VAUGHN SKOW's blog

The Famous 1967 Blackface 2x10 Fender Super Reverb Amp!

What, you’ve never played through one?  Never even SEEN one, you say?  Actually, I’m not just too awfully surprised; you see, this is yet another of my "Amps that Don’t Exist"!  Check out the previous installments in this series: The 1959 Brown Fender Super Amp, and the 1965 Fender 1x12 Bassman Combo Amp.  Cool, no?  So, on to this weeks phantom amp!

First the background:  I’m a super-fan of the blackface Super Reverb; a blackface Super is my amp of choice in almost every imaginable scenario.  Honestly though, my back ain’t as young as it used to be, and it sometimes complains when I ask it to carry a Super.  So, I’d always had in mind the idea of trying to make a more portable version of a Super Reverb.  This is where the story gets interesting.

A few months back there was a dead-stock all original 1964 Fender Super Reverb on Craigslist for $900.  Awesome deal, but there was a catch: it was in a modern repro cab with four of those awful new Jensen P10Q’s.  I have a speaker connection, and so I bought her anyway.  However, there is a back-story!  I already owned an original 1964 Super Reverb loaded with original uber-sweet CTS AlNiCo 10’s;  but strangely enough, my ’64 had a 1967 chassis in it.  Betcha know where I’m going with this doncha?  Yep, I put my new ’64 Chassis in the ’64 cabinet.  Ah, just as Mr. Fender (& God himself) intended!  That was my first chance to look at my newly acquired ’64 chassis; let me tell ya, it exemplifies beauty and perfection, all original!

So, I now had an entire perfect 1964 Super Reverb amp.  What to do with my ’67.  I could just put it in the repro cab, but, well ... yuck!  So I hit eBay, and there it was: an original 60-something cab that had been cut-down to a 2x10 configuration.  There is a God, and he likes me!  How fast can you say Buy-It-Now?  Days later she arrived, looking just like a vintage Super cab should ... only smaller, much smaller.

So, now I had to start thinking about what speakers to load in this 2x10 Super Reverb.  Original CTS AlNiCo’s are not only expensive and hard to find in good condition, but they wouldn’t handle the Super's output in only a gang of two.  If you’ve followed this blog, you know that I’ve done EXTENSIVE shoot-outs of ten inch speakers.  To recap (Best to worst):

   #1: Original CTS AlNiCo’s

   #2: WGS G10A

   #3: WGS G10C

   #4: WGS Vet 10

   #5: Almost any vintage American or British 10

   #6: Current production Jensen P10Q’s

   #7:(dead last)Current production Eminence Blue AlNiCo’s

So, if I can’t have #1, why not #2 or #3?  Well, remember that old back?  Yep, my goal was to have a small, lightweight Super!  So I choose a pair of 4-ohm Vet 10’s; those little buggers sound VERY good, are fairly light weight, and can easily handle the Super’s output.

So, the big question: how does she sound?  Well ... a lot like a Fender Blackface Super Reverb!  Honestly, she does not have the same ultra-huge room-filling three-dimensional vibe of a 4x10 Super, but it’s pretty darn close!  And, honestly, ain’t she cute?

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Bye for now, my "outside" blog recommendation this week is the Fender Amp Guru’s site on the Super Reverb; check it out!   http://fenderguru.com/amps/super-reverb

You Never Forget Your First ... Guitar and Amp!

You never forget your first time!  So, reader friends, I’m curious.  What was your first guitar and amp, and how do you think it influenced your playing?  In my Christmas Blog I described my first electric set-up, check it out!

Wasn’t I cute?  So, my first guitar was a no-name cheapo, but my first amp was a brown Fender Deluxe.  The guitar really stunk, but through that brown Fender the resultant tone was thick, rich, and downright delicious with the tremolo of the Gods!  I’m convinced that I was forever set down a tone-path.  To this very day, I feel as though the AMP is a much more important part of the electric guitar tone chain than the guitar is.

Okay fast forward to just a few months ago.  I came across a rare craigslist gem, a one owner Fender Mustang & Vibrolux being sold as a pair.  As it turns out, some 40-years back, these were bought by the seller’s parents with the intention that he would learn to play the guitar.  He never did.  Whadaheck?  A brand-new competition-stripe Mustang and a black-face Vibrolux.  Man, just touch that combo and it starts playing surf-rock tunes all by itself.  In 1967, any teen boy armed with that combination should have no problem dating the most popular girl in school.  Maybe that was the problem, just by HOLDING the guitar, he got so much action that he was left with no time to actually learn how to play the thing.  Yea, that musta been it.

