Gibson GA-19RVT Falcon Amplifier

Today at work I received an email from one of the guys I play music with in The Small Pox Mountain Boys. Oliver is also the singer/guitarist in a great band that deserves some recognition called Deliverance Machine. Okay, now that I've gotten the "props" out of the way, the reason he emailed me was to let me know there was a cool vintage Gibson amp on Craig's List. I clicked on the link and, lo and behold, it was exactly like an old amp I'd found at the swap meet and completely forgotten about. Well, you know that means there's a new story to tell on the ol' blog.

The Gibson Falcon I used to own pretty much sucked.

There, I said it. Start with the truth. I found it at the local swap meet, back on the back row. Some guy had quite a few guitar related items including this amp. They don't just have power cords running all over the place, so I asked the guy how much it was and if it worked properly. He said $50 and yes, it worked perfectly. I decided to take him at his word and not try to lug the thing around to some outlet and to see if it came on. He didn't really have a guitar to plug into it for testing, so the best I could have done was plug in and see if the light came on. I got it home and it did all that just fine.

What it didn't do was sound good. I think if I were an amp tech I could have tweaked on it, changed out some amp parts stuff (whatever that is in there) and probably ended up with a pretty sweet little amp. I've often heard that many older Gibson amps are underrated and pretty nice. These Falcons were made from '62 to '67 and pumped out 15 watts. They had one 12" speaker and reverb and tremolo according to this website. The one I had came with the original footswitch, just like the one pictured (I stole the photos from the listing on Craig's List). I checked out the reviews on Harmony Central and there were some "sounds awesome" type reviews, so mine probably just needed some TLC.

I eventually traded it in on a Strat at Guitars West and everybody was happy. Even the douche at the swap meet who sold me an iffy amp under false description.
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Magnatone High Fidelity Custom 480

This one will make you feel like throwing up in your mouth just a little. There is an Amvets thrift store somewhat near my house that used to always have pretty good stuff (not so much any more). Weird swirly bowling balls and cool vintage bags, interesting furniture, cool western shirts before everyone including surf companies started making western shirts, and I even found a couple of lap steels here. One day I walked in and sitting in the middle of some dog cages and fake plants and old people's walkers was a Magnatone Custom 480. I walked over to it very quickly so as not to draw attention to myself, but not let anyone else get there first...as though that was going to happen.

To be honest, from a distance I wasn't 100% sure it was an amp at all. I thought maybe it was one of those old style console stereos or something. But as I got closer I knew it was an amp. I didn't know much about Magnatones, but in the back of my mind I sort of remembered something about Robert Cray playing one. I plugged it in and got nothing. I noticed that the fuse was missing. This would be obvious to anyone with some amp knowledge because it was right there on the control panel. I went over and sweet talked my way down to $25 for the amp and it was a done deal. I picked it up...I should say I tried to pick it up...and, man, it was heavy. Finally lugged it out to the car and headed to Moonlight Music, which was a local guitar store. He actually had the correct fuse with the screw on cap built in, which was a very lucky score.

We turned it on and, SWEET. It worked!

It had inputs for guitar and accordion and maybe something else. For you geeks I found this info and the photos at vibroworld.com (a very cool amp site): The Custom 480 originally sold for $499.95. It has 13 tubes, 1 transistor. The 2 input channels (each with high & low gain) are preamp'd by 6EU7's. Each has a Loudness, Bass, and Treble control. There is also a stereo input. Stereo vibrato is handled by 6CG7's and a 12BH7 to amplify the oscillator. A 6DR7 drives the input to the reverb pan, and a 2N306 transistor takes care of the return. Phase inversion is acomplished with twin 12AU7's. Four 6973's drive the stereo transformers along with two 12" Oxfords. It had approximately 50 watts.

Anyway, I kept the Magnatone for awhile but didn't feel comfortable gigging with it. Plus, it was just too heavy to drag around. I eventually traded it in at a guitar store and now can't remember what I traded it for. I do remember getting $250 in value for it. Not bad for a $25 thrift store find. I'm sure Robert Cray would have wanted this one.
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Fender Princeton Reverb Silverface

I'm pretty sure everyone should own a Princeton Reverb. I've owned at least two and maybe three...I've lost count. There is a good and a bad side to these amps though...they're really not loud enough to gig with, but they sound absolutely fantastic. I'd love to have one again just for recording purposes and I'll probably keep hoping that one day I'll come across one at the Swap Meet or at a Pawn Shop somewhere and the owner won't know how much it's worth. "What? That old '70s amp in the corner? Heck, I'd take $30 for it I guess." We can all dream can't we?

And what's the deal with pawn shops these days?

Do they all think that they can charge more for a guitar than it's worth? What happened? Pawn shops used to be places that you could find a good deal on a guitar for the simple reason that when you go pawn a guitar in the first place they give you about four nickels and a couple of dimes for it and act like they've done you a favor. So, they could sell them for a good price and still come out way ahead. At some point in about the late '80s all pawn shops decided that they were retail shops and started jacking up prices on crappy Squiers and Johnsons and other weird brands from Pakistan or somewhere. They've all got those little Gorilla practice amps too, don't they? I digress.

