Mountainview Publishing, LLC

INSIDE the
Tonecraft
&
irony…
Our interview
with the Albert
Brothers
on recording
the Layla
sessions
The Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone
$15.00 US, JAN/FEB 2010/VOL.11 NO.3 Report TM

Champology…
Our
search for
the ‘59 Champ The Champ
Reviews
Champ “Eric fell in love with the damn thing, and George did, too.
Speakers – I gave one to Eric, one to George, and one to Jimmy Page, ‘cause they all loved ‘em.”
Weber
Signature – Delaney Bramlett on tweed Champs
Alnicos,
Jensen P8R At the first mention of a tweed Champ many players immediately associate Leo Fender’s diminu-
& tive runt of the litter and its big dog howl with the Layla sessions – perhaps the most poignant and
C8R
instructive study in tonecraft and irony within the entire history of rock music. Think about it…
10 Eric Clapton, the recalcitrant guitar god who forever transformed rock and blues first with the
The Blues Breakers and then Cream wielding 100 watt Marshall stacks and a slew of powerful Gibson
Fender ‘57 guitars, forms a new band comprised of ‘unknown’ American players and arrives at Criteria stu-
Champ
dios in Miami
reissue
under the
11 watchful eye
Victoria 518 of Tom Dowd
with a ‘56
13
ValveTrain Strat and a
Amps… tweed Champ
Model 205 to record one
with of the greatest
tortured tweed,
the Concord albums of all
& time. As Don
Lexington reverb Juan suggest-
ed in Carlos
13
Bakos 8 Ball Castaneda’s A
Separate
14 Reality, “The
Exceptional average man
&
is too con-
Affordable
Classics… cerned with
Jerry Jones liking people
& or with being
our Copperburst
liked himself.
19 A warrior
3 Monkeys likes, that’s
Orangutan all. He likes
whatever or whomever he wants, for the hell of it.” Enter Derek and the Dominos, Brownie, and a
23
Z Vex Mastotron tweed Champ. As a point of reference, may we suggest you acquire or re-visit The Layla Sessions.
Clapton, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon, Bobby Whitlock and Skydog provide a positively rippin’ dose of
24 spontaneous magic, and every minute of it was fueled by tweed Champs. Bobby Whitlock on the
Kal David’s Layla sessions: “When you let a horse run a race, it will run its finest race on its own. When you
Blues Guitar
Master Class get some musicians and you get some creative people, you give them the opportunity to do what

[Link]
 cover story

they’re supposed to do, and they’ll do just that. Given the essentially
right circumstances, they’ll perform at their peak. They’ll the setup
draw from the source. These songs don’t come out of your was the
head. They’re not something you sit down and figure out. same – we
They’re things that flow through you – we were just instru- had the
ments, just like the instruments in our laps. We were provided drums in
an opportunity to lock ourselves away and let the creative the booth
principle of the universe flow through us.” where we
would nor-
Interviewed mally place
about the them, and we had this 9-foot Baldwin grand piano which was
Layla always in the same place. The one thing that we did do different-
Sessions in ly, and I think this is where the Champ came in, was that we
Sound on stuck the Champs on top of the piano, and Eric had one blowing
Sound mag- into the back of his head like a set of headphones.
azine, broth-
ers Ron and TQR: Whose idea was it to use the Champs?
Howard Albert, the Criteria recording engineers who worked
the Layla sessions with producer Tom Dowd added, “If you I think it was just circumstance. It certainly wasn’t the first
looked through the control-room glass, the piano was to the record that we ever used a Champ on, and for those sessions I
left, and on top of the piano, which had the lid closed, were think one was Eric’s and the other one belonged to the studio,
our [Fender Tweed] Champ amps that Eric and Duane both and I believe that one might have been a blackface Champ. In
used. We had to be inventive. The room was not a large space, the recording studio, smaller amps were more the norm rather
so what we had to do was figure out a way to get everybody in than using bigger amps. We used to record bass through a lit-
there. The piano took up most of the space along one wall, tle Ampex suitcase amp with a ten inch speaker – the bass on
and cue systems in those days were pretty basic. We only had James Brown’s “I Feel Good” was recorded through that little
one stereo send and it was hard for everybody to hear them- Ampex, and that kind of thing was not uncommon.
selves, so for acoustic purposes we used the little Champ
amps because they wouldn’t make a lot of sound in the room, TQR: What types of mics did you use?
enabling us to get isolation between the drums and the piano
and the guitarists.” Mostly
Shure
Having read this, we were compelled to find the Albert SM57s on
Brothers on your behalf, who remain active in the recording the guitars,
industry having recently completed a new compilation of unre- and also
leased Manassas tracks titled Pieces, as well the Subdudes lat- Electro-
est release. Ron and Howard also operate Audio Vision Voice 635s.
Recording Studios in North Miami with their partner Steve When you
Ampex 620
Alaimo. We spoke to the Albert brothers via a 3-way confer- have a lot
ence call in late December, and it was a great hang. Listen… of musicians in a small space, condenser mics are not your
friend. One of the things we had going for us at Criteria was
TQR: As the engineers responsible for recording a huge backlog of experience in understanding which mics
Layla, what were your expectations in advance of would do what under specific circumstances, and we had tons
the sessions? and tons of microphones because of Mack Emerman. If it had
been made, we had it. I can understand how your readers,
We weren’t really told anything beforehand. We were doing being guitar players, might think we pulled out some classic
about one act a month for Atlantic at that time. It was a machine, condenser mics, but that wasn’t the case.
and Atlantic had set up what was called Atlantic South at
Criteria Studios. Tom, Jerry and Arif would be present on a TQR: We have actually interviewed guitarists who have
rotating schedule, Ahmet might fly in on any given day, but laid out pretty heavy dough to stock their mic clos-
Howard and I were the staples, and to a certain degree Chuck et with various Royer and Neumann microphones
Kirkpatrick was the third member of that team, although not as to use for recording guitar…
heavily involved. For the Layla sessions it was just another
group as far as we were concerned – business as usual, and And I look at those guys and think, “What are you doing?”
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 cover story

We’ve specifically used dynamic mics like a Shure record…

SM57 on guitar because we know what we’re going
to get, and that mic gives us the sound we want. We Yeah, it is.
usually don’t have to EQ the track as much with a
57, and part of the magic of the guitar sounds on TQR: It seems
Layla is due to the way the guitars were layered. like music went
Dynamic mics give us the sonic space to do that. down hill as the
On overdubs, in addition to the Shure SM57, we number of available
Electrovoice 635a mic

might also use a condenser mic like a U47 set up tracks increased.
ten feet away from the amp and mix that with the
direct mic. We also turn the mics off-axis at a thirty You think?! Not only that, it went down hill when people
degree angle when close mic’ing. But we’d be decided they needed twenty four tracks just to get four tracks
remiss if we didn’t mention that part of the secret to on a record.
that great guitar sound on Layla was the room – Studio B at
Criteria. It was a rectangular room with polycyndrical dif- TQR: So you would EQ on the fly…
fusers on the walls that were home-made with slats in
between them to break up high Yeah, and then we’d do a lot of bouncing and putting differ-
frequency waves. The ceiling ent parts together so we would wind up with three or four
height was something like 22 feet, guitar parts as one track among sixteen.
and the big thing that no one ever
talks about was the carpet… prob- TQR: What’s your take on the evolution of recording
ably 90% of the sound was that from analog 2-inch tape to digital? When we inter-
SM57
magic carpet (laughing…) viewed Tom Dowd, he seemed to think that digital
was superior to analog, which was surprising to
TQR: Get out of here… But the diffusers were, for those hear.
who may not know, designed to knockdown stand-
ing waves, correct? I don’t agree
with that.
Mack designed this room himself, and he just put stuff up When we
that he’d read about, made it up and it worked. The thing that switched
was amazing about that room was that the isolation was just from analog
incredible, and I have never been in another room like it to digital we
since – ever. We’ve been in rooms all over the world and chose the
nothing could touch it. Otari Radar
system,
TQR: And while a studio remains on the premises today, which hap-
Tom Dowd
that particular room at Criteria was turned into an pened to
artists’ lounge… Seems like a crime. sound fabulous, with very little difference in the bottom-end
or overall quality from analog tape. We A/B’d it all the time
It was a crime. You could understand the building being sold and it just sounded fabulous. It was just really, really, really
and turned into a pizzeria or something, but to have lost that good. Then they came out with Radar 2 which was even bet-
room in a recording facility is a crime. ter… The first digital machine was 3M, and that sounded like
dog, and the $260,000 Sony 48-track digital 3348 was very
TQR: How much did you adjust EQ on individual tracks bright and brittle sounding, but unfortunately, most of the
when you were recording Layla? masses initially went in that direction. Radar just sounded bet-
ter, like an analog tape. Then when Pro Tools came out, it
You almost had to EQ things as you were recording, because became the industry standard very, very quickly, and one of
we only had sixteen tracks total, and eight of them were used the things that helped Pro Tools was how bad the earlier
for the drums alone, which only leaves about six tracks for Alesis ADAT system had sounded. You guys are into guitars
vocals and guitars. But we generally EQ when we’re record- and guitar sounds, but hip-hop is the leader in the recording
ing, because if you get it right in the beginning, that’s always industry (and there are no Champ amps on hip-hop). The
better. “We’ll fix it in the mix” never made sense to us. other thing is that everybody can have a Pro Tools system
without spending $200,000, and the things you can do with
TQR: Sixteen tracks should be enough for a rock editing are invaluable. So, if you’re a professional these days
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

