Show Notes
It's the 125th installment of the Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons!
Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to [email protected]. Some of the topics discussed this week: :51 Skip works on a Jim Kelley Amp, built-in attenuators, the magnetic field caused by a Tweed Bassman speaker 3:30 Skip needs an RCA MI-12155 schematic 3:56 Making stuff for the Bay Area Guitar Show 6:51 Our sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Stringjoy Strings, and Grez Guitars. 8:12 Our 2023 Voltic DTF pedal Dad joke winner: Keith F with "Why did Skip have to marry Mrs. Simmons? From the day he solder, he couldn't resistor." 9:34 A basic servicing check-list of what to do when you get a vintage amp
15:36 An early 1960s Tweed Princeton branded Harvard, tensioning the input jack
22:22 Modar-branded guitar amps; tube lineup of EF86, 6BQ5, EZ81
23:51 Trainwreck amplifiers; the tone difference between a single 8 ohm secondary winding vs four separate 1 ohm coils wired at 8 ohms
25:47 Should I buy this Peavey Triumph 120 combo?; five-pin footswitch replacement
28:15 Dummy load vs speaker when working on amps
30:55 How to replace the battery circuit on a Bogen E66 portable PA, ice cream truck-specific amps, the Fretboard Brewery
35:45 5Y3 rectifiers, demystified
39:00 Rancho Gordo beans, redux
39:46 An inspiring 1966 Champ and a vegan pumpkin pie
45:24 A hi-fi Eico ST-84/Dynaco ST-70 with the balance way off, RIP Earl Yarrow
55:22 Servicing a Carr Mercury; 12AT7 versus 12ZX7 pre-amp tubes
1:01:04 What to do with a 1980s Fender 30 with a weak second channel? a rare Ampeg B-15N Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. Happy holidays, everyone! 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
It's the 172nd episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps Podcast, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions about tube amplification...and life. Thank you to our sponsors: Grez Guitars; Emerald City Guitars; and Amplified Parts.
Skip is back from a long-overdue road trip and has tales to tell and amps to fix. We also hear about the Fretboard Summit's vintage amp room (watch that baby Leslie video), Christopher Guest in the new Fretboard Journal and so much more.
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!