GOOD AMPS

forgotten pics

2010-06-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

i just realised that i never posted pics of my first jcm 800... anyways here they are, very very tight fit in this really reallys small chassis.

i want a lot now

2010-06-18T08:18:00.001-07:00

if you know me at all you would know that my favourite band in the world is "THE MURDER CITY DEVILS" i have seen them a number of times since they broke up way back when, and everytime cherished the moment as if it were the last.

well this morning i read some great great news.... the band is officially a band again, and are oficially working on new material... maybe its for the money, or the love of touring i dont know... but even if its for the money... i dont give a fuck, so long as they keep touring and writing really good booze fueled songs i will continue to call them my favourite band.

"drinking when i should be sleepin, sleepin when i should be waking up. never hungover either wide awake or way too drunk!"

couple shots of reagens 800.

2010-04-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

just two quick shots of reagens 800.
hoping it will be done by friday.... yikes... thats tomorrow.

header

2010-04-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

i should have a whole buncha new pics to post over the next couple of days. but for now just check the new header i made!

i may run some shirts with this on it.

marshall style 1987 plexi circuit.

2010-04-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

this should be a nice 50watt dimer. non master , a classic used for so many band signature tones.

2010-04-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

my friend kyle who plays bass in our band wasn't happy with his tone. so i went about fixing it for him.
hope he is satisfied now.

i added a seyomour duncan 1/4 pound pickup, in hearing this pup in our friend reagen's bass i thought it was the best sounding pup i had ever heard. i wanted to keep the original neck bucker in this so i added a third pot and wired it like a jazz bass, vol 1, vol 2, and tone. nice mix of sounds you get from it now.
peace.

800 ways to do it right

2010-04-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

just a couple of in progress shots of regeans 800. its a really tight fit, considering a standard 800 is at least double the size. none the less it fits. built like a tank. regean did the roll cage and chassis, i did all the drilling and fitting.

2010-04-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

just finished this graphic for the face of an amp a couple of days ago. i sent the file over to the people at woodcraft and they did a great job as always.

anyways this is for the front of a 800 style head i'm building, pretty slick.

2010-03-31T14:34:00.001-07:00

whole bunch of parts waiting on chassis to be built. also, found a new transformer manufacturer that i think i might try out, price seem as reasonable as they can be, and i have heard many great things.

something new i wanted to try

2010-03-19T17:52:00.001-07:00

i think i really like this little theft deterent... or at least fuckover.

new

2010-03-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

couple of pics of things i have built. re organized or acquired.

busy busy busy

2010-03-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

i have been busy lately, writing songs with my new band mates "golden ears" and also re-working the space in my home studio, specifically the mixing room. i had to build a new desk for the room last night. and this thing is monstrous. at 4 feet by 8 feet its huge... still want to add some things to it to make it more usable... all in time i suppose.

no new amps developments right now, but i have been brain storming some neato ideas. like panel meters to measure plate voltages and bias readouts.. and been looking for old portable record players to convert into recording amps.

see you soon.

2010-02-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

yeah yeah. its been a month almost since the last post.
its been busy. i have been busy. but i have also been working on some new amp stuff. all of which i will be posting about soon. so if anyone actually follows this thing... keep checking back over the next couple of days i'll have lots to show you.
-kyle.
goodamps.

slow and steady

2010-02-02T18:38:00.001-08:00

the shop is a mess i have been moving shit in like crazy trying to find room, i'm going to have to build another bench.

inventory,

2010-01-29T09:48:00.001-08:00

i decided i needed to take inventory of my current gear because its always safe to have a list incase anything goes terribly wrong.
amps:

fender 65' super reverb reissue.
79 garnet revolution ll.
78 garnet revolution lll.
goodamps 100watt black thunder.
goodamps 18watt sessions master.
goodamps 40watt tweed deluxe.
goodamps 100watt powermax.
goodamps 100watt elite.
goodamps 300watt big bottom.
sunn beat lead (this is not mine, but is stored at my studio)

cabs:
goodamps 4x12 w/ weber signature speakers.
goodamps 2x12 w/ weber signature speakers.
goodamps 2x12 w/ weber signature speakers.
randall 4x12 w/ celestion gt12-75's
vintage ampeg svt 8x10 bass
sunn beta lead 4x12 (this is not mine but stored at my studio)

effects:
roland space echo (re 201), early 70's japanese.
diamond memory lane delay pedal.
korg pitch black tuner.
boss tr2 temolo.
boss bd2 blues driver.
electro harmonix little muff.
mxr clean boost.
mxr dyna comp.

guitars:
fender 72 thinline resissue, 3tone burst.
kyle good 62 telecaster copy 3 tone sunburst.
prairiecustoms carlycaster (thinline esquire) 3 tone burst.
82 hondo 335 copy.
gibson sg faded white 3 pickup model.
gibson sg standard natural burst.
burny 61 sg reissue, black. mid 80's.
1960's symphonic holllowbody (fender coronado copy) 3 tone sunburst.
1960's zen-on electric 2 tone burst.
godin fith avenue kingpin. conagc burst.
yamaha acoustic.

basses:
squire vintage modified p bass (tele bass) 3 tone burst.
kyle good telecaster shortscale bass, brown.

other gear:
tascam m3500 mixing console.
motu 986 interface
presonus firebox.
assorted mics. and pre's

well thats a fairly detailed list i plan to come back to this with serial numbers. and specific years of the items.

its time to wrap up.

