Author Topic: New Custom Guitar Amplifier (Read 1067 times)

David Houck · « **Reply #15 on:** February 02, 2005, 06:30:04 AM »

Every time I see this thread I start dreaming of natural wood racks and bass cabs; which is something I don't need to be doing !

kmh364 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 02, 2005, 06:32:55 AM »

I won't take it to the local Biker Bar open-mike night, but I don't see why it can't play out. I have full ATA-rated flight cases on wheels for both, and no beer is coming anywhere these things, LOL.

Harry has only made a handful of amps, but he does have them in the hands of two pro touring Nashville session guys. It should be enlightening to see how they hold up under the rigors of the road. Personally, the stuff is built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse, so other than nicks and rings from drinks, I don't forsee a problem with the stuff. On top of that, Harry's design is so overbuilt and easy to troubleshoot that it shouldn't be a major thing to effect repairs on the road by anybody that has a clue on how to read a scope, change a tube, and solder/de-solder a joint.

kmh364 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 02, 2005, 07:54:00 AM »

Dave: If you really wanna get sick, ck out sultone.com. Bill has awesome wood rack cases...he has a matching hardwood 19.5 EIA rack mount cab and matching speaker cab with the accent stripe that my Twin cab will have that you HAVE to see. The good news is that his pricing is incredible, and he discounts for more than one piece!

David Houck · « **Reply #18 on:** February 02, 2005, 09:41:39 AM »

Yes, I've looked at his site before. And as I said before, I really don't need to be thinking about such things !

kmh364 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 02, 2005, 11:11:31 AM »

I know what you mean...One of his hardwood racks for my Eden WT-550 and matching wood cabs for my two Eden D210XST cabs would be sweet! Then I'd have to add the obligatory rack-mount extras becuse I'd have empty rack spaces to fill, LOL!

They'd have to have quilted maple and purpleheart in 'em to match my custom Orion IV Bass, LOL!

You're absolutely right, I need to stay away from that website as well, LOL!

811952 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 02, 2005, 11:21:00 AM »

Truly inspirational. Time to get out the planer, glue and clamps and make a visit to the local exotic hardwoods store. The Bogen's deserve a nice home (maybe with integral wheels and shockmount) to replace the craptastic plywood boxes in which they currently reside...
John

kmh364 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 02, 2005, 12:01:03 PM »

Craptastic, LOL! Great way to put it. Seriously, that is Sultone's raison d'etre. They use tone woods for their cabs because glued tolex and/or rug wrap coupled with MDF or plywood dampens the sound. They specialize in improving the sound of vintage amps by replacing the standard cabs with properly-braced solid tone woods and, in some cases, replacing the stock drivers with superior new replacements (a la the crappo PYLE-sourced CBS/Fender Musical Instruments stock drivers in my ca. '78-79 silverface Twin Reverb). It helps that the guy is a vintage tube amp nut and knows how to circumvent most of the shortcomings engineered into many legendary amp cab designs.

gare · « **Reply #22 on:** February 03, 2005, 06:02:13 AM »

the local Biker Bar open-mike night..
Hmmm,seems like a universal thing,I frequent such a place near home..for the entertainment value..place reminds me of the old Dick VanDyke show.

I really don't need to be thinking about such things..
Dave,maybe we need to talk to Jorg about his stuff in hardwoods ? LOL

David Houck · « **Reply #23 on:** February 03, 2005, 07:26:51 AM »

Gare, you haven't received your Schroeder yet have you? Looking forward to your review.

Some of the Bag End cabs come in oiled Birch. And I believe Dr. Bass has Birch cabs as well.

gare · « **Reply #24 on:** February 03, 2005, 10:06:15 AM »

Dave..no, not yet. But from last communication with Jorg it should be middle to end of next week.

kmh364 · « **Reply #25 on:** February 03, 2005, 12:03:57 PM »

News Flash!

The new babies arrived this am. I'll be sure to put them through their paces ASAP with a full report here.

P.S., they are even more stunning in person...pix do not do them justice! The THG knobs absolutely glow...and the striping on the sappelle need to be seen to be believed.

kmh364 · « **Reply #26 on:** February 05, 2005, 06:09:22 PM »

So far, the speakers are exremely tight and are gonna need a lot of playing-in before they sound optimal. There are also a few small issues with the amp that need to be addressed by Harry before I'm happy with the thing. I'll be calling him this weekend for a confab for sure.

Be patient and stay tuned: a full report is coming soon!

Cheers,

Kevin

kmh364 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 07, 2005, 05:16:08 AM »

I spoke to Harry Straub yesterday and he addressed the majority of issues satisfactorily. I just have to play around with the thing more in order to see if I want to address anything further. It's a very simple amp, but it'll take me a while to discover all the nuances possible with the thing. The amp is singing pretty good right now...it just needs to be played the hell out of in order to break those speakers in.

I can tell you that this thing is loud! I'm told with the tube recto and two EL-34's the thing doesn't even put out 50W RMS output. Well, you could fool me! This thing cranks! You can easily do your best Jimi impersonation: even with two greenbacks the thing sings with controllable feedback.

kmh364 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 08, 2005, 12:17:02 PM »

My nightmare of a Custom Shop Gibson Les Paul Elegant AAA Flame Top is finally going to be returned to me after nearly a year in absentia (i.e., at the Custom Shop in Nashville). They couldn't (wouldn't) replace my poorly-manufactured $6k guitar as promised with a flame top that was even close to the one that I currently have after almost ONE year of trying (and it's only AAA, imagine if I needed a AAAAA/Master Grade top!!!!), so I have to live with the inexcusable off-center factory-installed bridge/tailpiece. They tried unsucessfully to palm-off inferior cuts of wood on me after they volunteered to replace my guitar in-kind with a new one due to their poor QC...after stating that they would equal or better the aesthetics of my current guitar!!! They will, however, be re-finishing the guitar...this time with harder clear lacquer that won't gum up and turn white until AFTER 15min of playing time, LOL! I will NEVER buy another Gibson again! I just cannot fathom this kind of (lack of) quality and customer service as exhibited by Gibson from Alembic...count your blessings guys/girls that you bought Alembic and not Gibson Custom Shop!

Regardless, I'll have to have my crappy Gibson back before I can fully evaluate this bad-boy: All I have left are Fender Stratocasters and Strat-style Jacksons (25.5 scale, albeit with humbuckers in the bridge position), so I'm only getting part of the picture. I'll need to do my (poor) impersonation of Brothers Duane & Dickie and Jimmy Page before I can fully pass judgement on this beast.

Stay tuned...same Bat Time, same Bat Channel....

(Message edited by kmh364 on February 08, 2005)

kmh364 · « **Reply #29 on:** March 04, 2005, 08:03:11 AM »

Latest and greatest: Amp is doing fine, but Dr. Frankenstein will be performing a slight operation on his Monster in an attempt at a tweek: one tube gain (pre-amp) stage will be getting a bias tweek by me under the able guidance of Harry Straub. This will serve to slightly increase the clean headroom and sweeten the tone of same in normal gain mode, while reducing switch popping when toggling between normal and high gain pre-amp modes.

Wish me luck, I'm goin' in!

Official Space Helmet OFF, Oh Cap'n Video!