Now, back to the question.  What was YOUR first electric guitar and amp?  How did it influence your playing?  Were you forever changed?  Please respond as a comment to this blog :-).  If ya got a pic of that first rig, email me (Vaughn@wgs4.com); we love that kinda thing around here!

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Bye for now, my "outside" blog recommendation this week is six string soul; check it out, they are “A boutique & vintage guitar blog for the conscious guitarist.”  How cool, sounds like our kind of folks!       http://www.sixstringsoul.com/

Amped, The Illustrated History Of The Worlds Greatest Amplifiers

Hi Ya all! Let’s travel back through time to about one year ago.  Ya game?  Okay then, go check out the blog on my ’59 Fender Super, an amp that, as far as Fender is concerned, never existed!  That amp was featured in Vintage Guitar Magazine in 2010; in December of that same year, with a new house and a baby on the way, I sold that once-in-a-lifetime sweetheart at an amp show.  Gosh I miss that ol gal. 

Ah, but true love never dies!  My old flame haunts me once again, from my bedside table no less.  You see, she is featured in Dave Hunter’s new book Amped, The Illustrated History Of The Worlds Greatest Amplifiers.

If you are an amp nut like I am, buy a copy of this book now.  Even if a filly from my own stable was not featured in the book, I’d still scoop up a copy in a heartbeat.  Such coolness is seldom displayed in book form.

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My "outside" blog recommendation this week is the Guitar Noise review of Amped:  Check it out!

http://www.guitarnoize.com/review-amped-the-illustrated-history-of-the-worlds-greatest-amplifiers-by-dave-hunter/

The Wonderful Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe Distortion Pedal

Fellow tone travelers I come to you in peace!  Like all of you, I’m a pedal lover from way back.  My first pedal was an MXR Phase 90 that I bought when I was about 15.  I walked into Lusk Music in Jackson, MN with about $80 in one-dollar bills and another twenty in change; I had literally saved up for months to buy that pedal!  Today, overdrive/distortion pedals are my main floor-bound addiction.  I just counted, and as of today, I own 27 "dirt" pedals; from simple tube-screamer types to complex modeling jobs to a vintage 60’s Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face.  Big, little, fat or small ... I’ve loved them all!   Most of my pedals come to me pre-loved from pawn shops, eBay, etc.  Recently, I actually acquired a brand-spankin new Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe distortion pedal that belongs to the coveted class of pedals broadly classified as "boutique".  In a nutshell, this gem is hand made right here in the US of A.  Just like the good old days ... just like that old 1970’s Phase 90!

With her sparkly candy-apple red finish, she’s a looker to be sure, but I don’t buy my pedals based on looks (like I said, I have an original Fuzz Face; could anything be more ugly?), it’s all about the sound baybe; and this thing is Sweeeeeeet!  I’m used to dirt pedals broadly falling into one of two categories:

1. A one-trick-pony that does what it does great, but doesn’t have a lot of versatility. And,
2. A jack-of-all-trades that does a lot, but does nothing in a spectacular manner.

The pinnacle deluxe is pretty feature-rich, so it would be fair to assume that it falls into the latter category, but that is so not the case.  In "vintage" mode with the mid-scooping "contour" control off and the tone & gain set fair-to-middlen, it delivers one of the tastiest TS-808 flavors you’ll ever hear.  Switch to "modern" mode, and crank up the contour control and it quickly goes into nu-metal land in a very sumptuous way, and everything in-between is a tone delicacy as well; it’s like a smorgasbord of fine caviar, no one tone stands out, they are all superb.  This pedal is famous for its ability to deliver Edward VanHalen’s "Brown Sound", and that it does deliver in spades.  Set to vintage mode, with a good bit of gain, the tone at high-noon and the contour barely cracked, it will nail classic David-lee Roth era VanHalen; and it’s superbly touch-sensitive too, cleaning up nicely with a reduction in picking intensity or a rolling back of the guitar’s volume control.  The added clean boost is simply the icing on this very delicious cake.  Tell ya what, I’m gonna shut up now and let my buddy Brad Sample put the Pinnacle Deluxe through some trial laps:

