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  #1  
Old 11-26-2015, 03:43 PM
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F ROCK F ROCK is offline
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Default I've switched from Marshalls and Fenders to Crates.

i still have my fender pro reverb from the 70's.
i still have my marshalls; a jcm800 half stack, and an avh150 halfstack.
i still have my 1966 ampeg reverberocket.
every amp has had new tubes, bias, tune up, whatever; serviced regularly.

a friend had a crate vintage club 50, vc5310.
all tube, 4 el84's and 4 12ax7's.
the clean channel was very loud and punchy, like my fender and the ampeg, but like the ampeg, could get a bit gritty.
the reverb was great; as good as the fender and a bit more usable than the ampeg reverb, but i like that ampeg reverb alot.
the marshall jcm is a one trick horse. the clean is terrible and so is the reverb.
the valvestate av150h has a better clean than the 800.
i bought his crate. it was made in the usa, and had a 5 year TRANSFERRABLE warrantee; which i used because i beat the snot out of this amp. a tube blew, taking out some other stuff with it. st louis music fixed it free of charge and shipping. it lasted 20 years after that.

so...last month i sent it to the shop to fix some swollen caps and solder joints. it came back sounding great but the shop said it will begin to fail again. it has some caps that need replaced but he doesnt want to to do the job.

yesterday i bought a crate v5112efx.
all tube, 2 el34's and 4 12ax7's.
sounds even better than my old one.
i never liked crates.
i still hate their solid state amps; and i dont like anybody's solid state amps.
and i really hated that my friends crate combo was putting the smackdown on my halfstacks.
after 20 years i will admit that my amp of choice is a crate, proudly.


Last edited by F ROCK; 11-26-2015 at 04:25 PM.
  #2  
Old 11-27-2015, 05:23 PM
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GTO68FXSTC98 GTO68FXSTC98 is offline
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My first amp was a crate solid state and it was craggly and crappy sounding. I have never heard a Crate tube amp, but I do have a Fender pro reverb from the late 70's and it's OK. I would love to have a Mesa Boogie, they sound fantastic.

  #3  
Old 11-27-2015, 09:30 PM
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Half-Inch Stud Half-Inch Stud is offline
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Do you have access to a tube tester?
Sometimes them 12AX7s are soft or go soft. They are supposed to be high gain tubes, but will really mellow an Amp whent hey go soft.

Like my Fender Bassman 10.

  #4  
Old 11-27-2015, 10:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO68FXSTC98 View Post
My first amp was a crate solid state and it was craggly and crappy sounding.
yes. that describes the tone of a solid state crate exactly.

  #5  
Old 11-27-2015, 11:09 PM
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Our band in the 70's bought 2- Silvertone 1485 6-10" 100w amp.
lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOMWg2tc2gI

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  #6  
Old 11-28-2015, 07:52 AM
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those silvertones have become quite collectible.

  #7  
Old 11-28-2015, 08:20 AM
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Default silvertone amp in case

my first guitar and amp was a silvertone with a danelectro duel pickup guitar. it was black metalflake. the amp was built in to the case. I loved it. thanks bob.

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Old 11-28-2015, 11:00 AM
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I thought you drummed Frank, you are multi talented. I have committed to playing and trying to getting decent (yes after screwing around my whole life hacking). Been dragging the 95 Gibby Special out and plugging in. Love to try a tube amp someday. Have a weird Tech 21 Trademark 60 (USA (1) 12" 60a). Les Paul used one at the end of his career is only claim to fame.

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  #9  
Old 11-28-2015, 11:07 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KS circutguy View Post
Our band in the 70's bought 2- Silvertone 1485 6-10" 100w amp.
lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOMWg2tc2gI
That sounds pretty good!

I cant play guitar worth anything, but I like listening to different amps, guitars, and pedals trying to find new sounds.

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  #10  
Old 11-28-2015, 11:10 AM
ScumOne ScumOne is offline
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I didn't know there were other guitarists on this board. Here's a few pics of my workshop/demo room/man cave.







I've got way too much gear. Going to sell some of it off early next year.

The Following User Says Thank You to ScumOne For This Useful Post:
  #11  
Old 11-28-2015, 11:56 AM
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S1, am one that kinda secretly wishes minor ill (like wife cheats on them or something) on the dudes that have eight SuperDuty's and six RAIV cars and I don't know why there is some odd parallel here just jivvin' more power to ya, I need to drool for a while at pics...

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  #12  
Old 11-28-2015, 12:14 PM
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My wife forged her driver's license 34 years ago (she was 19) to come watch my band play after she met me. I guess I made an impression, but she kept that a secret until 10 years ago when we got married.

From back when I still had some playing ability. The old Bud Light theme song sped up 50%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv3T...ature=youtu.be

  #13  
Old 11-28-2015, 01:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bird72 View Post
I thought you drummed
yes. I was a drummer for 20 years. Besides my own bands, I've filled in for Sammy Hagar, Tone Loc, Kristina Perri, and Eddie Money. I had a great agent that got me great gigs but he died.
I started back near the bottom with other agents; but was sent to some really bad gigs.
humbled; i started again as a singer/guitarist.
Actually, I started out as a singer/guitarist, but always found work as a drummer.
I will never reach the level of success that i had as a drummer, but i'm having more fun being the boss.

  #14  
Old 11-29-2015, 05:52 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScumOne View Post
I didn't know there were other guitarists on this board. Here's a few pics of my workshop/demo room/man cave.