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 cover story

you’re using Pro Tools. They Brothers stuff. The last time we saw the Baldwin piano was
may have stopped by now, but at a Florida memorabilia exhibit, so it’s still around.
as recently as a few years ago I
know that U2 was still track- TQR: Have you ever had to spend a lot of time trying to
ing on Radar. But if you’re any ‘get a sound’ for a particular guitarist in the studio?
good as an engineer and you
have a decent console, you can No. Listen, Duane Allman
make good sounding music. would come in, and all he
wanted to do was play, so
Back to the circle of guitars he’d leave it to us to get ‘the
and Champs… yes, there are sound.’ If you took more than
some beautiful vintage amps, two minutes to get a sound
but let’s not forget the guitar up, they would get frustrated.
that is plugged into the amp… All they wanted to do was
It all starts with the guitar. Part of our philosophy in making play – it was our job to get
beautiful sounding rock & roll recordings is layering different the sound for the record. It
types of guitars – whatever you got… If you have a Strat it has never happened in our
doesn’t mean you can’t use a Telecaster, a Les Paul, an SG or sessions, but I have seen peo-
a Gretsch with it. It’s cumulative… knowing what something ple take all day to get guitar
should sound like has been a big part of our success. or drums sounds, and I don’t
understand that. When we
TQR: Sure, although you did manage to pull it off with were doing Zakk Wylde there
the Layla sessions, which were limited to the were no issues with the guitar
Stratocaster and Duane’s Les Paul… sound. We set up three
Marshall heads in the control room with different cabinets
That’s correct, but in all fairness to them, you also had two mic’ed up in the studio, and it was never more than a matter of
completely unique guitar players with their own very unique a few seconds to get a great guitar sound. We also have a pret-
and different styles. ty unorthodox method of recording vocal tracks, and we’ve
learned that it doesn’t matter how the vocal sounds alone –
TQR: What types of effects did you use on Layla? what matters is how the vocal sounds in the mix – how it sits
with all the other tracks. Getting that right is not an easy trick.
We really didn’t have very many
guitar effects back then, but we TQR: We’ve also had people comment on how they don’t
used EQ, compression and lim- like to start a track on guitar and come back to fin-
iting, we had echo chambers, ish it on another day, because it never sounds the
and we used a little tape delay same.
with a couple of Ampex tape
machines. The Fender Leslie That’s true, and we’ve
cabinet also played a huge role had to deal with that
in the sound of that record. It many, many times.
was an actual Fender ‘Leslie’ Here’s a story… Jerry
cabinet with an on/off Garcia was playing pedal
footswitch, but Howard and I steel on a Stephen Stills
took it to another level by con- session – it may have
necting a variac to it to vary the speed of the Leslie. been Manassas, I don’t
recall, but Jerry shut it
TQR: And this Leslie cabinet was connected to what? down late one night not
having finished the track. He said he’d come back tomorrow,
Either a Fender Super Reverb or a tweed Bassman. There and we’re still waiting (laughing). Stephen came in and fin-
were two rental companies in Miami at the time – Howard ished Jerry’s pedal steel track playing a Gretsch and doing
and I had one and Criteria created one later on when they the volume swells with the volume control on the guitar, so
realized you could make money renting equipment. We had you have this ‘steel track’ actually comprised of two parts,
everything… we still have Howard’s B3 that was on Layla, and yes, we did have to do some work to get Stephen’s guitar
all of the Aretha Franklin records and all of the Allman to sound like Jerry’s pedal steel.
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TQR: You both also recently created and produced an all- of the ‘cheating’
new Manassas recording titled Pieces from unre- process that we were
leased tracks from the original sessions, and you very aware of. If you
mentioned when we first spoke how surprised you wanted a loud, fat
were to hear that warm analog sound again. record, you couldn’t
have twenty-four
The first time we put minute sides. Look at
those tapes up and the Beatles records…
pushed play… We they were short sides.
knew the songs, we In those early days
had worked on them you had something
collectively for hun- called variable pitch…
dreds of hours when What that means is that you could vary how narrow or wide
they were recorded, the groove is depending on where you turn the knob in mas-
and while we hadn’t tering. A good mastering engineer at that time would learn
heard them in 30 the song and know where the big bass bumps were so they
years, you think you could widen the grooves. There was no automation – they
remember what they sound like – specifically the tonal quali- would turn the knob, and if they had a twenty minute side
ty of analog recording – yet we were just blown away. and seventeen minutes into it they missed, they’d have to
start over and cut a new acetate.
TQR: Can you describe the difference?
TQR: And you were making judgments in terms of EQ as
Better. More bottom and more transparent. More depth. It’s you were recording that were critical to the master-
almost like recording a session with everything close-mic’ed ing process.
and also with room mics, then you bring the band in to hear
the playback with the sound from the room mics off, and the Yes. Most recent-
ambience of the sound you are hearing is drastically different. ly, the record
The digital sound is drier, versus this coating over the whole company decided
thing that just makes it warm and gushy. that they would
also like to
TQR: You worked in an era where recordings were made release a vinyl
in the studio, and then the mix would be mastered version of Pieces
to an acetate, and sometimes a lot could be lost in as well. They sent
the process. the recording to
Bernie Grundman – one of the most accomplished and
We had our own respected mastering engineers in the world whom we’ve
mastering facility, worked with for many years, and he said the recording didn’t
so we knew what need mastering. It’s already been done.
we were going to
get. Having all In regard to mastering and making records sound good…
those exotic micro- making albums was not the norm – it was a singles business
phones, we didn’t first, so worrying about the length of a side and all these con-
have to send our siderations we’re talking about… no one really cared about
masters out to be the album except for the artwork. When we were doing an
mastered. We had our own mastering guy, Karl Richardson, album a month for Atlantic, one month it would be Eric
who gave us an edge over a lot of people. At that time there Clapton and the next would be Herbie Mann.
was a lot of EQ’ing going on in the studio to make it work
right on an acetate, because you had physical limitations… If TQR: Yet you routinely recorded many versions of each
you went over twenty-one minutes a side on an LP, you had song and then assembled the final, finished master
to lower the volume because the width of the grooves had to using assorted pieces from all the different takes –
be narrower. If you had a lot of bottom end, which we always a composite of the best instru mental and vocal
had on our records, the wider the grooves had to be, and the takes you had recorded.
less volume you had. If you were to look at the elapsed time
of the sides on the Manassas records, for example, that’s part We always did that on everything, with everybody. The only
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

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example I Yeah, we’ll do that for a guitar part, but there is not that
can think much live recording going on anymore as a whole band, so
of contrary it’s a little different, and I miss that kind of live recording.
to that is There are also not a lot of people around anymore that are
Greg knowledgeable and capable of working that way… the Johns
Allman, brothers… Eddie Kramer… us…]
and I’ll tell
you the TQR: So you’ve done the new Manassas Pieces record-
story… ing, and you just finished the new Subdudes
You know, record – how did that come about?
the Allman
Brothers Well, they
literally lived in the parking lot of the studio in this old recorded the
Winnebago when they were in Miami. It wasn’t like Duane initial tracks
was called down from Daytona Beach for a session – he was themselves
living in the parking lot at Criteria, which just happened to in Colorado
make one of the greatest guitar players in the world available and then
to us, and we very very fortunate to have him around. they sent us
the masters
TQR: So were they were ‘hanging’ outside the and we did
Winnebago with folding patio chairs and cases of some over-
Budweiser? That kind of hang? Southern boys dubs, mixing and finished the record with Al Kooper play-
would do that – turn any damn place into a porch is ing some piano. In the process, we all became huge Tommy
what they do. Malone fans.

Yeah, something like TQR: And so you should. There is no hip-hop on a

that. You see, so much of Tommy Malone record. It’s a deeper groove alto-
what we did was done gether. The deepest.
after hours… Tom would
leave the session in our [Link]
hands, and we could do [Link]
the hang, and during that
hang time is when we
were able to develop our The Albert brothers’ comments
sound and our recording suggest that perhaps the decision
techniques. Some of it to use Champ amps can be
worked and some of it didn’t, but we were free to experi- attributed to the engineers’
ment. So, Greg came into the studio early one day for some desire to isolate the instruments
reason and said, “What do you want to do?” It was just him in the small ‘Studio B’ space at
and I – there weren’t any record company people or produc- Criteria. Did Eric Clapton
ers around, but we had our shit together… The studio is set approach these sessions with any
up, the mics are set up and the lights are dimmed… We were particular preference for the tone
extremely professional and very much on top of our game. of a tweed Champ over other
So I said, “Let’s do this…” It was a song we’d recorded earli- amplifiers that would have been
er called “Midnight Rider” that needed a vocal. So I put the available to him? We wonder…
tape on the machine, Greg sings the song and at the end he
lifts his head, looks at me and says, “How’s that?” I looked to Nearly four decades hence, we guitarists continue to scour
my left and looked to my right and there is no Tom Dowd, the vast landscape of sounds and guitar tones new and old
and I pushed the talkback button and said, “Yeah, that sound- that might allow, as Bobby Whitlock suggested, “the creative
ed good.” And that’s the vocal on the record – one take, and principle of the universe to flow through us” too. Yet we
it’s the magical one. Having said that, most of the recordings remain vulnerable to sometimes listening too closely to the
we’ve made are composites. persistent buzz that holds the latest white-hot gizmo aloft in
our consciousness like a bad case of tinnitis…Dear God how
TQR: Do you really get to work that way anymore? we hate to be the last to know what’s supposed to be ‘cool,’
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

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 cover story

and as amp builder Roy mind. We started

Blankenship wryly observed in our out on [Link],
February 2008 interview, “There where a dozen or so
is a lot of dick-measuring in this tweed Champs in
business.” Ya think? In this edi- various states of
tion of the Quest we fix your pristine originality
attention on bona fide sure bets – and musty decay
instruments that can deliver on the were listed with
promise of lasting inspiration and instructions to bend
rapture at the cusp of the new over and call for a
year. But first, some context is in price. We actually
Bobby Whitlock order… placed a couple of
calls on specific
amps – one droll stoner agreed to send additional pictures
Champology (and did), and then informed us that they would need an addi-
We’ll not drag you tied to the rusty back bumper of Fender tional 3% for PayPal and the rich asking price was firmer than
history through every academic nuance and iteration of the Tiger Wood’s putting stroke at the Perkins Pancake
Champ since its creation in 1948, focusing instead on the later Doublewide Invitational. Second dude promised to send pix
‘57-’64 tweed models originally equipped with an 8 inch and never did. Are we having fun yet? Craig’s List turned up
Rola, Oxford or Jensen speaker. While the early Champion nothing but a guy named ‘Champ’ looking for a hookup (we
800 and 600 amps are definitely collectable pieces of Fender didn’t call), so it was on to eBay, where we quickly located a
history, it’s the narrow panel tweed 5F1 circuit that delivers juicy-looking ‘61, only to find that it had been “professionally
the goods. Counted among these is the transitional ‘64 version serviced” with all new caps (every last one of ‘em). A few
covered in black tolex with silver grill cloth – the last 5F1 days later a sweet, caramelized ‘59 appeared with a Buy It
Champ produced before the blackface model AA764 was Now price of $1299.00 and free shipping. We re-entered eBay
introduced in late 1964. Of course, you want to know how the through the [Link] portal, hit BIN and claimed an instant
black and silverface Champs (and the Vibro-Champ) compare 8% cash back deposit in our PayPal account compliments of
to the narrow panel tweeds built from ‘57-’64… Well, you Bill Gates to close the deal. About the best you can hope for
guessed right – they are usually cheaper today, and their price-wise on eBay for a straight, relatively unmolested tweed
sound is much ‘clean- Champ is $900 and change if you want to hang in for the long
er’ in keeping with the haul and play the bidding game. As always, we don’t want a
evolution of the black completely ‘refurbished’ old amp that sounds new, and it’s
and silverface amps almost unheard of to see Champs with replaced transformers.
overall. They can Just avoid circuit boards that have been completely swept
sound very good in the clean of those Astron coupling caps and original resistors…
style of a lower pow-
ered, single 6V6 non-
reverb Princeton, if Deliverance
you can imagine that, Our ‘59 arrived from Hendersonville, NC as advertised with
but they don’t possess the electrolytics already replaced with the proper Spragues,
the mystical mojo of the tweed era any more than a silverface and the original Oxford 8" speaker complete with a well-done
Bassman sounds remotely similar to a tweed. We should also toilet paper patch on the bottom of the cone where the AC
mention that in addition to the modern reissue ‘57 Fender cord had probably punctured it. The Oxford sounded a little
tweed Champ reviewed here, other builders have been tired but good – papery and throaty with lots of transparent
inspired to develop their own worthy tributes to the Champ, harmonic texture, and the Champ itself revealed everything
including Victoria’s model 518 featuring an optional Jensen we had hoped for
P12N speaker. If you are allergic to dealing with 50 year-old and more – the kind
relics, one of these modern alternatives may be the amp for of vintage tone that
you, and we’re reviewing a ton of ‘em here. stops conversation,
only to resume with
heaps of reverent
The ‘59 praise and com-
Our initial search for a vintage tweed Champ was revealing in ments about how
an amusing or irritating fashion depending on your state of that sound had been
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