The last Princeton Reverb that I had, I traded away exactly because it just wasn't loud enough. I was in a band that was rehearsing in a small little rehearsal spot and I could just never hear myself over the Carvin half stack our other guitarist cranked through. And by the way, while I'm digressing, why won't people admit that Carvin makes some pretty darn good sounding gear for the money? Their amps have always sounded really good...they make a tweed called (I think) the Bel Air that sounds nice and their stacks always sound very crunchy...I'd rather have a Carvin half stack than a lot of those other non-Marshall brands that try to pull it off. And I will go on the record that their PA gear is unbeatable for gigging folks like you and I and extremely cost effective. This sounds like one of those sneaky blog ads or something but it's not. I just believe that Carvin should get some credit and I don't think you're going to find many folks willing to say it. Especially when they're supposed to be writing about Fender Princetons.

Okay, no more digressing. Fender made the Princeton way back in the '40s, but the Silverface version I have owned were made from '68 to '82 when Paul Rivera released the Princeton Reverb II. From what I remember and have barely researched just now, these put out about 12 watts, which is perfect for recording and fine if you don't mind micing the amp and not being able to hear yourself, but not really practical for most guitarists on stage. Over the years of this model they had lots of different specs and small variations on features. The last one I owned had a pull pot, amazing clean tone and beautiful reverb. Man, I'm talking myself into wanting another one even more as I write this.

The best part of this story though is how I eventually ended up trading it. There is a fairly well known guy in vintage circles named J.R. who owns Sunset Music in Idaho. However, before he moved to Idaho he ran a small guitar store in Encinitas, CA called Blue Ridge Guitars. He was always fair with me, so one day I decided I really wanted a Gibson ES-125 Cutaway he had that had suffered the classic neck/headstock repair, which dropped it's value but didn't change the way it sounded...amazing. He had been sitting on this guitar for awhile and it was worth approximately the same as my Princeton Reverb. I walked in with my amp and just said, "Hey, no one is buying that 125 and I don't have any extra cash to sweeten the deal...why don't we just trade straight up fair and square and you'll have an amp you can more easily sell and I'll have a guitar I want." This kind of bargaining never works. But for some reason J.R. saw the logic in my deal and shook his head and said, "Okay, let's do it." He asked if the amp worked fine and I said it did. We didn't even write up a receipt...the whole thing took less than 5 minutes and I was out the door with a pretty cool guitar.

So, thanks J.R. for a cool deal. Wish I had that amp back though.
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Lafayette Model U-750A Amplifier

Story Submitted by Alex Herrlein

This amp got its own story not so much because I miss it, but because it was an odd one. I don't know what I was searching for on eBay, but I found, bid on and won this 1968 Lafayette combo for probably less then $200. It was pretty obviously made by Univox, since they didn't do anything to change it from the equivalent Univox except make the logo read "Lafayette" in the same font. These were made in Japan and featured a circuit board with the words "muscal amplifier" printed on it (see the picture). That's not a typo, that's how they spelled it!

The amp had two 12" speakers mounted vertically, one of which was an original Jensen C12S, which must have been the bottom of the line for Jensen. I replaced the mismatched one with a reissue Jensen C12Q. The power tubes were weird--6973 I believe, which I found out were much more common in jukeboxes than in guitar amps. I think the amp put out around 15 watts. The rest of the amp was all tube, and it had just tone, volume, and tremolo controls. I remember the tone knob after a while working more as a midrange control than a treble roll-off.

The tremolo was pretty nice and I think made to sound more Vox than Fender. Since there were two channels with two inputs apiece, you could jumper the channels and get a little more gain. However, gain wasn't really the issue so much as headroom. The sound was pretty nice at low volumes; somewhat more jangly than a Silvertone, but not as lush as a more expensive amp. The headroom was stupidly low--when you got it past normal speaking volume it started to break up. I tried a Groove Tubes plug-in solid-state rectifier in place of the 6CA4 tube, but it was what it was. Ultimately, I realized that it was too much amp for too little wattage. It would have made a better 1x12" combo, but as a vertical 2x12", it was too tall for what was otherwise a cheap low-wattage amp.

I took it to a music store and pitched it as a poor man's AC30, but I don't think they were buying it.

I ended up putting it on consignment and eventually someone else got intrigued for $199. It's just as well that I don't have it anymore, since I might have tried to cut the cabinet down at some point and ruin what little collectibility it had.

1984 Fender Flame

Story submitted by Alex Herrlein

Back when I was in high school, the place to buy guitars was the Starving Musican in Santa Clara, CA. I think it has changed some over the years, but, in the early and mid-'90s, it had a lot of used gear at good prices. I was ready to move up from my first guitar (an Ibanez Roadstar in white, with a black neck from another Ibanez) to a better one. I saw a 1984 Fender Flame and figured since it said "Fender" and was black (which was where my heavy-metal color preferences fell in those days) it had to be good.

The price tag was $250, and I got $75 in trade from the Ibanez. These guitars were supposedly made only in 1984 in Japan, around the time when Fender wasn't doing any American production. They made a very similar Esprit and eventually they became the Robben Ford model. I guess the idea was to compete more with Gibson, since this had humbuckers, a set neck, a quasi-Tune-o-matic bridge, and a slightly arched top like a Les Paul. From what I heard, the slightly smaller humbuckers were made by Schaller, and I think the tuners and bridge were too. I believe the body was alder with a maple top. It was gleaming black, with cream binding around the body, neck, and headstock.

Too nice for a high schooler's second guitar, but there you have it.

I didn't care for the stock humbucker, which I thought was kind of muddy, so I had Starving Musician replace the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan Hot Soapbar P-90, which I believe fit pretty closely. That was my main guitar in my high school band, but got less play afterwards when it became the backup to a 1979 Gibson "The SG," which I still have. Predictably, it played great and was well-made. I sold it for $300 a few years later to a friend and band mate who I believe still has it. I've considered contacting him to buy it back, but I decided to let it go.

