Grateful Dead Music Forum

I thought I'd share a little combo amp that I put together recently. The intent is to be much like a 1x12 Twin Reverb. Over the past few years I've gone through (and still have) many different configurations of amp heads and speaker cabinets, all with the Jerry gear/configurations described so well on this forum. I'm lucky enough to gig fairly regularly in different venues/situations and like many of us, am constantly tweaking and changing configurations to suit my gigging needs, but still attempting to maintain a high integrity Jerry tone. Playing situations can vary from small clubs with a tiny stages, to large clubs with big stages, and even large outdoor stages, and gigs that I've got all day to set up, and "sit-ins" that require you to have minimal gear and set it up on the spot in front of a crowd. Lately I've arrived at my version of a JG combo amp. You'll note in the image that it simply consists of a power conditioner, a SMS classic JG pre-amp, a Carvin DCM200L, and a single JBL k120. The rack units and the speaker are mounted on separate rails. It's dovetailed on the corners and uses 5/8" baltic birch plywood, has tilt legs, and an open back. I'm using a carvin neck through with 3 super II's and Waldo buffer, and run it through a pedal board with the standard/classic jerry pedals.I love this little guy, and it sounds absolutely fantastic! I've still got the large rack, Mac amp, 1x12 and 2x12 hard truckers style cabs, and plan to keep them 'cause they're super awesome, but this little guy is what I plan to gig with the majority of the time.

Todd

Cant see the pic.

Now its up. Awesome work.

That's a super creative set-up. Very cool rig Todd. Thanks for sharing!

Peace,

James

That is a great Idea. If Brad comes out with his own power amp, maybe he will produce a combo. It looks kind of heavy is it close to 50 lbs.?

thanks! I hadn't thought of the weight much, but that really is a great question. I just weighed it, and it comes in at 42 lbs. I then checked to see what a twin or a deluxe reverb weighs, and apparently a deluxe weighs 42 lbs.! Kinda cool.

Very cool!

My good friend TC Furlong in Chicgao, maker of very high end class-D powered speaker cabinets that are often paired with my various preamps for pedal steel use did a couple of one-offs like this. This is a 15" combo with a high-end class-D power module in back. I think the weight was around 38 lbs, 500 watts. Not a good amp to clip, but real nice on pedal steel...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix0 ... Oweb_1.jpg


B

I love it. I think I am going to aspire to the same set up. Would you mind posting some pics of the back of it?

That looks fantastic! What a great idea...nice work on the cab too!

Killer! I may try this out with pine...Thx for sharing.

First the invention of a cardboard box that holds 6 beers and now this! A 10 for the thought and a 11 for the execution.

Looks great! Anyone concerned about heat up top, or possibly too close to the speaker?

mk

Thanks all! Brad, that's a beautiful amp & I can't say enough of how much I like you SMS preamp. Here's an image of the back. I hear you with the heat concern. I made sure to use a power conditioner that does not extend over the vents for the SMS preamp, and fortunately the vents for the amp are in the front of the amp. I've also considered adding some rubber feet to the left side of the combo box as well in order to use it on its side sometimes. The box is the same height and width. I'm planning to build an extension cab slightly larger than this cab for another k120 then this amp can sit on that cab when I want to run two k120's, and elevate the amp.

Forgive me, but why does it need to be on it's side if its square and the reverb is digital? I thought the reason Jerry's Twin was on it's side was to minimize the chance of stage rumble setting off the reverb. I know that Duane and Dickey (and occasionally Warren) used the Marshall cabs on their sides but I always thought that was to defeat the casters, so the body of the cabinet was in solid contact with the stage. Nice amp, by the way. Kinda wish I'd thought of that.