2010-01-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

i have a whole mess of projects on the go right now, and not enough time to finish any of them. i really need to get motivated to do all this shit in a timely manner. i have just had so many odd jobs to do and its really started to take away from all my other goals. slated for finishing touches are a hiwatt ( i broke a power tube, putt new ones in and now something just aint right. so i need to figure that shit out.) a jcm800. this thing crushes your kidneys, pushes so much fucking air through those cabinets... all thats left on the is tracing and killing a little bit of ground hum.
and lastly, an svt style head... this this is heavy and a huge fucking pain in the ass. lots of smalls tweaks to make on this one. but it about time i finish this guy.

so future. where am i with you at the current moment, well i want to build more jcm style amps. more 18-45 marshalls. some more oranges. i would like to venture into the blackface territory, and maybe a tweed bassman. also a trem reverb unit in a rack mount case.

this is all tentative to me keeping my doors open for business, as i am contemplating a permanent shut down.
-kyle

its all the rage

2009-12-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

marshall jcm800's seem to be all everyone ever wants for playing loud aggressive music, maybe for its simplicity (6 knobs), or maybe for its crushing tone. i've never been sure, all i know is while i have always loved its sound, i have hated it's cosmetics. its not that looks are everything because i can assure you they have no effect on the ton of the amp it self. i just have always loved how jtm cabs looked.

so for this recent build (which i almost finished last night until i realized i was short 1 singular resistor) i decided to do a jcm in my standard jtm style head cab. while this chassis is alot smaller. and i have to drill alot of extra holes i think asthetically it will be worth every ounce of frustration when it comes to fitting it all together. its also my prototype to make sure i have one for people to play when ordering.

this one is dedicated to tj for being such a supportive and rad dude.

the only thing that will change on ordered ones after this is that the head will look like a more traditional jcm, still my black on black scheme. just not a jtm cab, its to small and troublesome. and the new chassis will provide extra room for things like buffered effects loops.

i'll be done this guy by boxing day at the latest. maybe this time around i'll get some sound clips. its gonna be a heavy metal dream.

and by the time i come back to work on the 4th of january i hope to have also completed the 300 watt bass head. but thats another story with a lot of custom one off work going into it.

i'll post more pics soon.
k. good

parts

2009-12-22T13:33:00.001-08:00

well i recieved another 6 boxes of parts today,
still waiting on the glass fronts. and turret board material, but at least i have some chassis' to work with now and i can start drilling holes and shit.
yes.

people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

2009-12-17T14:53:00.001-08:00

well today i got a call. these etched glass face plates are on their way to me now... sure will look pretty on the front of an amp.
thanks marty and dave at woodcraftbydave for making this happen in all of the madness of the holiday rush!

parts arriving daily

2009-12-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

well i got another shipment of parts today from mouser.
carbon comp. resistors.. sweet
mallory 15o's.... kinda bugged me a little... they use to all be yellow.. now they have started switch to white jackets. apparently hi temp. but still. they look different! maybe i'll switch again. i'll way the pro's and cons. its just aesthetics.
i'll start postin pics soon. this jcm is gonna look sweet inside a jtm cab. also i put all the best parts i could get for this thing. ohmite carbon comp resistors. sprague electrolytics, mallory caps, jj/tesla cap can cans, alpha pots. belton tube sockets. still undecided on transformers.

more parts,

2009-11-25T15:37:00.001-08:00

well.
more parts on the way.
going to shoot for a jcm style head. 100 watts.
and the bass amp parts are coming. this needs a ton of fabrication and custom fittings.

for sale.
highwhat style 100watt head running kt88's.
and 18watt brit style head great for recording.
both are black with black faceplates.
contact me if interested.

its only 7pm.

2009-11-19T19:00:00.001-08:00

well the parts arrived today... and guess what?? they sent me radial lead capacitors instead of axial leads. so now it looks like there are buildings inside this amp. the function the same so i can use them still and no one will see em anyways... and if i really start thinking about it. they might even be better because standing up they may not se as much cross signal and noise. it just took some creativity to get them in there and make them work.
so just a few shots of the board. and the back of the pots.
and the board is done. i didn't realize it was only 7 pm... i'll probably try and get the pots done. though if i keep going at this rate i wont have anything to do while i'm waiting for some other parts including the 6 position pot that i need for the fet circuit.

ass master

2009-11-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

this was a bass master, but i think it just got its new name....

ordered all the parts, but they didn't show up today.. supposed to be tomorrow..
so i decided to work on the little cosmetic details. i had to move the standby to the back of the amp so i could fit another knob on the front. and previous i had a modded bass master that still had the original letter for each knob. it was a pain in the ass to remember what was what. so i remedied that. good thing i have a vinyl plotter at work.

i also found in my box of spares and parts. the exact output transformer that i had taken out of another bass master awhile back. inbetween the two big transformers you can see the little choke i had to add.
i used a razor blade to scrape off the old lettering on the chassis.
add then applied the new vinyl ones.
and labelled the tube sockets. third hole in is and unused tube socket where the bias pot will be. no more redplating tubes neal!
and that concludes today. tomorrow i will populate the board and work on the pots.

burnt out and old.

