Ep. 119: "Painting Some Dots"

The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

It's the 119th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp.

Want to be a part of the show? Keep the amp questions for Skip coming to [e-mail]! Voice memos or emails are welcome. Don't forget we now have a Patreon if you'd like to support the show featuring weekly installments of what's on Skip's bench, random eBay finds, and surprise content.

Some of the topics discussed in this episode:

2:32: This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Stringjoy Strings (use the code FRETBOARD to save 10% off your first string order), Amplified Parts, and Grez Guitars. 4:27 Special call-in guest: TAVA listener Brian McAllister (vintagetubeamplifiers.com, @vintagetubeamplifiers): Finding TAVA while hospitalized; amps on Brian's bench; tips on making a pre-amp out of a Conn Strobotuner (or a Bogen PH10); Skip is building a tube pre-amp for the Chicago Fretboard Summit!; what's the most improper fuse you've seen in an amp?

29:00 Using magnifiers / magnifying glasses while working on amps

33:19 Installing a fuse in a 1973 Fender Musicmaster Bass amp; preventative maintenance on replacing electrolytic caps that work?; using an audio transformer as a phase inverter instead of a tube; Datsun pickups; what happened to the Ford Aerostar?

46:51 Are all Selenium rectifiers bad?

50:34 Hand-painting the value onto Domino Mica caps

55:43 Best way to test speakers on a Gibson GA8 and RB17T Scout

58:06 Handling unused taps on a power transformer

59:38 An all-tube tremolo circuit: the Tone God's Bullit (link); removing the skin on salmon

1:01:18 How do I reduce the B+ on my Dynaco ST-35 clone project?

1:05:27 An Amaro cocktail for the TAVA set

1:08:46 Recommended viewing: The Pharmacist, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed; Hidden; The Art of the Steal

Recorded August 4, 2023.

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.

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