I did a 180 on a lot of stuff I had. Sold a lot of gear, and bought a lot of new gear. Gone is the Carvin half stack, the Metropolous head, and the ’74 Twin Reverb. They’ve all served me well, but they were getting little to no use anymore. It seemed like a good time for a change as I like to experiment with tone, and I am always in search of the elusive Holy Grail of guitar sound.

The Carvin and the Twin were basically the same amp – one in combo form and one in half stack form. So to get rid of one was an easy decision. I actually wasn’t planning on it, but the right trade on craigslist just appeared and I couldn’t pass it up. A guy was looking to trade his Marshall JCM 900 High Gain Mark III 2500 head and a boutique 212 cabinet loaded with Celestion Centurys for a Twin. The Marshall was pretty beat up (logo scratched off the faceplate, bad re-Tolexing job). But I added it all up and it seemed that if I added all the parts together, his rig was worth a coupla dollars more than mine. Not by much, but enough that it made it worth trying out a Marshall head again for the first time since 1996. Well, I fell in love with the amp. I had found the tone I had in the old days. Thick, creamy distortion, super high gain with low noise. You think I’d be satisfied finally, right?

Wrong. I only had one drawback in the ’90s: I had no clean sound. Not that I cared. I let the other guy do all the clean stuff. We did originals, so if I didn’t write any clean parts, I didn’t have to play them. FFWD> today. I’m in a cover band, doing Dance and R&B music as well as rocking. Add to that the fact that I’ve become “the clean guy” in the band. I need a channel switching head!

So I decide to sell the Carvin X100B half stack. I mean, if I get a channel switching head, it’ll cover the ground of the X100B PLUS some, right? So I advertise it, and end up trading it for a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier head. Again, the trade seemed to financially be in my favor. Plus it was channel switching. I plugged it in and used it for 10 minutes. Sorry – I hate Mesas. Brittle, Metallica distortion. Buzzed like a beehive I just smacked with a stick. When I came out of the rehearsal room, my wife asked if I were selling it. I said I was, and she said, “good, because THAT one makes my teeth hurt”. So I put it on eBay and sold it for $300 more than I was asking for the Carvin half stack.

After researching high-gain, channel switching amps, I came to the conclusion that while I used to be a metal player back in the ’90s and still wanted a high-gain tone, the new trend of Mesas, Bogners, Engls, and modeling amps actually offended me tonally. I needed something with classic midrange but lots of gain, like my old JCM 800 with the mods… like my JCM 900 head. I happened upon a YouTube video of the Carvin Legacy I half stack. And the gain side seemed perfect. With the reviewer’s amp gain at 5, he had a thick, chunky drive that sounded perfect. I was sold. I won a NOS head on eBay and bought a used slant 412 from Guitar Center.

The Legacy is a great sounding amp. I use it at practice with an original project I’m writing with. It’s almost perfect. Almost. The clean sound it immaculate. Rich but clear. All the right frequencies were dialed into the 3-band EQ. And the drive sound was good, too. The only thing I found was that it STILL leaned a little towards that scooped tone that seems to be the trend. Not a lot, though – not enough to get a buzzy, raspy tone. It’s actually still musical. Just not quite as much “kick in the gut” as I like. So anyway, it was a wise purchase that I won’t be getting rid of any time soon.

But I’m still starving to use that JCM 900 Mark III. I considered a two-amp setup so I could have a clean sound, but some of the places I play are so small, ONE amp tends to be a bit too much. I had a little money left over on the Legacy purchase, so I offed the Metropolous head as well. The Metro was the closest I had gotten to my old tone prior to the Mark III, but again – only single channel. Also, once compared to the Marshall, it was nasal, had too much gain, and frankly didn’t sound as good. I eBayed that and bought the JCM 900 Dual Reverb 100w head. I had never played or heard one, but figured it HAD to be close to the Mark III. I was right. Not as much gain as the Mark III, but the same tone. Open, uncompressed thud. Singing quality to the mids. Marshalls are bright amps, but easily tamed by reducing the treble and presence. I got the 1960a cab to go with it for the matching half stack look, but I still prefer the head through the boutique 212 I got with the Metropoulos head, and is probably how I’ll most often use it.