Note: this picture is not of mine, but looks just the same.
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Dixon Mandolin

I think this might be the first in a long line of mostly inexpensive (except for the Eastman) mandolins I have owned, then realized I don't really know how to play more than five chords, then eventually sold. Not a long story here...I decided to try to learn a few chords and started looking on eBay for a cheap, but cool mandolin. I came across this one by Dixon. I wanted something I could plug in and this met the requirements. It was made in Japan and I have seen at least five different brand names slapped onto this exact model mando over the last few years. They usually go for around $125-150, but somehow I snagged this one for $95.

It came with an old, original hardshell case that smelled like Charles Barkley's shoe closet.

No offense, Sir Charles. It actually had pretty good action and the electronics on it worked perfectly. Knobs mounted on the pickguard and some quality plastic in the pick-up. The acoustic sound was okay...nothing spectacular, but it did stay in tune. Plugged in sounded just about how you'd imagine it...somewhat cheap...but mess around with it a bit and it was acceptable. It would actually be good for the acoustic group I play with right now...again, nothing amazing, but very affordable and would add a nice little touch here and there without breaking the bank.

I hung onto this one for about a year and, when I decided that maybe I could use a slightly better mando (again, I'm delusional regularly), I sold it back on eBay for $135. Hey, nice little profit (and I do mean little) and someone else got a good deal as well. But, would I want it back? Well, if someone handed it to me and said, "Here you go doofus, it's all yours!"...I'd take it for sure. Might be fun to have lying around. Especially since I've long since sold the one I got to take it's place.

Phantom MandoGuitar - NAMM Show Model

I am a huge fan of Vintage Guitar Magazine. It's probably like when you're a kid and you got the Sears catalog in the mail in about November and you just sat and looked at all the toys for Christmas and circled the ones you wanted. Dr. Steven Stone is a columnist for VG and many years ago he wrote a review of a Phantom MandoGuitar. The Phantom is a faithful recreation of the famous Mando-Guitar or Mini-12 made by Vox in the '60s. If you haven't seen one, they are half the scale of a regular guitar and strung like a 12-string, giving you the sound of a mandolin but played using the fingering of a guitar. George Harrison made them famous...well, maybe not famous, but at least known, and in recent years lots of country players have kept them in their arsenal to add a really nice, pseudo-mandolin sound.

They are solid body and shaped like Ren's (or is it Stimpy's?) head. They sound fantastic and really give you a different texture when recording. Plus, who's got time to learn to play mandolin? This will give you a good fake in a pinch. So, as I mentioned, Steven Stone wrote a review about a mandoguitar made by Phantom, who makes lots of cool Vox-style replicas and the guy who owns the company used the be the guitarist in Quarterflash...remember them? Later that year, I saw an ad (I think in VG) for a MandoGuitar for sale and I contacted the person. It turns out it was none other than Steve Stone and the mandoguitar for sale was the one from the review. He had liked it so much he bought it from Phantom and it had been the very first, NAMM show model that Phantom had made. It was a beautiful sunburst and had a yellow-orange/gold pearloid pickguard that really set it off. They never offered that gold pickguard on a regular model, so this was really a one-of-a-kind. It had two single-coil Bill Lawrence pickups and was very well made.

I really loved the MandoGuitar and kept it for many years. It always got some weird looks when I used it on stage each night and guitarists always came up after a show and asked about it. As I said, it really adds a nice sound in recordings. Not only can you capture a fake mandolin sound, you can even get a very chimey, almost keyboard-ish sound too. In fact, me not being the most amazing guitarist of all time, whenever our band recorded our CDs, our main guitarist extrordinaire Dave Quillen usually recorded all the guitar parts.

However, the one thing they let me do was record the MandoGuitar parts. I wasn't a complete loser.

I don't have any photos of the MandoGuitar I owned (sadly), so I have included a shot from the Phantom website. Their website leaves a lot to be desired (it used to be a lot better...not sure what happened), but the instruments are top quality. If you ever run across one I would highly recommend giving it a try. They are not easy to get used to...you folks out there with sausage fingers might as well forget it. But if you can manage to get your fingers in place and get used to the added string tension of the short scale, you can have a blast and come up with some very useful sounds.

UPDATE: It's many months later and I just found a photo of myself (yes, a rather gay looking photo...not that there's anything wrong with that...when I was in a band in the '90s) holding the mandoguitar I'm talking about. Gold pearl pickguard and all. Here you go...

Fender Libra Amp

So, what's your sign? I'm a Libra. Groovy. Back in 1970, when Fender went way off track, they introduced a line of solid state guitar amps based on the signs in the zodiac. There was the Capricorn, the Scorpio, the Taurus and the Libra. The Libra came with 4 12" JBL speakers, 105 watts (I wonder why not just a nice even 100?), two channels, with reverb and tremolo. The zodiac series was (mercifully) only offered for two years or less and are very rare now. But who really wants them? I guess maybe if you were trying to collect every single amp Fender made it would worth having, but, from all accounts, these things sounded brutal.

What makes the one I had interesting is that it was a head only. Now I'm relatively sure that these were not offered as a head, so that means someone took the time to nicely repackage this amp as a head. It was hard to tell that it used to be a combo amp and I probably would not have known if I hadn't researched it a little and discovered the specs. I found this one at the good ol' Oceanside Swap Meet that I frequently mention...in fact I think I need to get back out there soon. This was one of those things that you spot from about a row over and hope you get to it before some other guy walks up and manages to snake you. It was sitting on some Peavey cabinet (I think)...something crappy anyway. The guy REALLY wanted me to buy the cab too, but the Libra was all I was interested in. He only wanted $50 for it but it wouldn't be a swap meet unless you tried to bargain a little and I ended up getting it for $40. He had no idea if it worked and I figured for $40 any old '70s Fender item is worth it.