2009-11-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

long ago, my ol friend neal bought this old traynor off a friend of a friend... it needed some work.. long story short, i said i would fix it. i put it on the back burner for a long time. until now...
you think you have problems? think again. this guy had a blown out put transformer, blown out caps... something went so wrong that the fiberboard had a hole burnt through it...

so... i guess its time to build him a 50 watt orange with what parts are salvageable.
so here goes.

this is the chassis prior to me starting, i should have taken better pics of the damage. but i didn't

and here it is again. with a new fiberboard fitted.... thats right. hand punched... and a new bus bar. i use a star grounding system. and the old traynors use many grounding locations.

little mods.

2009-11-08T18:36:00.001-08:00

heres some pics of the little heathkit i modded..... pretty basic little amp. very similar to my 18 watt marshall

hiatus ends

2009-11-06T07:44:00.001-08:00

well back at it again. need to ored a dransformer for my reverb unit.... i blew it up. hahhaha
still working on two 100watt heads. going to try and finsih them by the end of the weekend. and in a strange turn of events i did something a little different....
a friend of a friend had a vintage Heathkit tube powered mono hi fi amp. and he wanted to trade it to me for a champ build. i told him i would see what i could do to his first and then go from there. so i took his 14watter home. sat it on the bench and looked closely for a while... changed out the power cord. added an input jack, bypassed the mode selector and away she went. best sounding 14watt i have ever heard when cranked... i think he'll be mighty happy.

i was so impressed i bought one on ebay for myself...... all in the name of collecting junk right...

i'll post photo's of the one i modded for that friend when i get home.

-kyle

quick update

2009-10-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

sorry to any and all that read this or my other blog. i haven't been posting like i used to... i have been super busy with the move/unpack/paint. but its almost all done. and i promise to do a big update as soon as its finished. i think that i will be done this weekend as its a holiday!

finally some progress.

2009-09-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

the good news is that i finally received some transformers that i have been waiting for.
and i'm back building (without a bench.... er. or any sort of organization.)
i'll post pics soon, your just have to bare with me as i have no internet in the new house.

last night i finished my hi**tt clone. i have to run it through the loops tonight.
then back on to round two of the or**ge for myself....
then 300watts.

new home of good amps.

2009-09-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

finally in and painting.
hope to be set up again by sunday!

7

2009-09-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

well. seven more days til i move...
ugh. taking forever,

the better half of a month

2009-08-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

well most of you may have heard by now that i have bought a house...... what a relief.....
this brings some bad news and some good news. which do you want first?? well, bad news it is..
i wont be working on amps too much over the next month, i need to pack up shop and get prepared for the move. the good news is... i wont have to be crammed inside the tiniest space building these things anymore. i will be in close range of the drill press and all my fancy tools now. which means the possibility of more custom work. but thats not all....
the next bit of great news you ask....
glad you asked.
i have a recording studio in the new house that was built by the guys at the legendary greenhouse studios in vancouver b.c..... stoke factor = way up there.

this is a short list of things that i am looking for. for those of you that read this and happen to have a spare or one you dont want please contact me with your price.
-portable record player. you know like with the built in speaker... not talking about the big all in one units... just a little table top guy... i need it for the amp bench.

-book cases... tall ones... a matching pair. solid wood. fits lp's

-kitchen table with matching chairs. mid century? or 50's diner style. prefer removable center leaf.

-an espresso machine. so that i can have all you lovely peoples over for good times and nice warm drinks.

and another thing to look out for is..
2-300 watt bass head.
and
200 watt guitar lead head.... t.j. i'm nodding to you on this one.

cheers. i'll keep you updated

stoke just got a boner.

2009-08-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

well unfortunately for me these babies have to stay in my warehouse until i move which shouldn't be to far away... but damn..... they look good.
so here is a little back story. i don't make my boxes not for my heads or cabs... thats right.. outsourcing. but heres the good news i don't take any profit on the cabs.. i get a deal. i pass it to you. i could make my cabs. i have the experience,knowledge and tools.... what i dont have is the space... for me to set up to make one would take hours... then hours to make it. if i could leave my jigs set up permanently then i would build em myself... but the way i see it is your not playing what it looks like outside.. your playing whats built inside....
so dont be hatin!
bad cell phone pic.
but just too stoked.

very unhappy

2009-08-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

my shipments came yesterday...
missing 2 power transformers, and all my custom faceplates. so now what am i supposed to do?
i cant mount any components in their chassis as i always do transformers first.
and i can mount pots or anything as i need the face plates to be there.

i guess i can populate the boards, fine then. i'll start doing that stuff.

also kinda pissed that nobody at the suppliers headquarters is responding to my messages.
its about to get nasty!

guess what i got?

2009-07-30T22:13:00.001-07:00

thats right! a vintage space echo! pretty neato.

in other news, once again my shipments are held in customs.
supposed to be delivered by tomorrow.
we'll see about that!
shitheads.

sorry for the hault in progress.

2009-07-13T21:50:00.003-07:00

more parts coming sometimes shipping takes for ever. but soon. i have some problems i should be trying to figure out in the meantime.

harsh bummer.

2009-07-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

well i finish up the highwhat. went through start up and what do you know no power to the filaments. so i checked around. try to find bad connections. none. so i check the voltages from the power transformer and whaddaya know? seems the winding for the 6.3v low power filament supply is faulty. ordered a new one. hopefully that solves it.

working out plans for the reverb/vibrato unit right now. and looking at jcm800 schematics. i dont like that the pre amp and master were right next to each other. i always like it when the preamp and the master are distant from one another. i dunno why. just personal preference i guess. so looks like that could be in the near future. as well as another whitethrash. but back to my standard black/black skin. call it. "black metal"

and a classic 18 watt brit sounding thing.

and someone ordered another princeton. thats all for now.

holidays

2009-06-27T16:27:00.001-07:00

i've been on holidays,

should be back home in a couple.

just ordered more parts.

british 18 watt

cobalt

2009-06-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

my friends get drunk and go to shows.

one grabbed me a pic of johnny playing white thrash.

photo courtesy of reagen

white thrash

2009-06-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

well there she is all buttoned up.

buttoned up.