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This weeks "outside" blog recommendation this week is, as you may have guessed Wampler’s: Check it out! Be sure to sign up for their newsletter, too, as they give away a pedal every month to a newsletter subscriber!!! http://www.wamplerpedals.com/about/news-1.html

Walterweight slugfest: The Bugera V22 vs. The Jet City 20 (JCA2112RC)

Hi-diddly-ho fair tone-seeking neighbors!  This week I put to rest the saga of the low-buck current production amp series.  In the last two weeks I featured the popular Jet City 20 combo and the too awesome for its price Bugera V22.  Both of these amps are made in China, and that may understandably scare some buyers off.  However, for some folks, these amps may just be the only affordable option when it comes to acquiring an honest-to-goodness tube amp.  And besides, as we have proven in the last two blogs, these amps can quickly go from good to great with the simple addition of an appropriate WGS speaker, and then ... at least they are PART American made :-)

Speaking of speakers, I stuck with the stock speakers for the Bugera/Jet City comparison.  It just wouldn’t be fair to compare them any other way!   To hear the improvement a WGS speaker can make in these amps, check out my last two blogs:

The Jet City JCA112RC

The Bugera V22

Okay, I’m shuttin up for now.  Next week’s installment of this here blog will be heading into uncharted waters; should be interesting.  See ya then!

Roll the video!

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This weeks "outside" blog recommendation features a guitar I didn’t even know existed, a very cool (and very Jackson-esque) guitar by Schon; and yes, that is Neil Schon ofJourney fame.  Check it out!

http://www.guitaromnivore.com/2010/08/super-rare-schon-guitar.html

The Jet City 20(JCA2112RC) by Soldano; She's Cheap & Loves to get Dirty

This week I'm comin at cha with another low-buck current production tube amp review.  Last week it was the Bugera V22, this week it's the very popular Jet City 20, this one is the JCA2112RC 1x12 combo with real spring reverb.  It's a cool amp to be sure, and the build quality actually appears to be quite good. However, if ever there was an amp crying out for a speaker upgrade, this is the one!  First, a big ol Vaughn-style review of the amp:

Now, let's see how she opens up with a WGS Retro 30:

All together now: "wow".  Right?  Looks like the Ret30 is just what the (amp) Dr. ordered for this nice lil high-gain "rock" amp!

In my next blog, I'll pit the Jet City against the Bugera V22.  It'll be a grudge-match to the death, only one amp will emerge victorious (imagine that last part in a Pro-wrestling voice-over).

See ya then :-)

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This weeks "outside" blog recommendation is the Jet City Amp blog ... good stuff check it out!

http://www.jetcityamplification.com/news/

About Vaughn Skow... what I am... what I am not...what Kindness Is...

Hey Tone-friends!  This is a rare mid-blog update.  I received a comment on last week’s blog from a fellow who shall remain unnamed.  I will paraphrase his comments (cleaned up a little and shortened):

“What a crappy demo.  I’ve bought a couple of WGS speakers, but if I’d heard Vaughn play that crap first, I never would have.  His playing sucks.”

I deleted his comment; we simply don’t tolerate rude, unkind, and downright mean folks around here.  I try to make it clear what my speaker demos are, and are not.  But in case you missed it:

They are NOT:

• Guitar playing show-off demonstrations

They are:

• Speaker tone demonstrations

I hope that’s clear.  As I’ve stated often: If ya wanta hear someone play some 80’s hair metal solo “just like the record” ... ya ain’t gonna get it from me.

Personally, what I am not:

A smokin’ hot super-fast showy guitar burner

I am:

• A 25+ year veteran Nashville engineer, producer, vocalist and guitarist with hundreds of credits and thousands of live shows under my belt. Got lotsa awards, too.
• A professor of audio engineering and acoustics, with over 10 years in that particular saddle.
• A worship leader at a fairly large church.

I’ve made my living in the music biz my entire life (and that’s pretty long).  Not many can say that.

Okay, I’m puttin’ the ole soap box away.  I‘ll shut up now.  See ya in a few days; gonna demo the popularJet City JCA 2112RC.  So, don’t complain about my playing ... that’s NOT what it’s about.

Bugera V22 Amp - Great Tone at a Great Price!