I got it home and plugged it in and it came on no problem. I can't remember what speaker cab I plugged it into because I really haven't owned many separate cabs...but I do remember testing it out. It worked great! Which is a nicer way of saying "it sucks." It's reputation was well deserved. I put it up for sale on eBay and had a fair amount of interest. In fact, I think that's actually how I first found out it had been cut down to a cab. A nice guy that eventually ended up winning the auction knew quite a bit about these and was out to collect 'em all. He was positive this shouldn't just be a head, but was interested in owning it just the same. I believe it sold for somewhere around $200

I really am a Libra and it might have been cool in a perfect financial world to have kept it just for fun. But I'm sure it helped fund some other purchase that I've probably written about by now.

Of course, in a perfect financial world I wouldn't be bailing out Fannie May and Bernie Mac (or whatever that other one is) with my tax dollars.

Since I didn't take one of those super tricky, underhanded loans that people didn't really qualify for when I probably could have, couldn't my tax dollars go towards music and art education in schools instead? Something besides old guard politics ruining yet another longstanding institution in the last eight years? Okay, that's the first and hopefully only time I've gone political and I'll try to restrain myself in the future. Rock on.

Cimar Hummingbird Copy

This guitar was the perfect beach guitar and I actually kind of wish I had it back. I went to the swap meet in Oceanside, CA one Sunday and, as I have detailed before, walked directly to a certain aisle that a couple of sellers always camp out on. These two or three sellers always manage to find some interesting, cheap guitars and I'm usually pretty curious about something or other that they have unearthed. On this particular Sunday one of the guys had this Cimar acoustic, which was a knock-off or "lawsuit" version of a Gibson Hummingbird. From what I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong...I like to know the correct story), Cimar was a lesser brand produced by Ibanez, which itself was making less expensive knock-offs at the time, but at a pretty high quality.

This guitar was black with a tortoise-like Hummingbird pickguard that was still in great shape. It had cheap inlays on the neck and headstock and fake inlay all around the body and soundhole, D-41 style. When I picked it up, it actually played great. The action was just right. As I looked more closely at the body I was shocked. The bridge saddle was a good inch high at least. It stuck WAY out from the bridge and the top of the guitar had seriously bellied in. Yet someone had taken the time to exactly size up a really tall piece to make the action just right.

This was actually a pretty cool guitar. At the time, my daughter was away at school and wanted a cheap guitar to play that, if something happened to it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. So I shelled out a whopping $40 for the guitar and took it home. It cleaned up just fine and, since I was scared to take the strings off, I just left them on. I went to Guitar Center to see if they had any good deals on cases and, oddly enough, they had a GIANT stack of Taylor hard plastic acoustic cases they were clearing out for $25. So, for a cool $65 I had a decent playing, inexpensive guitar and hard case for my daughter.

I took her the guitar and, from what I understand, she never once played it.

She brought it back with her when she came home and I took it over to our neighbor's house. Their 15-year old son was learning to play electric guitar and so I donated this acoustic to the cause. That was the last time I saw it. Not sure if he played it either, but hopefully someone sees the odd beauty of this guitar, bellied top and all.

Locobox Choker Pedal

If you've looked at the links to other sites I do, you'll notice a link to www.locobox.com. It's what you might call (for lack of a better term) a "fan site" for Locobox guitar pedals. Although I wouldn't call myself a "fan," I did get pretty obsessed with Locobox pedals at one point. I was reading an article in Tape Op magazine about Jason Falkner, member of the Grays, Jellyfish, etc., and he made a comment about gear he used to make his home recordings sound amazing. He said that he used a guitar effect pedal made by a company in the '70s called Locobox. The pedal was a compressor called The Choker and it just made everything sound great.

Well, who doesn't want that? A magic box that makes all recordings sound great? Sign me up.

Like quite a few other folks out there, I got obsessed with finding a Choker pedal. Problem is, they are really rare and impossible to find. Here's the difference though...I'm a freakin' genius and I will find a way to get one. I checked to see if the domain name locobox.com was taken and found that it was available. I bought it, found some photos of a few Locobox pedals, and started The Unofficial Locobox website. I figured if anyone was going to sell a pedal, they might Google Choker Pedal and find my site. Believe it or not, it worked. Really well. I ended up buying many Locobox pedals and sort of became the accidental Locobox guy.

What I really found is that Locobox made some really cool pedals. In MY opinion, The Choker is not one of them. I say that with full disclosure that I just don't understand how to fully utilize compression. I mess with it. I buy compressors. Pretty good ones. I use them. I don't really know whether what I'm doing is working or why. What I do know is that The Choker was not the "magic box" that I was hoping it would be. I am pleased to have found Locobox Mysto Dysto distortion pedals and Tube Maniax pedals and many others that do sound great.

Buck Owens Harmony Acoustic

In honor of 4th of July weekend I thought I'd post about the Buck Owens red, white and blue acoustic that I once had, but remains in the family. So, technically it did get away, but I know where it is. I walked into a guitar shop in Laguna Beach one day and was checking out the amazing selection of gutiars they had. I walked into the acoustic room and immediatly my eyes were drawn to a really beat up Buck Owens acoustic. When I was a kid, my dad would watch Hee Haw every weekend and eventually Buck Owens and Roy Clarke would do a song. On that show Buck always played his red, white and blue signature Buck Owens Harmony acoustic guitar. That guitar was an absolute icon to me. I won't even go into how cool Buck Owens is...if you're not a country fan and think Buck is just one of those old country dudes, think again. An amazing guy in both music and business and his band back in the day featured one of the all-time most influential guitarists, Don Rich. Now back to the guitar...