2009-06-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

well,

i finished johnny's amp, it sounds fucking awesome.

have some pics of it with its cab and logo. but i don't have my camera with me. johnny picked it up earlier than i had hoped he would. so i never got to crank it full throttle. i'll leave that to him so no sound clips and i'll probably only get live ones now as i don't think he'll let it leave his sight. well... that is unless there is any problems with it that i need to rework.

i'll post some pics of it soon, and i get some live footage of the amp it action.

its pretty loud.

i am a little worried about it being full throttle as i never had a chance to do it myself. i had it on a dummy load and it seemed fine so here's hoping i am not an idiot.

so now i have a hiwatt clone to build for myself. the uphill challenge keeps getting steeper and steeper.

progress

2009-06-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

well i made progress in my head anyways,

i fix the drive control. how? well i check the switch for continuity with my multimeter, and that didn't even help. i had to take the switch apart to figure it out. stupi stupid stupid. but you gotta do what you gotta do.

so next up. i think i have tracked a whole bunch of the problem down to the negative feedback loop (nfb) but this is just in my head. when i get home today i will work on that. i am hoping it will just be a reconnection. if not i'll reroute the leads from presence control to the impedance selector.

if that fails well then its on to the master volume.

there is still miles of hope, as everything is working nothing is smoking or blowing. its just minor signal issues that come with the joys of building amps!

yay!

setting sail

2009-06-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

well had to sign off of my work.

strap on a badge. and she is ready to go.
thanks reagen, for cutting these plates for me on the fly.

moving right along

2009-06-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

i feel like such a dummy, this is such a complex build and i was just so involved that i forget so many important shots.

anyways heres a close up of the impedance selector. this switches are weird and they are tricky too.

a shot of the buss bar grounding system. and the drive selector pot. again this is a tricky little switch. and so much so that i am having trouble get all positions working. but with some more playing around. i'll get it worked out.

heres a better shot of the same thing. the 40 uf caps are pretty big and intrusive. i'm going to look around for some better ones and switch them out.

i'm not a huge fan of how they hang out the board like that.
heres an overhead shot of the whole chassis. every is wired up and going good.

the amp has power and producing sound. i still have some bugs to work out high gain amps are tricky. one wire moves a millimeter and it could totally change the sound of the amp.

there are 50 voltages to check on all the tubes.

everyone checked out perfect that is a really good thing!!!!

so it practically done.

just got tinker with the glitches until i get it perfect for johnny.

rawpower

2009-06-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

well this one right here is for johnny wakeham of featherwolf and bogus tokus. its going to be a relatively close copy of and orange 100watter seventies style. running kt66 power tubes. so heres a shot of the chassis, transformers and pots mounted, and the filaments on the tube sockets wired.

another chassis shot pretty much the same state.
here the turret board completed. i got so into this one i forgot to take pictures of the process.
another shot of the board. nice and clean.
macro shot mother fuckers.

finishing stretch

2009-06-07T17:23:00.001-07:00

well heres the last set of pics for this baby cause it is finished and sounds awesome.

it'll will ship out to alberta on tuesday!

anyways heres a shot of the preamp socket, nice and tidy the way i like my builds. my house is nowhere near this clean!

most people use a brass plate for a grounding platform for these old tweed styles.

i prefer a floating buss bar system its a little trickier to do. but it looks ten times better, and your amp is ten times quieter. heres a detail.
and heres shot of the whole buss bar. the key is to tie all grounds to this bar and only have the bar connect to the chassis at one single point. this eliminates ground loops which can cause excessive hum and feedback.
chassis installed in the cabinet and reday to be buttoned up.
and the finished product wrapped in a nice tooled leather tolex box. mart, i hope you get around to building the matching guitar.
stay tuned everyone next up is a 100watt orange style amp

exausted

2009-06-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

well i was up til 3am working on this guy last night. and the board is done. with all its leads attached and nicely colour coated, purple goes to tubes. and blacks are grounds. not that i needed to do this. just thought it would be a nice touch.

here is the fiber board in its new home. tightly fitting in the chassis. the thing that is a real pain about tweed styled amps that sucks is the very little space you have to work inside of.
and you cant forget to mark your territory.. nice little touch inside the chassis.

when are you going to grow up and cut your hair?

2009-06-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

i'll probably cut my hair when i stop living.
well finally the parts are here and its time i let you all in on whats being going down. first up is a princeton style amp for my telecaster loving friend marty over at prairie custom guitars. if you like tele's you should probably get one of his. so here is the chassis laid out and ready to go.and this is the heater wiring all done on this guy. i have to say this was a breeze i'm used to amps with 6 plus tubes in it... not three. so laying out wiring on this guy for a quiet running with no noise should be easy.
heres the controls installed on the front and the back panels..

and some tidy wiring. there are a few wiring from the power transformer that aren't used. but you never want to gut them short in case you want to modify the circuit later down the road.

i like to twist my up neatly. the twist helps eliminate stay rf noise. so on the one i braided them to keep it really clean lookin.

and back inside the chassis i have the tone and volume controls wired up.

