That looks so bad ass. I knew a jerk in high school who had one of those from his dad. So cool but dude thrashed it. Never seen one in white like this.BrendanK wrote: Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:47 pm Just received an Ovation Preacher. I've been wanting a guitar that splits the pickups into stereo outs for a while, and this thing is fantastic.
https://reverb.com/item/59065446-1979-o ... cher-whiteI have it split into an old Garnet Amp (Princeton Reverb-ish) and a Bassman Ten, and I am loving it!
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
3421962 Brownface Fender Deluxe (pics below)
Sadly I paid way too fucking much for this. Not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn't walk away. Anyway, I finally cracked it open and fired it up today and...it needs a recap, duh. It's fucking 61 years olde, and appears to be all original. Worst electolytic caps I've ever seen, so I didn't run it too hard. It sounds like an amp, but I'm not gonna make any kind of declaration till I've had a chance to service it, which won't happen any time soon. It's in great shape for it's age. Missing the trem footswitch, a few screws on the back panels, and has an extra hole presumably from a different carying handle. Also suspiciously absent is the standard issue nicotine coating of the era.
Plan is, when budget recovers from overspend on this, order F&T filter caps, and Sprague electrolytics for the inside, and probably Solen's for the rest. I've had good luck with Solen's in other projects, and am not about to go down the cap tone rabbit hole. I'll test the original blue molded apex caps and keep whatever's not leaky, but the 1uF caps are definitely getting swapped out. Will probably replace PSU resistors and add 1ohm shunts to output toobs too...and 3 prong power and elimination of death cap, ground switch...normal safety stuff...or I freeze it in carbonite and sell it in 20 years to pay off my house. Anyway, enough talking here's pics.
oooh
aaahhh
perty
crusty
tres olde
so trans (1962 code)
very former (1960 code)
intact paper (May 1962 stamp)
Sadly I paid way too fucking much for this. Not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn't walk away. Anyway, I finally cracked it open and fired it up today and...it needs a recap, duh. It's fucking 61 years olde, and appears to be all original. Worst electolytic caps I've ever seen, so I didn't run it too hard. It sounds like an amp, but I'm not gonna make any kind of declaration till I've had a chance to service it, which won't happen any time soon. It's in great shape for it's age. Missing the trem footswitch, a few screws on the back panels, and has an extra hole presumably from a different carying handle. Also suspiciously absent is the standard issue nicotine coating of the era.
Plan is, when budget recovers from overspend on this, order F&T filter caps, and Sprague electrolytics for the inside, and probably Solen's for the rest. I've had good luck with Solen's in other projects, and am not about to go down the cap tone rabbit hole. I'll test the original blue molded apex caps and keep whatever's not leaky, but the 1uF caps are definitely getting swapped out. Will probably replace PSU resistors and add 1ohm shunts to output toobs too...and 3 prong power and elimination of death cap, ground switch...normal safety stuff...or I freeze it in carbonite and sell it in 20 years to pay off my house. Anyway, enough talking here's pics.
oooh
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
343In high school I silk screened a T-Shirt with that Astron Capacitor logo on it. It was red with black logo and was my favorite shirt for like 10 years. I need another one. I also made a yellow shirt with the old Zenith lightning logo on it and it rulled as well.thecr4ne wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 8:04 pm 1962 Brownface Fender Deluxe (pics below)
Sadly I paid way too fucking much for this. Not sure what I was thinking, but I couldn't walk away. Anyway, I finally cracked it open and fired it up today and...it needs a recap, duh. It's fucking 61 years olde, and appears to be all original. Worst electolytic caps I've ever seen, so I didn't run it too hard. It sounds like an amp, but I'm not gonna make any kind of declaration till I've had a chance to service it, which won't happen any time soon. It's in great shape for it's age. Missing the trem footswitch, a few screws on the back panels, and has an extra hole presumably from a different carying handle. Also suspiciously absent is the standard issue nicotine coating of the era.
Plan is, when budget recovers from overspend on this, order F&T filter caps, and Sprague electrolytics for the inside, and probably Solen's for the rest. I've had good luck with Solen's in other projects, and am not about to go down the cap tone rabbit hole. I'll test the original blue molded apex caps and keep whatever's not leaky, but the 1uF caps are definitely getting swapped out. Will probably replace PSU resistors and add 1ohm shunts to output toobs too...and 3 prong power and elimination of death cap, ground switch...normal safety stuff...or I freeze it in carbonite and sell it in 20 years to pay off my house. Anyway, enough talking here's pics.
ooohaaahhhpertycrustytres oldeso trans (1962 code)very former (1960 code)intact paper (May 1962 stamp)
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
344yeah don't lose sleep - even for the crazy prices right now those kinds of things always go up. Fix that thing up, keep the OG parts for the nerds, and enjoy it - it'll be fun.
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
346I bought a couple of prosumer grade hardware compressors, watch out.
FMR RNLA: sounds cool, gets extremely squash-y. I can see it being great on a drum bus, it does have a slightly 'thicker' sound to it than I remember hearing out of my old RNC. It can go pretty fast, and the log release is a cool feature. Seems like a useful box. I have a little stereo broadcast mixer that I want to set up as a kind of cheap version of an overstayer modular channel, and I can see this working well for that.
