michael crabtree phoenix michaels michael crabtree eugene oregon

 

BUYING TUBES FOR YOUR VINTAGE AMP

 

PORCH WEASEL AMPS

 

VIEW PHOENIX'S LIVE RIG!

 

HOW TO BUY A VINTAGE AMP

 

SPEAKERS & SPEAKER E.I.A. CODE

 

 

We would again like to thank Vinny at www.our-mission-possible.com for hosting us! After you're done here, click on this link and check out his cool interactive site!

January 1, 2010
Good God, 2010!
I have decided to get busy this month on a project I have long put off; cosmetically fixing up the two old amps in my Live Rig.
Normally of course I would STRONGLY advise NEVER restoring an old amp… “upgrading” the speakers, re-tolexing, or new grill cloth only REDUCES the value of a vintage amp.
I don’t have any such concerns with my amps however. I purposely purchased (at a good price too) two old Blackface Fender Super Reverbs which were already completely destroyed as far as the collectable value is concerned. One of them had been recovered in what looked to be some old auto industry brown Nagahyde. This made the amp no longer valuable in the collector marker, and was exceedingly UGLY to boot. One has to wonder just how many Nagas died unnecessarily for this heinous atrocity?
The original speakers were long gone in the other, and had a non-conforming replaced grill as well. Needless to say, I felt comfortable utilizing these two lovely Super Reverb Chassis’ for my own Frankenstein project… building the Live Rig of my dreams.
I did achieve this electrically, altering some of the various tolerances available in the circuit to bring the performance and tone closer to what I use. Both Vibrato channels are also now wired as “three knob” tube reverb sections, with tone, dwell, and mix controls where the volume, bass, and treble once were. Pretty damned sweet, I gotta say. And I had my Vibrato speed dialed WAY down… so now with the intensity on 10, and the speed dialed to 1, I get a way cool Univibe thing going al la Robin Trower.
Slipped them BOTH of course into the two 1972 Bassman 10 cabs, which are very close to a Super Reverb cabinet and a perfect fit for the SR chassis… with the excellent exception that they are 4X10 SEALED CABS; no more of that Fender “airy” open back thing, the same beloved Fender blackface tone with solid PUNCH.
Been using them for years and have absolutely no plans to use anything else. But it’s far past time to complete the process cosmetically.
SO… I will start with going Blonde. Yep, always LOVED that rough blonde tolex look. So right now I’m in the middle of doing the tolexing job. I am going to go with gold hardware, and have ordered a set of corners, casters, screws, and a handle to achieve that look too. I’m working on the graphics for a couple of custom grills, and drawing up my custom “brown face” style faceplate too… which will include the new reverb sections.
I’ll be posting new pics now and again of the progress. It’s gonna be fun, so stop by every few weeks and have a peek!
Stay cool Guys & Dolls…

project.jpg

Phoenix

 

 

 

Below you can use this audio device to

listen to the interview with the person

that you see shown in the picture above.

 

 

 

 


.

 

 

  Today's Date: