The Amp Garage

Yeah , no doubt Mark, the bias needs to be monitored for sure. And where the cabinet is concerned , the Vox 2x12 was in favor as an extension cab. Here you can use a version of it and set up the back to be similar to what Ken used. He liked a 6 inch bottom panel , you could add a small top panel to ...

Yeah, Bob is a Memphis heavy hitter early 70's guitar luthier who has mad electronic skills. He met up with Ken in the 80's and they bonded around the craft for sure. Bob is famous for Joe Stumps early tones and Shawn Lane and a lot of Memphis cats. They talked a lot about amps and Bob was a class A...

That's a good point. I don't think he had a formal list. One in his head for sure and it lives with all the folks he talked to over time. He had a lot of reviews he did on gear and his trainwreck pages outlined his feelings on a lot of amps and he comments on them like the Gibsons and such. He was a...

Here Brad takes the time to give an awesome walk through and demo of a rare Harmony 415 combo. crystal clean to mean. You'll know instantly why it was on Kens list of 'Sleepers' . Sound check at the end , in case you just want to listen. Check out Brads site, he has more amp service and demos of a l...

you know, the thing is that lately hi fi has gone towards 'soundfield' speakers that go outside the box. And its funny , because that seems whats happening in my experience. I love old Marshall vintage cabs, and would be the last guy to embrace the open back, but I have and it gives a more ambient s...

Hey Mark , very good question. I find the venues always vary so much. Depending on indoor/ outdoor , large/small , crowd size etc. An Eq is a good tool to carry and a person to record you in different locations . I can usually find a sweet spot on stage and find the right frequency to add cut or foc...

Hey gang, I've been die hard Marshall Basketweave and Ampeg V4 pre Rola Celestion Blue n Greenback guy from the start. However, I have been using Vox 2X12 open back with Celestion blues (bottom panel only) and a 2x10 open back raw I built with one weber P 10R and one P 10P ( a Jensen R clone and a C...

That's a significant amp if you can get documentation! I think its plausible , because I saw Paul play with Mr. Big in the Stone Pony in New Jersey around that time and I got to hang with them for a while after the show. I knew Billy Sheehan from a friend ( the Bass player ) and he introduced us. I ...

Class of 91 rocked! meet Francine & Daisy...a playdate.... Francine was born an Express and Daisy a Liverpool in 1991. Here is a beautiful back to back studio recording comparison.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__AI1oTszM Here is a great clear up close and personal with even more great detail ...

Ok , to generalize small iron power transformer = a spongey feel , add a tube recto and its more so. Go with small iron output and you get saturation as you max it out = blurrrr and compression and that means a high freq cut and a low end cut with character. Big iron in general means more reserve fo...

Do transformers radiate, if so , do they effect things? And if they are mounted on steel , copper , or aluminum does it matter? What is the pattern of this radiation , if it does exist. Assuming we run an I E core. Does a core matter. What about a donut core ? Torroid ? Power or Output ? Have you th...

When Ed was coming to the Kramer factory it was funny , because they sent out for a carton of Marlboro Red and a case of Wild Turkey 100. That was a churning time where the Kramer vault( a huge pile of cases upon cases of guitars stacked) would be broken out. Of all things at the time a Laney Half s...

With Ken Dubmans Guitar Player victory he played a Tele and a Les Paul and they both ripped. Know that Ken set up a Marshall big box 50 with Groove tube El34s running Super Lead Specs into a load into a 1976 Marshall 100 with 6550's slaved. He had the amp set up for weeks playing shows in the Birch ...

I'm going to keep on posting so , please add your experiences... Here you can see an experimental Basswood body shaped by John Cavallo , that has a handcrafted rosewood spacer below a 1959 Seymour Duncan standard 1959. Obvious maple neck and such. Opening 1984 tour axe . Ken tuned Paul Deceasares 19...

Photo courtesy or Darko Milosevic stock , Kens handwriting on photo of EVH 1984 Proto build by Paul Deceasare before even Ed played it. In Kens basement.