django49

I really like the Visual Volume (by Truetone). They are no longer being made, but you might check the used markets.

Dang! So what amp are you KEEPING?

Should be here by the weekend. In the meantime........ TK has done a good job of making very versatile pedals with actual tubes. Looking forward to setting it up with the TK Imperial as the main preamp, bypassable with this as the alternative. Four presets and the RP could use either its own reverb or the IP's. And the IP's trem with either preamp. Pedalboard mounted stereo power amp (which effectively adds a fifth preset), of course, into shop built stereo cab.....A gadget or two in the stereo loop..... Another example of an "old guy rig"....

So, if SPECIALS are allowed to slip in...... More or less the same as a Huber Krautster II with a personality. Rosewood neck and cocobolo. NOT weight relieved. Sounds as big as you would expect. Push/pull jumps to both pups in series for a huge HB effect.

And if you need more power handling, the newer Neo Copperback 12 (250 watts) weighs a bit over 5 lbs, I think. Maybe 40 % less than my personal favorite Alnico Cream. Hard for me to choose between the two in use.

Mine ships today. Looks like it should arrive shortly after the official launch date of Feb. 26. There are still only very limited demos out there. Most likely there will be a handful posted by the end of the week. But based upon experience with last year's Imperial pedal, and past demos of the Royalist AMPs, I pretty much know what to expect. Little bit of a headsup......When the first run is sold out, as happened with the Imperial, Tone King is saying the next run will not drop for 4 months. So, IF you want one, best to contact you pusher (er, DEALER) right away. Not sure how many my seller has, but they just received their shipment today.

Will it help me get this tone I have been chasing?

Just DON'T do it!

If I REALLY want a small and light rig, this will do it. Amp in one hand, gig bag on my back. Thump of a 4 x 12 for arena hard rock? Of course not. But this has shared the stage next to a half stack and various vintage and boutique amps in a more typical venue and acquitted itself quite well.....Never bested, IMHO......(Best comment from the other folks? "WTF IS that thing?") The optional back up guitar is a cheap import that has been highly modded and is very versatile. (Longer story on that one!) One of these days I will take it out as my "main" guitar just to prove how good it is.....

Coil cables are fun and there are ones made today that are far better than the $4 ones I used in the late 60s. Such as the old Lava cables have 35 FEET of cable....A LOT of capacitance....All that extra wire tends to muffle the sound. The proverbial blanket over your speaker cabinet. I say tend to because you might mitigate the tone loss if you have a buffer BEFORE the cable. Which is to say, do you have a buffer IN your guitar? For example, I do have that in a Scott Walker guitar. It DOES make a difference. Otherwise (IMO) you are best to go with a short cable with low cap wire (I like BTPA for their cables). If you run that to a pedalboard that does have a buffer, you should be able to minimize the tone suck. You decide how much that matters when you are playing live and loud in a band.......🤔

Yes, thumbs up. Picked up one of these on a "scratch and dent" sale a long time ago. I did exactly the same thing, playing with a smaller combo amp (usually a Mesa Nomad of Blue Angel) stacked on it. Not that I carry around much more than minimum gear I can get by with these days......

So, the one I was looking for popped up a bit earlier than I expected. Just arrived today. It just be the first "Tele" that I have really bonded with. We will see....Minor adaptation with that extra flat board, but I am digging it. Andy Wood signature model, with his demo for Sweetwater...... Between this one and the other (S type), I am very impressed with Suhr.

That is for sure. Fortunately, I have time on my hands and like a good challenge! Not sure how many people actually pay $7-800 for an original version of these......🤔

This thread reminded me I wanted to build a couple more. Not rocket science, but the pieces needed to be cut to exacting dimensions and the angles need to be sorted out. Toward that end, the Atlas site lists the dimensions and the desired angle of tilt back and the height off the ground. That makes it a bit easier to figure out if you want to make something similar. Making the 4 templates sure did help. Lotsa steps to turn it out from planks of lumber.....Always takes more hours than you initially think....Cutting and sanding to shape, routing roundovers on edges, rounds of finish sanding, getting all those screws in exactly the right places. And def not as inexpensive as the above example. But, I did get busy and crank a pair out over the weekend. One walnut, one maple. And looking a lot better today with the finish applied. (Still waiting for the felt strips where the amp/cab will sit, but otherwise finished). Nice and slightly challenging project if anyone else is so inclined.......😉

Lighter weight guitar.....Termite edition....

BTW, Ethos (Custom Tones) also makes a TWE pedal that I think is excellent. Robbie does good work...Without the outrageous prices of a Dumble or Trainwreck.