I inquired about the price and it was only $250. The guy pointed out some serious cracks on the back of the guitar, and the action was pretty high. The white paint had faded to a yellowish puke color. And the pickguard was missing...though someone had put a generic, cheap white plastic guard on it. Even with all those faults, I wanted it. I wanted to fix it up a bit and give it to my dad. I took it down to Fred at the Repair Zone in San Diego, one the guitar gurus in town, and asked if he could help me find or create an original pickguard. I had found some photos, and you could still see the faint outline on the guitar where the original had been. Fred hand cut a new one for me and we were back to original appearances.

The headstock on these guitars are a thick plastic overlay that seems to be made out of some very brittle material. On MANY of these guitars, the headstock overlay is cracked, pieces missing, peeling away, or just plain missing. The one on mine was in pretty decent shape except that right where the words "Buck Owens" were, was kind of scraped or rubbed off mostly. I didn't really want to pay for a neck reset, especially since my Dad doesn't play guitar, so I left that "as is." It actually had a decent case too and lots of interesting case candy.

I had asked the guy in the store about the stuff in the case and he said "No matter what's in the case when a guitar comes in, unless it's damaging to the guitar, I leave it in. I figure that's part of the guitar's mojo."

I have now adopted that rule myself when buying any guitar. I keep the mojo together. I took the guitar to my dad who really seemed to like the gift. I don't know that he's really attempted to play it, and a few times when I went to visit I found it out in his garage in the HOT summer in Sacramento...probably not the best place for a guitar. I have tried and tried to get him to put it in a safer spot and I have no idea if it's currently in a storage unit or at my dad's place. I'm worried that it's in the storage unit, going from hot summer to cold winter and probably falling apart in the case. But, not much I can do...just hope for the best. It's a really cool guitar, warts and all, and it will forever remind me of being a kid in Tulsa, OK, watching TV with my dad on a Saturday evening.

2014 UPDATE: In this past year, my dad moved in with me as he is getting older and it just made sense. When he moved all his stuff from storage into my garage, I kept waiting and waiting for them to unload a guitar case off the truck. Nothing. Finally I asked him about the guitar and where it was. He said, "Well, I think the guys that helped me move stuff into the storage unit a long time ago stole it. I haven't seen it since then, so I guess it's gone. DOH! I just sort of knew that the fate of this guitar was not going to be good. I guess I'll keep an eye on Ebay and see if I can spot it at some point. With all it's cracks and fading, it should be easy to spot.

Once again, since the guitar is not in my hands, I have found some photos on the internet to use for this story. This is not the actual guitar I gave my dad.

1984 Ovation Collector's Series Guitar

Everyone has an opinion about Ovation guitars. Mine has certainly changed over the years. Yes, I've become a guitar snob. However, back in 1985 I fell in love with this guitar and it became the very first "guitar obsession" I ever had. At the time, I lived in the...let's see, how do I say this..."not-my-idea-of-where-to-spend-forver" town of Enid, Oklahoma. I had gone to college there at Phillips University (which has since closed it's hallowed doors) and was spending a year or so finding myself (at the bar, that's where I was). There were a couple of small music stores in Enid and I walked into one of them one day for the first time and up above everything else was a collection of every Ovation Collector's Series guitar up to that point. Ovation began the Collector's Series in 1982 and continues it to this day. However, being 1985, there were only 4 guitars in the series.

I fell in love with the 1984 model, which looked different than any other guitar I had ever seen at that point. I inquired as to how much it was and the owner of the store told me that it wasn't for sale. His intention was to collect 'em all! I just mentioned that if he ever decided to break up the set to let me know and I left my number. I'm not sure why because I had no extra money at the time and couldn't really afford the guitar. I think it was around $1200 but I can't remember for sure. Way out of my league at the time.

I went about my business for a time, my business being bartending, drinking beer, and bartending while drinking beer. One day I got home and there was a message. "This message is for Jaimie Muehlhausen. This is Bob at the guitar store and, if you want that Ovation, it's yours." Evidently the store was not doing well and he needed to sell what he knew he could sell. I couldn't figure out how the hell I was going to pull this off, but I knew I would have to try. At the time I had a Gibson acoustic that was some weird model they only made for a couple of years. It had a plastic, yes plastic, ring around the soundhole and a very aerodynamic looking bridge. It sounded like crap and played poorly (hence the short model life I assume) and I really didn't want to keep it. Problem was, it had been given to me by a former coworker. And, to top it off, I wasn't sure if it was actually mine or if I was supposed to give it back at some point.

On that day, I made the decision that I wasn't supposed to give it back.

I took it in and asked the guy at the shop if he would at all be interested in taking the Gibson in as a trade. I mean, it was a Gibson after all. Had to be worth something. I don't recall how much he gave me for it, but it was a decent price. Somehow, some way, I talked the guy into letting me make payments on the balance. He even let me take it home with me. You can bet I made the payments on time.