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 cover story

forgotten. And it guessed yet? It had been mistakenly installed upsidedown in

has. Well, you’ve Fullerton! Ah, Lupé, look at the confusion and worry your
been busy… innocent distraction has caused us 50 years later! Was
Freddie Tavares whispering a naughty joke in your ear when
The next day we you screwed this one together? Well, bless you, wherever you
took the Champ to are… We flipped the baffleboard in minutes and the speaker
Bakos Ampworks was now positioned properly to allow us to install the Webers
to have the too and pretty much any other 8 we wished. Viva el Champion!
long, brittle and Viva Lupé!
stiff 2-prong grey power cord replaced. As Jeff worked we
discussed his fondness for his own tweed Champ and all the
tracks that had been cut with it over the years. With the new Giving Up the Goods
cord installed, we fired up the Champ and immediately heard By now perhaps you’re thinking that the acquisition of a
crackling in the volume pot that hadn’t been there before… sweet tweed honey dripper presents challenges better left to
What’s this? Jeff shook a tiny piece of old solder out of it others… that the unpredictable effects of time, chance and a
with a modified dental tool, but the scratchiness persisted. potential seller’s ignorance or obfuscation may leave your
Not to be deterred, he disassembled the pot casing looking wallet depleted and your spirit broken… Well, you certainly
for any additional crap inside and reassembled it with no can skirt the more adventurous path of hunting down an old
improvement. “Sorry, man, but I think this pot is toast.” gem and buy something new – and you do have respectable
Sooo, we were off to search for a switched 1 meg audio taper choices – but for those of you who relish the visual and sonic
pot, which we ultimately found at Weber VST for a righteous patina that only a vintage classic can truly deliver, we urge
price of under three bucks. While we were arranging that you to go for it. With a little patience you’ll likely find an
transaction, we also asked the gang at Weber to send down iconic example of this utterly stellar little jewel in the Fender
both of their Signature 4-ohm Alnico 8s for review in the crown for a just a few hundred dollars more than a new ver-
Champ, which they did. Things were looking up as we antici- sion, and if you choose well, your investment will certainly
pated the article that was rapidly developing on your behalf. not depreciate in value over time. On the other hand, your
appreciation for the Champ and its absolute ability to inspire
When the speak- exceptional music at comforting volume levels is virtually
ers arrived we incalculable. Wait… Read that last line again. Really? Yes.
eyed the box from We must tell you that we were shocked and stunned by just
Weber with the how magical the ‘59 really sounds – and especially after our
full relish of a speaker evaluations began…
$200 pound of
golden Blue
Mountain Lamb’s Weber Signature Alnico 8
Bread circa 1972. and Alnico 8S
Irie. Well, not Ted Weber’s untimely passing on
quite irie… The Champ chassis wouldn’t clear the top edge August 14, 2008 at age 58 marked the
of the Weber’s Alnico magnet – no way, no how. But they say end of a remarkably creative and
right on their web description, “Fits a tweed Champ.” energetic life devoted to electron-
Pondering our failed geometry problem with all the acuity of ics, music and sound. Before
a chimpanzee, we were, for the moment, stumped and flum- creating Weber VST, Ted
moxed. We had acquired a couple of Jensen reissues that worked in research and
wouldn’t fit either, and as we further digested this sobering development at the
thought in front of the PC monitor while nursing a Sierra Delco division of General Motors in Kokomo, Indiana, and
Nevada Pale, we pulled up a picture of a mounted speaker in later became Lab Supervisor of Technicians at Delphi
another ‘59 Champ and stared at its position on the baffle- Energenix Laboratory. He retired from Delphi in April 2005
board for any clues to our dilemma… Gizzards and coco and expanded Weber VST well beyond the existing speaker
puffs! Lookie there! The bottom edge of the speaker frame catalog to include amplifier components and chassis, custom
was no more than half an inch above the bottom edge of the cabinets, attenuators, bias tools, amp kits and more, but it is
baffleboard on that one, while ours sat two inches higher… Ted’s contribution to guitar speakers that truly energized an
What the hell? industry that had fallen back on its heels a bit in preceding
decades. Weber re-set the bar and awakened a new interest in
The baffleboard on our ‘59 was clearly original… Have you the importance of speakers as the final transducer that shapes
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

8
 cover story

our tone, and through his work and the information shared on would be watered down for cost effective manufacturing and
his web site, a new and robust era in speaker manufacturing competitive pricing. We’re taking that original speaker that
emerged. Ted’s legacy now lives on under the care of his son would have been designed and built in the lab and reproduc-
T.A., who continues to manage the operation Ted created. Ted ing it every time.
was also an early contributor to TQR. Listen…
Well,
TQR: Did you initially want to reproduce the vintage now…
speaker designs of the past? that’s com-
forting
Being an engineer, I words
thought about how indeed, and
often original designs we can tell
became watered down you that
in the front office or given our experience with the Weber Signature 8s, Ted suc-
accounting depart- ceeded mightily in his quest, may he rest in peace.
ment. The belief I had
was that if we Weber builds an Alnico 8 and a brighter 8S model for yer
remained small, did all Champ, and we started with the standard 8. The first thing we
of our marketing on the Internet and kept our overhead low, noticed is that the volume increased over the original Oxford
we could actually design and build engineered speakers – by 20%. So much for originality… The Weber also displayed
products with very tight tolerances and a high degree of pre- a far richer, bolder sound – strong and vocal in the mids with
cision machining that generally isn’t possible with mass pro- excellent frequency response and, as the online description
duction. Our gaps would be tighter with better concentricity, promised, a smooth response to higher volume levels with a
better magnets, a higher grade of steel, and our production slight attenuation in the higher frequencies and moderate,
would be cellular rather then just throwing things together musical compression. We would choose this Signature 8
on a high-volume production line. But I also knew that we speaker for most guitars equipped with brighter single coil
wouldn’t be able to do the typical 6-8 times build-cost-to- pickups, and the improvement over the old Oxford was
retail-price ratio. We would have had a $300-$400 speaker astounding. Astounding? Really.
that would have become an expensive lawn ornament,
because at that time, the question would have been “Who the The Alnico
heck is Weber?” Why would anyone pay that much for a 8S also per-
speaker built by someone they had never heard of? Mass dis- forms as
tribution wasn’t going to work for us. Anyone can go to described,
Eminence or overseas to have speakers made, but I didn’t see with much
the point of that. There was no sense in building speakers more promi-
using generic parts – that wasn’t within our vision of produc- nent treble
ing speakers that the old designers would have created in a presence
perfect creative environment. And if one of those old speaker that colors
designers were to come here today, he would find that we’re the over-
basically shipping prototype speakers every single day in driven voice
terms of the qual- of the
ity of materials Champ with a brighter, sharper character overall. If you prefer
and manufactur- the sound of a brighter speaker, this one’s for you. The con-
ing tolerances. In trast between the two Weber speakers is very apparent, and we
the old days, they personally preferred the thicker, richer sound of the standard
would have Weber Signature Alnico 8 over the 8S. Your results may vary,
machined all of and that’s OK. We simply loved the way the smooth cone
the parts, proto- Signature Alnico 8 transformed the sound of our ‘59 Champ
typed a specific into a magnificently bold little tweed with excellent clarity
model and per- (and this is important), exceptionally smooth, musical distor-
formed a cost tion, vivid second-order harmonics and phenomenal dynamic
analysis on it. response to pick attack. In our world, you really couldn’t ask
That’s where the for [Link]
original design [Link]

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

9
 amps

Jensen P8R & C8R reviewed here. It’s also interesting to note that the Rola was
We also arranged to receive a ceramic mag Jensen C8R and stamped with a Philco [Link]
Alnico P8R from CE Distribution to audition in the ‘59, and
it didn’t take long for us to give the nod to the ceramic C8R The Speaker Workshop, 260-426-8742
for the same reasons we preferred the standard Weber Alnico Terry Dobbs, [Link], 812-342-6684
over the brighter S model. In a feisty little amp like the
Champ, we don’t want to hear a lot of high frequency distor-
tion clashing over single notes and chords. The ‘59 Champ is

ToneQuest
by nature a very transparent and revealing amp given its
small output transformer and speaker… Any dissonance
quickly obscures fundamentals, while the right speaker can The Fender ‘57 Champ Reissue
actually expand them through second order harmonics, creat-
ing a polyphonic vocal quality that can be experienced first- Fender has estab-
hand throughout the brilliantly crafted, ultimate demo CD for lished a long and
the Champ – Layla. The trick, it seems, is to strike the right varied history of
balance of compression, frequency response and clarity, building highly
while avoiding shrill, too sharp treble tones, muddy mids and respected modern
floppy low end. The Jensen C8R sounds strong, full and rich amps like the
with single coils (P90s are made for a Champ), but depend- Blues Deville,
ing on the pickups in your humbucking guitars, we’re not Blues Junior,
going to eliminate the brighter speakers mentioned here if Vibro King and
you’ll be predominantly using midrange-heavy humbuckers. reissue tweed
The good news is that all of these 8 inch speakers are rela- Bassman, but they
tively inexpensive, which makes experimentation a lot less have also not
costly. Among the Jensen 8s, we prefer the C8R. ignored the enduring appeal of vintage classics, such as the
blackface Vibroverb 1x15 designed in cooperation with César
[Link], 480-755-4712 (wholesale) Diaz, the ‘57 tweed Twin, the hand-wired tweed Deluxe,
[Link], 480-820-5411 blackface Princeton Reverb, and the 5F1 ‘57 tweed Champ.

Given all of the low-powered amps that are available to gui-

Lagniappe – Jensen & Rola Recones tarists today at virtually any price point, you might wonder
Thanks to Mr. Valco, aka why an industry giant like Fender would bother to reissue a
Terry Dobbs, we were also 5 watt hand-wired amp that lists for $1299 and sells for a
able to have Tom Colvin at ‘street’ price of $999… Well, it’s a Champ, and in case you
the Speaker Workshop in Ft. haven’t noticed, there seems to be a healthy reverence for
Wayne, Indiana do his Fender history among the current management at Fender that
reconing magic with a vin- often transcends dispassionate business decisions that might
tage Rola and Jensen 4 ohm otherwise focus solely on the bottom line. We suspect the
eight. Like the original overriding motivation for building a labor-intensive, hand-
Oxford in the ‘59 Champ, wired 5F1 Champ was simply that it deserved and needed to
both of these vintage speak- be done. And as we have reported in the past in regard to the
ers produce a sound that is more ‘papery’ and slightly less tweed Deluxe, for example, you can be assured that the
powerful than the Webers or modern Jensens, but their tone is development team at Fender assembled a respectable assort-
very true to the period in ment of vintage Champs as they tweaked the prototype that
which the tweed Champs would ultimately provide the final blueprint for production.
were built. The voice of the As a consumer, tonefreak and prospective Champ owner, you
Rola was a bit thicker and of course are single-mindedly interested in one thing, and one
more middy than the Jensen, thing only… How does Fender’s modern reissue sound and
which displayed the typical compare to ‘the real thing?’ Fair question, and the very same
brightness unique to Jensen that prompted us to request a Champ for review.
Alnico speakers, and both
added more distortion than As far as technical details go, the Champ is properly housed
any of the modern 8s in a lacquered tweed covered pine box, loaded with a Ruby
5Y3 and GT 6V6 and 12AX7 tubes, and the excellent Weber
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

10
 amps

Signature Alnico 4 ohm speaker (not the brighter ‘S’ Alnico Alnico selected by Fender is the one you want. Lightly used
model). The globally compliant hand-wired chassis is much reissue tweed Champs are selling for around $600 versus
busier than an original Champ inside, with redundant fail- $999 new. By all means, Quest forth…TQ
safe fuses on the fiber circuit board, shields over the internal [Link]
input jacks, and a compliant (and easily removable) cage [Link]
attached to the back panel that protects the user from those
smokin’ hot tubes! Features (or lack thereof) faithfully follow
the original design, with high and low sensitivity inputs and a
single volume control. Rather than using a switched volume
pot, an on/off toggle switch is employed. The ‘606’ trans-
former EIA codes indicate Schumacher, and this is good.
Give Fender a deserving nod for also including an authentic
brown linen vintage-style cover.
ToneQuest
Victoria 518
Mark Baier’s
replica of the
Champ faithfully
honors the origi-
Tone nal 5F1 circuit in
You’d think a slightly larger
an elegantly pine box an inch
austere and taller and deeper
simple circuit than the original
like the 5F1 cabinet, and no
Champ one does a better
would be job of lacquering
easy enough tweed with an
to reproduce amber patina than Victoria. If an eight inch driver leaves you
and dial in feeling slightly under-endowed, you can also order the Big
tonally, and Fender has succeeded nicely. The voice of the Bamboo – model 5112 – a tweed Champ in a Deluxe cabinet
Champ is rich and throaty with surprising volume as it gradu- loaded with an Eminence Legend 12. Our 518 review model
ally succumbs to increasingly intense distortion and second- included a new old stock GE 5Y3 rectifier, new (and excel-
order harmonics. Compared to our vintage ‘59, the new lent) Tung-Sol 6V6 and an equally good TAD (Tube Amp
Champ gets louder a little faster, probably due to a different Doctor) 12AX7. If you ever find yourself wondering which
taper in the volume pots of both amps. Equipped with the modern tubes offer the best tone and dependability, just look
stock tubes, the modern Champ lacks a little of the clarity, inside amps built by smaller companies that really care about
dimensionality and smooth dynamic response of our ‘59, but tube tone. We can recall when all Victorias were shipped with
when we swapped the GT 6V6 with an old RCA blackplate NOS tubes, if that tells you anything…
and the 12AX7 with a vintage RCA, those qualities emerged
as you would expect. There is a difference between both The 518 performs just as expected, with a rich, musical voice.
amps… the new The stock Jensen Alnico P8R doesn’t sound as overwhelming-
Champ sounds ly bright in the Victoria as it did in our ‘59 or Greg Talley’s,
understandably but we still prefer the heavier sound of the Weber Signature 8.
brighter by a few The 518 doesn’t spill into intense distortion and higher volume
degrees, and more levels quite as fast as our old Champs, but it gets there with
assertive… like a authority, and there are plenty of very usable tones present
new amp versus before you reach ‘8.’ If you are under the impression that
one that is 50 Champs are only truly useful fully gassed on ‘10,’ you’d be
years old. But for wrong. Their sweet spot is really well before hard clipping, and
those of you who yes, outboard reverb or tremolo quickly transforms them into
prefer the reliability and no-maintenance peace of mind something magical that defies easy identification in a blindfold
offered by a new amp (with a 5-year warranty), we can rec- test or a recording. Weaker Stratocaster pickups or a guitar like
ommend the new Fender Champ very highly – and especially our Jerry Jones Copperburst really bloom and breathe in this
if you can get your hands on a fine NOS 6V6 and 12AX7. amp – especially with the dynamic compression produced by
Even at today’s prices for vintage tubes, optimizing the an eight inch speaker, while typical P90s, Telecaster and hum-
Champ is an affordable and worthwhile upgrade. As for the bucking pickups produce a more linear intensity. Overall, we’d
speaker, you needn’t worry about that – the stock Weber describe the Victoria 518 as sounding slightly more detailed,
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