I've got way too much gear. Going to sell some of it off early next year.

Wow! I didn't know there were a bunch of musicians here as well! That's quite a collection of stuff you have! Love all those Les Pauls! I have a 2001 Les Paul Classic I've mostly played over the years in the bands that I've been in. She's been my number 1 since I bought her new!

  #15  
Old 11-29-2015, 07:07 AM
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Nice collection, S1. It seems, tho, you could save a pile of space by weeding through your speaker cabs and keeping a select few to go with your choice head units.

Kinda like me, where I have 6 engines in the garage, and will never own enough cars to hold them! I have to unload some this spring.

I was always a solid state guy purely for cost reasons. I played a Line 6 head for a bit when I was in my buzz-saw metal phase. For a while I went exclusively multi-fx pedals, and ran them through the PA. Today's tech does a lot for emulating some nice gear. Not exact, but close enough to know what you are sampling. That's how I got turned on to the Soldano SLO-100 tone. But since I couldn't afford $4k+ for a boutique amp, I went with the Jet City Amplification line that was designed by Soldano. I have been totally impressed with it.

I used to wonder what was up with the tube tone snobs. But now I get it. My 20w head unit through a 2x12 cab cut through perfectly in ways my solid state gear NEVER did. In fact, my 20w JCA head (3 12ax7's, 2 EL84's) way outperformed my 75w SS head.

I have to put a distortion pedal in front of the JCA to get into the "metal" zone for Pantera, Metallica, GnR, etc, but was just perfect for Cult, AC/DC, and other rock.

I got to sample a bunch of really nice gear at a local studio. Their house gear included Krank, Marshall, Mesa, Orange, and some others. I liked the JCM2000 and the Mesa. I couldn't really dial in the Orange like I wanted. But it was a great opportunity to sample some stuff to fine tune what I liked.

My next amp will be a JCA22H. 5 preamp tubes for some extra sizzle, 2 switchable channels, and an fx loop. Perfect. This will fix my only complaints about my current amp (single channel, no fx loop).

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  #16  
Old 11-29-2015, 03:08 PM
ScumOne ScumOne is offline
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Squidward. At one point there were 46 4x12 cabs, 23 amp heads, five 2x12 cabs, and a few 1x12's and combos in there. I still have 28 guitars, one acoustic and five extra SG cases (that match my five early 60's SG/Les Pauls).

I'm down to about 20 4x12 cabs, 13 amp heads, three 2x12's, and two 1x12's. Still have my Randall RG-80 solid state combo from 1982, but all of the other solid state amps I had paled in comparison to it.

Now I'm all tube, one wah, one boost pedal, and maybe a delay or flanger/chorus, but mostly it's just guitar->cable->amp. I build guitar speakers for a living, and a lot of that is test/comparison gear.

If it were up to me, I'd just have a 50w Marshall, and two 4x12's. But the guitar choice would be tough...probably this one


or my Fool SG replica (made from a 63 SG Jr.)


Build pics from start to finish.
http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/63sg/63SG.html

  #17  
Old 11-29-2015, 05:00 PM
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Notice the dust on the amp....

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  #18  
Old 11-30-2015, 05:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScumOne View Post
Squidward. At one point there were 46 4x12 cabs, 23 amp heads, five 2x12 cabs, and a few 1x12's and combos in there. I still have 28 guitars, one acoustic and five extra SG cases (that match my five early 60's SG/Les Pauls).

I'm down to about 20 4x12 cabs, 13 amp heads, three 2x12's, and two 1x12's. Still have my Randall RG-80 solid state combo from 1982, but all of the other solid state amps I had paled in comparison to it.

Now I'm all tube, one wah, one boost pedal, and maybe a delay or flanger/chorus, but mostly it's just guitar->cable->amp. I build guitar speakers for a living, and a lot of that is test/comparison gear.

If it were up to me, I'd just have a 50w Marshall, and two 4x12's. But the guitar choice would be tough...probably this one


or my Fool SG replica (made from a 63 SG Jr.)


Build pics from start to finish.
http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/63sg/63SG.html
I could deal with having to trim a collection like that! I would imagine it would be kinda like breaking up with 1 of several totally hot girlfriends.

I love the Gibson tone, but prefer the longer scale length (25.5).

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"...ridge reamer and ring compressor? Do they have tools like that?"
  #19  
Old 11-30-2015, 05:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScumOne View Post
My wife forged her driver's license 34 years ago (she was 19) to come watch my band play after she met me. I guess I made an impression, but she kept that a secret until 10 years ago when we got married.

From back when I still had some playing ability. The old Bud Light theme song sped up 50%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv3T...ature=youtu.be
Loved it! Wow. That bass looks huge on your bass player! Those days are so much fun. Playing live is better than sex or drugs, but can easily provide you with either!

Here's our band a couple of years ago before we parted ways for conflicting goals/creative differences:
Cemetery Gates
https://youtu.be/Oyp3ysKO76Y

That's me with the BC Rich ASM and the Trans Am shirt! Gotta represent!

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"...ridge reamer and ring compressor? Do they have tools like that?"
  #20  
Old 11-30-2015, 09:43 AM
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Half-Inch Stud Half-Inch Stud is offline
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Scumone: if you gots, i need a good 15" driver if you have one laying around. 4 or 8 ohm 200-300 watts, full range preferred over woofer.

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