I loved this guitar. Round plastic back and all (okay, my new bias just slipped out). It had a pickup in it, and that was first and foremost. I was starting to play some open mic nights and wanted to be able to just plug in. In retrospect, it was very quacky sounding...one of the very first of the piezos that came out. The guitar was really nice looking with a really dark walnut stain and those little leafy looking things around the cluster of soundholes that Glen Campbell made famous singing the Wichita Lineman. It was the super shallow bowl model and was actually pretty comfortable to play. Plastic bowl back and all...oops, I did it again.

I had this guitar for a few years and really did like it at the time. If you happened to read my story about the '74 Telecaster recently you know how this one ends. I'll keep it brief. I moved to California in '87 and a year or so later walked into my first Guitar Center. Up on the wall was an amazing looking Martin D-41 with extra fancy neck inlay. It was the second guitar I became obsessed with and I had to sacrifice my very first obsession to get it. I traded the Ovation, the Telecaster and some cash money to get the Martin. I'm glad I did, but I have to be honest in admitting that every now and then, just out of curiosity, I search eBay for a 1984 Ovation Collector's Series, just to see what they go for and to remind myself of what they look like. I don't really want one, but I guess it's like looking at a photo of yourself from high school...the haircut seemed cool at the time, but you don't really want to go that direction again.

Sanremo Solid Body Electric Mandolin (project)

Here's a cool one...I actually still have it, but it's in parts. So, technically it hasn't gotten away yet, but I just don't know when I'll get around to restoring it. Especially since I'm not really a guitar restoring kind of guy. I'll start the story off with this...if anyone is interested in owning this, I'd probably sell it...email me. Now for the story...

I saw this for sale on eBay one day and I got just a little obsessed with it. I bid more than I should have and won...and now it's just sitting around in my studio. It's an eight string solid body electric mandolin made by Sanremo. Ever heard of it? Me either. I think it's just a Japanese company from the '70s that probably made things under different names. If you know anything about this please let me know. I'm dying to find out something.

This mando looked like someone had left it out in the backyard for the winter under some leaves or maybe in a shed. Bill Nash can try to make his relics look beat to hell, but you can't fake this. It's a mess cosmetically. But, interestingly, the action on it was pretty decent and it works fine. The problem was that the bridge had cracked into two pieces and the nut is broken. I actually reglued the bridge and it went back together pretty well. But the nut had a chunk missing and it needs a new nut made. The electronics work well and you've got to love that tortoise shell covering on the pickup. Tuners and neck are good.

My original intention was to take it apart (which I did), sand it down (which I started and quit) and completely refinish the body in Sonic Blue and give it that cool old Fender Mustang look...the Sonic Blue with the tortoise shell guard would look sweet in my opinion. Or maybe Shoreline Gold. Seafoam Green would look cool too, but if you're going to go with Seafoam Green you might as well go one better and do the Sonic Blue. Olympic White would look really nice, but a bit plain and I like things a bit different. Of course I could always go back to the yellowed looking Vintage White. I'll even admit, I gave some thought to Shell Pink, which would look cool with the tortoise. It's a really underrated Fender custom color that I'm sure is overlooked because everyone is afraid to look gay (there, I said it). But I think it can look pretty cool on the right instrument, though admittedly not very manly. Hell, it's no Lake Placid Blue! Now there's a manly color for you. And no one's going to get beat up playing a sunburst Strat. Very safe.

I was thinking I would ask you, my readers, what color do you think I should do the refin? Please, leave a comment!

It's all there and I think it would be a really cool instrument to bring back to life. I just don't know about having the time. I'm sure I could get a new nut made. And my next door neighbor is a fine craftsman woodworker who knows everything about everything when it comes to this stuff. Maybe I just need to man up (so forget the shell pink) and get to work on this thing.

Anyone know where to get a nut custom made?

UPDATE (March '09): A reader named Virginia just contacted me and let me know that she, too, owns a Sanremo electric mandolin. Hers is the same color as mine, which leads me to believe I should refinish mine in the original color. Maybe. Anyway, here is a photo (left) of hers and it certainly matches up exactly with mine. Thanks Virginia!
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1963 Fender Tremolux Amplifier

I had an opportunity to get an old Fender Tremolux once in a trade situation and completely blew it. When the opportunity came up a second time, years later, I wasn't about to let it get away. I'm pretty sure I've told the story of the first chance I had...I needed an amp for the first actual band I was going to be in. All I had was a really nice, extra fancy Martin D-41 (MAN, I wish I had that one back). I took it to the local guitar store to trade it for an amp and a lesser acoustic guitar and I blew it. I did get a really sweet, cherry sunburst Gibson Dove from the late 70's that played like buttah and sounded great. But when the guy said, "You can pick from those two amps over there in the corner," that's when I blew it. The two amps were a 1963 blonde Fender Tremolux with 2-10" cabinet and a Roland Jazz Chorus 120. You guessed it folks...I picked the Roland, god help me. Suffice it to say, I had no idea what I was doing when it came to amps at the time and I'm sure the guy from that shop still tells the story of how some schmuck traded a D-41 with thousands of dollars of additional inlay for a Dove and a Jazz Chorus.

It's probably his shining retail moment.

So, fast forward a few years, and I come across this second Tremolux, identical to the one I missed out on. That's how I say it..."missed out on." Prior to the world of eBay and Craig's List you had to rely on local papers and entertainment publications and the Penny Saver. In San Diego we have The Reader, which has the listings for all the live music in town, movies, articles about local politics and stories about all kinds of goofy local people, usually with a parrot on their shoulder and wearing Hawaiian shirts. The best part of The Reader for a musician though is the ads for musical instruments. That's where I found this amp...in The Reader. I actually don't remember the details in any way...I'm completely drawing a blank. But I do know that this amp sounded like a million bucks and I fell in love with tremolo.