11
 amps

complex and musical enjoy the sound of variable degrees of distortion at moderate
when compared to volume levels. The remarkable growth of the pedal business
the modern Fender can be attributed to this same obsession with distortion at a
Champ with its stock ‘polite’ volume. Hey… we love Super Reverbs as much as
tubes. Load both anyone, but when your ears are ringing hours after a brief
amps with RCAs dalliance with those four tens, we understand. And who
and you might have wants to lift a Super?
a hard time distin-
guishing one from We received three ValveTrain models for review, all an easy
the other except for one-hand tote well under 10 watts. Inspired by the cathode-
the slightly brighter biased 1955 Fender 5F2A Princeton, the ‘205’ model is built
Jensen P8R. The 518 earns additional points on cosmetics with with a pine cabinet two inches taller than a vintage Champ,
its excellent butterscotch lacquered finish, and we like the tra- and features nicely aged “tortured tweed.” Additional features
ditional single, switched volume control. No, the switched pot unique to the 205 include both a volume and tone control, and
doesn’t ‘sound’ better – we just like the feel of the click as the 4 and 8 ohm speaker input jacks on the bottom of the chassis.
jewel light illuminates. By all of the typical criteria one might The presence of an 8 ohm jack might could open up a brave
apply to a booteek amp (tone and build quality), the 518 is out- new world of 8" speaker options for anyone bold enough to
standing at $1095 new. Our sole suggestion might be to add a look beyond the obvious… The majority of available used and
line out jack on the bottom of the chassis should you wish to ‘vintage’ eight inch speakers are 8 ohm, including some very
goose a bigger [Link] interesting 8s with Jensen, Magnavox (CTS), Rola, JBL and
Telefunken labels. A player with an 8 ohm Champ could have
[Link], 630-820-6400 a helluva lot of fun dabbling in some of the more obscure 8"
full-range speakers that have been made for various stereo sys-
tems – just be sure to limit your search to “full range” speakers
– not midrange drivers or hi-fi woofers. Every time we’ve
ValveTrain looked, eBay has been full of ‘em.
As explained to
us during an Like the Victoria
introductory 518, the volume
phone call, pot on the
ValveTrain ValveTrain 205
founder Rick exhibits a slower
Gessner’s vision taper, so compara-
for the ble volume levels
Revolution on our ‘59s are
Series was to quite different. ‘6’
build high-quali- on one of the ‘59s
ty, hand-wired might be ‘8’ on
guitar amplifiers the modern amps,
in the USA utilizing American-made components at a street with a steeper increase in volume and distortion from ‘8’ to
price under $1,000. As he described his business model over ‘10.’ This isn’t a flaw – the taper is just different, as Robben
the phone, we couldn’t help thinking of the companies that Ford observed in our December ‘09 interview when we asked
had recently adopted a similar, yet polar opposite approach – him where he set the volume on his Dumbles. The hand-
to build hand-wired ‘affordable’ amps in China. Well, regard- wired ValveTrain is shipped with a Weber Signature Alnico
less of where they are built, the market for small, affordable 8S, along with an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7, 6V6, and a
guitar amps has always been much more robust than most of NOS RCA 5Y3 rectifier.
the bigger custom-built, hand-wired models we often review
in these pages, and this is nothing new… Fender built far The sound of the 205 is squarely in the neighborhood with
more ‘student’ models like the Champ and guitars like the the contemporary Champs we’ve reviewed – slightly tamer
Duo Sonic and Mustang because that’s what sold the most – by a hair played wide open, and no, the taller cabinet doesn’t
ditto with Gibson and the Skylark and Melody Maker. Small seem to affect the tone or fidelity of the amp one way or
amplifiers offering lower decibel levels remain immensely another. Aside from great tone and crankability, the 205’s
popular today for home, apartment and studio use not neces- strongest selling point seems to rest with that extra 8 ohm
sarily due to their low cost, but because so many players speaker jack, in our opinion. Street price is $899.
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

12
 amps

reverb pan produces a

ToneQuest
ValveTrain Concord & Lexington Reverb
At 6 watts, these sin-
gle input amps fall
good spring reverb
effect that stops short
of full-surf splash, but
it adds depth and mys-
tery to single coils like
within the general it should. On a related
power and volume note, you may have
range of a Champ, heard that Belton
but loaded with ten recently acquired the
inch speakers and Accutronics Company
additional features. that has been building
Available as a 1x10 spring reverb pans in
combo or compact Cary, IL for decades. According to the corporate web site,
head, the Class A, Accutronics reverb pans were to be manufactured in Cary
cathode-biased, through November 2009. Log on to the Accutronics web site
Concord operates on today, and you’ll be greeted by the new ‘Belton’ Accutronics
a single 6V6, 12AX7 and solid state rectifier with volume, page, with the company’s new address proudly displayed as
treble and bass controls, two 4 ohm and one 8 ohm speaker Geumcheon-Gu, Seoul, Korea. Our condolences to the people
input and a Real Vintage USA-made 10" speaker. Compared of Cary, Il who are now unemployed so the new Accutronics
to the Lexington, the Concord delivers a thicker, heavier tone company may pursue a more contemporary vision of
with plenty of additional treble available, and moderate dis- American manufacturing excellence by fleeing to Korea to
tortion levels from ‘8’-’10’ on the volume control that inten- pump up the company’s bottom line.
sify significantly with stronger humbuckers. Overall volume
is comparable to all of the Champs reviewed here, but the As for ValveTrain amps, they will not be made in Korea,
Concord displays which was the entire point behind Rick Gessner’s desire to
more clean head- build point-to-point amplifiers in the USA with parts sourced
room before break- from America. For low-volume dealing at a reasonable price,
ing up, and maxi- he has neatly bridged the world of mass production and bou-
mum distortion is tique amps quite nicely with many more models than we
less intense. Think were able to review here, so by all means, check ‘em out. TQ
of it as a 6-watt
amp with excellent [Link]
fidelity and a good match with effects pedals. However, the
overdriven sound produces a mellower, jangly burn than that
of the typical Champ circuit.

The $700.00 Lexington Reverb 1x10 combo uses the same

cabinet as the Concord, loaded with an Eminence Ramrod
(one of our favorite 10s), dual EH 12AX7s, a single EH 6V6
and solid state rectifier. Features include volume, tone and
reverb intensity controls, a toggled high/low power switch
ToneQuest Bakos 8 Ball
Many of you are already familiar with our resident amp tech,
studio owner/engineer and advisory board member Jeff
that cuts power from 6 to 1.5 watts, and a RAW switch that Bakos. In his spare time, Jeff occasionally builds amps for
increases gain and treble response. A reverb footswitch is also clients on request,
included. We created some very usable and interesting tones and lately he’s been
combining the trebly RAW setting with the neck pickups in asked to build…
our guitars, but otherwise found it too bright and thin for use you guessed it –
with the bridge. We also really never warmed up to the 1.5 small little biters.
watt low power setting, preferring to play the Lexington at a Since his personal
full 6 watts with the volume level on ‘7’- ‘10.’ Like the GA-5 has been fea-
Concord, this amp isn’t designed with a hair-trigger tendency tured so often on
to jump into gonzo distortion levels, remaining clean well various recording
into the rotation of the volume pot before quickly producing projects, Jeff toyed
overdriven tones beyond ‘7.’ The nine-inch Accutronics with the idea of
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

13
 guitars

recreating the Gibson GA-5 Skylark for a minute, but given sonably affordable. Afterall, what good is a tantalizing
the fact that vintage GA-5s remain fairly plentiful, he ulti- review of something you may never hope to own? Perhaps
mately decided to design his own simple take on a smallish you too have scoured guitar reference books or searched
amp – the 8 Ball. Housed in a Mojo Champ cabinet, the 8 online with the hope that you’ll be reminded of a forgotten
Ball is built with one of our favorite tens, the Eminence model or find a modern guitar that has escaped you… Oh,
Legend Alnico 1058 (that’s a hint), Mercury Magnetics tran- we’ve spent hours chasing spontaneous detours into obscuri-
nies and choke, and premium components, including Sozo ty studying bizarre footnotes in guitar manufacturing like the
coupling caps. With the bigger Mercury Princeton trans- 1980 Gibson ES335-S Firebrand, the Smith Stratocaster, or
former set, the single 6V6/12AX7/5Y3 design is capable of the Gretsch Corvette, only to conclude that you deserve bet-
producing 10 watts of power. Features include dual inputs, ter than long diatribes on quirky curiosities that won’t get
volume and tone controls, a front panel line out jack, and a played. During one such recent online excursion, however,
‘vintage’/‘modern’ toggle switch also conveniently mounted we stumbled upon a guitar so lusciously delicious and which
on the front panel. we knew to be endowed with reasonably certain prospects of
absolutely stellar tone that we could simply not let it escape
The ‘vin- your attention or our grasp. An exceptional, utterly gorgeous
tage’ setting example made by a very thoughtful and meticulous builder
produces who has been quietly working for decades smackdab in the
pristine, heart of Music City USA. His company and distinctive brand
Fendery are rarely advertised it seems, yet experienced players who
clean tones can afford to play virtually anything they wish ardently play
up to 12 this fellow’s guitars – not because they were given away as
o’clock on part of an endorsement deal, but because like us, they find
the volume his instruments irresistible. At a time when it has become vir-
control, tually impossible to comprehend and digest all the nuanced
gradually followed by a progressively thicker growl with variations being built on even one model like the
intense distortion and sustain. In this setting, the 8 Ball sur- Stratocaster, many of us still crave honest guitars that play
passes all the other small amps we’ve reviewed in terms of flawlessly and sound unlike all the ubiquitous and familiar
practical versatility with stronger, louder clean tones and a archetypes in a good way… unique guitars that compel us to
more gradual cascade of second-order harmonics and crunch. pick them up every time we walk in the room and sound
Again, very Fender-like. The ‘modern’ setting is hot from the unlike any other 6-string you can name… That’s what we
jump, with a much faster and rabid increase in distortion, sus- want, and Jerry Jones builds ‘em. We’ve reprised Jerry’s
tain and gain. Carlos would dig it, no pedals required. The 8 essential account of his early days at Nashville’s Old Time
Ball is available by custom order only at $1150 plus shipping Picking Parlor and the genesis of Jerry Jones guitars, fol-
with 90-day delivery and a 50% deposit. TQ lowed by a review of our latest 1996 ‘JJ Original’ copper-
burst and an overview of Delta Moon guitarist Mark
Bakos Ampworks, Atlanta, 404-607-8426 Johnson’s 3-pickup models. Enjoy…

