Ep. 15: "Yuba Peach"

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

Twice a month, guitar amp guru Skip Simmons fields your questions on tube amp buying, restoration and repair. Co-hosted by the Fretboard Journal’s Jason Verlinde.

Submit your guitar amp questions to Skip here: [e-mail] or by leaving us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848.

Want to support the show? It’s last call to reserve your very own Truth About Vintage Amps t-shirt. Pick from one of three styles! Please order before July 31, 2019 to reserve yours!

Some of the topics discussed on this episode:

2:40 New goats! 5:34 The search for good amp repair people (introduce yourself!) 8:10 Music pick of the week: Thee Lakesiders 9:00 New sponsor: the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery 10:15 Cooking on amps: Hot dogs and Leslie West’s meatball subs: https://youtu.be/NkMExWjs8k4 (thanks, Greg!) 12:37 An answer to last week’s Baffler 13:44 Digging deeper into the Fender 5E1 Champ schematic 17:07 Skip’s stir fry recipe 23:27 A listener searches for a vintage tube amp book (Update: it can be found online for free, here!) 28:03 New shirt ideas, working on tube AM radios 35:32 Quieting the ticking tremolo of a Silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb 44:20 Evaluating a 1966 Epiphone Pacemaker and a National Studio 10 50:13 The tonal and volume difference between 10 and 12-inch speakers 53:20 A 1965 Ampeg Reverberocket GS-12R transformed by a replacement vintage Alnico speaker 56:20 Low-watt alternatives for a Marshall lover 1:01:51 The "thing" that Fender Bandmasters do 1:08 Pros/cons of pulling the V1 tube on two-channel Blackface amps 1:12:08 A ’65 Pro Reverb with a splashing reverb noise 1:17:08 Joshua Yenne’s Falcon shootout: https://youtu.be/I16kPtGSAFw 1:17:46 A listener avoids a bad amp trade thanks to Skip 1:24:50 Skip’s take on a kit 5E3/5E5 Proluxe 1:28:35 A sag resistor to make a Fender Pro Jr. sound squishier 1:31:32 Another music pick: Van Morrison’s "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFF1wJN75Z0

Special thanks to the presenting sponsors of the Fretboard Journal: Gibson, Martin and Carter Vintage Guitars.