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Amp crazy.

I've been a serious audio and music reproduction guy for close to 40 years now. I've always had a desire to actually play some of the music (particularly Blues and Bluegrass) I have loved, but I really didn't want to revisit the only marginally successful 6-string guitar efforts of my youth. A couple two/three years back, I found my instrument in the 3-string cigarbox guitar and have been having a blast with it ever since.

Along with building a handful of geetars, I've been building or buying up amps searching for "my tone". Audio gear can get pretty spendy when compared to low powered guitar amps so it's been a bit of a free for all purchasing wise when I find something new to try. I'm now having difficulty finding places to put them. I think this free for all has gotten out of hand.

Besides the project tubers waiting to become something and ones I have built myself, this is the menagerie so far:

Fender Excelsior

Gibson Les Paul Jr.

Weber 5F1

Kalamazoo Model 1

Epi Valve Jr

Kustom Defender 5H

Magnasync Moviola

Danelectro Dirty 30

Stromberg Carlson Signet 33

Gregory Mark XV

Univox U45

Jet City Pico Valve

They are all cool but to be honest, the one I have the most fun with is my $60 used Roland Micro Cube :)

I have a difficult time letting go of stuff but maybe it's time to thin the herd.

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Permalink Reply by ron carlson on May 19, 2014 at 10:02am

Yup, I;ve got a guy who lives about 70-80 miles so. of me that goes by the name of Twang that hangs out on the Les Paul and Tele forums. He really does some nice mod work with VJ's and even the 5H. I spoke with him right before Christmas and was planing to send my Valve Jr. his way. It remained hectic after the holidays and never did get around to it. Mine is a later production model with the more substaintial OPT so I think it would be worth the money to do that. His pricing seemed very fair and his work gets a big thumbs up from what I have read.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 18, 2014 at 7:26pm

http://www.ratvalveamps.com/

For info check out this site.
I think it's voodoo magic!! Lol

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Permalink Reply by ron carlson on May 19, 2014 at 10:06am

Hoodo Voodo ;) Thanks, I'll check them out!

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 19, 2014 at 7:24pm

They also modify to a valve reverb only
But then you need a separate amp
I quite fancy one of those to play with too
I have a grainger which is essentials the same
Ratified .
Nice little amp but no reverb

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Permalink Reply by ron carlson on May 19, 2014 at 11:38pm

Clean is fine, but I'm finding I really like the things a little dirty with some tremelo or reverb thrown in. I get a little bored otherwise.

Speaking of reverb, I have a 18w Hammond AO-35 (Ibelieve) that was used for the same in their tone cabs, The same one that Dr Z guy used and modded for his Carman Ghia amps. I was thinking about doing the conversion to guitar amp myself but may just re-cap and use it for it;s intended purpose. I think it would be cool as a hell to have a outboard dedicated reverb unit.

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 19, 2014 at 7:25pm

Can you do us an amp shoot out video?

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Permalink Reply by ron carlson on May 19, 2014 at 11:53pm

I ordered up a Focusrite Scarlet, some MXL mic;s, cables and whatnot for a little Christmas present to myself several months back and I believe have all the necessary "stuff" to do it now. Still haven't unboxed any of it to even ogle over it's coolness. Not sure whether or not the camera I have will interface well or not yet though,

Be careful of what you ask for. You may just get it and regret the asking ;)