Five Watt World: Short History of Trainwreck

[Colossal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG4mtDyckAc

[tlp123]

Watched last week. Kenny was a weird guy.

[xtian]

Phil! This needs to be a sticky. Great intro to Ken Fischer and the three main flavors of Trainwreck amps.

[pompeiisneaks]

Done.

~Phil

[dartanion]

Watched this and was not impressed. Some good info, but the sound quality of the clips was awful.

[xtian]

Watched this and was not impressed. Some good info, but the sound quality of the clips was awful.

Yes, absolutely. First one (real Trainwrecks) was garbled, terrible audio, and guitarist was out of tune. And that was the only Trainwreck demo!

[romberg]

Since this thread is a sticky...

Glen's interview with Ken:


Glen playing and explaining an express:

[Mark]

I wasn’t that impressed with it. We have a lot more info here and Keith would have been wise to look at this site when researching.

[Reeltarded]

Word word word word word. Word word word, word word word word.

Word word, word, word word word word word word; word word.

Word, word word word word word word word.

There is a string of words around the 19 hour mark where he couldn't decide which way to phrase 30 words so he had a longer 45 word delivery that had extra words.. ahhhhnd he didn't edit the 30 word version from the script. It sounds like a robot having a seizure.

Compiled history based on every gear page post.. poison! This is how history gets wiped; WORD

[Reeltarded]

oh god i blew the money gag

He's Edword Van Halen

[leadfootdriver]

I thought it was a nice piece to validate Kens legacy and bring it to a new generation.
The Z-Wreck Jr and Komet amps sounded great.
I remember when that video of the 3 original Wrecks came out. It seemed to me like it was rushed and the tones weren't accurately represented..The demo guys face says it all. But due to the availability of the original amps, I can see that it would be hard to spend some quality time with them to work things out. The amps were in various states of tube choice and wear. I'm sure whomever owned the amps wouldn't want people rolling Tubes in and out at will because of their value..
It's good that this forum exists. It's probably the best thing for the longevity of his designs..

[h4x0r]

Back after a hiatus, and understand the 51/50 split opinion on Kieth's narration and the research.

Here's the thing:

Without getting defensive about OTHER peoples content, the production values of 5WW are generally speaking - not bad.

There is only so much you can do on a free platform saturated with ads and money grabs. There is no network footing the bill, there are no organisations playing the benevolent donation society PBS-badge wearing jingle.

So he can't find every single scrap of information that exists out on the internet about the subject he's researching, much less validate and verify the accuracy of all that hearsay, diatribe and bullshit.

There are short documentaries and good documentaries. Kieth is not Sir David Attenbrough, nor is he the voice-over extraordinaire, but he does put a decent amount of effort into his work, unlike the many, who prefer to run off at the mouth or criticise without being constructive or offering pure fact to support a contrary point of view.

Thing is, I too feel that the video is less than stellar, lacks substantial tangible and 'chewy facts'.

Perhaps he really couldn't dig up any information - although he did cite the current owners of the 'business' as having provided background.

The point is context - To offer constructive critique, instead of whingeing about it on an amp building forum, why not simply make contact, send an email, provide correctiona nd supporting fact if your knowledge of the subject is so contradictory or extensive.

I get the same millennial bullshit in my workshop every month or so, by a self-proclaimed expert who needs the world to know all about their opinion and knowledge.

The rocking horse is in the corner with the big lollipop. If you want to be childish or even churlish with commentary about something after the fact and don't make an effort to offer the alternative correct detail, then really - you have absolutely no reason to be critical of others effort to provide what is essentially - entertainment for people with attention spans that equate to 15 minutes or less including ads.


I agree that the production value and level of research on this particular video is somewhat lacking compared to the many others Kieth has produced. I would not go so far as to offer critique based on what content I read up on in internet fora.
Commercial research - starts with facts that are not disputable, Such as those in patents, copyright documentation and trademarks. When this information is lacking, finding the origin or the source of the creator / owner becomes far more difficult. When those who are responsible for the creation of inventions pass and leave behind an intangible value, or talent that is not parsed, then the claims of fact become more shaky, and less able to be substantiated, except where there are many who can support those unsubstantiated claims with first hand experience.

It's like being a witness in a court case. You either were there, or you weren't. You saw it or you didn't. Everything else is circumstantial evidence and does not make fact. it only supports a hypothesis.

