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The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons


Apr 23, 2021

The 68th installment of the Truth About Vintage Amps with special guest Jef Brown!

Use the discount code TRUTHV150FF to save $15 off Caddis readers between now and April 30, 2021. 

Some of the topics discussed this week: 

7:30 The details you should never annoy your amp tech with

12:23 El Pato references, explained; the El Pato-Tone practice amp (almost sold out); Knorr bullion cubes

19:19 A reissue Fender Twin Reverb with an irritating noise floor and vibrato

23:42 What to do with old 2 ohm Rola speakers; funky capacitors from a vintage Yamaha organ

30:96 Special guest: Jef Brown (Leighton Amplifiers; Southside Guitars) with more amp hacks and troubleshooting knowledge: The 3.3 meg resistor mod to 5E3s (revisited); Southside Guitars; Gibson KEA amp hacks; chokes in a power supply; a Super Reverb soaked in WD-40; new parts gone bad; a buzzy Princeton Reverb; a Fender Tone Master with misplaced grid stop resistors; a Marshall Plexi with a bad LCR filter cap; lead dress; filter caps on a clone Princeton; when to move on from a new speaker; using Fela Kuti/Burning Spear to break in a new speaker; the proper way to wire a three-prong cord to an amp with a fuse.  

Technical Note: Around 28:00, Jason's good mic somehow stopped working. Thankfully, this episode becomes the Jef and Skip show shortly thereafter so it won't affect you too much.

There's a lot of deep knowledge in this episode; dig in! 

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Email or send us a voice memo to: podcast@fretboardjournal.com or leave us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848.