As you can see from the photos, this amp has a separate head and cabinet. The Tremolux came with a 2-10" cabinet with Jensen speakers, though sometimes you'll find one with 2-12". I'm pretty certain that if you come across that, you're not looking at an original pairing. The old Bandmasters and later Bassmans came with 2-12's and, although they still sound great, it's the 2-10's that I think give this the sound. The head has a sort of built-in bracket system that keeps it attached to the cab with large thumb screws and it had tilt-back legs as well. I was always scared shitless to actually use the tilt-backs because I was afraid the whole thing would tip over and KA-BAM, no amp. I had a custom road case built for this amp with a red finish, so if you happen to own this amp with it's red road case let me know. I'll trade you for a Jazz Chorus...wink, wink. Not that I still have the Jazz Chorus...that's another story.

The end of this amp came about when I was playing a gig one night at a local San Diego bar called Dreamstreet. It's one of those bars that has 4 local bands a night playing and no one's crowd supports any other band...so your band plays, your people come in and hang out, then your band finishes, your people go back outside, and no one ever builds up a local following because no one supports good live music...just supports their friend's band. But I digress. We got set up as quickly as we could, being the third band of the night, and got ready to kick into our first tune. I was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist. I stepped up to the mic to sing the first words and my lips slightly touched the mic and BOOOM...I literally got the shock of my life. That old Tremolux wasn't grounded and, even though I had used the same amp successfully for a long time, the situation that night all added up to massive electrocution. It literally blew me backwards just a bit and I had a burn on my lips for quite a few days. We kept playing but I stayed about a foot from the mic the rest of the night...rock'n'roll must go on.

It didn't take long for me to decide to get a different amp. I suppose I could have had that one altered with a grounded cord, but I didn't want to alter the originality of it and I just decided to get something else. I'm pretty sure I sold it and ended up with a Music Man 4-10 Sixty Five, which was no slouch. Hey, I wish I had that one back too.

Once again, I can't find photos of this actual amp, so I have resorted to stealing some from the 'net. These photos are EXACT though, so pretend this is the one I had and no one will know.

Vox T-60 Bass Amplifier

Vox is a brand name that brings up thoughts of both really cool and really marginal instruments and amps. I love Vox Mando-Guitars, Vox AC-30 amps, and some of their guitars look pretty cool (and some are even decent sounding). I've got a friend who owns one of those Vox Tonelab guitar amp modeling things for recording and he swears by it because it's got a tube you can see. One thing that I always think of is that Vox is always very identifiable as Vox.

So, when I opened up Craig's List one day and saw a Vox T-60 bass amp for sale I was very curious. I owned an inexpensive bass at the time and thought it would be cool to at least have a small bass amp around the house in case an impromptu jam session broke out...you know, like in Josie and the Pussycats. So, after a little online research, I emailed the guy and offered him $200 for the amp and he accepted. I went and picked up the bass and got it home and couldn't wait to plug it in. This amp has 60 watts of power, a 12" speaker with a horn, active and passive inputs, that cool Vox vintage amp look, and, most importantly, what they call the "Bassilator" circuit for low-end enhancement. It's a button you push that's sort of like the "loudness" button on those old silver-faced Sanyo stereos from the '70s that sound so good.

It just fattens things up with a nice bottom end...like my lady. D'oh.

Since I'm not really a bass player I won't (can't) go on and on about this amp, but I can tell you that it is definitely worth the price of admission and makes an excellent practice amp or for smaller gigs. It can kick it out pretty well with some nice tone. A few times a jam session did actually break out (but not like Josie and the Pussycats) and each time the bass player was more than happy and always asked me about the amp. There are some other Vox bass amps that look sort of similar...maybe a Vox T-40 or something like that...and those really suck from what I've heard. But this T-60 is a nice buy and, in the theme of this site, I wish I had that one back.
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Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz

You may have a different opinion, but personally, I don't think it matters too much what guitar you play through when you use a big, fat fuzz pedal. It all sounds the same...it's like playing through a Line 6 amp...what difference does it make if you use a Strat or an SG if all you are doing is dialing in some modeled sound of a "British Stack" with delay? For me it's the same with a fuzz pedal...it all sounds the same. I'm sure there are variations that I'm not discerning enough to grasp, but for me, no need for fuzz. Which brings me to the Way Huge Swollen Pickle I used to own...for about a week.

The good news is that Way Huge is about to reissue some of their pedals. The bad news is that those of you who own some of the originals might be getting ready to lose some of the enormous value that these pedals command. Maybe not...maybe the fact that they are "originals" will keep the prices high. A Way Huge Aqua Puss analog delay pedal easily goes for $800 or more. Back when they first came out I remember reading something about them and that some famous guitarists were saying they were the best pedals ever made. I stopped in a well known guitar shop in Huntington Beach one day to gawk at the super rare vintage Marshalls and old Fenders and other cool stuff and, lo and behold, they had a couple of Way Huge pedals. I didn't know much about compression (still don't), and I already had a delay pedal, so I migrated toward the Swollen Pickle, which was categorized as "Jumbo Fuzz." Not just regular fuzz...JUMBO fuzz. I think that I forked over around $200, which was unheard of for a new pedal at the time, and walked out the door feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Maybe I should have tried the pedal out first.