Jerry Jones
I think my interest in

ToneQuest
anything other than
just playing guitars
Tumblin’ Dice started in the early
‘70s. I grew up in
We spend more than a little time researching and considering Jackson, Mississippi
various new and not-so-new guitar models that may be wor- and like many kids at
thy of your that time, I received a
consideration, modest starter guitar
always looking for Christmas… an
for instru- early ‘60s Epiphone
ments that are Coronet, as I recall. I
unique, excep- played at home and
tionally tone- with my pals now and
ful, and almost then and the guitar
1980 ES335-S Firebrand always… rea- would go back under
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

14
 guitars

the bed for a while. My interest was rekindled when artists me at all. I can still remember the smell of lacquer and rose-
like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page emerged in wood when I first walked in the front door of the OTPP.
the late ‘60s. I was a Led Zeppelin fan and in addition to hav-
ing seen them in concert, I particularly remember seeing an The OTPP experience was really an eye opener. Most of the
album cover photo of Jimmy Page with his sunburst Les big questions I had about building guitars were answered
Paul. That guitar definitely struck me. Les Pauls had been re- almost immediately. I had experience repairing and finishing
introduced a year or so before, but not as a sunburst. As I instruments, but that only went so far. How to carve necks,
learned more about the history of these guitars I became even cut fret slots, and imbed truss rods were questions that were
more intrigued. Old sun burst Les Pauls from the ‘50s were best answered with my experience at the OTPP. The great
impossible to come by at that time and they would have been thing about repairing guitars professionally is that you have
expensive… as much as a new guitar. I did find a ‘52 goldtop an opportunity to check out many different kinds of guitars
in Memphis though, and in short order I set about converting and understand how they are built. Most of my training has
it to a faded sunburst. I must have refinished that guitar four been ‘on the job,’ but I have hired a few guys along the way
or five times over the few years that I owned it. With each that were graduates of various luthier schools, and that can be
refinish, I would learn something new. The only book avail- helpful. I don’t think any universities offer advanced degrees
able at that time was the Irving Sloane book on classic guitar for guitar builders and I would expect that most other
construction, which I studied. I continued to play over the builders out there have arrived the same way I did…just div-
next few years and became more interested in pedal steel gui- ing in. You never can learn it all and just as you have a han-
tar than six string. Also, I would purchase vintage guitars dle on one aspect of guitar building, something else pops up.
when I came across them. That was a time when you could My job today is more about being a problem solver and
buy vintage Strats or Teles listed in the local want-ads. I wearing many hats.
would just call the ads offering Fender guitars and ask if the
guitar had a big “F” on the neck plate, if not, I was off to buy In about
my next guitar. Some of them were basket cases, and I would 1982, I
restore them and sell them to my friends. I did enough of this decided
kind of work that I decided to set up an extra room in my to start
house as a shop… nothing too serious, though. I never enter- my own
tained any thoughts of a career. I was always the guy who shop. I
took the clock apart and got it back together most of the time. had a
My father was a tinkerer and could intuitively fix most any- two-car
thing, so I just thought that’s what guys did – fix things. So, garage at
in addition to my musical interest, I cultivated an interest in my
how things are made and how they work. I think most great house
instrument builders develop a keen sense of how things that was
should look, sound, and feel from a player’s perspective. unused, so I loaded it up with the tools of the trade and I was
Over time, I have seen instruments that were made by very off. That was a great time. I remember being totally unaware
capable wood craftsmen that really would not appeal to musi- of time. Every day it was a short trip to the shop and many
cians. Some of those fine details that make a great guitar can nights I would not leave until I noticed that the TV had gone
escape even the best woodworkers. You have to see your off the air. By 1985, I had outgrown my home shop and was
work through a musician’s eyes, so that’s what I have always able to rent an 800 square foot space in the downtown
done. I’m not a frustrated musician or a frustrated wood- Nashville area. Most of my efforts to this point were about
worker… I’m a guitar builder. repairing and custom building,
but with the new shop, I was
In 1978, through a chance meeting, I ended up with a job looking for a way to develop a
offer with The Old Time Picking Parlor in Nashville. The product line and a manufactur-
OTPP was a well-known guitar shop and had a great reputa- ing business. Shortly after mov-
tion for acoustic construction and repair. Most of my experi- ing to the new shop, a customer
ence was with electric instruments, so it was a good fit for brought in an old Silvertone sin-
me. I could take all the electric business that walked in the gle-cut guitar with a single pick-
door and at the same time learn a lot about acoustic instru- up. Although I had worked on
ments. I think I actually started building my first guitar a few vintage Danelectros for years,
months after arriving in Nashville. I slept on the floor in a for some reason I was intrigued
hallway of a friend’s apartment for the first few months, and with this guitar. While the
I was so excited about my new job that it didn’t even bother Silvertone was in the shop, I
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

15
 guitars

blueprinted it and took all these and they turned out to be an exact match. I thought I
the necessary measure- was in business now, but the pickup proved to be more per-
ments to reproduce it. plexing than I thought.
Over the few years that I
had built instruments, I I had
never had any desire to most of
build one for myself. This the mate-
Silvertone guitar was dif- rial com-
ferent…very simple, with ponents
only the essentials… just for the
the kind of guitar I would pickups,
want for myself. I set but as I
about building my copy of started to
this guitar and became dissect
stumped when I came to them, it
Jerry Jones pickups
the bridge and the pickups. I could fabricate a simple bridge, became
but for the pickups, I could only try to locate some originals. increasingly difficult to find a standard. I found two magnet
When I did find an old set, they were expensive — $100.00 sizes, two wire types, and no two pickups that exhibited DC
each as I recall. I could have purchased them, but why not measurements that you could call ‘average.’ They were all
just make them? I knew how the pickups were constructed over the map. I had always heard that the original factory
and could wind my own, but the lipstick tubes would be the used a photo timer to turn the coil winders off…I think it was
problem. I looked everywhere for some kind of casing for the 2 1⁄2 minutes. Based on known motor speeds, that would give
coils and the closest thing I could find were cigar humidors, me at least a ballpark figure for turns of wire. I did count the
and they were much too big. So my guitar project sat. turns of several original coils and it seemed to be 5K, plus a
small overrun. That was helpful, but there are other fac-
Fast forward to the fall of 1986. The same customer who tors…wire type, tension, layering, etc. The bottom line here
brought in the Silvertone now brought in an original is that the original pickups exhibit a narrow and lofty reso-
Danelectro Longhorn Bass 6. I had worked on a few of these nance peak that is lowered in frequency and output when the
in the past, but given my recent fascination with the metal tubes are installed. In effect, the metal tubes used for
Silvertone, I decided to also blueprint the Longhorn. At about the covers help attenuate the tone and output of the raw coil.
that time, the country group Highway 101 had just released Another factor is the use of Alnico 6 magnets rather than the
their new hit record with 6-string bass all over it. The guitar standard Alnico 5. This is a difference that I discovered a few
player, Jack Daniels, had borrowed an original Bass 6 for the years into production. One of the major magnet mills tested
recording session, but now needed one for the road. I had one of the original magnets and it turned out to be Alnico 6. I
built a few guitars for record producer Paul Worley over the think the Alnico 6 is a big part of the sound, though I’m not
years, and he recommended that Jack talk to me about build- sure they would work for other types of guitars pickups. They
ing a Bass 6 for him. seem to be warmer, with plenty of strength. They require less
That’s when the lights wire for good output, which can improve the signal-to-noise
went on for me. Taking levels. I’m not sure why original Danelectros use Alnico 6
the experience I had magnets… maybe they were cheaper or maybe they were
gained with the previous government surplus, but they sure sound great.
small production runs
and the resurgence of TQR: How are your guitars built in comparison to the old
the retro country sound, Danelectro models, and what improvements have
the Bass 6 could be just you made?
the instrument to get the
wheels rolling for a new As I said before, the old single-cutaway Silvertone in my
product line, but I still shop just captivated me and was the kind of guitar I would
had to solve the pickup problems. With at least one order in build for myself. The original bodies are built with a pine or
hand, I set out once again looking for some type of pickup poplar wood frame and a top and back of Masonite. The
casing. As luck would have it, while shopping at a local necks were poplar wood with two fixed steel reinforcement
Walgreen drug store I noticed a cosmetic product that rods. These materials seemed inexpensive at first, but I would
appeared to have a cap that was exactly the shape and size as later learn that they cost more than the materials for a Strat. I
the original Danelectro pickup covers. I purchased a few of believe the original Danelectro Company found most of their
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

16
 guitars

potential in low 1992. The next

priced instruments leap came in 1994
that they sold to when we jumped
Sears, and I have a from traditional
theory about the manufacturing to
evolution of these the future with the
materials for guitars. purchase of a CNC
The original manufacturing
Danelectro was in machine. I can’t
the amp business say enough about
when approached by these machines and how much they have upped the quality
Sears to develop a for all guitar makers. Tom Anderson was very instrumental in
guitar line. It doesn’t take much of a stretch to see that an bringing small instrument makers into the computer age. Not
amp company would have these common amp materials in only is our CNC super precision, it also frees our employees
great abundance. Masonite for tube covers, vinyl for cabinet to concentrate their skilled handwork in the right areas… let
covering and pine or poplar for amp cabinets. the CNC do the grunt work.

With the initial order for a Longhorn Bass 6, things just In 2001, we decided to change
seemed to take off. I made six instruments in the first run and our instruments again with the
they sold immediately. Some original Danelectro instruments introduction of the “Neptune”
were in demand, rare line. This allowed us to make
and pricey. The oppor- some needed improvements
tunity for me seemed and make our instruments dis-
to be in providing tinctive. Leaving the strict vin-
reproductions of desir- tage look to others, we made
able vintage instru- the body shapes a bit more
ments that felt and angular…just slightly. Same
played like a pro-level for the headstock. The necks
instrument. As thinks would now be clear coated
heated up, I realized with a satin finish. The pickups
that I had both a chal- are now more calibrated with a
lenge and an opportu- hotter bridge pickup. All
nity to pick up the ball switches are 4-pole slider type with better pickup selections.
from the original After having made our own bridges for years, we switched to
David Grissom
Danelectro Company Fender-type bridges. To duplicate the tonal characteristics of
and run with it. That would mean an expanded product line as our original bridges, a nest is routed below each bridge and
well as improved quality and the initial success gave me the the bridge is mounted suspended over the body with spacers.
freedom to pursue these goals. The strings are now through the body and I think the tone is
actually a bit better now — a little tighter.
The big surprise for most players is that a great instrument
can be produced with unconventional materials if the atten- TQR: Can you describe some of the more interesting fea-
tion to detail and the build is high quality. It might be a bit tures among the baritone, bass and sitar models?
like the “silk purse from a sow’s ear” adage, but in this case,
it works. I guess there will always be a few who “don’t get The Bass 6 was the first instrument we offered. These had
it” and don’t understand what’s involved. Even with cutting been used traditionally in country music as a “TicTac” bass.
edge manufacturing, it’s still more difficult to reproduce a The name “TicTac” refers to the sound of the bass when
vintage instrument than to just start out to make a modern played with a pick. A Bass 6 was used to overdub upright
guitar. I guess if it were easy to reproduce the classics, we bass lines and give the bass line a bit more presence and
would all be driving brand new ‘55 Chevys. To that end, our attack. The Bass 6 is a 30" scale instrument that is tuned like
first instruments were as faithful as possible. Even though we a four string bass with an added high B and E…just like a
met some small resistance, we continued to improve and guitar but one octave down. A 30" scale is just about the limit
change the instruments over [Link] most obvious improve- on the short side of what can still be tuned as low as a long
ments were the intonatable “Neptune” bridge and the addition scale bass (34"). The harmonic structure of the low E string
of an adjustable truss rod. That would have been around on the Bass 6 can get a bit weird at this short scale. The idea
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