Hey fellow guitar tone addicts!  This week I get to review the Bugera V22 all tube amp.  This inexpensive lil amp has been really impressing me, maybe you’ll be impressed, too!  I’ll also feature a speaker shootout between the V22’s stock speaker and the WGS Blackhawk.  Truth is, the V22 sounds so great that I’m not sure the Blackhawk will make that big an improvement.  Only one way to tell ... let the demo begin!  This vid starts out with a thorough tone demo of the V22, then the speaker shootout. 

Once again, the short answer is: YES!  The Blackhawk did provide a bigger, more complex tone along with a fair increase in volume, as seen on the SPL meter.  As always, there was no trickery involved; just a passive switch between the speakers and identical mics in identical positions at identical levels.  Next week, I will be featuring another very popular low-buck tube amp: the Jet City/Soldano 20.  We’ll also see how the Jet City likes the WGS Retro 30.  See ya then!

Now, my fav blog of the week is the Vintage Amps Forum; I love this blog! Check it out! http://vintageamps.com/

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Note: I just checked comments and feel I need to add this: If you leave comments that simply state that my playing stinks, or use foul language ... We'll delete them.  I always make it clear that my demos are speaker tone demos ... NOT guitar playing show-off demos ... plus, well, we WGS folks ain't nothing if we ain't NICE :-)

WGS Blackhawk Alnico Speaker in a Tweed Fender Deluxe Amp

Hey fellow toneaholics!  This week I get back to some long awaited (hopefully) speaker comparison videos.  I’ve been just dying to try a Blackhawk in my ol’ tweed Deluxe; she’s a Hurricane Katrina survivor, and when she found her way to me a few years back, the original speaker was long gone.  The electronics had been completely re-worked to utter perfection by Mike Clark, but the speaker (from a 69 Deluxe Reverb) just wasn’t tripping my trigger.  So, I tried literally dozens of speakers and finally settled on a Modern Fender-branded Alnico model.  It didn’t offer much clean headroom, and seriously lacked bottom end, but it was uber-sweet.  So, the amp got a fair amount of recording time, but I’ve never taken her out to gig, because she just couldn’t keep up with a full band.  It’s always been my dream to turn the old gal into a gigable amp; Could it be that the Blackhawk might do the trick?  Let’s find out!  This L-O-N-G video includes the set-up, how those wonderful Burriss DC Cabs do their thing, and (at about nine minutes in) the actual speaker shootout between the Blackhawk and the Fender Alnico (which, by the way is about the same price as the Blackhawk). Roll the Video!

So, the short answer is: YES ... she is now a gigable amp(whoo-whoo)!  I hope you noticed the INSANE increase in volume, as seen on the SPL meter.  There was no trickery involved; just a passive switch between the speakers and identical mics in identical positions at identical levels.  Holy cow, I can’t wait to take the little gal to a gig now!  Truth be told, the old girl looks cool post-Katrina ... doncha think?

See ya next week, here is the mic setup I employed:

Now, my fav site of the week is Clark Amplification, without Mike’s amp wizardry, the ol’ Deluxe would have died in Katrina! check out: http://www.clarkamplification.com/services.html

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WGS Custom-Shop Speakers Looking Marvelous!

Wow, wow, and wow!  First off, thanks to all of you who chirped in to congratulate the custom speaker winners.  That shows some real class.  I can only imagine that you ALL really hoped to win a free custom speaker, but yet there were almost no cases of sour grapes, just gracious congratulations all around.  That’s awesome.  Okay, so, this blog was going to highlight the results of a speaker shootout I just did with my ’59 tweed Deluxe; which left me saying "wow" ... but ... then I received pics from Dean of the first "WGS Custom Shop" speakers as they near completion.  Once again, the only word to describe these speakers is "wow".  Man, these puppies are SERRIOUSLY living up to the name "Custom".  I could wax on forever, but in this case a few pictures are worth several thousand of this writer’s words.  So, enjoy!

See ya next week.  The tweed Deluxe shootout is gonna blow your mind; so ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

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My featured blog this week is the official Fender blog … hey I’m a Fender guy :-) Check it out!

http://www.fender.com/blog/

*** 3/24/2012 Update: Dean just sent me a pic of the final speakers ... as he put it "my babies are ready to leave the nest".  Here they are ya all, the first WGS Custom shop speakers!