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My Amplifier Organization Issue Is Solved!11!

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
I poasted a while back about trying to organize my amps in a way that made them accessible and matched my studio, which I designed to be comfortable and kind of different because I like old junk.

I looked everywhere and considered doing DIY. Everything I saw that was kind of cool was either priced way too high, far away or too big/small. It's hard to find shelves that are wide enough and have a shallow depth. I don't care for IKEA type furniture (no offense to anyone).

Anyways, today I found this for $200. It's exactly what I wanted and was about 20 mins from my house. I found it on FB Marketplace, which can be pretty good.

I just vacuumed it off, used a brush to get the junk from the cracks, washed it down, and put a coat of wax on. There's also printing on the side, which is cool!

I need to fill that bottom slot. I have a JMP, but truth be told I don't dig it so it's either going to be for a Carvin X-100B, Cyber Twin head or JC-120 head (which I once owned!) and I'm going to call it the nostalgia shelf!

I had made some little platforms for the combos I keep in my studio that have worked out great, but now my heads are all set!

470183127_10234298188745022_1224819644734452201_n.jpg


I have another old shelf from General Electric where I keep my petals (which real guitarists don't use from what I've been told) so it fits in pretty nice!

468988902_10234244873892184_9123373081685847877_n.jpg
 

Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
854
I poasted a while back about trying to organize my amps in a way that made them accessible and matched my studio, which I designed to be comfortable and kind of different because I like old junk.

I looked everywhere and considered doing DIY. Everything I saw that was kind of cool was either priced way too high, far away or too big/small. It's hard to find shelves that are wide enough and have a shallow depth. I don't care for IKEA type furniture (no offense to anyone).

Anyways, today I found this for $200. It's exactly what I wanted and was about 20 mins from my house. I found it on FB Marketplace, which can be pretty good.

I just vacuumed it off, used a brush to get the junk from the cracks, washed it down, and put a coat of wax on. There's also printing on the side, which is cool!

I need to fill that bottom slot. I have a JMP, but truth be told I don't dig it so it's either going to be for a Carvin X-100B, Cyber Twin head or JC-120 head (which I once owned!) and I'm going to call it the nostalgia shelf!

I had made some little platforms for the combos I keep in my studio that have worked out great, but now my heads are all set!

470183127_10234298188745022_1224819644734452201_n.jpg


I have another old shelf from General Electric where I keep my petals (which real guitarists don't use from what I've been told) so it fits in pretty nice!

468988902_10234244873892184_9123373081685847877_n.jpg
Tbt I would not trust those amps on an Ikea shelf either.

That looks really awesome. 👍
 

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
Cool. You got a tube tester too!
Te tube tester is a crazy story. A friend of mine is from Northampton, MA and her parents still live there. Her dad bought a building that was a drug store there and that was in the basement where it must have sat for years. A few years ago I was at her house and she told me there was a present for me in the garage and there it was!

I was bringing it home and it was rattling around so I got it home and it was full of NOS tubes - a lot of 12AX7s, etc... lots of good stuff! Even the keys for it and some old paperwork.

Oddly enough, my mom grew up in Florance, MA and it turns out her brother owned the drugstore this came out of in the late 70s/early 80s.

The tester works. I don't leave it plugged in but I have an LED bulb in the sign and turn it on sometimes because it's on a different cable than the tester.

All you guys are welcome to come by anytime :)

470218491_10234299101047829_170386919599208288_n.jpg


Here's the rest for you work from home folks!

470184919_10234299302412863_2558431624041279527_n.jpg

470562864_10234299301212833_7096230848755265843_n.jpg
 
Last edited:

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
That's a TEAC reel to reel, isn't it?
The reel-to-reel is another one of my junk finds. It's a 6100, which was Teac's attempt to make a mastering deck.

The 6100 I found at a flea market I go to every Sunday in the summer. I'm there at the break of dawn waiting to get in. This one was unused. It needed belts and oil and to be cleaned up a little.

The cool thing about the 6100 is it's a half track machine, meaning it records two tracks on the full tape vs a typical 2 on side a two on side b four channel deck. There is, however, a switch to playback 4-track tapes.

