The Amp Garage

I have restored a 1936 2x12 Marshall cab, an old one from the fall ‘80 designed for JCM800 I bought a while back from the bay. It is made using an all birch-wood construction including the back panel. The covering is Elephant tolex rather than the earlier Levant that I prefer (mais c’est la vie). Structurally the cab is extremely solid and get the right acoustic resonance.
After pulled out the black grill cloth I don’t like very much, I replaced it with a new large checkerboard grill. The ultimate operation was to feed the wood inside the cab with antiquary wax, why not I like the pleasant smell of it!

Also, I’ve loaded the cab with a pair of G12M T1871, 25 watt, 55Hz, 8 Ohms (original ‘444’ stamped Kurt Mueller cone, FK30 = 30th June 1977), same date code for both, and they sound dead killer. They are wired in series. This cab now is the perfect weapon for small venue and studio recording, it works great in association with my 1987 ’68 species Marshall Head clone. It’s an evidence that both love Stratocaster !^).

About Celestion G12M T1871, this speaker model is similar to the more commonly T1511 but has a different support spider, with the four deep ridges and made from a lighter material. In my opinion this makes the speaker sound more open and less compressed compared to a T1511. Gives a nice clear fluid tone when cleaned up and really barks when you turn up the gain. Not as mid rangey as the 75Hz speakers, which makes this an excellent speaker for rock and heavy rock.

Here is some photographs...

Nice job!

I like the checker board grill.

Merci Monsieur

Sweet, wish I could hear it.

Thanks Rooster!
I will do that since I need it for myself to record demos. I think to buy next month an e906 mic, not too expensive for my wallet.

That looks fantastic, well done! I just have to say that I was quite pleased to read you were looking to get a nice Sennheiser mic instead of the ever-present honk machine known as the SM57... (With all due respect to others who love it, of course.) You're gonna like that mic, good choice!

Can't wait for clips, very interested in how it sounds with those speakers!

Excellent job lining up that checkerboard! Very tough to do.

Thanks for your comments mates, I appreciate it. The e906 is on the road, and the audio interface too.
Soon now I will be able to record in my basement, and share some samples of this 212.

I’m very glad to get a new room for music since I have switched for a new house in a small town ‘a la campagne’ !^)

Hey tone chasers!
Finally I bought a vintage ribbon microphone, a Beyerdynamic M160N(C), hypercardioid pattern. The C marking means XLR, since this mic came first with a DIN.
Compared for instance to another ribbon mic, let say a Royer R121, the M160N(C) is not so bright, gets more mids and bottom, to my hears when I did some A/B tests. And the price is divided by 3.
Purchasing old gear can sometimes be disastrous. As I’m doing studio sessions for TV shows during this summer, I was lucky to ask about the M160N(C) to the sound engineers, no issue at all. It does the right job!

The next one will be a vintage Sennheiser MD409 I’m going to buy next week. This mic will give the opportunity to set up the Mid-Side technique to record an amp with two microphones.
M-S is done with a mic facing the middle of the source, with a mic aiming to the sides. This produces left- and right-channel signals. With this technique, the stereo spread can be remote-controlled by varying the ratio of the mid signal to the side signal. This remote control is also useful at live concerts, where you can't physically adjust the microphones during the concert. The realism of the stereo image is excellent.

For the moment, I already have a Line6 UX2 sound card that I probably switch for a Focusrite 2i2. I record with Audition CS6. But I’ll post next week some samples using my actual gear.

Very nice looking job on the tolex and grill cloth, deeder! Am looking forward to hearing it as well.

Russ

Mines press board,inside looks like 8th grade work shop.i put some new speakers v30's. Sounds good but I like what you have going on better,your cab looks awesome,mikey

Great looking cab! Much better than the same ol' same ol'. Glad to hear it's a Strat lover. I wish fewer Marshalls were banished to the realm of compressed mudbuckers.
There are many tricks and techniques for miking up cabinets. Some members here have some experience with that. Hell, Reeltarded could probably write a text on the subject. So what's next? Cloning an old Neve board?

Thanks a lot for your comments.

Here we are at least, after some issues with my personal home studio gear, I’m able to post the first audio sample as require.

https://soundcloud.com/atomic-man/m160n ... hms-series

Audio signal path:

LP Tokai LS85 (1981) ->

-> JMP 1987 cranked (hot rodded to my personal taste ;^)
Presence 4
Bass 6
Middle 4
Treble 6

-> 212 1936 Cab
G12M Black Backs T1871

-> Mic Beyerdynamic M160N(C)

-> Toneport UX2
Preamp engaged +8db

-> Audition CS6
Smooth reverb added

This sample was recorded dry, no EQ, no FX at all.

Sweet! One of the iconic tones to own.

That is a great sounding fingers/amp/cab & recording gear! I am excited to hear more.

Russ