Special guest Max Hart joins us to talk about playing vintage tube amps at some truly high-pressure gigs, working with Melissa Etheridge, Katy Perry, and more! Plus all the usual amp troubleshooting, choke questions and cooking tips! It’s the 89th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Jupiter Condenser Co., Amplified Parts and Grez Guitars. You can also use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off your Izotope purchase and, if you head over to BED|STÜ shoes and use the discount code FRETXBS, you’ll save 20% off your BED|STÜ order and help support the FJ.
Support us on Patreon.com for added content and the occasional surprise.
Some of the topics discussed this week:
2:30 Putting the old Astron Minimite capacitors back inside a Vibrolux… in Thailand
6:22 Special guest Max Hart: Melissa Etheridge, touring through COVID-times, Hammond B-3 variations, Max’s pedal board, Leslie 147s vs. 122s, touring with a vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb, in-ear monitors, Eric Gardner, living in Woodland, CA, his guitars of choice, Klon clones, Boss RV-6 reverb pedal, click tracks, Gruene Hall
45:00 Too flippant about chokes: Skip revisits last week’s chokes question.
46:28 Baffer: A Chris Stapleton model Princeton with a tube rectifier that won’t work
50:40 Skip’s #1 Retropolitan amp for sale (sold, Instagram link)
53:51 Testing the pulled / bad caps on a serviced Fender 1962 6G4A
55:57 Quick and easy crispy corndogs; bacon bourbon; did Tool’s Adam Jones really freeze his amplifiers?
59:41 A Bogen Challenger 35A making demonic sounds with no speaker hooked up
1:05:13 A heartwarming tale: Milling old Sacramento trees
1:08:28 Portobello mushrooms and a blown-up Orange OR15
1:14:40 The rectifier tube in a ’50s Magnatone 213, fixing a rotten cabinet
1:16:43 A modified tone stack on a Weber Deluxe Reverb kit
1:23:02 Old business: Preferred Gibson Falcon reverb tank (4FB3D1B)
1:25:04 Farmers Brewing; Secret Trail Brewing Co.
1:25:20 Skip gets a package for Russell Simmons
1:26:57 A Silverface Champ with a 250k pot instead of a 1mg pot
1:27:59 A Magnatone Varsity project for sale
The Truth About Vintage Amps is hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons. Co-hosted and produced by the Fretboard Journal’s Jason Verlinde.
Email or send us a voice memo to: 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 the former topics discussed on the TAVA Podcast? Click here for all the show notes on one page.
Above: Jay Knox’s 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb, post-Skip servicing (new caps inside the hollowed out old caps).
