Ep. 132: "Start Dark"

No guests or special theme this week...just an all-new, old-school episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all-things-tube amp. 

Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to [email protected].

Some of the topics discussed: 

1:31 What's on Skip's workbench: Valco amps with a resistor and a normal speaker instead of a field coil

3:46 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Stringjoy, StewMac, Izotope, and Grez Guitars.

5:04 Thrift store: Revere Ware

8:01 What's the deal with this Leslie Model 18 circuit

15:41 Daisy chaining four Pignose amps to a backpack, tuna salad

20:46 What to do with these orange capacitors? Vacuum Tube Valley, Mexican Martinis

25:38 Skip has a nice mono hi-fi speaker cabinet for sale

27:07 Do speakers ever go out phase on their own?

28:32 Fender Princeton Reverb vs. Tremolux gain stages

31:22 The truth about vintage Sano amps (gumbo recipe found here)

35:47 Seventh-grade Skip; the glider that never touched down

40:11 A source for El Pato in Australia (link: productdistribution.com.au)

41:16 Ampeg Jets and Rockets "with the knobs that point straight up"

43:04 Spotlight on Paradise, California

48:32 Powered vintage speakers, El Pato chili 

53:05 Film cap orientation hack and the EH Hum Eliminator/Debugger 

58:35 Spotlight on glue 

1:03:04 The joys of using lithium-ion batteries onstage to power your tube amps 

1:09:43 A 1972 Princeton Reverb that doesn't like a wireless transmitter; a simple fish recipe 

1:16:11 How do the dual rectifiers work in the Angela Super Single Ended amp 

1:19:17 Rainier beer 

1:21:21 Claude Thornhill Orchestra

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal.