hamilton, Ontario school board in the early 90s. According to the article by @colinjcripps in @fretboardjournal Electric Annual Vol 2, Raunig had a notion he could extract the audio amplifier sections from these movie projectors and repurpose them as guitar amplifiers - making him, I suppose, the first "upcycler" in the guitar business! The cabinet was homemade from solid pine and covered in sail canvas which was then brushed with lacquer.
The very first of Bernard's conversions was sold to Canadian musician Colin Cripps (at the time of the band Crash Vegas, and later playing with such musical icons as Kathleen Edwards and Blue Rodeo), who skeptically auditioned it at Raunig's insistence. In his article, Colin says that he had never seen anything like the "Bernie", but despite his hesitance he immediately fell in love with the sound produced by the unlikely little contraption, and bought it on the spot. Colin's "Bernie No. 1" has appeared on countless recordings since that day in late 1993, and no doubt has played a huge role in the popularization of the Filmosound guitar amp conversion "cult".
Well, now I have seen *two* original "Bernie" amps! I am not likely to see any more in my lifetime. I am grateful to have friends like Chris and Colin who let me take snaps of all their interesting and historically significant gear to share with you!