2009-05-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

all parts orders are arriving monday. time to get to business.

sorry bout the delay

2009-05-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

still waiting on parts to arrive

dont worry its coming

lazy monday

2009-05-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

well saturday i found a nice old realistic solid state amp. it'll make a good listening amp for the bench and today i built this amp cradle for working inside amp chassis'

dummy load

2009-05-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

need a dummy load for test amps... easy 4 high power 8 ohm /50 watt resistors wired in series parallel. and hooked up to an input jack. thats a 2oowatt resistive load. now you can run your freshly built head at full last without damaging your amp or your ears, i'd tell you step by step but its so simple i dont think i need to explain. but i will say this. an aluminum housing is recomended for heat dissapation cause these things do get hot. but sticking with the salvage theme of the tools i used i ended up going with an old drill bit case. the parts are easy to find through mouser dale/vishay high power resistors 80hm/50watt and this is alot cheaper than buying a dummy load.
heres the pics.

capacitance discharge stick

2009-05-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

capacitors hold lethal voltages. yeah, it even enough to kill you.
but its easy to discharge them. all you need is some high power resistors hooked to a ground on your amp chassis. and you put them in an insulated something or other. make sure its sealed up. and your done.
all you need is a 250 ohm /2 watt resistor.. this method takes about a minute to bleed the cap. i chose the high power version. three 250 ohm / 2 watt resistors wired in parallel, i used an old sharpie casing to house them the tip from an old mulitimeter probe, and an aligator clip on a length of 18 gauge wire for hooking up to ground. its all insulated and ready to go.

but just a warning. my way of doing it will drain the caps in seconds. but there will be big pops and stuff when you do it from the electricity moving out faster.
heres some pics.

moving right along.

2009-05-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

so i just made these for my one month old niece. pretty stoked.
tomorrow i'll start showing you some of the things i'll build that i talked about, where to get the parts, and yadda yadda yadda

punch you in the face. discharging and load dumping among other things.

2009-05-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

when testing for faults its good to have a few tools. i'll go through some of them here. fun learning.

1.a common household chopstick is a great little thing to have to prod around inside and amp because its non conductive.... but keep one hand in your pocket. you can find all sorts of little noise issues by pushing things around in your lead dress, tapping on microphonic caps and also microphonic tubes.

2. a discharge tool is absolutely necessary when working inside of amps. you can kill yourself without discharging caps properly. capacitors can store lethal charges for days even months after the amp is shut of.

3. amp stethoscope. this is great for going in your amp and testing out circuits to hear for issues within your signal. you can listen to every point in your amp and clearly hear where things are going wrong.

4. in order to properly use the amp stethoscope you need to run your amp with out a speaker. but this is not safe so for that a load dump is need which is basically a large resistor that takes your amps signal and disposes it properly.

over the next few days i'll post pics. and parts lists and instructions for how to build all of these things so stay tuned and learn a few things!

fuck firebirds... get a prairiefire

2009-05-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

just a little something i dreamed up for my self with my friend marty over at prairie custom guitars. check out his site he does some pretty incredible things.
so heres the scoop!
i took a jaguar body and flipped it upside down. added a tele neck.. and tele controls and set it off with a custom styled pickguard.
the plan is a 3 tone sunburst bound body. rose wood body finger board. and some screaming pickups to get some destroying tones.
over and out!

a hobbit hole?

2009-05-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

cleaned the little hole where build amps today, seems as though i finally got a purchase order in. so all those amps i was talking about building are actually going to happen.
i also had some stickers made. maybe this blog will actually start serving its purpose again.

and yeah my work space is underneath a loft bed.

alright... its been long enough

2009-04-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

i know that there are a few of you that read this... and i haven't updated in awhile.

this one aint amp related... but read on.

sunday april 19th. reagen and i were on our way back from vancouver. him, kyle huck, and myself had just spent the day goig to a motorcycle show and shine and swap meet looking for parts.... no dice. so we took kyle huck home to vancouver hung out for a bit and decided to trek home.

so we are rolling along in the green machine. highway #1 and everything is going good. steady pacin' in the slow lane doing about 85 kmph, next thing you know were spinning round and round.

when the van stopped we didn't know what happened.... reagen was certain that his back tire blew out so we got out and checked. and what do ya know? the back tires and front tires for that matter are fine. but the van aint.

the whole thing just destroyed.

seems as through we had a drunk driver on the freeway that day... just weaving in and out of traffic doing about 130mph. he tried passing someone in the fast lane and just cruised right into us.

the van is gone now, and we are both sore.

the other driver was arrested...

the best weekend we ever had rollin in the green machine.

what a bummer day.

flying burning birds.

2009-04-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

i really want to get a firebird guitar. anyone got any leads?

thanks.

building amps aint easy.

