Episode 108: It’s like a best-of episode, but totally new! Pre-amps, typewriters, too many kitchen hacks, transformer talk, Jason reads the tubes wrong, and we even get a little artsy!
Some of the topics discussed this week:
2:53 Does Skip want to see your amps right now? See Skip at the January 14-15, 2023 Amigo Bay Area Guitar Show
4:59 A Tweed Pro with a variable inverse feedback control knob
5:45 Lee Jeffriess in the Fretboard Journal’s 51st issue (link); check out Jeffriess and John Munnerlyn performing “Blues for Earl”
11:22 The December 31, 2022 TAVA Seattle meetup (thanks for organizing, @liquidnyo); YouTube’s jgflyback shows off his tube-powered clock (shaky Instagram Live footage)
13:50 This week’s sponsors: Grez Guitars has a new long-scale bass!; Amplified Parts (Hammond products are currently on sale!); Iztotope (use Fret10!); AND Stringjoy Strings. Plus…Josh Scott (JHS) is coming to TAVA to talk Kemper, the TAVA El Pato-Tone Practice amp (Reverb link), and our Patreon page
20:56 The resonance of a fully loaded turret board; mounting components in a head vs. combo; goop
28:25 Microphonics in a tube amp (the good kind); David Lindley (support him via t-shirt sales here)
30:04 Why were so many power transformers changed in the ’70s and ’80s?; Spokane, Washington; Jason’s favorite noodle place in Spokane, Washington (link); a very-modified Gibson Les Paul Junior with a cooling fan
36:03 Typewriter keyboards; ’80s Scottish cop show, ‘Taggart’
39:58 Should I change the transformer on my Bruce Zinky Fender Prosonic head? the effect of an output transformer on tone
45:46 What’s the deal with the Fender Bantam bass amp?; the oven instead of the range; ham and bacon end pieces
50:39 Reincarnating a dead Peavey Deuce II; putting a Vox-style preamp circuit on an amp with 6L6s; cheese quesadilla hacks
54:06 Fixing the uneven distortion on my Dad’s Gibson GA-9
56:53 Why isn’t my 1967 Fender Twin Reverb as loud as my other Twin Reverb?
1:00:05 Arts & Humanities corner: The Albert Barnes collection of post-modern art, ‘Art of the Steal,’ (link); Skip goes to Harvard, again; RIP poet Charles Simic (read “Stub of a Red Pencil” here)
1:04:06 Chopped onion, chickpeas, and black beans sauteed in a pan
1:06:18 What would you do with my Bogen CHA-33 PA head? coffee-roasted carrots (link)
1:12:13 Changing the pre-amp tube (and speaker) in an Epiphone Model 101
1:19:47 What to do with this 1953 Revere T-100 reel-to-reel?
1:31:48 Skip likes the new Fretboard Journal (issue 51, link)
Recorded January 10, 2023.
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Submit your amp questions, recipes and life hacks to the podcast via podcast@fretboardjournal.com and don’t forget to share the show with friends on social media.
The Truth About Vintage Amps is hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons. Co-hosted and produced by the Fretboard Journal’s Jason Verlinde.
Want to see all the former topics discussed on the TAVA Podcast? Click here for all the show notes on one page.
Above and below: Listener John’s Epiphone 101
