Twice a month, guitar amp guru Skip Simmons fields your questions on tube amp buying, restoration and repair. Co-hosted by the Fretboard Journal’s Jason Verlinde.
Want to support the show? We now have Truth About Vintage Amps t-shirts available for pre-order.
Special thanks to our sponsors: Grez Guitars, Martin, Gibson and Carter Vintage.
Submit your guitar amp questions to Skip here: fretboardjournal@gmail.com or by leaving us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848.
Some of the topics discussed on this episode:
2:18 We have Truth About Vintage T-shirts (support the show)
5:33 This week’s sponsors: Grez Guitars, Gibson, Martin and Carter Vintage
6:29 The Epiphone version of a Gibson Falcon
9:00 More cooking tips with Skip
12:12 Skip can’t find his schematic
12:30 Thrifty Leo
14:12 More music tips: Bix Beiderbecke, Ned Boynton
18:00 Skip’s looking for someone to recone field coil speakers
19:35 Skip talks about his Champ mods, once more
24:45 The final Baffler
28:06 Correction re: Guitar Center’s return policy
29:28 A listener with an interesting way to use an electric amp with an acoustic guitar
33:27 The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound
37:12 Skip’s test guitar and cheap British amp recommendations
43:00 Skip’s test cabinet
45:15 A 1968 Fender Pro Reverb with a delayed vibrato
47:32 What’s a tone stack?
51:15 Pinpointing the buzz on a Silverface Fender Princeton
54:35 Class A, Class A/B and single-ended power tube arrangements
59:17 Tips on looking at vintage Gibson amps
1:02:48 A listener fixes his own Gibson Discoverer Tremolo
1:08:00 The triode mode used on high-powered amps
1:14:01 A brief chat about Dumble
1:18:44 A mid-60s Epiphone Galaxy that’s won’t turn off
1:20:23 Salvaging parts from a heavily modified Blackface Fender Bassman
1:24:30 Discussing changes on an early 1969 Fender Twin Reverb
1:29:50 Making homebrew amps sound less civil
1:33:11 Making a late ’50s Sylvania powered speaker amp work better as a guitar amp
1:42:12 Modding PA heads to work for guitars
