Ep. 121: "Plaid Bell Bottoms"

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

It's the 121st episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp.

This week: Special guest Jim Kelley joins us (around the 28-minute mark)!

Want to be a part of the show? Keep the amp questions for Skip coming to [e-mail]! Voice memos or emails are welcome. Don't forget we now have a Patreon if you'd like to support the show featuring weekly installments of what's on Skip's bench, random eBay finds, and surprise content: https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps

Some of the topics discussed in this episode:

5:31 What's on Skip's bench: A Bogen mixer from the 1940s

6:35 What to do with a vintage MTI Tubes overdrive preamp stompbox

10:02 What's the deal with Fender Ultra Linear amps?

14:33 Australia's National Vintage Guitar Show (link, October 7-9, 2023); the Amigo Bay Area Guitar Show in January (link; Skip will be there!)

17:26 Repurposing old power transformers

22:16 Jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein; Russell Malone; Adam Levy; RIP Sammy Ash

23:17 A "brown" Deluxe that needed repair from San Quentin State Prison!

25:56 What to do with a 1973 Fender Princeton Reverb ground switch?

28:39 Special guest: Jim Kelley! 4x6V6s, plate voltages, Fortune Amps, Line, using a great reference speaker; Dumble; the Kelley prototype head at Emerald City Guitars; Jim's preferred parts; Vince Gill

1:26:00 Tubes for a Marathon amp clone

1:27:50 Building a point-to-point wired amp inside of a PCB Vox AC15VR chassis

Our sponsors are Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, and Grez Guitars.

Recorded September 20, 2023.

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.