It’s the 92nd episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps! Harvesting capacitors, recommended reading, Fred Astaire and more.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Calton Cases, Jupiter Condenser Co., Amplified Parts and Grez Guitars. You can also use the discount code FRET10 to save 10% off your Izotope purchase.
Support us on Patreon.com for added content and the occasional surprise. This month, we’ll be giving away a handmade pedal to one lucky patron!
Some of the topics discussed this week:
2:19 The great tube shortage on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Western Electric 300Bs, a million dollar vacuum tube
11:39 Good goo for repairing rotten cabinets
13:59 A Precision Electronics PA amplifier with no model number; the rising prices of vintage PA heads
21:37 Recommended reading: Garrett Hongo’s ‘The Perfect Sound’ (Amazon link)
22:43 Mic pre-amps at Tiny Telephone, RP2s, the Tiny Telephone podcast, Keep the Dream Alive (link)
29:42 Drawing layouts and schematics with DIY-fever.com’s app (link); National Geographic’s ‘The Rescue’
32:29 A 1950 Fender Deluxe signed “Lilly” (Instagram link)
34:40 A bunch of tweed amps at Skip’s; a 1953 Fender wide panel Tweed Deluxe score at an estate sale
38:54 Good-All branded caps vs blue molded caps
40:01 Harvesting old coupling caps: Which brands are worth saving?
43:27 Building an Angela SSE amp with a few mods: The cathode bias on the second half of the 12AX7, experimenting with a Variac to lower B+, Zener diodes to a center tap, repurposing an old jukebox amp, recommended book: ‘A Fortune Life,’ by A. B. Facey (Amazon link), vegetarian congee
50:46 Recommended music: Fred Astaire’s The Astaire Story; Fred Astaire and Barney Kessell
52:44 Lesser known vintage amp brands with surprisingly good tone
56:32 Bahamas plays “All the Time” on a Skip-modified Fender Champ at the Fretboard Journal (YouTube link)
56:59 Buying a new boutique amplifier to get a modern reliable tweed sound
1:01:19 Strain relief for the power cord in a Gibson GA88s, Grandma’s Smoked Country sausage from Broadbents Hams (link)
1:05:12 Skip is taking visitors again; Loma Rica Mexican cuisine; lots of disc capacitors up for grabs; a Heathkit SA-3 integrated stereo amp
1:11:00 Daisy chaining amps, a Bugera BC30-212, and a desire to make a foot switchable daisy chain through the effects loop
1:15:08 Running a guitar into both channels of a Northern Electric PA, redux
18:11 Reusing the factory solder during a Fender Champ fix
1:20:17 A silverface Fender Champ with an annoyingly loose can capacitor
1:22:36 A 1967 Deluxe Reverb with a broken reverb tank
1:26:07 Fixing a Gemini VI project; Texas breakfast tacos
1:30:35 Early electrics at MIM.org; the Appleton guitar APP guitar (link)
1:32:25 An antique building with a buzz and/or ghost problem; “Be Thankful for What You Got” (YouTube link)
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: The square power cord hole in listener Sam’s Gibson GA88s.
