Welcome to ep. 129 of the Truth About Vintage Amps podcast, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp repair.

This week, it’s an (almost) all-Fender episode! Reminder: You should join our Patreon. And then send in your questions on tube amps to podcast@fretboardjournal.com.

Some of the topics discussed:

:44 Jason goes to the NAMM Show

4:20 Skip is fixing his 1961 Comet

9:04 What’s on Skip’s bench: Three Fender Concerts; 5C1 Fender Champ circuits; a 5-watt Oahu with a 40-watt transformer; a silver panel Fender Champ for sale at Skip’s

14:27 This week’s sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Izotope, and Grez Guitars.

20:36 Ceriatone amps; Divided by Thirteen Amplification gets acquired by Two-Rock

25:20 The art of drawing your own schematic; Robert Kidney’s ‘Jackleg’

29:56 Increasing gain on a Fender Princeton AA964

33:02 Isolated input/output jacks

35:45 A 1979 Fender Vibrolux with warped MDF baffle board, baffle replacement; good goo wood hardener

42:53 Should I recone the CTS alnico speakers on my rusty Fender Super Reverb or get new speakers? Slovakian Bwoop; Solfood’s hot pepper sauce (link)

51:37 Why do my tubes have this crusty stuff around the base? Don Pepino pizza sauce; The Mob Run Pizzerias of NYC, N-Men: The Untold Story (link); Lake Berryessa’s glory hole; Ben Harper (redux)

59:07 Help me understand why a tube amplifier needs a load?

1:03:11 The all-Fender episode

1:05:09 What’s a good cheap alternative to the Fender Musicmaster I am looking at? Ampegs

1:09:20 Tweed Princeton kit woes … new Champ speaker

Love the show? We have a Patreon where you can support us, get to the front of the line with questions, and get exclusive bonus content and surprises: https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps

Above pic: Listener Nick’s rusty Fender Super Reverb; below: the same Nick’s Bwoop recipe!