What, are you scared of a lil’ old ‘70s amp?

In re-creating that Bauhaus sound of old, the secret for guitarist Daniel Ash is loud and clear.

“I still use the same old amps ... that I used then because I haven’t found anything that is as sharp and piercing as this little old amplifier. It’s an H&H; IC 100S, which is something they used to use in the early ‘70s, the punk bands -- well, mid-’70s.”

And it’s loud.

“We were setting up in a theater [last week] and -- this is very ‘Spinal Tap’ what I’m gonna tell you,” he said, in a quasi-Nigel Tufnel accent, “but I just had my amp on, it wasn’t even -- it goes from 1 to 10, OK, it doesn’t go to 11, it goes from 1 to 10, but I didn’t even have it on 1, I had it on 1/2 of 1, and the guy out front was going, ‘Can you turn your amp down? It’s insane. What have you done to that amp?’ That’s how loud this old amp is.

“That’s what I use for all the Bauhaus stuff and all the Love and Rockets stuff, and I just use those amps because nothing else cuts through like these old amps. I can’t believe it myself just how damn loud it is.”

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-- Frank Farrar