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It’s the 170th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields all of your guitar amplification questions (or at least the ones involving tubes).
Thank you to our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts / Mod Electronics.
Some of the topics discussed this week:
:32 What’s on Skip’s Bench: A Voice of Music 8810
2:40 Jason’s Fretboard Summit 2026 report
10:13 Recommended reading: Willie Dixon’s ‘I Am the Blues,’ ‘Bo Diddley: Living Legend,’ and ‘Buzz Busby: Father of Washington DC Bluegrass’
12:35 Is this Fender Super Champ safe to use?
20:06 Aotearoa New Zealand Amplifier History Project (support it here); New Zealand pop and punk; building guitars in the Congo (Fretboard Journal #56)
25:19 MusicMan HD130; Sun O))); a typewriter at the 2027 Summit?
33:34 Who made Rickenbacker amps? Talk to me about my Rickenbacker M11
41:14 Bix Beiderbecke’s birthday (August 6); conversing with your amp heroes; frozen udon noodles and mushroom stock powder; Red Norvo’s “In a Mist”; Donald Brosnac’s ‘Guitar Electronics for Musicians’
50:06 Warming up a two-pronged amp through a Variac; if a Jenson speaker has been re-coned, can I stop worrying about its value?
55:35 Listener recommendation: A cheap Amazon wall outlet meter (link)
57:36 Mark Bartel’s prototype line-out interface (see Instagram pic!)
58:24 The magic of purslane
1:00:29 Why a vibrator? (on old DC amps/PAs)
1:04:19 The Savage Croaker amp; Bloodstone’s “Natural High;” Mesa Boogie Mark I repairs and Jim Washburn
Want to be a part of the show? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com! Include a photo, too.
Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.
Above: Listener Bryan’s Fender Super Champ.