2009-04-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

well as the title says, building amps aint easy. and its been pointed out to me that this blog was supposed to be about building amps. and its 100% true, but i seem to have run a little (or a lot) off topic....

to build an amp you need and understanding of electronics, the tone in which you are setting out to acheive, schematics, and lastly parts. it all easy except for the parts thing. In canada we don't have that many places to buy parts for building amps. well there are a few places to obtain the resistors, capacitors and various diodes needed. those parts are pretty unimportant in comparison to the irons (transformers) needed. and those are widely available in the u.s. but they are also costly. transformers are also the heavy component in an amplifier, and shipping over borders is a pain in the ass when it comes to shipping cost plus duty because the transformers can cost upwards of 600.00 us dollars before shipping and duty.

for instance i have been asked to build someone an ampeg svt head. its 300 watts... those are some big irons. the cost for those irons; the output and power, is approximately 400.00 us. the weight of these two together is nearly 60 pounds. so the shipping alone is 100 bucks and duty fees close to 50 bucks. with the current exchange rate that total 696.00 cdn dollars.... kinda outrageous.

the only way to beat this is buying in quantity to save on shipping and get the initial cost of parts down and then the duty fees can be spread over all the parts. so i have been saving my pennies in order to operate in this fashion. but do not fear there will be more amps built soon.

heres the short list of amps that i have to build now for a bunch of people in the order they will be built.

1. all tube tremolo/reverb unit. (think fender reverb with tremolo added)

2. fender style princeton. about 20 watts i think.

3. 100watt hiwatt dr104 (this thing will be a tone monster)

4. 70's style orange head. 10owatts.

5. ampeg svt style bass head. 2-300 watts.

and on the list of amps i would like to conquer for my self

1.jcm800

2.marshall jtm 45.

3. and probablt an svt.

so needless to say i have my work cut out for me.

i guess i better keep putting those pennies away!!!

missing,

2009-03-25T07:40:00.001-07:00

well its a good feeling to be writing songs again and playing guitar after song long of not really doing it.

and i've been missing old friends alot.
maybe thats why writing has been easier.
which kinda sucks when you have to draw from sadness.
happy thoughts???

12bars

2009-03-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

well i dont care how i die,
so long as i got you by my side.
you can give me the cancer,
a poison dart,
deliver a bullet to my heart.
none of that will matter,
old habits..... die hard.

i was put here to love you,
through the thick and the thin.
but i dont know where you've gone,
who you with or where you've been.
just like you say,
none of my business anyways.

just give me a shovel,
and i'll dig my own grave.
just give me a shovel,
and i'll dig my own grave.
if i can't even find you,
how will i be safe?
give me a shovel,
and i'll dig my own grave.
give me a shovel,
and i'll dig at your pace,
give me a shovel,
cause baby i'm your slave.

moving along.

2009-03-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

today was by far one of the most productive days i have had in a long time. johnny wakeham called me the other day, his amp wasn't working. he asked if he could bring it by for me to look at and i said not a problem.
so he brought it by, we opened it up and found the problem (faulty solder joint/bad resistors) so i fixed that real quick andd she was as good as gold!

but earlier in the day i started to work on my motorbike, i have two, and one is the donor for the other. my goal was to get the engine out and disassemble it, clean and get it back together. i should point out now that i have never done this, i've alwasy been good with electronics, but mechanics has never been my forte.

well anyways, after long day i found myself on the kitchen floor taking apart, cleaning and putting back together the engine i plan on putting in the bike. so its done now now. i think i figured some things out. i watched reagen rebuild his carburetor on the side of the road yesterday so i figured i could handle this.

i'm glad i took this challenge. all i need now is a new battery. get it next weekend.

new goal.
make the bike run by next weekend. confidence check? 90%

2009-03-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

i'm proud to be the only uncle of this little girl.

i dont normally smile like that.

a little taste

2009-03-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

just a teaser.

ailah dana jean good

2009-03-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

welcome to the family.

my brother bryan and his partner kayti had their child this morning at 5:30 am.

i'm so proud of the both of them, but bryan especially you. as my younger i have watched you grow up, from a stubborn and irrational brat to the person you are today. i stood by and watched you repeatedly fall only to get up and rise again. and i don't tell you enough how proud i am of you. all in time. so you had your first child, ailah. and i am so happy to be an uncle. the one and only uncle. because i always wanted to have kids but its getting to the point now where i'm starting to think its too late, or i'm too old, or i will never meet the compatible partner that is in it for the long haul. so a niece will do just fine!!!!

look at that, you even made me tear in the eyes.

i love you guys!

2009-03-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

i know that this isn't me, i'm not the depressed pity seeking asshole. but sometimes i feel like a waste of flesh. what and i doing, and why am i doing it? where am i going, and why am i going there?

i had a father once, and he's gone now, i still have a father, he's just not around.... and i miss him. when i was bummed out my dad would figure it out with me. but he died quickly and i was forced to learn how to deal with my problems by myself. the first couple of years were hard. i just bottled it all up. not saying much. kinda sucked cause that aint me. but with time i learnt to let it go, talk it out and face my fears. i try to pass that onto others but sometimes they dont get.

i miss my dad. he was my best friend, and my inspiration. i was lucky to have him and i never took it for granted.

to my dad...

dad, i'm in trouble right now and i'm fighting with myself.

dad, i love you.

i'll see you again one day.

pretty choked.

2009-03-13T13:01:00.001-07:00

i waste so much time..... for nothing.

i take one step forward. and two back.

trash talk

2009-03-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

the weeks feel long lately, my weekends haven't felt like weekends. and the work week feels like a ten day stretch.

i've been cleaning my place. but i don't feel like i am getting anywhere, and all thats left to do is throw out all the accumulated garbage, vacuum, and then mop. not really a lot at all. but still it feels like it'll take forever.

i organized my tool box, and cleaned my work bench. now i am ready to build a couple of amps.

i haven't played any music in a while and i feel like i should be doing that. i got a lot on my chest that needs releasing. i also want to start recording again. but i guess i need to start picking up my guitar before that can happen.

woe is me.

