Handcrafted Guitar Amps

luckybastard · Post by **luckybastard** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 9:25 am

he does make one...the z-28...check it out... www.drzamps.com ...i love my carmen ghia also... and whatever she doesnt do well, which isnt much, my blackface deluxe can handle...who woulda ever thought an 18 watt amp could get from vox to more raunchy jtm-45/plexi tones...but with it's own voice and feel...i can't say enought about this amp...btw, i use it with a hamer newport pro and an american standard strat with bill lawrence l-280/290's in it and a callaham bridge.

marqueemoon · Post by **marqueemoon** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 9:44 am

luckybastard wrote:he does make one...the z-28...check it out... www.drzamps.com ...i love my carmen ghia also... and whatever she doesnt do well, which isnt much, my blackface deluxe can handle...who woulda ever thought an 18 watt amp could get from vox to more raunchy jtm-45/plexi tones...but with it's own voice and feel...i can't say enought about this amp...btw, i use it with a hamer newport pro and an american standard strat with bill lawrence l-280/290's in it and a callaham bridge.

Doh! I guess I should have said I want a smaller (like tweed Deluxe/Princeton-sized) 6V6 amp.

Corin · Post by **Corin** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 9:48 am

I have the funniest amp of all time that I bought for the occasional cover gig that I do. It was a monstrosiy that was on ebay that appealed to my sense of the absurd. It's a Top Hot cabinet and 12" speaker connected to....a Crate club 30 amp. Some guy bought a Top Hat for $1800 and there was a little ding in the Vinyl so they sent him a new cabinet and let him keep the old one. As a joke, he bought Crate's version of a class A amp and stuck it in there and listed it. I bought it for $250 and it actually doesn't sound too bad. it's perfect for small gigs and I swear to God every time I've used it, serious guitar players (which is the polar opposite of what I am) have oohed and ahhd over the "amazing Top Hat tone". I'm not sure why, but it amuses the hell out fo me. They all ask to play through it. Amazing what a set of chicken knobs and a logo can do for your tone.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 9:56 am

Scodiddly wrote:This is the sort of thing I'm pursuing these days...(78 rpm just isn't fast enough for a Leslie-style tremolo, though. Back to the drawing board...)

Still, if the only thing you ever get out of it is that amazing graphic, you have not failed.

Piotr · Post by **Piotr** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 11:25 pm

Nothing like a tin can to add some dimension to your sound!!!

I have a Bogner Shiva 2x12, 75 watt beast and it does everything you could ever want a guitar amp to do. Country twang to Death Metal kick-your-ass-across-the-room-into-oblivion. It's all point to point construction and quite durable!

PDXJamie · Post by **PDXJamie** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 2:10 am

I got a handwired 69 Marshall Super PA. It kills

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 4:29 am

Those of you with the Carman Ghias, what sorts of tones are you diggin with your amps, and what sorts of speakers are you running? We have a beautiful Ghia residing at the Lounge that does sound great, but I'm still trying to find what sorts of tones it's really meant to do. I've been so busy lately that I haven't really had a chance to sit with it and try it through every cab in the studio.

Corin wrote:I have the funniest amp of all time that I bought for the occasional cover gig that I do. It's a Top Hot cabinet and 12" speaker connected to....a Crate club 30 amp. Amazing what a set of chicken knobs and a logo can do for your tone.

I love this story, Corin, and you're so right. There are a lot of poseur tone snobs out there who will buy anything "boutique" whether is sounds good or not. (personal note, the fact that Thompson's Classic 50 was "the" tone for a lot of his tracks goes to show you that snobbery has no place in the studio!)

I would love to hear that amp though. By the way, what speaker does it have in it? Those Crates can be upgraded with a good speaker very easily. Hell, most amps can be upgraded with a good speaker. Might I suggest a ceramic Weber Blue Dog?

Merry Christmas,
Roger

Scodiddly · Post by **Scodiddly** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 5:36 am

Rodgre wrote: I love this story, Corin, and you're so right. There are a lot of poseur tone snobs out there who will buy anything "boutique" whether is sounds good or not.

Once in a while I have a mild urge to get a cabinetmaker friend of mine to put together a few "boutique" wooden amp cases. It's not that hard to knock together a Vox or early Fender clone amp circuit...

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 5:49 am

Scodiddly wrote:
Rodgre wrote: I love this story, Corin, and you're so right. There are a lot of poseur tone snobs out there who will buy anything "boutique" whether is sounds good or not.
Once in a while I have a mild urge to get a cabinetmaker friend of mine to put together a few "boutique" wooden amp cases. It's not that hard to knock together a Vox or early Fender clone amp circuit...

The bassist in my band works for a "high-end" Pro-Audio Speaker manufacturer and has access to some nice bits of scrap wood and has made some amazing repro cabs for me. I have a 2X12" that looks exactly like a Vox AC30. I toyed with the idea of putting the guts to my Pathfinder in it until I got a real AC30... The Pathfinder sounds awesome through that cab.

He's also cloned a great Fender 2X12" that we have in the studio so we could have several of the same cabs with different speakers in it.

Roger

luckybastard · Post by **luckybastard** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 8:39 am

since i've got it, i used the vintage 30 that it came with...sounded very good with it...no complaints...two weeks ago, i let go of an old bedrock amp that i had 2 ceramic blue dogs in...of course i swapped them out before selling the amp...so i put one of these into the carmen ghia. it made it sound a little different...not better, not worse, just different...it took the amp more towards the vox side of the fence... i don't really know which speaker i like best...

Piotr · Post by **Piotr** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 9:52 am

That is so true about the speakers.

I also had a chance to play one of those ZVEX heads that fit in the palm of your hand. Ran it through my Marshall 2x12 1938 cab and it sounded killer. Really loud, too!!!

awolski · Post by **awolski** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:00 pm

Not too long ago I was at a show where the guitar player from Trigger Gospel was backing up a local singer on a set of covers. I was really admiring the tone he was getting from his beautiful old Tele played through a Matchless (not sure what model - Hotbox??) I was thinking "Wow, those Matchlesses really kick ass!" Then at the end of one set they invited my friend and I up on stage, and the guitarist generously offered to let me play through his setup. I was really nervous and it was a perfect demonstration of the idea (I think I read it in Tape Op) that "90% of the sound comes from the player's hands".

Still, it was a sweet amp.

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