So now I have no Metropoulos, no X100B half stack, and no Twin Reverb. But in their places, I’ve placed a Marshall JCM900 4100 Dual Reverb half stack, a Marshall JCM900 Mark III head and 212, and a Carvin Legacy half stack. Honestly, I think I made out fine considering I’ve been using leftover money to play with some new pedals, get some cables, get odds and ends for live performance, and get some computer parts for my wife. I’ve done YouTube video tests on all the amps (http://www.youtube.com/user/paulfkuntz) in case you want to hear them. I will warn you that I played a couple of them so loud, the sound pressure compressed the mic of the camera heavily. But hey, if you have a Marshall, it’s GOTTA be turned up loud, right?

Anyway, the tonequest may not be over, but it sure is taking a well-deserved break. I haven’t done that much gear trading in a month ever before, and I think it’s time to get to know my new toys better.

I started this project around the end of October this year. I got a broken Kitty Hawk M1 head for a song. The head had definitely seen better days; the front panel was missing (I still wish that had been there, as it had the Kitty Hawk nameplate on it that I would still like to put on the new amp). The back panel was also missing, and the tolex was torn up. Someone’s name was painted on the side, and the knobs were mismatched after a few repairs.

Speaking of those repairs, when I looked at the chassis, I noticed the previous repairman’s work to be smart solutions, but not the best soldering in the world. So I touched some of them up. The BIG thing was I was told the output transformer was shot, and as a result, the drive channel didn’t work properly. So I knew this may get expensive. But I was in it to win it now, so I decided to get started.

First step was fire it up. Well, they were right about the drive channel. Muddy, undefined, and the tone controls did NOT do what they were supposed to. So I replaced the tubes and tweaked inside a bit. The drive channel, while no Marshall, is now a useable blues tone.

Next was the aesthetics. I took the whole thing apart and cleaned the faceplate, which surprisingly restored nicely with just a little detergent and some light scrubbing. None of the lettering wore off, either. I ordered some old Fender-style knobs from Amplified Parts, and fashioned myself a speaker plug and wire that would run to the soon-to-be-determined speaker selection for the combo.

Now to decide on the appropriate speaker. I still had my original 1963 Fender Brown Deluxe 112 cabinet in the attic, so I grabbed it and started pulling speakers from every other amp I own. I tried V30s, WGS, Centurys, Carvin, you name it. What I found was the early 80s Carvin speakers had the best tone with this head. But two problems: these are the early 80s models, which are no longer made the same way, and they’re only 70-watt speakers. This amp is 100 watts, and I need a single speaker that’ll handle that load.

So I tossed all the original ideas and took a gamble on what I read a lot about online: The Eminence Swamp Thang. It’s funny – no matter WHAT video you watch of gear, it NEVER sounds good. So there’s no way of knowing for sure until you have it right in front of you. What the hey – it’s only $90. So I gave it a try. Well, it sounded HUGE in this setup. Definitely the keeper. Good choice.

So now all I have to do is wait on the amp cabinet I ordered from Mather Cabs in Nashville. These guys do GREAT work, and I’m always impressed by their build quality. But for this, I had a tricky job: I had to design this cabinet. Not that the concept was hard, but I had to take measurements and create a blueprint on something where I don’t even understand physical and tonal tolerances. It was a crap shoot. I measured, drew, re-measured, drew again, and repeated this process about 50 times. This head was far deeper than the 1963 Brown deluxe chassis, and also much taller. the width was the same, however, so I used that cabinet to start my design. I decided on a 12″ deep design because the deeper the cab, the deeper the bass, and I know 112 combos have a terrible reputation as being too heavy on the midrange with no bottom end due to design. This is why most guys with combos opt for 212 designs.  I also made it taller than necessary – but only so tall as to not start to make it look like a vertical stack. I just maxed out what I considered the vertical measurement to be in the hopes of adding more space in the cabinet for speaker resonance. After fighting with design characteristics, I chose open-back. Then I went back and re-measured everything before sending everything to Mather.

After 6 weeks, I got my cabinet. It was beautiful. I looked at it for a while before deciding to slip the chassis into it and add the speaker. I screwed the speaker into the baffle and tried to lower the chassis in. But it was too tall! I measured Mather’s opening and checked my notes. They were identical. How could this be? Oh well. I know my way around wood, so I needed to modify this slightly to make it work. The error in measurement was mine, and Mather did an amazing job getting my measurements precise. So I lowered the inside cleats by 1/8″, and cut 1/8″ off the supports. it still stuck heavily. What did I do wrong? I didn’t want to start chopping any more until I understood the problem.