Or just learning to use the various tools available.....😉

Very true. Lots of the love is due to recordings made by notable players, such as Larry Carlton and Robben Ford. But not all had the SAME sound or recorded only with their Dumbles. For example, I heard Carlton play in LA with a Mesa and similar tones. Much of his famous studio work was done with a Fender amp. (Tone is in the fingers?) I have heard that Ford travels with a preamp pedal (older and simpler one) rather than an uber expensive amp. Is Carlos Santana's tone all that much different than what he recorded pre-Dumble? With Dumble players ranging from such as SRV to John Mayer to Steve Lukather, there is not "one sound". The original Mesa Mark series amps were basically hot rodded small Fender amps. Dumble more or less then built upon that formula. Versions of the amp (or various preamps) that have the "HRM" function can also get more into the M tones. I like it. I never have, and never will, play a real Dumble.

Nice solution with minimal cost, probably using left over scraps of wood! One thing you might do is add a then strip of stick on felt (like insulation) or cork on the edges that touch the amp. Plywood can be rough and tend to damage the amp's tolex over time.

Not as simple, but very useful.....Atlas makes a set that has a second piece that allows you to tilt back a cabinet and still set a head securely on top, level to the ground. Pricey, but.... https://atlas-stands.com/index.php/product/walnut-low-rider-amp-stand-with-table-top/ I did pick up one original Atlas set at a fair price (walnut), then shop built a couple more from other woods. You can use only the lower portion for a combo amp. One advantage is that the back folds down for easy transport.

There appears to be a wrinkle on fraud where you receive an invite that looks like it comes from a friend. To confirm, you are asked to set u p an account and provide personal information that you SHOULD NOT give away. Always best to be safe. Contact your friend directly and don't click on the provided link.

Another funny one.....We had a little garage/top 40 type band in the late 60s. Mostly simple stuff, though our drummer liked to wander off into 5/4 time like Quicksilver. No particular talent aside from our lead guitarist, an English guy that grew up learning Shadows material. Very good with then current music---Santana, Mitch Ryder, Stones, whatever. Anyway, that lead guitarist went off into the Navy (Vietnam era). So, the band was dead. Our former lead vocalist refused to recognize that we were done and decided to make a few bucks by finding us a new gig. He called a place WAY outta town that was always desperate to find a band. "Hey, you guys wanna have the "Chains of Illusion" back?" "Nah, they played here before. Anyone else?" So Scott adlibs, "How about the Warlocks?". "Sure, book 'em!" Pretty sure Scott was not aware that the real Warlocks (before they renamed as the Grateful Dead) was playing all over the west coast. And we most definitely we re NOT them. But WTF, we had a gig. What could we do? No leader, no vocals......We hooked up with a local guitarist who was 17, but was playing like Jeff Beck already. Two rehearsals where all I could do was try to keep up. We arrive at the high school, way out in the sticks. Drummer picks up the one mic plugged into a guitar amp (no PA) and announces, "Our singer has the flu and is home puking his guts out". That was the last "vocal" of the 3 hour evening. So, we jammed. Everything from "Green River" to "Greensleeves" to "Jailhouse Rock" to "Superstition" (ala Beck). That crowd had no idea what was going on. And we barely did. Few in the crowd hung out until the end. But it was the era.....And we did get paid. So I did not exactly play with the Dead.....Though our music mighta smelled like it.🤔

If my wife counts, she can be fearless. All 98 pounds of her.....Shared a mic with Keeley Smith at a Hollywood jazz club. (I deferred to her when Keeley pushed the mic toward me, saving the audience's ears!) And she jumped up on stage to join in at the House of Blues Gospel Brunch in LA. We also spent a fair amount of time with the most unlikeliest of jazz singers, Steve Tyrell, around LA. Cannot say we PLAYED with him, but did have some good times in those clubs.......With his musical connections (Herb Alpert, Burt Bacharach, etc), he was always accompanied by great musicians. Few people have as many stories as Steve....Never would have fallen in with him except that he was our son's Little League coach and he had a soft spot for our little lefty pitcher. IF there is one thing I miss about LA, it is those little jazz clubs......

There are quite a few "Dumble in a box" options. This one looks like a good option. I have long been a fan of the Ethos products and their more recent "Clean Fusion Deluxe" is really great. Rob went years since the original product and (IMO) made it much better than the original.....said he would not release it until he was satisfied that it was much more "tube like". Lots of knobs and switches, but once you have it tweaked to taste, many tones on the fly for live use. For example, footswitchable choices for F, D and M tones without resetting. Anyone seriously interested should also check out the Effectrode Blackbird SR-71. It does not have nearly the range of options for fine tuning, BUT is a tube driven (3 12ax7s) 2 channel preamp. Like the CFD, more or less a Fender Deluxe channel and a Dumble channel. They are made in the UK and not real easy to find at a lower price. But really sweet tones. Tube preamp pedals have changed up our options. FWIW, either one mates well with the Thermion Zero (pedal board mounted) stereo power amp. (BTW, it has a built in preamp of its own, more or less Blackface Deluxe, that can be bypassed, but essentially adds another footswitchable channel). From early indications, the forthcoming Wampler Pedalhead will be even better for matching to preamps in a pedal....Worth checking our details.....Likely not available for several months.