From Streator's interview with Bret and Calvin:

CALVIN: We didn't actually have any equipment for the first several years. We
didn't have a drum set or an amplifier, really. We borrowed equipment at first,
at least for the first three years...
BRET: You remember, we borrowed your distortion box [pointing to Streator],
John's [Bret's brother, now in The Crabs] amp.

CALVIN: But that, that tour in '88, with the car, the little car, that's when we
had an amp and a drum set in the trunk.
CALVIN: And that's the same tour where, in New York, somebody broke into the car
and stole my Silvertone.
BRET: Which is still out there. If you find a black Silvertone...
CALVIN: With silver spray paint on the back, 'Calvin.'
STREATOR: No, it's gold spray paint, wasn't it?...
CALVIN: Gold spray paint, whatever...

STREATOR: Well, one of the things that a lot of people comment about Beat
Happening is the sound of the band, the particular sound of the guitars. When
you are creating the songs, did you have an idea of the sound as you went in, or
was it something that was created as you were recording?
BRET: Guitar sound? We had the equipment that we were limited to because that
is what we had. We didn't shop around for,... Okay what we are looking for is
this certain sound and we would go into a guitar store and try out different
amps and guitars, we didn't do that. We had cheap guitars that we were
attracted to more for aesthetic reasons more than...

This is kind of an ironic line of inquiry since the whole point of Beat
Happening -- as I interpet it anyway -- was that things like gear and chops
didn't matter, it was whether "they’ve got the love in their hearts, that
beautiful teenage spirit..."

-- Michael