17
 guitars

for the baritone (28" scale tuned been poking around on eBay and Gbase for awhile, with a
A~A or B~B) was to overcome few of the later ‘Neptune’ models appearing, along with a JJ
some of these problems. I had the Sitar or two, a doubleneck 6-string/baritone, and a late ‘90s
idea for the baritone some time in ‘JJ Original’ in Turquoiseburst, but the brilliant white and
the ‘80s when I first heard aqua-green vibe of that guitar tilted just a little too far into a
Andreas Vollenweider play harp. booth in a Juarez taco stand for our taste, not that we have
I thought it would be great to anything against turquoise, Juarez, or taco stands… Hell, we
emulate the harp by putting a still own some turquoise jewelry from the ‘70s, acquired dur-
string bender on a tuned down ing a brief Fogelberg infatuation, and we love the fish tacos
guitar. I never did make a bari- in Huntington Beach, and right here in Decatur at Taqueria
tone with a B-Bender, but I did del Sol or El Tesoro. Just so you know…
have a chance to at least make
the “tuned down guitar.” By The Copperburst appeared soon
shortening the 30" scale of the Bass 6 to 28", the instrument enough on an eBay auction from a
became easier to chord down by the nut. Got rid of that prob- seller in Austin, Texas who was
lem low E, moved all the strings up a notch and added two apparently unloading quite a few
unwound strings on the treble side. This made the instrument instruments on eBay from the col-
much more playable as a guitar…much easier to chord and to lection of Kiefer Sutherland. We
bend strings. didn’t care one wit about such
celebrity provenance, but we did
I think we have offered the sitar wonder why a collector flush with
model since the early ‘90 s and it that kind of cheese would bother
has proven to be our best selling selling off any guitars at all? Well,
model over time. The sitar is you can only play ‘em one at a time.
loaded up with plenty of parts, Regardless of who owned it, the
and since we were already mak- Copperburst was clearly a magnifi-
ing all our own hardware, it cent work of art unlike any other
seemed like an obvious addition guitar we had ever seen, and we
to the line. The familiar sitar knew first-hand that it would sound,
sound is achieved with a slightly play and feel infinitely superior to
rounded bridge saddle that sends any of the original Danelectros that
the string into oscillation when inspired it. Of course, this fact had
struck. The 13 sympathetic not escaped the seller either, and he had tagged it with a Buy It
strings can mostly effectively be Now price of $1100 – $300-$400 over what you would nor-
used to play accompaniment. We mally expect to pay for a used Neptune, and about $200 under
tune them to a Dm7Sus scale, but what this guitar would have cost new. Still, the copperburst
any scale can be used. Most peo- was in dead mint condition from a very significant era in the JJ
ple believe that the sympathetic lineage, even more rare and stunning in the copperburst finish,
strings provide the droning sound and we knew we could knock off another $88 cash back refund
on an Indian sitar. If you look at through [Link], and shipping was free. Done, and when it
how a real sitar is tuned (C or arrived, we were not disappointed.
C#) you will notice that it is
tuned with 1’s and 5’s with a 4th as the main play string. If The Copperburst features two of Jerry Jones’ incomparable
you drop the low E on our sitar to D, you effectively have a lipstick single coils, medium jumbo frets on a rich, toffee-
sitar tuning on the lower 4 strings. Think of the lower D, A, colored (Madagascar?) rosewood fretboard, a chunky yet
and D as the drone strings and the G string as the main play comfy ‘C’ shaped 25" scale, 21 fret bolt-on neck with truss
string and the high B and E as additional play strings. rod adjustment at the heel, and flawlessly functional,
Waverly-style open back nickel tuners. The chambered
masonite and wood body produces an exceptionally lively
The Copperburst and resonant instrument weighing just 6.75 pounds. You also
Contrary to all those casual visits to Midtown Music (RIP) need to know that these guitars leave Nashville with superior
when we walked in the door not really looking for a new gui- fret work comparable to the finest custom-made guitars, nuts
tar and left with one anyway, we really were trolling for a that don’t bind the strings when tuning, and fully intonatable
Jerry Jones on eBay when we found the Copperburst. We’d 6-saddle steel bridges. Bridge height is also fully adjustable
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

18
 amps

via two adjustment screws tonal palette with a 5-way Strat-style switch that does not
at each end of the bridge deliver the same volume and vibe as the series setting on the
plate. Copperburst, but you do get three additional tones… Which
setup is ‘better’? We like the two pickup sounds and Mark
The two-pickup models are seems to prefer the five tones you get with three pickups, and
wired with single volume the rest is up to you. One thing is certain – Jerry Jones’ gui-
and tone controls and a tars remain among the most satisfying, well-made and toneful
stout 3-way toggle switch bargains on the planet. Get yours now. TQ
that yields the neck or
bridge pickup alone, or [Link], 615-255-0088
both pickups in series, for a
very bold sound that
trumps the volume obtained
from either pickup alone.
Even with the JJ’s zero
headstock pitch and com-
paratively low angle at which the strings break over the sad-
dles, the big frets make string bending a breeze with no slop
or slippage at the notched saddles. As you might guess, all
ToneQuest
Three Monkeys Orangutan
The amplifiers built
by 3 Monkeys seem
the JJ guitars also excel when tuned to open tunings like G, to have attracted a
D, A, E or C, and they are phenomenal sliders… But please lot of enthusiastic
don’t assume that like many original, cheap-o Silvertone or attention, fueled in
Harmony guitars, the JJs can’t cut it played as a standard 6- part by the back-
string for anything but droning Delta blues. They rule played ground of the “three
in standard tuning, and while the pickups are a little weaker monkeys” behind the
then typical Strats and Teles, name – Brad
their ‘weakness’ is a major Whitford, the guitar
strength in this guitar, render- player who has been
ing crystalline clarity, punch responsible for hold-
and a unique vocal character ing down the groove
that is indeed unlike any in Aerosmith for
other guitar you will ever decades, his long-
play. Want more power and time tech, Greg Howard, who has also worked with Green
volume? Just turn up your Day, Cry of Love (and the mighty Audley Freed), Jimmy
amp. The clarity of the lip- Page, and the Black Crowes among others, and Ossie Ahsen,
sticks simply enhances the former founder and designer of Blockhead amps. This power
overdriven tones available trio created 3 Monkeys in 2007 with the launch of the
from your amp or effects. Orangutan, which by now seems to have been reviewed in
With the right amp, deftly print and web videos by just about everyone who does such
controlling the intensity of things. Well, except us… So as we admittedly embark on the
the cascading, shimmering ass-end of the bleeding edge in the boutique amp world rela-
harmonic overtones with your tive to the Orangutan, we pause to reflect on just how sophis-
fingertips introduces a mes- ticated marketing for high-end guitar amplifiers has become.
merizing effect created solely Or not. But first, let’s learn a little more about the genesis of
by pick attack. Case in point the Orangutan from one of the three monkeys, Ossie Ahsen:
– the Copperburst played
through the ‘59 Champ with TQR: Speaking from the perspective of a designer first
additional goose bumps pro- with perhaps the experience of a player’s ear, what
vided by Lee Jackson’s Mr inspired the design of the Orangutan? What did you
Springgy reverb pedal is want to accomplish specifically that would distin-
nothing less than absolute guish this amp from others new and old in this
magic. power and price range? Was the sound of the
Orangutan inspired in part by any other (vintage?)
Mark Johnson’s 3-pickup Neptunes offer an entirely different amps we may know?

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

19
 amps

The origins of the Orangutan TQR: Most custom builders reference the overall design
go back to when we (Greg, and types of components used in the construction
Brad, and myself) first sat of their amps… Class A, Class A/B push/pull, etc.,
down to talk about what an and transformers, coupling caps, and resistors,
amp should be. From the start specifically. Can you summarize the unique circuit
it was a different process from design features of the Orangutan and notable com-
what I was used to – more ponent choices?
about passion, and we did not
get technical at all. We just It seems that most companies these days use exotic parts as a
waded through our thoughts, rule, but component choices for the Orangutan were made in
talking about anything from
Humble Pie to Porsches. Out
of this came a sense of what
we wanted to accomplish, what
the amp should be, and more
importantly, how it should feel.

We talked about the tones we loved and the experiences we

had playing all kinds of gear. Greg was coming from what a more thoughtful way. We tried not to get caught up in the
one might call the school of vintage Americana, both soni- parts hype, prejudging components, choosing the latest fads
cally and from an aesthetic standpoint, while I was coming in the world of resistors, capacitors, and pots. It’s a good
from a purely British perspective. On our own we could sales tool to use this part or that part, but I feel that how a
have butted heads all day on the merits of 6V6s versus El- part is used is more important than who made it or when. You
34s, but we didn’t. The reason why was Brad, who formed can take a box of premium NOS parts and make a mess of it
the bridge between the two of us. Brad has his roots in both just as easily as you can with the new production stuff. Now
of these places – he can play a blonde Twin or a Marshall this is not to say that the choices we made were not important
Super Lead and make both of us smile. This bridge allowed to the sound – I know for a fact that if you built our design
us to form the amp with its roots in both of these places as and used random parts, the amplifier’s sound will change.
well. When it came time to actually design the circuit, we There is a recipe, just not the expected one. We chose the
had this synthesis between America and the UK set. parts for durability, availability and sound. The fact that we
we not trying to copy a known circuit that required specific
We started the design process by assembling a mass of vin- components gave us the freedom to use whatever we knew
tage amplifiers – blackfaces, tweed and blonde Fenders, was best suited to the application without fear of reprisal.
Marshalls, Gibsons, Hiwatts, Vox, and Magnatones. The pur- When you create a new design, as opposed to a clone of a
pose of this collection was not for duplication or dissection, known quantity, you have that advantage.
but rather to keep ourselves immersed in the flavors we
appreciated, to give ourselves a baseline, and keep our ears TQR: Rotary tone switches seem to have become increas
tuned to that sound. We would work on our amp and then go ingly popular… Can you describe how each posi-
off and play the old stuff to gain perspective on what we tion was voiced and what you had in mind with
were doing. I think this was the key process that influenced each setting in the Orangutan?
the sound of the amp. What we were hearing in the vintage
area was bleeding over into what we were working on. The rotary
Repeating this process over and over led us to produce the switch came
amplifier we envisioned. I think you could say that we were into the
designing by inspiration and not any fixed criteria that the design as we
final product had to meet. We didn’t say it had to have this found a need
feature or that feature… there was no specific amplifier we to match dif-
were trying to copy… We just wanted the amp to have a vibe ferent guitars
that all of our favorites shared. When someone plugged into to the amp,
the amp, we wanted them to hear little bits and pieces of all as well as
Boost & Voice controls
these great amplifiers. They may not be able to put their fin- give the user
ger on it, but they will say that it sounds pleasingly familiar. different EQ points for fitting into the mix. The switch sets
the gain level and has a network of high and low pass filters

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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

20
 amps

that produce 6 homogenous sounds that range from clean to

distorted; from neutral to thick to thin, while retaining the
inherent feel of the amp. For instance:

Position 1 (furthest counter clockwise) is the least distorted

neutral signal.
ToneQuestOrangutan Review
We did our
homework
Position 2 offers a small bump in gain and low end from before
position 1. actually
Position 3 adds further gain and a low mid bump over posi- getting our
tion 2. hands on
Position 4 reduces low mid and increases midrange over the
position 3. Orangutan,
Position 5 increases high mids over position 4 and we
Position 6 increases high treble over position 5 found most
of the vari-
TQR: How does the pull/boost feature work, specifically? ous
Is it routing the signal out of the tone stack? Internet
video demos on the web to be characteristically uncompelling
The pull boost feature is quite simple – it changes out one in helping anyone make a truly informed buying decision.
value in the tonestack that lessens the insertion loss of the Too many tired licks (can anyone play a song?), poor sound
circuit. It has the effect of increasing the apparent gain, as further compressed for web streaming, and blindfolded you’d
well as midrange. The treble control continues to function be challenged to distinguish the Orangutan from a dozen
fully and the bass control to a lesser extent. other amps. Really. In all fairness, the Youtube clips we’re
referring to were largely produced by members of the guitar
TQR: We’re guessing that the cabinet is made by Mojo… media and not the three monkeys themselves… So while we
Is it pine or birch ply, and what type of material is realize that sound and video clips have become a requisite
used for the baffle board? part of the online browsing jacky-jack, we’ll tell you what we
tell people who write asking why we don’t post video or MP3
The cabinets are currently made here at our shop, although clips of the gear we review… Because the tiny little sound
we recently outsourced a run of head shells. The head boxes you’re hearing online being made by someone other than you
are made of Baltic birch, the 2x12s and combos are made cannot remotely approximate the actual experience of you
from a maple-poplar shell with a baltic birch baffle. yourself playing your guitar through an amp in a room or,
god forbid… with a band. It just and simply can’t, nor can
TQR: Our review amp is equipped with a Warehouse any subtle tone-enhancing features fully emerge in a com-
Veteran 30 – is this the stock speaker for this model pressed sound file played through your desktop speakers. The
or do you offer a range of optional speakers? truth is, sound and video clips can just as easily steer you
away from an amp that might otherwise fill an essential niche
We have our own 3 in your stash for reasons as simple as you not liking what
Monkeys branded was played in the demo, the sound of the guitar used, the way
speakers now based the controls on the amp were set, the sound of the room,
on the WGS recording quality, or the style in which the amp was humped
Veteran 30, and this in the reviewer’s narrative. No, sound and video clips have
is currently the largely become the cyber- sucker that satisfies our craving
stock speaker for for immediate gratification, but we happily suck on such
the combo. We do pacifiers in a vacuum.
offer a range of
other speakers as Of course, sound isn’t the only thing that sells amps, and the
well, mostly from three monkeys get this. No one wants to play through a
Celestion, including fuggedly-looking amp (unless it cost $75,000), and ‘cool’ rules
the Heritage V-30 and G-12H 70th Anniversary. We found when it comes to the stuff guitar players play… The Orangutan
the Veteran 30 to be a good match with the amp. We also 1x12 combo is a visual work of artsy post-war Americana with
offer custom covering in tolex and ultra suede as well as a its ‘50s-era angles, turquoise tolex, whipped cream grill and
complement of grille cloths to match. crushed sparkle panels. Yum! I’ll have a cheeseburger and that
cheerleader over there smothered in Stilton crumbles with
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

21
 amps

cream gravy on knob) was very chimey with big jangly harmonics, but super
the side. bright, with very little if any mids or bass. Kinda like John
Wouldn’t the Lennon’s vocal track on “Strawberry Fields.” Position #2 was
Orangutan look similar to #1 with a tad more volume and presence. For us,
luscious with a #3 was the honey hole – the mids and volume jumped into a
White Falcon, a fuller, richer, thicker tone with plenty of jangle remaining on
sparkling bur- the top (a direct quote from our notes), #4 was very good –
gundy slightly scooped in the mids with no decrease in volume, and
Jizzmaster, #5 and #6 dumped mids with more prominent treble pres-
Farfisa organ, or ence. Beatles again… “Paperback Writer.” Play that at your
a bronzed strip- next guitar show instead of “Coldshot” and you might get
per from some respect.
Pensacola? Eye
candy, yes…
The 3 Monkeys Pull On It Here
head and cabinet The pull-boost (curiously on the bass EQ pot) gasses gain and
rigs are equally distortion throughout all six settings on the rotary switch, and
posh with no squared angles, somewhat reminiscent of the surprise… we liked the sound best in the #3 position. We also
original Rickenbacker stacks. You won’t mistake a 3 Monkeys often found it necessary to roll off some treble on our single
rig for anything else, and that’s the name of the game in amp coil guitars when using the boost circuit. As on-board boost
design. Give them an A+. But what about the intention of the circuits go, this one is pretty good, but not exactly ‘plug &
Orangutan? What does it want you to be? play.’ You need to shape your tone for the best results.

Tone Noverb
Now there’s a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. The reverb on the Orangutan seemed almost like an apolo-
We didn’t invent the word ‘tone’, but we know it when we getic afterthought. The short-pan Accutronics was screwed
hear it (and it ain’t contingent upon you greasing the review- down to the floor of the cabinet without a vinyl bag (OK,
er). To be honest, we weren’t immediately sure what to think what do we know, maybe they were never necessary), and
about the intention of the Orangutan, which pretty much lines one deft video reviewer (Lance Keltner) described the reverb
up with the designers’ comment that they weren’t chasing a sound as “very unique sounding in that it really doesn’t have
particularly familiar or ‘vintage’ sound, nor were they conjur- a lot of a spring or boingy sound – almost like a really good
ing a clone of anything. So, we struggled with the Orangutan studio reverb that kind of ducks back behind what you’re
at first. This happens sometimes when you are hell-bent on playing in the background and is only apparent between
writing a revealing and informative review rather than just phrases.” Translation: You might could hear it for a second,
squeezing off another formulaic soy ink turd on deadline but only when you stop playing. All we can say is, if you
accompanied by a stupid rating, and besides… how are we can’t really hear it, why not just leave it off and give us a
supposed to tell you what an amp sounds like without refer- midrange control instead, maybe. We didn’t dig the no-verb
encing something you may have actually heard? reverb, but we did end up digging the amp.

The Orangutan’s layout is simple enough – four 6V6 power,

a single input, Volume, Treble, Bass (with pull boost), six Good Intentions
position rotary Voice control, and Room (reverb). Of the six Once we began to grasp the true intention of the Orangutan,
we started to get ‘it.’ We had decided pretty quick that it was-

voices available from the rotary switch, we only really liked

a couple for steady and constant use – those with some junk n’t no blues amp, and as soon as we got our mind right on the
in the trunk. The #1 position (far right facing the front of the fact that the Orangutan wasn’t gonna spew huge steaming
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

22
 effects

gobs of low end and low mids, we backed off, cast aside our combo impressed us as a very stylish race car of an amp – a
initial impressions and began to simultaneously experiment little temperamental under practical conditions, requiring a
with those six rotary positions and the bass and treble EQ, bit of tweaking for maximum versatility, but uniquely capa-
often dropping the treble well below where we are accus- ble [Link]
tomed to set most amps and/or goosing the bass – backfilling
the fuller midrange frequencies where the guitar truly lives, [Link] , 219-696-6755
while knocking down some of that toppy top-end. We’ve got
nothing against trebly 6V6 compression or the classic rhyth-
mic tones lurking within sides from Wayne Fontana and the
Mindbenders, but we don’t want to live there exclusively…
This is the challenge in really getting your mind around an
amp. In one cat’s hands, a vintage AC30 sounds strangled
and one-dimensional, then you hear what Kid Ramos or
Daniel Lanois does with one of them and you view the poten-
tial of that amp very differently. So as we explored a broader
ToneQuest
Z. Vex Mastotron Fuzz
Imagine,
if you
range of EQ settings on the Orangutan, we discovered what will, sit-
we considered to be more useful tones that, if we must resort ting
to comparisons, hover somewhere between an AC30 and a 20 down on
watt Marshall without the sonic patina of an original. a bright
Definitely more ‘British’ than ‘American.’ The Orangutan and cold
was intended, in our opinion, to be played with the jangly, winter’s
chimey edginess that oozes from its very core. From there, day with
it’s up to you to dial in a subtle balance that emphasizes the your gui-
specific tone notches lurking within the tone controls and the tar and
amp du jour, comfy-cozy in worn denim and flannel, a
steaming cup of dark San Francisco roast Sumatran within
easy reach, and outside your window the world is dusted in
powdered-sugar snow as you wistfully think of hot Krispy
Kreme donuts coming down the line just minutes away on
Ponce de Leon Avenue. While ‘snow days’ in the deep South
mean snogging with a rented DVD for many Atlantans,
today is a work day – deadlines loom, which is why your
pre-set Voice control to taste, tailored to the specific guitar, foot is poised above a [Link] Mastotron silicon fuzz. The red
pickups and the vibe you’re seeking. Of course, there is plen- jewel light on the brown Vibrolux cheerily glows in anticipa-
ty of gain and sustain available from the boost circuit, but tion, the goldtop in your lap has been prepared with exqui-
you don’t want to go there in some of the brighter Voice set- site care for its intended purpose, and with a quick sip of the
tings we’ve described without knocking down treble or filling Sumatran you step on the [Link], strike an A minor-ish chord
in the mids. We also found the Orangutan to be slightly more with open A left free to drone, push the guitar into a steady,
single-coil friendly as long as you manage treble from the pulsing, quaking, rhythmic throb, and as you close your eyes
guitar or the amp. Humbuckers seemed a little flat, as they and move through the spontaneous melodic combustion fir-
often do played through a Vox. Come to think of it, how ing in your brain, the 10x20 room in the snow-covered bun-
often have you ever seen a humbucking guitar played through galow is transformed into the hall of the mountain king,
a Vox? A little more transparent reverb would have helped reeking of gooseberry, cloves and akevitt. Suddenly, soft
add some air and lift to the narrower sound of our Les Paul denim turns to an adder skin cod-
played through the Orangutan. piece as knee-high jack boots
swallow your woolen socks…
In terms of power and volume, this 1x12 rig is rated at 30W- your thick mane of chestnut hair
36W, and we would compare it to a strong blackface Deluxe spills over a wolf pelt vest and a
or brown Vibrolux in terms of perceived power and volume. silver amulet hangs from your
With its single speaker, the Orangutan doesn’t develop the neck in the image of mighty
full impact of an AC30, for example, and the threshold for Odin… the coffee you were drink-
clean headroom is moderate. You could certainly use this ing is now a pewter goblet of
amp in small to medium-sized club settings, but consider the Juleøl, and a red-headed Russian
head & cab version for larger venues. The Orangutan 1x12 Roky Erickson drummer named Yegor is pound-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

23
 instruction

ing the living shit out of an old Slingerland double kick set keyboardist Marty Grebb. The band recorded three critical-
with a putrid Belomorkanal dangling from his purple lips, ly acclaimed albums before Kal found himself back in L.A.
smoke curling to the soaring ceiling of a stone banquet hall where he became the musical director for the weekly Pro-
where it coalesces to form the living image of Roky Jam at Hollywood’s China Club, which frequently attracted
Erickson singing “Cold Night for Alligators” with Billy a who’s who of exceptional artists, including Stevie Wonder,
Gibbons playing a Vox tear drop 6-string bass through dou- Larry Carlton, Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills and Joe Walsh.
ble SVTs, nodding to the beat with a two peso smile
cloaked beneath a grey KGB Fedora and not-so-cheap sun- Kal and his partner, singer Lauri Bono, moved to Palm
glasses. When you finally manage to shake off the Springs in the early ‘90s, forming a new band, Kal David
Mastotron, safe again in the cozy warmth of the bungalow, and the Real Deal, and in 1998 they opened the Blue Guitar
you stare deeply into the fire for answers, and the voice of blues club in downtown Palm Springs. We first met Kal and
an angel whispers from the hearth, “It’s alright, baby. Let Lauri in Palm Springs at the Blue Guitar. Playing his vintage
me fix you some chicken and waffles.” ‘63 Firebird V and accompanied by an extraordinarily talent-
ed band, Kal and Lauri put on a show we would never forget,
Z. Vex Mastotron… Legal trippin’ with none of the after- and as we drove back to L.A. that night, we were energized
effects. $149.00. We dare you. TQ by having met and discovered a ‘new’ guitarist with such
[Link] incredible phrasing, taste and truly signature tone. If you
play the blues, you deserve to discover Kal, and now you
can, like never before.