I got home and called my fellow bandmates and bragged about my new possession. We had band practice the next night and I was the first one there. I got all plugged in and powered up and kicked in my new Way Huge, cream of the crop, coveted by many owned by few, Swollen Pickle and...FUZZZZZZ. Big fat fuzz. Jumbo Fuzz if you will. Man, I'd heard that before in a $45 pedal and it didn't sound much different than the thing on the floor that I just paid two hundred bones for. Let me note right here that I know some of you are reading this right now and thinking to yourself, "Holy shit, this guy's an idiot. Fuzz is awesome and there is good fuzz and bad fuzz and the Way Huge Jumbo Swollen Fuzzy Pickle Machine is the best f*$%in' fuzz known to man!"

I'm sorry. It's me, it's not you. I just don't like you that way.

Let's continue...I had no use for a fuzz pedal for the kind of music I play. I quickly realized my mistake and thought about seeing how fast I could pack it back up and put it in the car before anyone else showed up for practice. Too late. Door opens and in walks our lead guitarist, also not a big fan of the fuzz. I decided to get his very valued opinion. Quote: "You paid HOW MUCH for that?" Damn. And at the time there was no such thing as eBay or Craig's List. I honestly don't remember how I sold it or for how much. I do wish I had it back right now to sell on eBay since the value has gone up so much. And, by the way, I have played through other Way Huge pedals and they really are amazing...I don't want anyone to think I'm bagging on Way Huge...it's the fuzz that I'm not excited about and the fact that I bought a fuzz pedal is my own mistake. I'm a little stupid.

Ironically, just last year I got an email from Jeorge Tripps, the original inventor/owner/mad scientist behind Way Huge and he had seen my website about Locobox pedals. He asked if I would be interested in building a tribute website for Way Huge pedals. I was gung ho and we were going to do a trade out for some Way Huge pedals he still had...but Jeorge is a super busy guy who now designs pedals for Line 6 and MXR (Jim Dunlop) and it just never came together. From what I understand, MXR just came out with an analog delay pedal called the Carbon Copy that is supposed to be as good as or better than the Aqua Puss for less than $150. I believe Jeorge designed it. I think I'm going to need one.

Model 780 Guitar Amp

Third up for amp week is a weird one I found at the swap meet for a whopping $10. Come to think of it, I think the guy would have paid me $10 to take it with him so he didn't have to lug it back home. This will be a short entry because there just isn't any information about this amp on the internet and I don't recall much about. However, what I do know about it is the only reason I bought it in the first place...the built in rhythm machine. That's right, all the standard rhythms at your fingertips: Waltz, Bossa Nova, Samba, Rhumba, Swing, Rock Beat, etc. along with a tempo control knob and a volume knob to control how loud the rhythm is mixed with the guitar.

I just couldn't help myself. I thought it might be fun to use to practice with at the very least. And maybe, just maybe it would be cool to make a whole CD of recordings utilizing the cheesy beats. Unfortunately, the quality of the guitar sound could not come close to the cool factor of the beat box section. Add that to the problem of it being rather large, and every time you picked the amp up, the front grill fell off with the beat box attached. The only markings on the amp were the model name on the front, Model 780. No brand on the back. No Montgomery Wards sticker on the inside somewhere. Nuttin'.

I have included a photo of my daughter, who was looking pretty sassy at the time, standing next to it for size reference. She was practicing her best "The Price is Right" modeling techniques. She's still slightly sassy, but the amp has moved on to greener pastures.

I actually sold this amp at a garage sale to a gentleman who spoke very little English. I tried to explain the amp to him and let him know what he was getting into, but he was too busy giving me $50 for it and trying to get moving on to the next garage sale to care. Or perhaps I needed a better translator than my hand gestures. Es muy okay, man! Adios!

UPDATE 2-3-09: I just found an auction on eBay that has allowed me to figure out this amp was made by Kay. Thanks eBay!

Silvertone Guitar and amp model 200G

I'll have to keep this one short and sweet because I have to admit I don't remember much about them. One weekend I went to my favorite Sunday swap meet and came across this '60s Silvertone guitar and matching amp. I was actually kind of excited because I thought that maybe the guitar would sound kind of cool and it would become a very interesting guitar for recording or maybe a few songs at a gig. I figured the amp sucked and I was right, but when you come across a set that has been together for that many years you can't break them up. I think that should be a cardinal rule of guitar collecting. So, I forked over the money for both, which I don't remember how much I paid. Since I never take more than $100 to the swap meet I know it was under $100 and I seem to remember it being somewhere around $40 or $50 for both.

I got them home and they both needed a good cleaning. The guitar was missing a couple of knobs but worked just fine and sounded okay. I seem to remember that the action was pretty decent and the amp did work fine. I was right about it sucking though. The sound was terrible. I think we forget about how good the quality of our cheap instruments tends to be these days. If you bought a "student model" or inexpensive brand back in the '60s or '70s you were most likely getting a pretty inferior instrument. And the amps were downright awful for the most part...unless you consider a silverface Vibro Champ a student amp. But if you are talking about a solid state Sears Silvertone 200G, you are talking crap. Think about how truly usable a Squier P-Bass is these days. Or a Jay Turser Strat-style guitar.

I bought my daughter a Squier Affinity Strat for $75 NEW (with a gig bag) and it just plain doesn't suck when it comes down to it.

It's obviously not my choice for guitar of the year and it doesn't have any "vibe," but if you got to a gig and had no choice but to play it, you could survive just fine. Anyway, back to the real story here...the Silvertone. I quickly realized that it was just a guitar to put on eBay and make a little money with. I paired it up and, true to my own rules, sold the guitar and amp as a pair. I have no idea what I sold them for, but I do remember being quite pleased with the outcome. So, the moral of this story is: Sears is not a guitar store.