Monday, April 27, 2009

New Blond Filmosound




This is a new one that went to Gary in Decatur. The last of the 'All Octal' amps - Octal tubes in the both preamp positions. This one has the "bass cut" switch plus a power reduction mod switch that doesn't suck tone. The power reduction switch is a three position switch that has 'full power', '1/2 power' and '1/8 power'. You need ten times the wattage to achieve twice the volume. So, a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as 10 watt amp. As a result, the half power only knocks down the volume by about 15% - not much of a difference. The 1/8 gets you about half the volume, which is usable. Next time I'll skip 1/2.

Gary seems pleased so far. I think he might post a review.

Amps of the (recent) past.

Another green one. Paul is giving this one a workout, and it will hopefully appear in a demonstration video. Paul's a pretty good geetar player, so I'm guessing the video will be peachy keen. This one has a "bass cut" switch that was requested by a few who gave it a whirl.

Amps of the (recent) past. "The Torque Amplifier"

Here is a quick lo-fi clip of of this amp to give you and idea of the sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEFwvmR9fzI&feature=channel_page


This is the all octal version. 6SL7 In the first position. It was built quite a while before it was sold. A Minneapolitan bought it. This one has screen grid resistors for tube stability - a mod suggested by Mike from MikeTech Electro Music Services.

http://miketechmusic.com/

Amps of the (recent) past. "The Fireball"

The customer, Matt, picked the color on this one. Built a matching cab to go with it. Fireball logo comes from a boiler. Let me know if you know where I can get another. No standby on this one. Consensus on the forums was this feature is for convenience not tube life, so I decided to go without.

Amps of the (recent) past.


This one went to Illinois via ebay. The new owner was pleased. 12AT7 in the first position as I remember. Power and standby now on the back of the chassis.

This was the assessment:

I gave it a good go today....here is a little feedback!

I am playin around with the "right "speaker combination....that will be the key to dialing in want it wants to drive.

Les paul(shaw pickups)...cranked a bit 7-8... easy to find the old ZZ tones! Pretty much a plug in and crank...not much to do but play...simple is a GOOD thing! Nice volume with out shakin the walls...pretty full sound with a top end bite...but not brittle. Low end...plenty...a bit boomy through a 4x12...much better with a single 12 or 2x12. It likes the 2x12 big sound and the bottom keeps tight but full.Driven with an overdrive yielded great boost for a singing lead.

Strat(fralin vintage hots)...5-6...clean to slight breakup...shimmery!!! Very nice...will record well! Top end sparkle...really great chime. This is where I would find nice strat tones...clean to mild breakup...did not find the overdriven strat tones I am used to...at least not yet...speakers will be a factor. I am so used to the blackface and strat combo...it's hard to break away from that. Does not matter...as I have a few nice bf amps...the clean sparkle thing is where the amp finds home or me with a strat!

recommendation...a toggle for the bass....tight or boost. That would give it some flexibility where it needs it....mids and highs are fine. Where it is voiced now would be more at the boost spot....so flipping the toggle for a focused bass would make driving a 4x12 an nice option.

Plenty of balls...sounds big for a little guy! Dynamics are nice...always like the touch sens amps!

Amps of the (recent) past.


Number one with matching cab. This one was accidentally sold to Randy while trying to sell another amp, then resold to Willie's American Guitars, and then purchased again. I somehow found the current owner, Moses. It will get some updates soon. This one had 12AU7 in the first position and a switch that selected between one half of the 12AU7 or both halves in parallel for more gain. The guy who bought it said, "I'll probably only ever use the 'high gain' setting. All amps from then on were 'high gain' only. Also, the dimensions of the head cabinet were made to match the width of the speaker cab. Randy said he'd like to see a smaller head. All subsequent cabs were made smaller.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

At Mars Amplification

At Mars Amplification - Hand Wired Amps - Boutique Tone at an Affordable Price