Ep. 126: "They Do Eventually Die"

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

Transformer talk, spaghetti carbonara, goat horn jazz, and more transformer talk...it's the 126th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps! Want to be a part of our show? Submit your question or voice memo to [e-mail].

Some of the topics discussed this week:

:48 Skip types out a tube chart

3:16 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Stringjoy Strings, and Grez Guitars; the art of bargaining at a guitar show; the Bay Area Vintage Guitar Show; Premier and Alamo amps

7:43 A Marshall Major PA-200 head at Emerald City (link)

11:48 What's on Skip's bench: an RCA PA head; Bill Krinard's return to the podcast?

15:08 RIP Earl Yarrow & Shep the dog

18:26 Junior Bonner

21:40 More Earl Yarrow

23:50 Brandy and soda

24:30 What to use in my Princeton Reverb clone: A Soursound 12-watt transformer or a Hammond 14-watt?

28:01 What to do with one single can of El Pato; avant-garde guitarist Havard Skaset; Los Pericos Quadradas chips (link); Norwegian goat horn player Karl Seglem's "Mytevegar" (Bandcamp)

33:23 Help my humming Vintage 47 Mini

37:52 What to do with a 1964 Magnatone 401, one-to-three input transformer, how to not get shocked

42:43 Should we be burning-in our amps after repairs?

46:21 Converting a Bogen MO30 to a Fender Pro circuit

51:44 Recording a tube amp at low volume by pulling the phase inverter

53:21 1952/1953 Fender Tweed Deluxes with low gain instrument jacks, input impedance

55:44 Armadillo Amp Works cabinets

56:20 Is this serviced 1970 Fender Bassman head still a Fender Bassman? gifting a tweed Bassman to your nephew

1:01:25 Thanks for the TAVA show notes; what's the deal with my one-knob, early 1960s Gibson Skylark GA-5?

1:06:50 What output transformer to use on my Trainwreck clone? Dynaco transformers

1:09:03 Heritage Auctions' typewriter sale (link)

1:10:49 Spaghetti carbonara; gutting a Peavey VTX Heritage 130 to build a bass amp with an ultra-linear transformer; Sunn amps

1:14:40 The magic of Soundmasters; Sacramento ska band Filibuster; how a family of amps can basically have the same pre-amp circuitry; 807s vs. 6L6s or EL34s

1:24:43 Thoughts on the 2024 Vintage Guitar Price Guide

1:27:57 What could cause DC voltage to build up on the grid of a power tube aside from leaky coupling caps

1:35:10 Shoutout to the Fender greats: Richard Smith, Bruce Zinky, Lynn Wheelwright, Terry Foster; a circuit baffler of sorts!

1:37:47 Spaghetti carbonara & Los Pericos Quadradas redux

Love the show? We have a Patreon where you can support it and get exclusive bonus content and surprises:

https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps