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Topic: My trip to the Vintage47 workshop |
Ian
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 12 Jun 2009 8:20 am |
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Hey gang,
Yesterday I had the good fortune of meeting David Barnes who in Guerneville, CA makes modern reproductions (from the original schematics) of the old Valco amps. I had found out about him through an older post in Steel Without Pedals. He was nice enough to take a few hours out his day to let me play my Gibson BR-9 through several of amps, each time explaining the differences between push-pull and class "A" power, alnico and ceramic speakers - I even learned what a field coil speaker was. David is extremely knowledgable and passionate about what he does. His amps are priced quite reasonably and I am looking forward to purchasing (at least) one.
However, I will be looking forward to that day for several months at least. You see, David is a hobbyist and builds these beautiful amplifiers at his own pace - he doesn't take pre-orders or special orders. His shop is rather small (as you can see from his websight) and he does pretty much everything himself. There are extensive instructions, which may intially seem daunting, on his website under How to Order. Basically you need to send him an e-mail, tell him the sort of amp that you are looking for, say a Dobro style tweed cab with a 10" alnico speaker and 15 watts of push-pull power (one of my favorites), and when he has amplifiers that are available, you will recieve an e-mail indicating as much. Please, do not call David to order an amp. Simply sign up to recieve an e-mail and when something is ready, he'll let you know.
These amps are really something special, check out his websight www.Vintage47.com.
Best,
Ian |
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Ian
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
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Posted 12 Jun 2009 12:04 pm
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I've had some emails with him and was interested in building an amp with one of his cabinets, but a clean old '55 canary-yellow Oahu entered my life instead. I've restored 'er and it sure matches well with the Nat'l lap steel I play.
David seems like a great guy. He's been very helpful to me and he makes some amazing looking cabinets. I'm sure his complete amps sound terrific. He knows his stuff. I'm glad someone's paying the attention to these old Valco circuits. They sound really great with the steel. Funny, it's like they were made for that.
I know folks like their reverb and bands in boxes, but I love the simple sound of a steel in to one of these little space heaters.
_________________
"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 12 Jun 2009 12:18 pm
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Ah! nostalga, you can get the same sounds from a modern Vox Valvetronix at a fraction of the price, and you don't have to join any Secret Society or learn about "Push Pull" Field coils, Alnico Magnets. But don't let me spoil the expensive fun.
James. |
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Jim Newberry
From:
Seattle, Upper Left America
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Posted 12 Jun 2009 12:42 pm
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Yeah. Sort of.
Different strokes for different folks, I say.
And besides, what good's an amp that you KNOW will work when you turn it on. No fun in that.
_________________
"The Masher of Touch and Tone"
-1950 Fender Dual Pro 8
-1950's Fender Dual Pro 6
-Clinesmith D8
-Clinesmith 8-string Frypan
-Clinesmith Joaquin
-~1940 National New Yorker
-~1936 Rickenbacher B6
-Homebuilt Amps |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 12 Jun 2009 7:48 pm
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My favorite amps have always been Valco designs. I've built five clones of the 510-1B schematic. I got rid of all the solid state stuff. Didn't care for the sterile sound. My Valco clones are built with turret boards though (except one) and easy to maintain. A Weber speaker closely matches the original Jensen field coil type for tone, and less generated hum problems. I build the cabs and chassis like the Fender Tweed Deluxe, with the controls on the top-rear.
One of the all-time great steel players, George DeFretes use a Supro (valco)amp on stage for a while. |
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Ian
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 16 Jun 2009 11:34 am
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James,
No "secret society," simply send an e-mail to David if your interested in purchasing one of his beautifully hand crafted amps. He asked me to post something on this forum to discourage phone orders.
Ian |
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