Show Notes
It's the 124th installment of the Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons: Conductive paints, speaker impedance mismatches, pizza hacks and lots of dad jokes!
Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to [email protected]. Our sponsors are Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Stringjoy Strings, and Grez Guitars.
Some of the topics discussed this week: :57 Skip works on a Jim Kelley Amp 6:30 Rancho Gordo beans, redux 7:49 Converting a SF Champ to the Princeton schematic and recommended plate voltages; Skip makes a tweed Harvard out of a Champ; pilot light washers from Daniel Petrzelka (Instagram: @dpetrzelka) 13:39 The 1970s Whole Earth Catalogs are now online (link) 15:21 What makes a great A/B box? 17:24 A '55 Tweed Bassman with a replaced output transformer and 7025s; Skip finishes the Tweed Deluxe overhaul 25:41 Impedance mismatches in 1950s Fender amps, using the external speaker output 31:26 Did David Lindley play on the Rockford Files theme song? Toots Thielemans 33:43 Eminence, Kentucky and Colonel Sanders 35:07 Can anything other than tubes be microphonic; the one-wire mod to have the reverb and tremolo on both channels on a Fender 37:12 Fuse-eating rectifier tubes on a Victoria Bandmaster clone; 5U4 vs GZ34 tubes 39:38 Converting a '50s Philco record player console for guitar use; Commander Cody; the Louvin Brothers' 'Satan Is Real' 43:26 Bringing up an old amp on a Variac 48:49 Experiments with conductive paints
52:36 Very loud noise floor in a low-wattage amp
56:21 A tube amp setup to compliment the Fender Tonemaster Pro
1:00:00 Biasing an old record player amp
1:05:22 Homemade pizza hacks, pizza stones, buying dough, Don Pepino, Rainier beer Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. Love the show? We have a Patreon where you can support it and get exclusive bonus content and surprises: https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps
More from The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons
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New Truth About Vintage Amps discount from Amplified Parts on all Apex matched-tube products: TAVAAPEX10 gets you a one-time discount of 10% off Apex products now through October 31. So stock up! https://www.apexmatching.com
It's the 169th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields all of your tube amp and life questions. This week, returning guest Steve Soest joins us for a chat about the vintage days of vintage guitar buying; playing alongside Chuck Berry and Dick Dale; Leo Fender's dining habits; and more. Thank you to our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts / Mod Electronics. Some of the topics discussed this week: :55 What's on Skip's Bench: A messed-up Masco MA-17
It's the long-awaited episode 168 of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields all of your tube amp and life questions. This week, we kick things off by interviewing one of Skip's clients, Sebastian from Vintage Inspired Pickups! Also: possessed Ampegs, shipping forecasts, and Fender repairs and so much more. Thank our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts / Mod Electronics. Some of the topics discussed this week: :00 Special Guest: Sebastian Gruenberg of Vintage Inspired Pickups (link); molecular biology; winding pickups, making potentiometers; cryo-tuning magnets; Emerald City Guitars; Gibsonette input jack ground issues; and more!
It's the 167th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields all of your tube amp and life questions. Thank our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts / Mod Electronics. Some of the topics discussed this week: :00 Skip's refrigerator dies (but lives!), taking the train to the Chicago Fretboard Summit, electronica band Chessie 10:09 The LA vintage guitar show 13:52 'The Angel's Share' movie 16:18 Our sponsors and a great 2026 Fretboard Summit amp giveaway (thanks, Andy!) 19:19 A non-tech tip: Silverface control panel amps with peeling film 21:59 What's on Skip's bench: Magnatone amps; an early Dickerson amp; using a Trace Elliot Velocette shell for a tube amp build 26:38 How long would it take Skip to build a tube amp (on a game show)? 28:31 Starting an amp repair business, redux (Ahuntsic Amplification https://amplificationahuntsic.ca/homepage-en) 32:45 Solder Smoke Absorber Remover (Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3QPSuv6) 36:16 Modding a Silvertone Powermaster PA for guitar, dogbone resistors, 6J7 tubes 45:21 Novak hybrid guitars; did I fry my transformer?; AI Skip; cooking with duck 53:51 What to do with my dad's 1959 Gretsch 6161 Electromatic Twin amp?; Uncle Doug on TAVA? 1:00:05 Serge Gainsbourg with a bunch of smoking kids (https://youtu.be/unYu22Ign1E?si=VkCNtOaDbloJqh63) 1:01:03 Warehouse speakers for a 1976 Silverface Vibro Champ (Instagram: @cwg_guitars)