Joemeek C2: I've been weirdly obsessed with joemeek stuff lately and really wanted to grab one of the SC2 stereo comps with the big VU and the 2ru case. But, I did some digging around and read a few posts from Ted Fletcher saying that the half-rack C2 was (in his opinion) "the one." Allegedly it sounds identical to the original S2 V1.05 that people love, but with a better implemented output volume control. These never sold well, they didn't make many, and consequently they seem to go for about 1/3 what the big ones cost used. I saw two for sale on a UK site and figured what the hell. There were a few shipping hiccups and deadly import charges, but they still wound up being pretty affordable. They feel solid, I was surprised to see that they're made in the UK, and they sound pretty cool. At their extreme, they aren't nearly as aggressive as the RNLA, but they're much, much more coloured sounding. They add some really pleasant harmonic content to the high end even when they're not really compressing much which tracks with my memory of the other joemeek stuff I've used. I think they'll be great as tracking comps on stereo drum mic pairs and electric guitars.
FMR RNLA: sounds cool, gets extremely squash-y. I can see it being great on a drum bus, it does have a slightly 'thicker' sound to it than I remember hearing out of my old RNC. It can go pretty fast, and the log release is a cool feature. Seems like a useful box. I have a little stereo broadcast mixer that I want to set up as a kind of cheap version of an overstayer modular channel, and I can see this working well for that.
Joemeek C2: I've been weirdly obsessed with joemeek stuff lately and really wanted to grab one of the SC2 stereo comps with the big VU and the 2ru case. But, I did some digging around and read a few posts from Ted Fletcher saying that the half-rack C2 was (in his opinion) "the one." Allegedly it sounds identical to the original S2 V1.05 that people love, but with a better implemented output volume control. These never sold well, they didn't make many, and consequently they seem to go for about 1/3 what the big ones cost used. I saw two for sale on a UK site and figured what the hell. There were a few shipping hiccups and deadly import charges, but they still wound up being pretty affordable. They feel solid, I was surprised to see that they're made in the UK, and they sound pretty cool. At their extreme, they aren't nearly as aggressive as the RNLA, but they're much, much more coloured sounding. They add some really pleasant harmonic content to the high end even when they're not really compressing much which tracks with my memory of the other joemeek stuff I've used. I think they'll be great as tracking comps on stereo drum mic pairs and electric guitars.
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
347If my memory is correct the channel stripe they made had a Joemeek C2 built in. I had both a very long time ago, however the past clouds memories so I could be wrong.mdc wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 3:32 pm I bought a couple of prosumer grade hardware compressors, watch out.
FMR RNLA: sounds cool, gets extremely squash-y. I can see it being great on a drum bus, it does have a slightly 'thicker' sound to it than I remember hearing out of my old RNC. It can go pretty fast, and the log release is a cool feature. Seems like a useful box. I have a little stereo broadcast mixer that I want to set up as a kind of cheap version of an overstayer modular channel, and I can see this working well for that.
Joemeek C2: I've been weirdly obsessed with joemeek stuff lately and really wanted to grab one of the SC2 stereo comps with the big VU and the 2ru case. But, I did some digging around and read a few posts from Ted Fletcher saying that the half-rack C2 was (in his opinion) "the one." Allegedly it sounds identical to the original S2 V1.05 that people love, but with a better implemented output volume control. These never sold well, they didn't make many, and consequently they seem to go for about 1/3 what the big ones cost used. I saw two for sale on a UK site and figured what the hell. There were a few shipping hiccups and deadly import charges, but they still wound up being pretty affordable. They feel solid, I was surprised to see that they're made in the UK, and they sound pretty cool. At their extreme, they aren't nearly as aggressive as the RNLA, but they're much, much more coloured sounding. They add some really pleasant harmonic content to the high end even when they're not really compressing much which tracks with my memory of the other joemeek stuff I've used. I think they'll be great as tracking comps on stereo drum mic pairs and electric guitars.
"There's a felling I get when I look to the west"
"When the meaningful words. When they cease to function. When there's nothing to say."
"When the meaningful words. When they cease to function. When there's nothing to say."
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
348I got a little tipsy the other night and ordered a couple of BA512 opamps to drop into my Warm Audio WA-412 pre. They are based on the BA440 Neve design that was made for BBC consoles. I will say that they sound a little better to my ears than the stock API style these come with though the stock aren't bad in any real way). They are slightly less bumpy in the 1-2K ish range, and therefore a re just a smidge more smooth and pleasing to me. Worth $50 each? probably not, But now I have flavors. It is equivalent to how the BB mod on a Sytek is dif from the stock ch. Just a tiny bit softer around the edges.
Pretty cool. I wish I could find a kit of these in a 2520 style, I'd just roll my own.
Pretty cool. I wish I could find a kit of these in a 2520 style, I'd just roll my own.
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
349(off-topic)
My hit/miss ratio on buying things while drunk is actually pretty good. Typically, it's stuff I really want but might have some trouble justifying the cost or having to explain it to my wife. Anyway, very few regrets on these purchases...!
jason (he/him/his) from volo (illinois)
Re: Micro-reviews of Gear You Just Bought
350I would say the same. It's usually stuff i'm curious enough to buy but just haven't pulled the trigger on. I had saved up a grand to buy a new guitar and couldn't decide what to buy. Languished on the decision for like a year, then, BOOM.... Tequilla!!! And now I have a Guild that I love.jfv wrote: Fri Apr 07, 2023 2:19 pm(off-topic)
My hit/miss ratio on buying things while drunk is actually pretty good. Typically, it's stuff I really want but might have some trouble justifying the cost or having to explain it to my wife. Anyway, very few regrets on these purchases...!