Wednesday 12/19 Lunch

Lunch today is still up in the air, dropped my car off for a recall this morning so my wife will be picking me up to go get it back on my lunch break. Who knows where we'll end up!

Jos, I hope you didn't pay as much for your Mac as Eddie did for that Tandy
I actually remember programming on those old Tandy's in middle school (definitely a much lower end model), I can't say I've ever had the chance to use a tube based computer, though I hear they are warmer and more musical than a solid state

My most recent computer-like purchase was a Google nexus 7 tablet. I'm really liking it so far for web browsing/reading/games but typing anything longer than a sentence (i.e. a Lunch report) is annoying.

Anyway... on to today!

G&L Topic: Color matched headstocks. I never really cared for them, I recently saw a lake placid blue legacy with a matched headstock and it just ruined it for me. Maybe I'd feel differently if I owned one or spent more time with it.
Take the poll, are they an acquired taste, not for you or yes please?

Off Topic: Continuing with my terrible case of GAS, I'm now onto amp trading. For a few days now I've had my mind set on finding a brown Princeton ('61-'63)... with no luck. I did however find a silverface Vibrolux Reverb (very different amp in comparison) in great shape locally for a decent price. It's also been listed for a while so that may give me some bargaining room. As I also have a 1 in 1 out policy in place, my '66/'67 Bandmaster/cab would have to go. It's been on the chopping block, in my head, no matter what I decided to buy next. A nice amp and sounds great but it's cumbersome and I've been moving towards combos over head/cab.
Any opinions either way? I'm going to take a ride up and play it before I make any real decisions, seems like a great size amp for gigging.

Fun Photos of the Day

A couple of funny things I came across working in various venues

I don't know about you, but I have a bad habit of leaving the door open for my "events"


This was in a hotel on a room service platter...what kind of hotel is this?!



Have a good one!
-Dave

My guitars have either white or black painted headstock. I found most colored looks like a sock.
The brown on the roasted maple/rosewood looks really nice.
The 30th anniv. would look horrible if it did not have the colored headstock.
It all depends.


I used to own vintage amplifiers. Never again. Give me the latest and greatest.

Dave, you need to go see the Hobbit. The scene about eating the greens is about you.

My guitars have either white or black painted headstock. I found most colored looks like a sock.
The brown on the roasted maple/rosewood looks really nice.
The 30th anniv. would look horrible if it did not have the colored headstock.
It all depends.


I used to own vintage amplifiers. Never again. Give me the latest and greatest.

Dave, you need to go see the Hobbit. The scene about eating the greens is about you.

I do need to go see the Hobbit, it's high on the list!

I completely agree with you on the headsocks
After writing this I was browsing the site and found a vid from Miles with his s500 w/ matching headstock , it looks (and sounds) good, so I guess it does really just depend.

Dave, I do like matching headstocks, especially on flamed tops. My recent KOA Carvin 5 string bass has a KOA neck with maple stripes so the headstock matches the body very nicely. It is a neck thru so when looking from the backside it is very interesting visually.

I have gone through phases where I am lusting for amps. I had an original 66 Bassman head and cabinet (large) that I never used. It was a nightmare to move. I traded it two years ago and haven't looked back. I have sold a couple of other amps in the last two years. I currently have two extra bass amps but haven't been motivated to sell them. My guitar purchasing has slowed down considerably. I am down to 7 for this year from a high of 14 last year. It has taken about 80 guitars to get to what I want at about 45.

Having been in the computer business for 37 years I can't begin to tell you how frustrating computer problems can be. I have finally recovered from the hard drive failure about 2 months ago. They have almost become a disposable item like TVs. My problem is that I don't want to go to new software.

Funny pictures today! Have a great day-- Darwin

Anyway... on to today!

I'll have to go back to the before times and play catch up.

G&L Topic: Color matched headstocks.

I've seen a couple mid 80's Skyhawks that had a nice burst on both the body and headstock...looked great! I like to see the wood . it shows the guitar makers taste in choosing nice boards to cut,
I love how a good quartersawn neck shows a nice moire pattern on the edges... every early G&L I have shows stellar choices in neck wood.

I'm digging my Swarts, keeps my amp GAS at bay.
I did see a combo that triggered that want/need/buy nerve .
It seems that most things Red Rhodes worked on , engineered, wound , repotted ...played on ..what have you ;
ends up working really well in the whole tone equation...
e.g. the Peavey T- series guitars wiring and P'ups, Trio preamp , Velvet Hammer P'ups...etc.

So this is it,I don't
know if it's overpriced ( no bids so far)... so I'll see if it's relisted at a lower price if noone bids , I've never had a nice old Fender combo :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200865216834?ss ... 1436.l2649

Elwood

Love the photo of the Spam can! Classy joint!

Colour matched headstocks absolutely MUST be coupled with a rosewood board, and even then most colours should be off limits. A sunburst headstock looks fine, and black is good too. Blue should not be allowed, and surf green looks plain awful.

I have only ever had combos, but can see the sense in having a head/cab thing. We gig pretty regularly and while a combo is one less trip to the car I have come to the conclusion that having the amplifier section separate to the cab will make it easier to take care of. I've busted two pots on my amp (which has the controls on the top panel) in the last couple of months, firstly by carrying heavy stuff on top of my amp as I load in/out, and second from where it moved around in the back of the car and must have hit something. Plus with one good cab you can pair it up with any number of heads.