IK Multimedia make a plugin of the 6100. It was such a museum piece I decided to keep it. I have an old Otari 8 track r2r which is on my workbench right now getting finished up!


Also, the top amp on the shelf is a Super Reverb in a Bandmaster shell that I bought at the same flea market on the second to last day of the season for $250. Also, you can see a Vox in one photo. That is a 1967 Cambridge Reverb that I bought a few weeks before. It has a cover, manual, and the big three-button footswitch. It smelled like death, but I got it fumigated, and cleaned it up, and resoldered the reverb tank and a few points, and it works great now, too!

The Super Reverb needs some work. The caps have been done oddly enough, but the tank was missing and it hums loudly. I have to bring it to my guy to be fixed up!

440456574_10231500138595517_5499205495057483452_n.jpg
 

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
This is the Super Reverb. If anyone has any cool ideas for it I'm all ears!

The flea markets, yard sales, etc. are what I love. I have a perfect condition not a scratch 1957 Gretsch 6120 with the caddilac case and original strap and 6160 amo I found in an antique store.

464592468_10233272369940193_5125118994492631810_n.jpg


Here is the Vox:

464066669_10233151856047421_7320997492441973619_n.jpg

463910693_10233151855687412_653912134428794426_n.jpg

464067446_10233151855327403_7949005968499093045_n.jpg
 

LeonC

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
893
The hum, with luck, will be nothing more than mismatched power tubes. Your tech can figure that out easily.
 

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
With luck, the hum will be caused by mismatched power tubes. Your tech can easily figure that out.
Well, there's no signal, just a loud hum, but if I poke around in there with a Sharpie, I get some noise. I changed all the tubes; the caps are new under the dog house. I'm no tech, but it seems like a ground issue. Someone put an orange extension cord on this, so who knows?

It was a gamble to buy and probably isn't worth much, but a Super Reverb head is useful to me if it works. There may be some odd mod I could have done.

The guy I go to is good, and I've been going to him since the 80s. If it costs me $150 or $200 to fix, it will be a nice amp to have around!
 

Amp360

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
961
I'm digging the B-15N too... one of the best bass amps ever (IMO...)
I was in a store just poking around, and they had that in there for, I think, $1000. I plugged a bass into it, made sure it worked and bought it. They wouldn't move on the price, but I don't usually push much either because if the price is fair, it's fair.

When I got it to my place, I popped the top, and all the old caps, tubes, and cord were inside it had been all serviced, so at the end of the day, it was a deal.

I like to use it with a Jennings (made by Vox IIRC) cabinet I have, which has an 18" Greenback Celestion from a long time ago. It's a massive sound. I paid $100 for that cab at a Music Go Round.

I used to use a red knob Showman (which I should have kept) to do bass but I like this a lot more. It's the easiest bass sound to record. I use three mics on the cab and just make sure they're lined up correctly - a Telefunken big one, an M-80, and a Mojave MA-201.

People do bass direct or with a sim. IMHO it's just not the same. Bass sounds need to be crafted just like guitars and drums. I'll send all three mics to the same channel and maybe use a little compression on them going in.
 

ppgf

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
966
Te tube tester is a crazy story. A friend of mine is from Northampton, MA and her parents still live there. Her dad bought a building that was a drug store there and that was in the basement where it must have sat for years. A few years ago I was at her house and she told me there was a present for me in the garage and there it was!

I was bringing it home and it was rattling around so I got it home and it was full of NOS tubes - a lot of 12AX7s, etc... lots of good stuff! Even the keys for it and some old paperwork.

Oddly enough, my mom grew up in Florance, MA and it turns out her brother owned the drugstore this came out of in the late 70s/early 80s.

The tester works. I don't leave it plugged in but I have an LED bulb in the sign and turn it on sometimes because it's on a different cable than the tester.

All you guys are welcome to come by anytime :)

470218491_10234299101047829_170386919599208288_n.jpg


Here's the rest for you work from home folks!

470184919_10234299302412863_2558431624041279527_n.jpg

470562864_10234299301212833_7096230848755265843_n.jpg
i lived in florence for a minute. seemed like an eternity.
 
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