It’s the 120th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp.
This week in a nutshell: Is this the Fender Yale? (above pic); lots of Fretboard Summit love; Skip sneaks a mower across the border; magnifiers; tomato gravy; and rumblings of a possible Oregon Truth About Vintage Amps meetup!
Want to be a part of the show? Keep the amp questions for Skip coming to podcast@fretboardjournal.com. Voice memos or emails are welcome.
Don’t forget we also now have a Patreon if you’d like to support the show featuring weekly installments of what’s on Skip’s bench, random eBay finds, and surprise content.
Special Note: Our friends at Amplified Parts are having a Labor Day Sale right now. Use the code LABOR10 to save 10% off your order, but act fast. https://www.amplifiedparts.com/
Some of the topics discussed in this episode:
:00 Fretboard Summit recap (thanks, Kevin!); a gift of Del Cabo mangos; Rob Abernathy’s robots (https://rodabernethy.com/); our sponsors (Emerald City Guitars, Stringjoy Strings (use the code FRETBOARD to save 10% off your first string order), Amplified Parts, and Grez Guitars.
10:30 Donny Hathaway plays “The Ghetto” (YouTube link); Skip brings a Tweed Deluxe back from the dead (and possibly a Princeton Reverb), lousy amp repair people
16:22 A Fretboard Summit recap; a transitional Gibson Falcon find
21:40 An Ampeg SVT CL that sounds sort of like the opening to the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” when you turn it on
24:46 Offshoot amp brands we can spot in the wild
26:43 Magnifiers, redux! Recommended: YOCTOSUN Head Mount Magnifier on Amazon (link, on sale for just 16 bucks right now); LED garage lighting (Costco link)
29:55 How do self-split output stages work? Kalamazoo KEA amps
32:30 Help me make sense of this Bell PM33 Pacemaker schematic
37:53 Speaker-driven line out and reverb, together; a Seattle TAVA meetup?; an Oregon Coast TAVA meetup at Pelican Brewing?
41:01 Skip’s contraband riding lawn mower
49:01 Is this the Fender Yale? John Peden’s Sidetrack Liner Notes podcast (Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sidetrack-liner-notes/id1162344630)
53:05 Kate Wolf; Eminem
56:25 Transformer windings and tomato gravy
1:02:12 The Silvertone 1484 TwinTwelve input section; Fender Musicmaster Bass amp mods
1:06:17 The Gibson tone-sucking circuit in the GA19RVT Falcon (Instagram link)
Recorded August 31, 2023.
Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.
Support us on Patreon.com for added content and the occasional surprise and don’t forget to get a subscription to the Fretboard Journal (link). Digital subscriptions start at just $30.
Submit your amp questions, recipes, and life hacks to podcast@fretboardjournal.com and don’t forget to share the show with friends on social media.
