In an email I was offered a trade - a new Granger M50 Plexi combo, for a stock, original, 1966 Fender Super Reverb. Although I had to decline the offer, *sigh* it is very flattering that someone would equate one of my amps in value to this legendary amplifier. I am truly thankful for the offer… and boy do I wish I could accommodate, but I’ve got plenty of amps in my collection, and trades don’t pay the bills.

And quickly, on another note, a continued thanks for everyone who leaves the very flattering comments on the YouTube videos. Very much appreciated!

God bless!
Curt

Be your amp’s best friend and always carry it with you in your personal vehicle if possible. Or at the bare minimum, pad your amp with pillows or similar items (a heavy duty flight case is optimal) if you have to put it in the trailer.

Of course if you choose not to heed this advice, that’s fine with me and other techs who also repair amps.

Remove the chassis, discharge caps, replace the fuse, replace V4 (and V5 so they’d be matched), and this time monitored cathode current on both tubes as I ran a 1KHz tone into the input and progressively got “louder” (with an 8 ohm dummy load attached). V5 steadily climbed to about 90mA, while V4 jumped to 180mA!

Removed the JJ ECC83S (12AX7) and popped in another new one. Problem solved.

So, for anyone that experiences red plating on one of the two output tubes on your 50 watt amp, try replacing the phase inverter tube, preferably with a matched one (matched triodes). A severely imbalanced PI tube can cause red plating, and its an easy cure before you spend half an evening chopsticking and poking around in your amp.

First, important news. As of July 11 2009, Granger Amplification will be a full-time endeavor! After 15 years with Bellsouth, and now AT&T, I am leaving the corporate world to focus entirely on Granger Amplification, as well as continuing my musical interests with my band, Citizen Jayne, and time permitting, more of my own solo music. I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity. It will allow me much more time to develop new products, take on more repair work, as well as spend time with my family, and *gasp* actually have a little spare time.

On the forefront, I have several new amp designs in the works, The remainder of the year should see at least one new model offered. I’m also going to work on the website, updating the products page to show combo models. I’ve already added an FAQ page, to address some of the many questions that I receive via email.

To all my customers and supporters, a word of deep thanks. You all ROCK. Ok, done for now. Time to fire up the grill and bar-b-q! Open me a beer please.

So, if you post something on one of my clips and it doesn’t get approved, then thank me for not allowing the rest of the world to see what a moron you are.

Here’s a few of the statements that I did not approve (edited for brevity):

“Tuning half step down hides the true tone of the amp.” This poor fellow went on the explain how Jimi Hendrix tuned to half step because he didn’t know any better and nobody back then cared about tuning, and Eddie Van Halen did it to “try and be like Hendrix.” Excuse me sir, but doesn’t the NAME of the clip indicate why I tuned down half step for the demo? (Van Halen recorded a lot of his early tracks tuned half step down)

“There’s no way Eddie could get his tone just from the amp. A 100 watt Marshall is still clean (no distortion) at full volume. He must have used a distortion pedal” And this pertains to my amp clip how? This is the kind of guy I’d like to put in front of my Superlead and a stack, crank the amp to 10, play a few AC/DC riffs, and scream “Does it still sound clean now?”

Next time someone asks me if my amps “will do the Van Halen tone” I’ll simply say “Yes, but only if Eddie is playing it!” and save myself a bunch of hassle.

In conclusion, arguing about Eddie Van Halen’s tone on the internet is like running a race in the special olympics. Even if you win, you’re still retarded.

Anyway, I still have a little website updating to do, but the real reason for this post is to communicate to anyone who may have tried to contact me and didn’t get me, didn’t get a callback, or a reply to their email. I always try to follow up to EVERY email and EVERY call I get, but in order to keep up where it really matters (current in-progress jobs with customers) I have to balance my time carefully each day. If for some reason you’ve attempted to contact me and haven’t gotten a reply, please try again.

Now, for a little bit about new projects! I finished a 35 watt amp back in December, and I’m making plans to release a new model based on it, the E35 Regal. I hope to refine the design and have it available in a couple of months.

I’m also designing my idea of a 100 watt “metal” amp. Part of me loves the old vintage sound of amps of yore, but I also like the modern high gain sounds too, and this one will (hopefully) be just that - a brutally loud, punchy, high gain amp that any metal/hardcore/grunge type guitarist will love. It will use two KT88s, have an true-bypass effects loop, and have a “mean” dark look to it. Still all in the planning stages, and as time allows.

So, back to the workbench now. Thanks again to everyone who has called, emailed, and expressed an interest in my amps and services. Most appreciated!

Rock on,
Curt

This is my M50 Plexi amp, based on the early 70’s era JMP50. Details on YouTube.

One day I’m going to sit down and practice all the riffs before I hit record. I’m also going to adjust the tripod so my head’s not chopped off.

• Finished the Delicious Custom 100 amp. Love it. If it weren’t for a client I’d keep it and play it. Looks great and sounds even better. (IMHO!) Check out the clips on YouTube.com and decide for yourself.
• Repair work is steady. Thanks to all my customers who decide to bring their amps to me.
• Next up is finishing another M50 Plexi. Then I’m building a replica of a ‘65 Deluxe Reverb with a couple of cool twists.
• Answering emails and phone calls. I’m spending a little more time answering emails and phone calls, but frankly, I still don’t have time to answer them all. Order inquiries take precident. Requests for advice, “how-to’s” and the like sometimes go unanswered. Sorry! Time is like that though. There’s never enough.

Time’s up. Hope to post more soon!
Curt

Check out the 1969 Marshall Super Tremolo that I rebuilt. The client asked me to build it to 1968 era SuperLead specs. It’s basically now very similar to Eddie Van Halen’s famous Marshall that was used on all the early VH records. It definitely sounds like it too. My client was over yesterday and ran it with an EchoPlex in front of it, and there was the VH1 sound. I would love to have the amp in my collection, it sounded that good. A big part of that was the original Dagnall transformers, and all vintage type components such as Phillips mustard caps, carbon comp resistors, and early SuperLead type filtering.

Check out the photos: These are on MySpace - PHOTO GALLERY. These are on my server - PHOTO GALLERY

Great news! First… I have been commissioned to build a custom 100 watt screamer for a new friend of mine, Robert Moore, aka Delicious. Robert is a very cool singer and guitarist fronting his own band (called “Delicious,” what else?) and I had the pleasure to fill in last week at their gig in Evansville IN. Robert, Billy, and Allen really liked my Granger H50 that I was playing, and Robert decided he wanted a Granger amp. After discussion, we’ve decided I’m going to build his very own custom signature amp (something I don’t even have yet, hmmmm), complete with his name on it (DELICIOUS CUSTOM 100), and some really cool features. It’s going to be a hyrid Mesa Boogie/Soldano footswitchable 2 channel amp (I’m breaking tradition, ha!), voiced to his preferences, and I promise… it WILL scream! Work starts as soon as the parts start arriving!

Next up: I have a JCM800 2204 build on the bench and it’s nearly done. While I have an original Marshall 100 watt 2210 made in 1987, I’ve always wanted a single channel 50 watt, so it’s nearly a reality. I’m going to house it in a custom, black & red, two-tone head cab as well. I’m expecting once people see and hear it I’ll start getting a few requests to build them.

Finally (for now) I’ve been commissioned to build a faithful replica of a 69 era SuperLead Plexi, and my client has already sourced all the parts, which will make my job much easier and I know he’ll get exactly what he wants. I should be starting on that next week. I’m very excited about it, and I’ll post photos/clips just ASAP.

Until my next posting, take care, have a great summer, and great tone to all.
Curt