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.
Submit your guitar amp questions to Skip here: podcast@fretboardjournal.com or, better yet, leave us a voicemail at 509-557-0848. Include a photo of your amp if you can so we can post it on our Instagram page.
Some of the topics discussed on this episode:
1:37 Charles Baty (Little Charlie & The Nightcats! Little Charlie & Organ Grinder Swing!) joins us: Termite tales, Spanish rice hacks and amp tips from the road
43:09 Movie recommendations: Wattstax; Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
44:16 Skip plays a gig
46:30 This week’s sponsor: Grez Guitars
46:55 Robert Keeley (!) calls in on Dean’s Echoplex woes (a follow-up from TAVA #21)
50:24 A ’68 Fender Vibrolux reissue with a wonky footswitch
54:16 Replace a two-prong cord with a three-prong cord
57:29 “Getting to ‘no’ you;” “Suzie Q,” the Instant Pot, mashed potatoes and hot dogs
1:04:10 An amp with a noisy front plate
1:06:27 Instrumental music picks (Leo Kottke, Nels Cline), Skip’s early music influences
1:12:19 Future TAVA interviews plans
1:14:25 “Why we don’t replace all vintage electrolytic capacitors” video (YouTube link)
1:18:00 Robben Ford’s Dumble-modified Fender Super Reverbs
1:24:29 Why don’t amps have no-speaker protection?
1:31:53 AC568 Bassman amps, Fender grounding plates, sources of hiss, the 500 pF Baffler
1:37:55 Music picks: Erkin Koray’s ‘Elektronik Turkular’ (YouTube link) and Bloodstone’s “Natural High” (YouTube link)
1:39:07 Bogen PA heads and Harvey Mandel’s fuzz tone
1:43:43 Replacing drop capacitors in Victoria amps
1:49:47 Canada, part one: a Traynor YGL-3, Mark III with no input signal
1:53:14 Canada, part two: Sleeper Canadian amps (Garnet, Traynor, Johnson); check out the Corry Boys
1:57:00 An (almost) free vintage speaker (act fast)
1:58:15 Coffee in a can updates
Special thanks to the presenting sponsors of the Fretboard Journal: Gibson, Martin and Carter Vintage Guitars.
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