I'm not complaining.

really everything is fine. and i am just tired and lazy.

traders

2009-03-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

not the kind in comic book shops.

not the kind that work in stocks.

not the kind you find in record shops.

and not the ones you find on craiglist.

but the ones who quietly sneak up behind you and slit your throat with a knife.

jet planes

2009-03-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

i think i'm going to leave now,

because i'm tired and i can't figure out where you are.

did you leave for another country?

this time i think you've gone too far.

i used to feel like you were the last, and sometimes i still think that you are.

but its hard to tell when i cant hear your voice.

your just a voice inside my head. just a word inside my heart.

you never made me angry, even after everything you've done.

you only ever made me hurt, but it was never painful it was just a reminder of why i was holding on.

pipe dreams.

so where are you now? will you call when you get home?

i miss you more and more each and every day.

i haven't been the same.

pipe dreams.

organize.

2009-03-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

well i finally had time to get my book cases and start organizing things.
pretty stoked.
now i just have to order more parts for different builds.

thats alot of records!

2009-03-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

i put together my media shelving yesterday, i loaded all my records onto them. built some new shelves and installed new lights. slowly but surely my apartment is becoming my own. after years of living with others and with other peoples stuff, it is a very warm feeling to proudly display all of the things that i have collected over the years that i regrettably had to keep in storage for a lack of room elsewhere.

i watch the movie "choke" last night with reagen and quentin. it was funny.... and pretty good. i wasn't disappointed at least.

i'm going to clean some more today.

just one drink

2009-02-28T11:37:00.001-08:00

get drunk?

sorrento

2009-02-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

every year my family... well an extension of my family i guess you could say (because none are actual blood relatives just closer than close) have an annual camping/drink-a-thon at my bro tylers place in sorrento. and i never have once in all these years gone.

this year i will go. and i will ride a motorcycle there.

august.

a healthy heart is the key to a healthy life

2009-02-27T07:36:00.001-08:00

i'm feeling much better today.

and things unfold.

2009-02-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

thanks to you for dumping it all on me at once. unsuspecting me didn't see that coming.

i had a nice long cold walk home in the dark. and yeah it did suck.

its too bad i thought everything was great, but i have been known to be wrong before. it feels unfair, and without warning.

maybe i deserve it, maybe you deserve better.

no... i didn't deserve it. i've been away and out of it.... high on prescription painkillers. wait, i don't have an excuse.

i'm sorry.

i'll be signing off now.

you... you were the one that killed me.

no new posts in a while

2009-02-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

its because nothing exciting has been happening.

just wait a little bit, i'll have something for you all.

needles.

2009-02-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

well i had surgery this morning.

its all good.

i'm better now.

rad.

tonight.

2009-02-13T07:35:00.001-08:00

the murder city devils.

hows that one go?

2009-02-06T07:39:00.001-08:00

thank god its friday.

this week has been long. though i only worked four days it has felt like eight. and i am it over in eight and a half hours.

decisions

2009-02-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

if you had to choose between a 100 watt marshall jcm 800 0r a 100 watt orange head what would you choose.

the reason i ask is that i was originally going to buy parts to build both, but my funding has been cut back as i am short a roommate which makes my rent go up, i still have some money saved, but it needs to be kept saved.

so if the choice was yours what would you do... and why?

new furniture.

2009-02-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Cori is moving out and i have the whole place to myself.

stoked.

sweet.

rad.

awesome.

euphoric

2009-01-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

meet me in fast trac... bed 7. i'll be the guy on the gurney, with an i.v. drip hanging from my arm.

my kidney stones sent me to emergency again.

portrait.

2009-01-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

felt like drawing, drew a humorous picture of my ol' friend johnny wakeham. enjoy!

rotating speaker cabinet

2009-01-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

i really like the sound of tremolo, and i like building analog devices... when searching around the internet a quite a while back i came across what was called a " fender vibratone cabinet" which is a rotating speaker cabinet designed for guitarists to use for tremolo as you would with an old hammond leslie cabinet with an organ. the difference here was that this version had a cross over in it to separate the high/low and mid frequencies from each other. when actively set up it send the high and lows to the cabinet while the mid frequencies keep coming from your amp. i decided i needed to have one. or at least try one out. there was a slight problem in the fact that i could not find one... turns out they are rare. so after months of research looking at schematics i figured out how to build one with some old parts and crafty skills. and this things just flat out sounds amazing. heres mine finished.

i decided that i would actually build these for people who really want them. so if you are interested in one let me know and you can come and play mine and see what you think. they take awhile to build 3-4 weeks. but the wait is totally worth it. it really is a very musical cabinet and has such a wild 3 dimensional sound. cab is solid pine. and the baffle is 5/8ths ply. the motor has two selectable speeds. slow and fast. just like an organ tremolo. it can handle any 100 watt amp, but works best with old tweeds or really anything in the 40 watt range.

two things

2009-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

1. if you see someone on the bus quietly enjoying their headphones... dont't try to talk to them unless you know them.

2. riding your bicyle for 14 kilometers in the snow and freezing temperatures really sucks sometimes.

yes that is ice in my beard. if you can call it a beard. maybe neck beard.

flashbulb.

