Illustrator/musician/underground comix legend Robert Armstrong (Mickey Rat, Couch Potato, the Cheap Suit Serenaders!) joins Skip and Jason this week for a very special installment of the Truth About Vintage Amps.
Some of the topics discussed:
1:38 NOS military-grade green pilot light jewels from Gary Economy (Instagram); leave us an Apple Podcasts review and take a screenshot to enter to win one!; 5879 tubes
3:03 Where is George? (Danger UXB on eBay)
4:48 Rick Estrin and Dennis Gruenling’s harmonica workshop, March 16 (link)
6:43 This week’s sponsors: Emerald City Guitars; Amplified Parts; Izotope; Stringjoy Strings; and Grez Guitars. Ordering from StewMac? Use this affiliate link to help us out!
11:26 The 2024 Fretboard Summit, August 23-25 (link)
11:49 What’s on Skip’s bench: A PA head; blown power transformers
13:44 A discount on Eric Daw’s amazing Solid Sound guitar wiring book (use TAVA when you check out): https://www.solidsoundbook.com/
16:19 Taming the bass frequency on your amplifier
23:15 Resistors: What does Skip use?
27:27 Special guest: Illustrator/musician/friend/Mickey Rat & Couch Potato-inventor/record collector Robert Armstong (link)! Early Hawaiian guitar recordings; growing up in Fender country but gravitating towards the banjo; Coulter guitars; Hugo Ernst guitars; John DeLapp guitars; playing saw on the ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ soundtrack; animator Ward Kimball; ‘Man in Space’ (YouTube link); not working at Disneyland; seeing David Lindley at the Topanga Banjo & Fiddle contest; coining the term “Couch Potato;” Bob’s tweed Fender Deluxe; Supro Dual Tones; Pee Wee’s Playhouse; playing with Sourdough Slim; sheepherder conventions; touring Japan; Ben Pollack’s “Two Tickets to Georgia” (YouTube link); playing 78 records today; Al Dodge
1:38:10 John Sebastian gets his dad’s PA head back; a Disneyland tube PA
Recorded March 1, 2024.
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John Sebastian amp pic courtesy of Peter Lubin. Below: Robert Armstrong