Now you need a hell of a lot of circumstantial evidence to make your case in court, but not on the internet.

You can say whatever the f you like on the intenet and people will be splitting hairs over your publication. That much is a given.

I'n not here to defend 5 watt world's video. I think there is a lot of room for improvement in the quality of the content of that particular video, but here's the thing:

Where is he going to get his hands on each example and have the time to engage an artist to provide a video and audio recording demo? oh, and pay them for that.... because nothing is free.

A lot of people here have a business or are employed by small businesses that are music industry centric. That time spent working equals money.
I don't repair amps for free. Therefore, I don't expect that anyone with a Liverpool or Express would happily donate it without supervision - and would likely say, sure, I'll bring it to studio xyz for you to record a demo, when it suits me.... you organize and pay for that, I'll bring this rare amp.

I have a black flag JTM sitting here. Do you think I let that SOB out of my sight? Of course not.

Yet what is funnier, is that maybe 5% of the people who walk into my house actually know what a black flag marshall is.

Marshall is a torch-bearing brand in the world of music and amplification.
If people really don't know about a black flag jtm, how the bleeding heck are they going to know anything about a Trainwreck Liverpool 30 ??? much less all the details and history..

So to offer a hostile critique without attempting to be pragmatic or offering to contribute a substantial amount of fact and provide sources to back that up in order to allow for a revised edit, there really is no point in moaning about it.

Certainly there is room for improvement on the 'delivery'. But that is opinion and not fact, and it's also subjective. How you or I feel about the delivery of the content or the manner in which it is presented is really of little consequence. Sure, you can comment on the video and state your grievance... like every other captain negative out there, or you could simply choose to not watch the content instead.

After all, it's the views and subscriptions these content producers are chasing - They are not necessarily chasing a 100% factually accurate story.

How many times have you done a repair and thought... fk it, good enough... knowing it wasn't your best work ? Your customer wouldn't know the difference? or would they... That's your gamble.

Well, that is exactly how these videos are... good enough for them to upload. Not necessarily good enough for others to watch, or good enough to enjoy, or even good enough to comment or share...

In the end, it's not correct or factually accurate according to an absolutely credible source, then offer that as contradictory evidence.
Don't like the demo quality? then how about you offer something better.
Can't stand his monotonal drone delivery? ask him to spice it up a little.

People are generally more receptive to others who are offering critique in a nice or congenial way. They don't mind hearing 'Oh your video was good, but I think you'll find that <example> proves your statement to be incorrect and you might like to revise that", over "I thinkl your video is shit" or " Content was lame"

It's also a lot harder to make a presentable video than you might otherwise think - so keep in mind there are professionally employed people who do this for a living. Youtube is not a reliable source of broadcast standard quality documentaries... except when the copyright has expired or someone uploads them without authority.

So to summarize:

Was the article lacking in content / substance? Yes, but the narrator acknowledges this.

Could this have waited until more quality information and demo's were able to be accumulated? I think so.

Was the narrative/voiceover a little monotonous? I think perhaps more than others he has produced. Nuance, but can be grating and we have all 'flicked the switch' when we are watching someone with an annoying voice on TV.... Unless you were the one who liked Fran Drescher.

Are members here too personally invested in a topic to see that the wider world has little knowledge in comparison and that there are other sources which may not have the same information? I also think this is the case.

So the critique from here is a little lop-sided. Any outsider who came here to read a thread like this would be turned off with the opinionated rhetoric. I think this forum is better than that and the phrase "make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth into gear" should apply before one hits the submit button.

Fwiw, no I don't think the video is produced to a standard that is equal to his other work, which is to say I find it a very thin sliver of substance. I do think it could have been far better, It feels like it is rushed to me, and the level of research is not typical of his usual due diligence.
However, I am not an expert on Trainwreck amplifiers, and for me to say he has no idea what he's talking about, or something is BS - well unless I stumble across some facts to support my claim, I'm going to leave it to the internet youtube comments - experts are a dime a dozen there.

Oh the definition of an expert?
Ex- meaning out of
Spurt is a drip under pressure .

[brewdude]

Now, that’s a lot words

[johnnyreece]

... Unless you were the one who liked Fran Drescher.

Hey! You leave Fran outta this! She's a national treasure!

[h4x0r]

... Unless you were the one who liked Fran Drescher.

Hey! You leave Fran outta this! She's a national treasure!

Niles always made me laugh....