2009-01-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

i kind let myself forget for the last little while that i had tickets to the murder city devils reunion show in vancouver. i'm pretty stoked about this. really stoked about this.

i saw them in seattle in 2006 when they played a reunion show at the capitol hill block party. it was pretty crazy. there were girls passing out in the crowd, and guys puking on each other. for the first song of their set i was from row, but i had to move to the back as i felt like i was gonna pass out from the pressure of the whole crowd of thousands pushing towards the stage.

this time round they are playing at the commodore ballroom. so it'll be a little smaller crowd. but it will probably be just as rad. and what a day to have it on.... friday, february the 13th..

proofs.

2009-01-25T16:53:00.000-08:00

well scott sent me some proofs of the plates, he says in life they are more like true red not the orange kind of colour that they appear to be. thats good.. anyways they gotta cure for a week before they can be cut and all the fun stuff. what do you all think?

friday.

2009-01-23T15:50:00.000-08:00

the office day is slowly coming to and end, in the moments following i will push "publish post", put on my coat, get one my bike and head home. thats one more week finished. one more closer to my death. do i feel accomplished? ...no. why? ...because its not what i want to be doing. what would i rather be doing? ...getting drunk, waking up late, building amps, playing music, riding my bike or even nothing.

it seems like a waste to get up everyday and come to work. it's a job.... hell it's a career. i suppose i'm being lazy and just looking for a handout... maybe. or maybe i'm over it because the economy is crashing and its really effecting my industry? hit panic button now! how long will i have this job? do i have a back up plan? what am i doing? where am i going when all else fails..... reagen can i live in your van?

on another note....

i used to have alot of friends in vancouver. most i never see nor keep in touch with anymore. well they were my friends, who knows if i was theirs... sometimes i felt as though i was just thrown in the mix.... kind of tagging along.

kinda miss those days....

i wasn't working then.

i need a cold one.

lunch

2009-01-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

i'm sitting at my desk.

its lunch i guess. I had a caramilk bar, the big one. its boring at work. i wonder how many times i can check my email in an hour.

i'll still be sitting here at four. checking my emails.

i just realized that kevin and i agreed we were going to move our stuff out of the jam space at the end of the month because its too far away from us to make much use of it. if there were buses that went even remotely near the location we would probably stay, but there aren't any for miles and miles.

so we need a new jam space, one that allows us un-restricted access 24hrs daily would be nice. oh and heat would be good for these cold months.

i guess thats all for now.

hump day

2009-01-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

well, wednesday is here. its gonna be long.

sometime this week i have to pick up the logos from the print shop and drop of the ai files for those back patches. the weekend is coming quickly now.... i gotta get reagen's van done. before long it'll be monday again.

i'm looking for a really shit jazz bass. with a broken or warped neck. i just need the body and the tuners.... know any?

on another note its whopper wednesday.

this evening

2009-01-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

started to clean my room today. i think it was long overdue. and after-all the space i have is very minimal and its filled with amps and clothes and recording equipment. not to mention all the random shit that i find and drag home like a scavenger bird. but at last i can see the floor!

i will post some photos of my cleaned room and work space as soon as i can. and two weeks from now i will post them again for the sake of comparison. just a filthy mess, you wouldn't believe some of the things i found on my floor.

now for another five days of work.

this morning

2009-01-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

woke up with a headache. my brain is cloudy. ugh

2009-01-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

the brushed stainless steel plates have been dropped off at monster press, and the bill is paid in advance. i should have name plates printed mid next week, then they have to be hauled out to north vancouver so reagen can punch them and i can file the edges.

scott at monsterpress clean up the art work and centered it all mathematically so we are good.

now i just have to order more parts

on the list of amps about to come around:

jcm800. model 2203 100 watt

hiwatt model dr504 50 watt

orange or100 100 watt (built to 1970's spec's)

well this should be fun

i also decided that all of my tweed clones would be available it classic tweed with oxblood grill cloth. or black tolex with silver grill cloth. chrome chassis. and i will only offer the 5f1 circuit (champ) or the 5e3 circuit (tweed deluxe) on the deluxe it will be your choice of 20 watt or 40 watts.

on the british amps. i will only be offering heads. only available in black tolex with black faceplates. black on black. like Henry Ford said "you can get in any colour you want... as long as its black"

thats all for now

2009-01-15T19:21:00.001-08:00

random acts of kindness.

today has been a day full of it for me.

i started my one and a half hour to work this morning with a coffee in my hand, headphones on with ted leo cranked. i don't think i was more than ten minutes in when a kind older women pulled over and offered me a ride.

and to top it off when i got home tonight my neighbor saw me in the hall and said he had something for me. so he ran back into his place and cam out with boss wah pedal. never had one. never thought about getting one... but its surprisingly cool and useful.

i owe him one or two favors by now.

good day.

2009-01-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

well the crest is complete.

stoked.

new banner

2009-01-09T10:15:00.001-08:00

well. i'm happy with that

sleeping in

2009-01-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

for some reason i keep sleeping in, and i don't know why.

so for the last two days i've had to take a cab to work.

well thats $80.00 down the drain.

shit

take off eh ya hoser!

2009-01-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

i am having monsterpress print my logo's for my amps on stainless steel. the design is a fifties industrial style logo, which they are also helping design.

pretty cool. Reagen is going to cut the steel afterwards and shape the emblems. stoked.

and in other news, there were a few of us that were having back patches made for our jackets. i had an old friend of mine design the artwork for us coz i didn't want to do it and i really like his artwork and designs. and i guess the rough proofs will be coming through to me any day now.

things are looking up.

pretty cool.

ninetwofive

2009-01-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

well i'm back into the swing of working, kinda relieved. i was having trouble occupying all of my time while on holidays.