#125452  by oldsmojo
 
Hey all...I will be posting some new clips on this thread here and there. Mostly audio w/brief description of what was used.
The first one here is a Shakedown modified '74 Twin w JJ power tubes JBL k120 into ..Boss rc30 looper into ART usb w some plate and delay and phaser (at end) added in Audacity. Shipping this amp out to Brad Clark tomorrow.. he is going to be a very happy camper as his custom wolf is showing up this week as well. Went for a nice 78 tone w this one although it is a Moriarty Wolf w split super 2 not a dual sound (super d)

http://www.tunescoop.com/play/313639373 ... topped-mp3


This clip is the same guitar through a Boogie mk 2a into JBL e120 :

http://www.tunescoop.com/search/althea/
 #125510  by cmc64
 
Great sounds clips Joe. I can't wait to get my Mesa MK IIA head out to you! It is going sound stunning through my JBL K-120 2x12. I am hung on on what amp voicing to choose. I love the 1978 sound and picked up a pair of Dual Sounds, but I also really dig the 1983ish tones you have been voicing in a few of your amps for, and I have a set of Super 2's as well. Concerning the two guitars I have - my Strat which has an ash body and a birds-eye maple neck/fretboard is a very bright sounding guitar so I think I shall put the Dual Sounds in that and then my project guitar will get (I think) a Super 2 in the middle and maybe a Dual sound in the bridge. not sure yet. And then there is the amp voicing. That 1974 Twin voiced for 1978 sounds fantastic; the MK IIA (not sure what you were going for there but it sounds a bit more like the 1983ish tone you have been nailing) is fantastic as well. Decisions, decisions...... :-) :-) :-)
 #125557  by tcsned
 
The Stag wrote:here is a clip of Dead Ahead practicing last week, im using my shakedown amp with a mac 2100 and my rosebud guitar.


Here you go, you left some extra code in there :)
 #125686  by oldsmojo
 
Here's a couple from Dead Ahead's last gig up in Hoosick Falls NY. They did a great job..the crowd was loving it all night! Its a family affair by the way and moreso than i thought. Great bunch of people up there, we had a really great time!
Dan Reiser Sr. on rhythm guitar, Dan Reiser Jr. (17) on lead, His cousin Dave Alderman (15) on bass, Jason Vasquez on drums, Dave's dad Mark Alderman on lights and his brother Jeff Alderman on Sound (which is the most insane JBL sound system I have EVER heard a band bring out!!)

I Need a Miracle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfYBa93w4tU

Eyes of The World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeYkBRV0-Sw
 #126967  by redeyedjim
 
Resolved.
Last edited by redeyedjim on Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #127002  by Urblues
 
On all of the Youtube videos of the shakedown amps, I see that same brown guitar that sounds like nothing I have ever heard. It looks like an old Ibanez but it is different in the way it looks at the horns. WHAT IS IT? It sounds soooo good.
 #127442  by redeyedjim
 
I know this post if kinda worthless without a clip, but it will have to do for now as I don't have one ready. (I'll save my apologies about my crummy playing for when I do follow up with a clip).

Background: Several weeks ago I sent my Frenzel BUD-50 to Joe for some work to make it more Jerry-flavored. The BUD-50 (the name is derived from Blackface Ultimate Distortion, not something, uh, kinder :D) is based on Fender’s AB763 architecture. The first channel has a single volume control and a B/M/T tone stack, while the second channel is altered: no vibrato, and instead this channel has two foot-switchable gain and volume settings that share a common tone stack (Gain1, Gain2, common B/M/T, Volume1, Volume2), essentially making this a three channel amp. In its original design this channel had a huge amount of gain; JCM800 territory, but 6L6 flavored. When I ordered the amp I told Trevor Frenzel I wanted an amp that had BF cleans on one channel and a plexi-like tone on the other. Unfortunately, Trevor ran into some persistent oscillation problems trying to bend his design to do this, and we eventually agreed on BF tones for both channels, which was fine. The second channel had a little more gain than a typical AB763, but it was still squarely in Fender territory. It was still a sweet sounding amp, just not the Fender/Marshall one-two punch I was originally looking for.

After seeing Joe mentioned here and hearing his modded Fender Twin demos, though, I really wanted to see if he could do something with the BUD-50 to make it a better platform for Jerry stuff. I approached Joe about modding it, and he said he was interested as long as it didn’t turn into some epic tone quest. It was a bit of a gamble for both of us, as Joe had never seen one of these amps, and I had never worked with him before, and I was trusting both his ear and his skill set. But I was really struck with Joe's confidence: he boldly and unequivocally stated that, sight unseen, he would make the amp better. I liked that, so I sent the amp off to him for mods

Joe went through the amp thoroughly and made a number of small but important changes -- it's a cathode biased amp, and Joe corrected the bias so that it was hotter, installed a stiffer rectifier, changed the tone stacks, changed some of the caps to better qualitity parts, changed output tubes, added a pre-out, and cleaned up the second channel. He probably did some other things, too, but those are the things I'm aware of. Basically, he made a number of small but important tweaks, adjustments,and parts substitutions. The amazing thing was he basically did all of these things in a single weekend, and for a reasonable price. We talked, he figured out the amp’s architecture and its shortcomings, we talked again, and he went to work. I was deeply impressed with his knowledge -- this was someone else’s one-off design, and he just went in and had his way with it, lol. Total badass. :hail:

So I got my amp back from Joe last night, and all I can say is WOW!! He totally nailed that clean-but-biting Jerry tone I was looking for! The amp is very clean now, and warm, but not shrill or ice-picky at all. It didn’t sound bad before, but now it sounds like a blanket was removed, and I’m clearly hearing the guitar’s tone. He removed mud that I didn’t even realize was there. It sounds amazing cranked, but even at bedroom levels it’s incredibly playable, and it really brings out dynamic playing. I asked Joe to go for an early 80’s tone, and I think he did a great job of getting that. With the K120 I have it’s very detailed and rich. I imagine with E120s it would totally nail that 90’s-era tone that Jerry had in his last few years, too. I’ll post some clips when I have time to record something -- the amp is crisp enough to expose all of my flaws as a player, which is one way I know it’s in the right range for Jerry stuff. I could not be happier with how it turned out.

tl;dr: Joe did an amazing job tweaking my boutique, one-off amp, and I am very, very pleased with the results. Joe really knows his shit!