Elwood - that amps sounds cool. No idea how much it would be worth, but a 50W Princeton isn't going to be bad!

On GAS, I spent about an hour in a shop yesterday playing this keyboard I've had my eye on, its a very nice instrument that has me GASing at the mouth. Had a great time in the shop and was treated better than any shop I've ever been to - within 5 minutes of being there they'd asked if I wanted a coffee?!?! Then let me play a $250,000 concert grand piano which I made sound like a toy piano, but when played by someone who knew what they were doing literally gave me goosebumps. There were several people there for music lessons, and when one old guy was paying the lady working there gave him a very warm hug and wished him a happy christmas as if he were a dear friend. A young kid was in there with his dad playing the church organs and the owner came out for a chat with them, not to sell him something. I'm going back to buy the keyboard today, how can you not support a place like that!

elwood, it didn't sell, but while i think the idea is good (i high powered princeton), there is some suspicion, such as the seller says "here in nashville", yet the location is astoria, ny. the speaker is out of a reissue twin, from what it looks like, so not likely early 80's. without actually hearing it, would be hard to fork out money for that.

Sounds like something similar to Randall Smith's original hot rodded Princetons--Mesa Boogie prototypes.

elwood, it didn't sell, but while i think the idea is good (i high powered princeton), there is some suspicion, such as the seller says "here in nashville", yet the location is astoria, ny. the speaker is out of a reissue twin, from what it looks like, so not likely early 80's. without actually hearing it, would be hard to fork out money for that.

good observations, I did't notice the location dif...I did think that the speakerjob wasn't done as well as it could.
I'd use an old JBL , or maybe a peavey black widow on the cheap. and if there is any over excursion ( think maybe that might happen with 50+ watts? ) it won't be great slamming against the baffle...for the sound or the speaker.
Every once in a while you see a beefed up late 60's silverface on ebay...the ones that Randall Smith souped up.
Even those usually don't break 1000 at auction end.

thx
Elwood

Sounds like something similar to Randall Smith's original hot rodded Princetons--Mesa Boogie prototypes.

+1
great minds think alike I see ,

elwood, it didn't sell, but while i think the idea is good (i high powered princeton), there is some suspicion, such as the seller says "here in nashville", yet the location is astoria, ny. the speaker is out of a reissue twin, from what it looks like, so not likely early 80's. without actually hearing it, would be hard to fork out money for that.

good observations, I did't notice the location dif...I did think that the speakerjob wasn't done as well as it could.
I'd use an old JBL , or maybe a peavey black widow on the cheap. and if there is any over excursion ( think maybe that might happen with 50+ watts? ) it won't be great slamming against the baffle...for the sound or the speaker.
Every once in a while you see a beefed up late 60's silverface on ebay...the ones that Randall Smith souped up.
Even those usually don't break 1000 at auction end.

thx
Elwood

actually those fender by eminence speakers are quite phenomenal, i have some, and i would not consider replacing them. i also have the cannabis rex, and that would be a great choice, i use one with the 57 tweed. also with the 67 reverberocket. you can protect against the excursion issue with a spacer around the edge of the speaker to give some distance, but the sound running into part of the baffle will still create phase issues. i also question the use of 6550 over 6l6 tubes. i know going with 6l6 would only probably yield 40 watts with the princeton design, but i have a feeling the sound would be better. i'd have to hear it period.

Went to see the Hobbit again. 3rd time this week. But I changed to the 3D version. Wow! I thought 3D was just a gimmic, and a reason to charge more. Times have changed. I liked it better in 3D.

Jos, I hope you didn't pay as much for your Mac as Eddie did for that Tandy
I actually remember programming on those old Tandy's in middle school (definitely a much lower end model), I can't say I've ever had the chance to use a tube based computer, though I hear they are warmer and more musical than a solid state

Paid less and have heard the same thing about tube computers. The temperatures go through the roof and debugging actually means removing the fried carcasses of insect (that is the etymology of the word). Those were the days

I would love to own a blackface Princeton Reverb. Found one once here at Trading Musicians. The price tag said it was with foot switch, but none was to be found. Still they didn't want to drop the price.

This was in a hotel on a room service platter...what kind of hotel is this?!

Either Hawaii-ian or the occupant is from Hawaii. Just cannot live without the spam burger. Just my guess.

- Jos

I like the matching headstocks, but only on necks with rosewood boards. I have two: a Baby Blue Comanche and a Vintade White Legacy. But I don't kike them on maple boards.

I am absolutely down with matching headstocks... Except for metal flake headstocks - They just don't seem to look right.

Of the matching headstocks that i own the Fullerton Red Legacy with matching headstock is a real looker



Scott

I like matching head stocks for certain colors. I like a matching HS in candy apple red. I own an ESP j-bass in that color and it looks great. I don't always like sunbursts when the burst looks different on the headstock than the body. that is hard to control with the different woods involved.

Any hotel that provides SPAM is great if that what you ordered. Some times you just feel like having some SPAM.

A stock Princeton Reverb is rated at 17 watts. A stock Fender Princeton amp is 12 watts. To make either of these amps put out 50 watts would require gutting the whole amp and the it becomes something else. I wouldn't be interested in paying big bucks for somebody's experiment. BTW: there are no circuit differences between the black face Princeton and the Silver face Princeton or Priceton Reverb. Save some money and buy a silver face if you want one. I own one of each and they are great amps.