I stared at the chassis for a good half hour. Got out my tape measure. My original measurements should be right! Now I’m really confused. Then I saw it – the faceplate extended 1/8″ below the chassis AND 1/8″ above the chassis. Wow…. OK. So why did this work in the head cabinet? Oh yeah – the head slid out through the front, not the rear! So I need to slide the head through the FRONT of this cabinet. I removed the speaker baffle and it slid in from the front without issue. I bolted it down and went to put the speaker baffle back in when I discovered the grillcloth had a tear in it right along the corner of the baffle – obviously a bonehead FedEx handling job. The amp was packed well, but upon inspection of the box, there was a huge dent in the corner where that area of the cabinet would have rested.

Being from a small town with limited supplies, I did what any type-A guy would do. I went out and bought some burlap to get me through the couple days until I could order a replacement grillcloth. I installed the burlap and went to put the baffle back in. But I’m sure you know the story now. The baffle rests against the chassis faceplate, so it’s 1/4″ too tall. I finally concede to my stupidity and I email Mather with my predicament. His response came within the hour: he’s sorry we hit the snag, and he’s sending me a replacement baffle with the new dimensions – with new grillcloth… for free. Man, I Love that place…

So I peeled back the burlap, rough cut a 1/4″ slice off the bottom, and replaced the burlap. I popped the speaker back in, slid the baffle in, and HA! New problem! I was able to get all the screws to the baffle back in except one… the top right screw (as the screws are on the inside) is obscured by the oversized output transformer on this beast. I could sneak a stubby screwdriver around in there, but it would mean raking my knuckles agains the transformer each time.

So I did it, and winced with each turn….

And it’s done! I’ll have to repeat the final step when the new baffle comes, but it’s worth it. The amp looks like a million bucks and SOUNDS like a million bucks. Best sounding 112 combo I’ve ever owned. In fact, it sounds as good as my Dr. Z Prescription 212 combo. And it’s louder. This was one fun build process. I learned a lot, and it came out amazing. For a simple $800 investment, I have an amazing amp that I could sell for no loss (I doubt I could make a profit, but it’s worth every penny of the $800). Of course, this wasn’t built to sell – it was built to play. So now I’ll have to get a custom roadcase built for it, and I’ll be able to use this bugger live.

Project: Complete

I got a 1983 MusicMan 112RD 50. Picked it up in a trade. Original everything, down to the speaker and tubes (both of which I replaced and packed away). It currently hass JJ tubes and a Weber Chicago speaker. You can read more about it on my gear page for amplifiers.

Now, coming shortly, there will be my review of a new KingBee ’80s-style SuperStrat that is being built to my exact specs for a versatile ’80s rock guitar. But I wanted a one-trick pony, too. One that will do one thing very well – guitar rock.

Enter the PK San Dimas knockoff – The Dan. One pickup, one knob, one trem. The only things necessary for the true ’80s rock/metal enthusiast. I did add a Drop D tuner, but that’s just to cover some of the drop-tuned covers we do. All black and chrome just like the coolest of the ’80s axes. I did NOT add a neck pickup to this one (a true San Dimas clone would have a neck pickup), but  opted for the custom shop style of the single bridge pickup (Van Halen, DiMartini, etc.). It’s one fun guitar, and it plays perfectly.

If anyone wanted one built, this baby would set them back about $900 – not a bad deal for a guitar that Charvel would charge you the same for their “Made in Japan” production line issues.

Eminence Swamp Thang

The response is natural, the frequency resonance is full but not without highs, and the efficiency pulls the real power of the amp out. It’s not quite as meaty as my 4×12 Carvin cabinet, or my custom 4×12 with V30s in it, but for a 1×12, it has the most fatbottom I’m gonna get, and I’m thrilled tht it doesn’t lose the presence in the process. I purposely tested all phases of its tone, from clean to high gain, with a Tele. My thought process is that if the high gain tones are thick with a Tete bridge pickup, a rock guitar with humbuckers should be huge. Tele bridge pickups are not known for huge fat bottom end, so this test is a true response reading for the capabilities of this future amp in a live setting with me at the helm.

In this video, you can see that I’ve added new, matching, vintage Fender style knobs. It gives it a nice boutique look – if you can get past the broken head cabinet it’s currently in. The new cabinet from Mather should be here in about a month, so stay tuned for the completed rig (prior to sending it off to the shop for the transformer and potentiometer overhaul in early 2012) by the end of 2011!