Ep. 27: "A Big Grizzly Bear with a Duck Head On It"

Amp tech Skip Simmons is once again fielding guitar tube amp questions from around the world.

Submit your question to Skip here: [email protected] or, better yet, leave us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848.

**Order a PDF download of Steve Melkisethian's tweed Princeton amp project here.**

This week's sponsor: Grez Guitars (link)

Some of the topics discussed on this episode:

1:20 Skip's A/B box setback 3:00 A winner for our Stew-Mac Champ kit 4:40 A question for our Australian listeners 6:07 A glitchy Ampeg Reverberocket 7:09 Skip heads to a vintage guitar show 12:00 @manbroidery two-prong hat update, let us know if you want one (Instagram link) 15:22 Old carbon comp resistors and Domino caps in an amp kit build 20:23 Testing caps for leakage 24:58 Running a synth through a tube amp 28:33 The timing on Kenny Burrell's "Chitlins con Carne" 30:07 Music recommendation: The Joe Mooney Quartet (YouTube link) 31:17 The rationale for crazy amps like the Baldwin Exterminator 35:53 The sushi boat amp update; Rob Robinette's tube amp page; micro amps 40:40 1960s Guild Thunder series amps 43:52 New cast iron (link, link, link); rum & tonic 46:24 The Big Index page: fretboardjournal.com/tavaindex 46:58 Wear and tear from maxed out amp settings 48:25 Restoring (and storing) a blown Oxford speaker 50:52 Where the magic happens in a non-master volume tube amp 59:00 Tips re: Little Charlie's Chile Colorado 1:04:43 The speaker driven out / monitor jack on a Gibson Falcon 1:09:34 Tinkering with a one-tube reverb circuit 1:12:11 Modding a Gibson GA-5 Les Paul Jr. reissue amp 1:18:01 Thoughts on the Fender Musicmaster Bass amps 1:23:10 A cheap Variac hack with a current meter (eBay link; eBay link) 1:29:00 Safely using a '60s Supro Bantam "widowmaker" amp 1:33:08 Adding a polarity switch to an amp without one 1:35:36 Effects pedals between an amp and its speaker? 1:37:50 ART tube pre-amps (revisited) and Skip's preferred tube preamps 1:42:00 Output transformer spec basics