Wow, that was a day.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
Let's see... last night this dude out in west Texas IMed me. I've sorta known him for years, and we know a lot of the same people out there, and I kept running into him when I was on the road with the band. His son plays guitar in a band and he has like half a dozen broken down guitar amps just sitting around, gathering dust and getting in the way. He wants me to rewire one of the cheesy Fender Twin Reverb reissue amps so it's more like the real thing they made back in the 60s. Cool, I can do that. His son will be going on tour soon, and a trip to Oklahoma is in the schedule, so he can drop off the amp on his way to the gig, then pick it up the next time he comes through.
Today I was chatting with my old buddy from music school, and we got to talking about amps and he up and PayPals me several hundred dollars to get started on his custom amp! I was elated at this turn of events, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into this project. I stayed awake all night working up an order from Hoffman Amps: a couple hundred dollars worth of capacitors, resistors, tube sockets, turrets and eyelets and more caps and more resistors. Tomorrow (er, later today) I'll shop around for the best deal on some Hammond transformers for his amp.
No, not those Transformers... These don't turn into giant killer robots or anything, they just transform the 117 volts coming out of the wall socket into the 450 volts that the amp needs to operate, and another transformer takes the high voltage signals from the power tubes and and turns it into the low voltage signal to drive the speaker.
For those of you who understand this sort of thing... Well, okay, Stompbox is the only one who reads this and knows what the fuck I'm talking about... in fact, he understands this stuff better than I do... This amp is going to use a pair of 6L6s, which can be tweaked in an ultralinear circuit to put out 65 watts of clean power, but I'm going to build a highly inefficient amp. It'll be cathode biased, which sounds sweeter but isn't as loud, and I'll use a tube rectifier instead of diodes to sweeten it up even further and give it some sag (Neil Young has the most sag in the world). As if this wasn't enough, I'm considering including a pentode/triode switch for the power tubes, which will knock the wattage down even further. So Instead of the usual 40 or 50 watts that you see with a pair of 6L6s, this thing could potentially go all the way down to... 10 watts? 15? I dunno, but this should be interesting! The point of going for lower wattage is to make the amp "give up" and distort in a very musical fashion at less than ear shattering volume levels. I described this to Stompbox and he called this amp a "dirtbomb" because it'll sound really gritty and dirty. Hell, I might stick with that name if it seems to fit. We'll see.
I'm planning to make the cabinet for the amp out of western red cedar, because that wood resonates nicely. Guitars are made out of this stuff, so you know it'll sound better than plywood, right? My friend has other amps he can take to clubs or whatever, this custom amp I'm building will most likely stay at home or be used in the studio.
Today I was chatting with my old buddy from music school, and we got to talking about amps and he up and PayPals me several hundred dollars to get started on his custom amp! I was elated at this turn of events, and I can't wait to sink my teeth into this project. I stayed awake all night working up an order from Hoffman Amps: a couple hundred dollars worth of capacitors, resistors, tube sockets, turrets and eyelets and more caps and more resistors. Tomorrow (er, later today) I'll shop around for the best deal on some Hammond transformers for his amp.
No, not those Transformers... These don't turn into giant killer robots or anything, they just transform the 117 volts coming out of the wall socket into the 450 volts that the amp needs to operate, and another transformer takes the high voltage signals from the power tubes and and turns it into the low voltage signal to drive the speaker.
For those of you who understand this sort of thing... Well, okay, Stompbox is the only one who reads this and knows what the fuck I'm talking about... in fact, he understands this stuff better than I do... This amp is going to use a pair of 6L6s, which can be tweaked in an ultralinear circuit to put out 65 watts of clean power, but I'm going to build a highly inefficient amp. It'll be cathode biased, which sounds sweeter but isn't as loud, and I'll use a tube rectifier instead of diodes to sweeten it up even further and give it some sag (Neil Young has the most sag in the world). As if this wasn't enough, I'm considering including a pentode/triode switch for the power tubes, which will knock the wattage down even further. So Instead of the usual 40 or 50 watts that you see with a pair of 6L6s, this thing could potentially go all the way down to... 10 watts? 15? I dunno, but this should be interesting! The point of going for lower wattage is to make the amp "give up" and distort in a very musical fashion at less than ear shattering volume levels. I described this to Stompbox and he called this amp a "dirtbomb" because it'll sound really gritty and dirty. Hell, I might stick with that name if it seems to fit. We'll see.
