Author Topic: New Custom Guitar Amplifier (Read 1031 times)

kmh364 · « **Reply #30 on:** March 08, 2005, 04:57:49 PM »

The operation was a sucess AND the patient lived, LOL!

I performed the necessary surgery this weekend while Harry held my hand over the phone. As it was fairly late on a Sunday eve, I didn't get a chance to crank it up to hear the sonic effect on the gain/headroom, tone and switch pop. I will be putting the thing through it's paces this coming week in order to evaluate 'my' handiwork, LOL!

While I was in there, Harry gave me the quick and dirty on the hows/whys of power tube biasing. It is super easy...by checking I actually found my output stage was running a little cold...a little tweek put it right where Harry recommended for optimal sound quality AND decent tube life. Harry figures that the tubes might be loosening up a little as they break in, or it is possible the bias pot was jolted a little during UPS's velvet glove shipping and handling. Regardless, I'd now feel confident playing around with different tubes in order to tweek my amp with no reservation.

Kudos to Harry Straub for spending an evening hour of his Sunday day-off on the phone with me between an emergency driveway brake job and quality time with his family. See if you can get that kind of Customer Service from Marshall (et al), LOL!

BTW, the amp chassis is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the inside! I've said it ad nauseum, but it really is built like the proverbial brick s**thouse! Extremely robust construction, minimal circuit length/path, star grounding with hard copper bussing, and the thickest Mil-spec turret boards I have ever seen in my life. Very logical layout and easy to work on and troubleshoot.

P.S., Before any of you ask, while I would love to show you how sweet the thing is in the flesh via pix of the chassis underside, Harry would be very upset with me if I revealed his circuit architecture. He's toiled for years developing and tweeking his design and layout and is justifiably proud and protective of his stuff. Understandably, he's not particularly interested in giving the competition a headstart on their own boutique amp design.

(Message edited by kmh364 on March 08, 2005)

kmh364 · « **Reply #31 on:** March 17, 2005, 06:42:41 PM »

So far so good. I'm doing my Angus Young impression on the thing right now, LOL!

kmh364 · « **Reply #32 on:** March 31, 2005, 05:57:48 PM »

I finally got the Gibson back, after almost a year in absentia. They shipped it without even telling me: I happened to find out be accident after writing the Custom Shop about the status of my guitar. The reason they didn't tell me was because they shipped it DHL (which doesn't offer tracking numbers) after I was promised kid-glove shipping by FedEx with a 'special hand-pack job by the Custom Shop Manager after DHL destroyed the case of the substandard replacement guitar they tried to palm off on me previously. In addition, they didn't verify the shipping address and they sent it to my buddy's now-defunct business address, which is no longer regularly manned. To add to the debacle, they tried delivery two-days before my trip to Vegas. Despite a request for them to leave it there the next day, they wouldn't. My buddy had to chase it down and go to DHL to pick it up. I screamed at Gibson and they attempted to recall it because I wouldn't be around to pick it up. Well, I got the thing, and the refinish seems to be better than the original lacquer, at least as far as reduced stickiness is concerned. Gibson doesn't know the meaning of quality, nor do they know what the words Customer Service mean.

Repeat after me: I WILL NEVER BUY A GIBSON PRODUCT AGAIN!!!! Repeat this ad nauseum until you learn it as wrote, LOL!

kmh364 · « **Reply #33 on:** April 01, 2005, 06:45:13 AM »

Well, it looks like Harry The Great has prevailed once again. The once mighty thump when switching between normal (plexi) and boost (hi-gain) modes is now almost gone. That is to say, it doesn't sound like the speaker voice coils are going for a trip across the room and the switch noise is now at a much more acceptable level. The slight increase increase in clean headroom that the gain stage 1.5kOhm bias resistor substitution (up from the 820 Ohm resistor Marshall originally specified and used in the plexi) has made, with the addition of more sweetness, is a good thing.

This amp still has that Marshall crunch in spades in normal operation, and sings like a Mo' in hi-gain, especially with the CS Les Paul. Yeah, I know, that Gibson Custom Shop LP is still an expensive piece of crap, but it sounds and looks great, LOL!

This amp is the Cat's *ss!

Highly, Highly Recommended!

BTW: No, Harry Straub didn't pay me to say that, LOL!. His stuff is really that good! He really is that good! Ck out Harmony-Central for everyone else's take on their own Cantus Heads. For the record, mine is dated Jan. '05 and is Serial Number 14, so there are only about a dozen-and-a- half of these things in existance. As such, used ones are very rare indeed.

kmh364 · « **Reply #34 on:** May 12, 2005, 06:30:42 AM »

For those that are interested:

Harry Straub has suspended all hope of a relaxing sabbatical and is in the taking-orders-and-building-daily mode once again! He's currently working on a low-power (12W or so) version of the amp he built for me (i.e., Cantus) which will be even more of a tone monster. Due to the relatively low output power, you can crank the hell out of the thing in order to get full power tube distortion along with max pre-amp overdrive. Depending on the length of time it takes to finalize the production parts and perform the last-minute tweeks, the amp should be ready for production shortly. I understand he has at least seven orders already, and he only builds about ten amps a year (regardless of model), so he's pretty booked-up.

gtrguy · « **Reply #35 on:** May 13, 2005, 10:37:21 AM »

Sorry to hear about the Gibson problems. For what it is worth, I just had a great customer service experiance with them where they replaced a complicated part on my 37 year old Gibson guitar n/c and shipped out to me in a couple of days.

hydrargyrum · « **Reply #36 on:** May 13, 2005, 11:41:00 AM »

uh . . . nevermind

(Message edited by hydrargyrum on May 13, 2005)

kmh364 · « **Reply #37 on:** May 13, 2005, 12:19:00 PM »

All I got from Gibson was a bunch of lip service, the loss of my guitar for a year, and a bad taste in my mouth. While a $6k guitar is not exactly a fortune in the Gibson Custom Shop realm, it aint a throwaway either. I did get a great buy on it, but I guess you get what you pay for. Even at $2500 delivered it was still a rip-off. But I guess if you gotta have a Gibson, you gotta pay to play. Those of you trying to sell expensive guitars that are NOT Gibson or Fender Custom Shop models know all too well about resale value, regardless of their so-so quality. It's not much of a consolation, but I've seen examples of their Custom Shop premier models, and their quality is lousy even on $10k-plus models as well. The sad part is that when I'm ready to get rid of the thing, the fact that it is a Custom Shop model and that it has a spectacular flame-top will help it sell for a decent price. Thank God for Ebay, LOL!

While I would love to say that my next custom guitar will be an Alembic, I can tell you that it WON'T be a Gibson.

P.S., Kevin (hydrargyrum): I'm assuming you meant my post on Sultone cabinets in your deleted post, which I refer to above (sultone.com).

Cheers,

Kevin