This is the 92nd installment of the truth about vintage amps! Harvesting Capacitors, Recommended Reading, Fred Astaire, and More.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Calton Cases, Jupiter Condenser Co., Amplified Parts and Grez Guitars. You can also use discount code FRET10 to save 10% on your Izotope purchase.
Support us on Patreon.com for additional content and the occasional surprise. This month we’re giving away a handmade pedal to one lucky patron!
Some of the topics discussed this week:
2:19 The big tube shortage on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Western Electric 300Bs, a million dollars worth of vacuum tubes
11:39 Good dope for fixing rotten closets
13:59 A PA amp from Precision Electronics with no model number; the rising prices of vintage PA heads
21:37 Recommended reading: Garrett Hongo’s “The Perfect Sound” (Amazon link)
10:43 PM mic pres on Tiny Telephone, RP2s, the Tiny Telephone Podcast, Keep the Dream Alive (Link)
29:42 Drawing layouts and schematics with DIY-fever.com app (Link); “The Rescue” by National Geographic
32:29 A 1950 Fender Deluxe signed “Lilly” (Instagram link)
34:40 A bunch of tweed amps at Skip; a 1953 Fender Wide Panel Tweed Deluxe scores in a real estate sale
38:54 Good-All brand caps vs blue mold caps
40:01 Harvesting old clutch caps: Which brands are worth saving?
43:27 Building an Angela SSE amp with a few mods: The cathode bias on the second half of the 12AX7, experimenting with a variac to lower B+, zener diodes to a center tap, reusing an old jukebox amp, recommended book: ‘A Fortune Life”, by AB Facey (Amazon link), vegetarian congee
50:46 Recommended music: Fred Astair’s The Astaire Story; Fred Astaire and Barney Kessell
52:44 Lesser known vintage amp brands with surprisingly good tone
56:32 Bahamas performs “All the Time” on a Skip-modified Fender Champ in Fretboard Journal (YouTube link)
56:59 Buy a new boutique amp to get a modern, reliable tweed tone
1:01:19 Strain relief for the power cord in a Gibson GA88s, Grandma’s Smoked Country Sausage by Broadbents Hams (Link)
1:05:12 Skip takes visitors again; Loma Rican Mexican cuisine; lots of disc capacitors to win; a Heathkit SA-3 integrated stereo amplifier
1:11:00 Daisy chaining amp, a Bugera BC30-212 and wanting to do a footswitchable daisy chain through the effects loop
1:15:08 Feeding a guitar into both channels of a Northern Electric PA, redux
18:11 Reusing the factory slot during a Fender Champ fix
1:20:17 A silverface Fender Champ with an annoyingly loose can capacitor
1:22:36 A 1967 deluxe reverb with a broken reservoir
1:26:07 Fixing a Gemini VI project; Texas breakfast tacos
1:30:35 Early electrics at MIM.org; the appleton guitar APP guitar (link)
1:32:25 An ancient building with a buzz and/or ghost problem; “Be thankful for what you have” (YouTube link)
The Truth About Vintage Amps is hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons. Co-host and producer Jason Verlinde of Fretboard Journal.
Send us an email or voice memo at: podcast@fretboardjournal.com, or leave us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848. And don’t forget to share the show with friends.
Want to see all of the past topics discussed on the TAVA Podcast? Click here for all show notes on one page.
Above: The rectangular power cord hole in listener Sam’s Gibson GA88s.
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