I'm planning to make the cabinet for the amp out of western red cedar, because that wood resonates nicely. Guitars are made out of this stuff, so you know it'll sound better than plywood, right? My friend has other amps he can take to clubs or whatever, this custom amp I'm building will most likely stay at home or be used in the studio.
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
I'm talking about all this amplifier stuff because it's easier than talking about my visit to the hospital today. My aunt had her left knee replaced yesterday morning, so she's all doped up but still in misery, though you could hardly tell because she's the kind of person who never complains: She wouldn't say "shit" if she had a mouth full.
So Dad and I are hanging around in her hospital room, talking about her cats & dogs when she says she feels nauseous. We get her the little plastic basin that seems to be standard equipment in every hospital room, but instead of getting sick, her eyes roll back in her head and she stops breathing. And she stays like that. And Dad starts shaking her shoulders and calling her name. And my cousin is down in her mom's face, yelling at her to breathe, then slapping her cheek. And I'm running out into the hallway to see where the fuck that nurse is already goddammit. I spotted the nurse and said "We need help." I ran back into the room as my aunt gasped and started breathing again. I was so pumped up with adrenaline that it was a minute or two before I realized I'd taken a fighting stance... like what? I'm gonna kick the nurse's ass or something?
Thoroughly frazzled, I stood outside the room and watched medical people run in and out. Nobody had any explanation for the incident, but they switched her IV to a different pain medication. When I was satisfied that she wasn't going to croak, I shagged ass for the parking lot and sucked down about three Marlboros. My dad came out and joined me after a few minutes, and we talked a little about what'd happened. He was so calm, even though he said, "That scared the shit out of me." He just has this easy going manner about him, like nothing ever really phases him and he just takes it all in stride. (To this he'd say, "Well, what else are ya gonna do?")
We sat in the truck for a while, talking and smoking, then went back up to the room. Aunt Pat was awake and had no memory of the incident, which is probably just as well.
Dad and I hung out for a while longer, then I drove us home.
So Dad and I are hanging around in her hospital room, talking about her cats & dogs when she says she feels nauseous. We get her the little plastic basin that seems to be standard equipment in every hospital room, but instead of getting sick, her eyes roll back in her head and she stops breathing. And she stays like that. And Dad starts shaking her shoulders and calling her name. And my cousin is down in her mom's face, yelling at her to breathe, then slapping her cheek. And I'm running out into the hallway to see where the fuck that nurse is already goddammit. I spotted the nurse and said "We need help." I ran back into the room as my aunt gasped and started breathing again. I was so pumped up with adrenaline that it was a minute or two before I realized I'd taken a fighting stance... like what? I'm gonna kick the nurse's ass or something?
Thoroughly frazzled, I stood outside the room and watched medical people run in and out. Nobody had any explanation for the incident, but they switched her IV to a different pain medication. When I was satisfied that she wasn't going to croak, I shagged ass for the parking lot and sucked down about three Marlboros. My dad came out and joined me after a few minutes, and we talked a little about what'd happened. He was so calm, even though he said, "That scared the shit out of me." He just has this easy going manner about him, like nothing ever really phases him and he just takes it all in stride. (To this he'd say, "Well, what else are ya gonna do?")
We sat in the truck for a while, talking and smoking, then went back up to the room. Aunt Pat was awake and had no memory of the incident, which is probably just as well.
Dad and I hung out for a while longer, then I drove us home.
VIEW 13 of 13 COMMENTS
The ZRX rocker set up is the only one I've seen like it. The cams are still directly over the valves, they just have the rocker's head between themselves and the shims. I can see this set-up helping to avoid tossing shims since there's only downward force applied, no linear. It's not as simple (manufacturing-wise) as shim under bucket nor as sturdy, but it's a dream as far as doing adjustments. having done 2 previous adjustments I'm betting I can knock it out in 2 hours. I'm dreading the valve situation on the R1 though. I guess the new 07's finally gave up on 5 valves per cylinder and went back to 4. It's unreal how many wires, hoses and do-hickeys are packed on top of the engine. & I've never had a bike with downdraft induction before. I'm assuming it's all got to come off.