The Blues Guitar Master Class Series is unlike most instruc-

ToneQuest
Workin’ Out with Kal David
the Blues Guitar Master Class Series
Among all the dif-
ferent musical
tional programs in that Kal has carefully developed scale-
based exercises that will not only help you become a better
and more nimble guitar player, but also dramatically improv-
ing your grasp of the instrument on every level. We’re over-
simplifying things a bit, because the complete video and
styles played on printable lesson plan spans ten different sections covering a
the guitar, the vast array of scales and exercises, chord forms and chord
blues may be the exercises, reading Nashville charts, Vibrato techniques, pick-
most challenging ing techniques (very underrated), tone, attack, dynamics, and
when you really assignments involving complete songs that enable you to
want to standout fully appreciate and measure your progress. There is work
from the crowd. involved, and some of the exercises may force you to break
What hasn’t been some long-standing bad habits, but in the end, you’ll be a
played? Sure, we better player, and happier for it. We asked Kal to explain why
can think of a few he decided to develop his course and what he wished to
living players accomplish:
whose tone, tech-
nique and phras- TQR: Had you ever given lessons in the past and were
ing are unmistak- you self-taught, Kal?
ably theirs alone…
Clapton, Buddy I have been approached by a lot of up and coming guys about
Guy, Ronnie Earl, Jeff Beck (when he chooses to go that giving them instruction, but I was just never interested. I
way), Junior Watson, Kid (David) Ramos, and undoubtedly… would do it now for people that had taken my course who are
Kal David. dedicated and sincere. I’m pretty much self taught, and when-
ever I heard something I wanted to play I’d find someone
Kal’s musical career began in Chicago, where he was that could show me how to play it and imitate them. Early
signed at a young age to Vee-Jay Records and formed a on, I’d just get the record and learn from that it, so I’m basi-
duet, The Rovin’ Kind, with guitarist Paul Cotton. Kal and cally self-taught, like a lot of people. I can read the heck out
Cotton soon created a new band in Los Angeles, Illinois of a chord chart and I can read music, and I get called for
Speed Press, recording two albums for Columbia Records. recording sessions both as a guitarist and a singer. I don’t
When Cotton joined Poco, Kal moved to Woodstock, New read as fast as most of the guys that do it all the time, but I’m
York where he formed the Fabulous Rhinestones with for- fortunate to be associated with a couple of jingle houses as
mer Electric Flag bassist Harvey Brooks and Buckingham’s the ‘blues guy,’ so that’s what I’m usually called to do.
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

24
 instruction

TQR: When and how did the idea for the course emerge? down there is a scale you can go to and you really can’t play
a wrong note. When I’m playing solos now, I don’t even
A friend of think about where I’m playing – I’m just thinking about what
mine suggested kind of phrase I want to play. I like to think of an expression
that I teach I’ve heard… “repetition is the mother of skill.” What that
some classes means to me is that when you do something over and over
and maybe enough times, it becomes automatic. When I don’t play for a
make a video. I few weeks I may get a little rusty, because there is no amount
thought about it of practice that can take the place of playing gigs, but once I
and my wife start playing those pentatonic exercises, I know I can right
and partner, get back to where I left off.
Lauri Bono
encouraged me TQR: We were having a conversation with a friend who
to do it, so I put was quite thrilled with the idea that he was being
together this taught the entire fingerboard and that his ability to
course based on ‘see’ every note on the fingerboard would enable
exercises I had created out of necessity. I was living in him to dramatically expand his grasp of the music.
Woodstock, New York and there was a guy there named
David Sanborn who used to hang out and jam with us a lot, I think the problem with having to think about something
and I consider David to be one of the greatest improvisational you’re playing is that you have to think about it. I would
blues players in the world. Even though he’s known as a rather not think about how something is being played… I’m
jazzer, everything he plays is really rooted in the blues. So at the point where I’m just trying to create beautiful solos.
one day I asked him what I should practice, and he said it I’m not really thinking about which finger I’m using… it’s a
was very simple – that he practiced pentatonic scales. So I sat matter of trying to not think about it. Trying to clear my
down and practiced pentatonic scales like a madman for mind completely… I’m not thinking about anything. Lauri
about a year, and my solos really didn’t improve – not one says, “He’s gone. He’s in that place. He’s playing a solo now
bit. My dexterity improved a little because I was practicing a and he’s completely gone.” I’m not thinking – it’s pure play-
lot, but that was it. I realized that I needed more than just ing, and these exercises I believe lead to that. Your hands
scales, and I devised this system of exercises based on the remember what you have to do, and that’s the point we want
scale using four notes at a time, where I would play the first to get to.
four notes, and then starting with the second note I just
played, play the next four notes, and so on. I worked on that TQR: So you’re removing any physical barriers to will
for awhile and I noticed that it was impacting my playing your fingers to do what you’re hearing in your
tremendously, and I really got into it. Once I started doing mind… You’ve been playing guitar in this way
this, muscle memory quickly took over… You play the exer- most of your life because you have that gift. You
cise enough and your fingers start to remember where they have the gift of being able to hear music that you
are falling on the fret board. Anywhere I would put my hand can play, and that people enjoy hearing over and
on the guitar there was something there to play. There are over again. That’s where we aren’t all on the same
five posi- page, perhaps.
tions on
the neck
for every
pentatonic
scale and
every
major
scale, so
you can’t
fail…
anywhere
you put
your hand
– up one
fret or
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

25
 instruction

That’s a good way to put it. Everybody hears something fil- some bad habits.
tered through their own musical taste. I listen to some things
that resonate with millions of people and I think, “What are That’s true. I had a student in a class who had never used his
they hearing in this?” There’s no explaining it. People ask me pinkie and I told him that I would be watching him to see if
how I get my tone. Well, my tone is in my heart and in my he tried to cheat. I busted his chops a bunch of times… He
brain before I ever pick up an instrument. I know what tone would try to play what we were playing without using his
I’m going for, and whatever guitar I’m playing, I’m trying to fourth finger and I told him he was limiting himself so much.
make that guitar sound like the tone I’m hearing in my head. By the time we finished he was using all four fingers and his
I have come up with what I think is the tone that I like, and it playing improved dramatically. When I first heard Clapton
is filtered through my personal taste, influenced by every gui- play at the Bottom Line in New York in the ‘60s, he wasn’t
tarist I have ever really listened to. For example, some play- really using his pinkie. He was using a wah-wah pedal which
ers have a fast vibrato, like Michael Bloomfield, who had a I went out and bought at Manny’s the very next day, but he
hyper personality. Clapton has a slower vibrato… I have a wasn’t using his fourth finger. He is now, and he’s come a
slower vibrato. But it’s a matter of personal taste – how you long way as a player over the years, strange as that may
wiggle it (laughing. It depends on what you like to hear – sound.
which pickup do you like to play on? I like to play on the
neck pickup a lot. All of this defines your tone. TQR: Your warm up exercise starts off going up the fin-
gerboard. It seems to me personally to be much
TQR: You also talk about picking or ‘right hand’ tech- more difficult going down the fingerboard on solos.
nique in the course. It seems that picking technique In fact, it’s infinitely harder…
can hang someone up as much as the fingerboard…
Well, probably the first time you play the warm up exercise,
When I’m teaching a class I always insist that people pick you aren’t going to be able to play the whole thing. It’s sim-
properly. In other words, when it’s an up beat you pick up, ple, but the hard thing is to pick properly with down beats
and when it’s a down beat you pick down. Now, that’s not and down strokes and upbeats and upstrokes.
always the rule when you’re actually playing, but it’s a really
good rule to practice with. Using all four of your fingers, TQR: So the first class is typically a train wreck, then
including everyone goes home, practices for a week and…
the pinkie,
(and I know They do much better in a week or two. Results happen pretty
a lot of quickly depending on the time spent practicing. You can
players make great strides practicing thirty minutes to an hour a day,
don’t use it and it’s a very fulfilling thing. When you begin seeing an
at all, but improvement, you actually want to practice, and the feedback
you’ve got from people who have been practicing with the DVD has
to), the been very positive.
right hand
picking has TQR: And do you also make an honest attempt to reveal
got to be any subtle tricks?
done the
right way, Yes, although I really don’t like to teach licks. How do you
otherwise teach licks? By knowing the scales they are derived from. I
you’ll also discuss dynamics. The three major elements of music
screw up in are, of course, melody, harmony and dynamics. Changing
one meas- dynamics is very expressive and really brings the listener in,
ure playing and I really stress thinking dynamically… You cue the band
these exercises. The one thing that addresses these techniques to drop it down, and that gives the audience a chance to go,
is the warm-up exercise in the video. It stymies people “Wooo” (laughing). And then when the band comes back in
because you can’t play it with just three fingers, and you strong again after playing at a whisper, it’s almost like a
have to play it correctly with up and down strokes. That is trick… You’ll always get applause.
the basis of the entire course – four notes played with all four
fingers using up and down strokes. TQR: Tension and release.

TQR: Which, even for experienced players, can address Yeah, you just can’t play all the notes at the same volume.
-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

26
 instruction

That’s my bitch with drum machines. You can’t get nuance

out of a mechanical device. I over-emphasize dynamics, and
you really can’t over do it.
TQClarksdale
It’s back! We
TQR: You also talk about your favorite chords… are now
resuming lim-
Yes, four- ited produc-
note tion of our
chords meticulous
that I use recreation of
all the the original
time, and 1959
it sounds DeArmond
as if four R15 1x12
note amp. You may
chords recall that we
won’t be initially produced a limited number of TQ Clarksdale amps in
full, but 2006, before our supplier for the original chassis informed us
they are. that small runs would no longer be possible. We’ve found a
I often new supplier, and the TQ Clarksdale ‘DeArmonds’ will be
stick built again by Jeff Bakos with our original specs – pine cabi-
chords into the middle of a solo because it needs it. There net construction and design identical to the original, original
are things in the course that reveal that, and I do talk about Mercury Magnetics Tone Clone transformer set cloned from
how I play with the pick and the third, fourth and pinkie our original ‘59 DeArmond, hand-wired chassis, premium
finger of my right hand. It’s something that’s been called components
the ‘claw’ style that was first done by Jerry Reed, and you including
can actually make it sound as if there are two guitars play- Sozo caps,
ing. So I demo that, as well as different things I do with my Celestion
guitar and amp to get my tone. G12H 70th
Anniversary
TQR: And the best way to get the DVD is to order it from speaker,
your web site, as well as your excellent CDs and premium JJ
digital downloads, which we recommend… and Tung-Sol tubes, Evidence Audio speaker cable, custom
gold grill cloth and blonde tolex covering. This 22 watt
Yes, and it includes a downloadable 32-page workbook in a design represents one of the rarest and most toneful combos
PDF, and we update it on an ongoing basis based on feed- ever built. The original 1959 DeArmond 1x12s were built for
back we get from our students. It’s only 33 pages, but it’s just one year in Toledo, OH, and a clean example recently
all the stuff you need to become more fluid, fast and confi- sold on eBay for $7,000. In 2006 Jeff Bakos meticulously
dent on stage. I don’t really feel that speed is so important, blueprinted our original DeArmond, Mojo created CAD
but it’s the one thing around the world that I am always drawings for the original cabinet design, and we sent the
asked about. How can I get faster? There’s nothing wrong transformers to Mercury Magnetics to be cloned. The result is
with playing fast, but I really feel that the space between a phenomenal 1x12 that will generally kick any tweed
the notes is as important as the notes themselves. I like to Deluxe straight to the curb with a bigger, bolder voice and
play like a sax player. I play something and then I take a lush, musical distortion cranked. The 4-input, cathode-biased
breath. I think the listener needs to take that breath with Clarksdale can be operated with dual 6V6s and 5Y3 rectifier
you, and explaining how I feel about these things… playing for optimum burn, or a pair of 6L6s and a 5AR4 for slightly
a little softer sometimes, louder at others, and taking a more power and clean headroom. Blonde tolex only, simply
breath is really the most effective way to make an impres- because it’s the coolest...
sion on your [Link]
To order, please call 1-877-MAX-TONE or place
your order and deposit at [Link]
[Link]
Price: $2300 with 50% deposit, FedEx Ground ship-
ping not included. Because each amp is custom-built
for each owner, please allow 120 days for delivery.

TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

27
 [Link]

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The ToneQuest Report TM (ISSN 1525-3392) is published monthly by Mountainview Publishing LLC, 235 Mountainview Street, Suite 23, Decatur, GA. 30030-
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TONEQUEST REPORT V11. N3. Jan/Feb 2010

28