Variable Amplified Thoughts

Lately I’ve been extremely busy, as well as having to work through some very personal issues in my life (thank you Lord!) so I haven’t even considered posting anything here until today. It’s a quick thought, but one I think is worth mentioning.

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

Holy cow, finally a few moments to write - only because it is July 4th and I’m taking half a day off.

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.

Wow, it’s already February 09, and business has been great as of late. I’m finally catching a few minutes to post, since there was no gig last night and I was up at 7:20 this morning, which is rare for me.

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

I haven’t put up any new clips in a while so I figured I’d cut a new one, and since several viewers and callers have requested some Van Halen riffs (”Hey do your amps do the Van Halen sound?”) I figured I’d appease them. So here it is, in all my fat-fingered, trying my best to remember, one take glory.

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.

Hi all. For those who follow along or stumble upon my blog, here’s a quick update to what I’ve been up to:

• 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

Man, I’m busy! But I like to be busy. Just busy enough where there’s always something to do, but never so busy that I can’t keep up with commitments. Fortunately, I’m cruising right along, and the only things getting neglected at the moment is the grass in the yard and catching up on DVR recordings of “The Dead Zone.”

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

Hey all. This is were I was supposed to include all the details and information about my latest build, the Granger H50. By now I’ve got 3 video clips up on YouTube, and a few photos in the gallery. Sorry for being a little late with it.

Anyway, I have a new channel on YouTube! I’ve posted the clips and a 4th is uploading. The issue is I need to find a converter to compress the video clips, since the output of my camera is avi, and the files end up very large - and even with a great DSL connection, take a long time to upload. So any help or ideas there are appreciated! I downloaded and installed Blaze Video, but it ended up wrecking playback of avi files, and I obviously don’t have time to sit all day and download different apps to try. As soon as that’s solved I hope to start posting a lot more clips, both demos of the amps, and maybe some of my observations about the actual building and testing phases.

All that being said, I am VERY VERY excited about this amp! I’m going to play it tonight at Citizen Jayne’s gig, and many more I hope.

The amp is based on the Hiwatt DR504 circuit. Most of the parts are from Weber. I’ve grown quite fond of them over the last couple of months. They have great customer service, always pack the shipments extremely well, and always try to accommodate my requests, such as custom faceplates. The best thing is, they have great prices, so it allows me to pass the savings onto my customers. I’m of the belief that a great sounding handwired tube amp shouldn’t cost $3 grand, which most guys (and gals) can’t afford or don’t want to pay. No offense to Hiwatt, Marshall, et al intended.

My thoughts on the amp - superb tone, extremely loud, very clear, bell-like at cleaner settings, very interactive controls. Really nice clean tone that is really responsive, great crunchy tone at higher settings w/ the master up and pre backed down. The bright channel is my favorite, but the normal channel does the best clean tone. Sound great with both a Tele and a Les Paul. With the pre control up and the master about half way the amp kills! Moderately high gain, plenty of sustain and feedback available.

So, check it out the clips on YouTube, and the photo gallery.

First off, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been supportive of Granger Amplification and is helping spread the word! Whether family, friends, or satisfied clients, you all are helping me grow this business and for that I am very thankful. I have really been blessed, and I hope to be building amps for a long time to come (as well as playing some golf every now and then).

First up - I recorded some more soundclips for the D18 DragonFly amp, this time using a Strat, and various levels of gain. I think I’m doing the amp justice in representing it’s sound. They are posted on the D18 product page. I also played it at two Citizen Jayne shows this past weekend, and it sounded great. That sucker is loud for an 18 watt amp too. I had to run my Weber Mass100 attenuator to keep the volume in check.

I did a photo shoot Sunday for some of my amps. I have a Nikon D80 camera, but have been using a low cost (but great little camera!) Canon, and wanted to get some better photos for the website. I had also planned on doing some photos for advertising that featured the “pretty woman standing next to amp” but my model “no showed” on me so I had to nix that idea. I did offer my 14-year old daughter Stacey the opportunity to model (albeit with a much different intended demographic), so she dressed up, fixed her hair, donned my Elvis sunglasses, and struck some of the coolest poses you’ve ever seen a 14-year-old-rock-star-or-model-in-the-making do. I haven’t had much time to edit them, but I did post a couple on MySpace. I also paid Stacey for her time, for which she was very grateful. Hey, if it worked for Dave Thomas and Wendy’s, why not try it?

I modded a Blackheart BH5H amp for a client and really liked the way it turned out. I replaced the output transformer (stock 5 watt) with a Hammond 125ESE (15 watt), the chinese 12AX7 with JJ 12AT7, the chinese EL84 with a JJ EL84, one resistor and a couple of capacitors. I recorded some clips. The blues track was fun - I just pretended I was Eric Clapton playing with John Mayall.

Clips:

(Full song)
F12 Blackheart Blues (Telecaster, bridge pickup, treble rolled off ala “Woman Tone”)

(Just guitar)
Stock Blackheart (before mod) w/ Telecaster

Modified Blackheart w/ Telecaster

Modified Blackheat w/ Telecaster (middle position, clean)

That’s about it for now. I have some other thoughts floating around, but I’ll save them for another day. Keep those emails coming, and add us as a friend on MySpace if you get the chance!

There’s quite a few projects happening at GrangerAmp.com. Here’s a few things we’ve completed, have on the bench, and/or in the planning stages:

Finished a great-sounding 18 watt “Lightning” inspired amp last week. I’m calling it the “TopB18″ since it sounds very much like the Vox amps, and has the really great top end. I’ve got it mounted in a dark green head cab. Looks and sounds quite nice. This amp is designed so the player can use either EL84s or 6V6s in the output stage. I haven’t made up my mind which sounds better - they both sound very nice! I hope to find time this week to cut a few clips and take some photos.

Just started a 50 watt amp inspired by a late 60’s Hiwatt. I began last night. Model will be called “H50″ and the prototype will be mounted in a white head cab.

A 50 watt amp inspired by the JCM800 2204 model. I’m sourcing most of the parts and chassis from Nik at Ceriatone.com. The transformers will come from one of my suppliers here in the US (to save on the dreaded overseas shipping charges that come from shipping heavy iron).

I’m still tweaking the prototype of the D18 DragonFly. Mostly comestic things and some slight tonal changes, but nothing drastic. It’s still a fantastic sounding amp, and only getting better!

I did a very cool (the customer called it “awesome”) mod to a early 90’s Peavey 5150. For functionality, I installed an adjustable bias, and retubed it using JJ 6L6GCs, JJ 12AX7s, and a JJ gold pin 12AX7 for V1. Cosmetically, Jeff removed the wooden baffle and reinstalled on the metal grill (this is fairly popular from what I’ve seen). After he completed that, I installed 3 blue LEDs to back light it. It looks great and sounds even better. I even played it Saturday at the Citizen Jayne show. Sounded sweeeeeeet through an open-back 2×12 cab.

Here’s what Jeff has got going on in the cab shop:

A custom 1×18 bass cab. Finished. Looks and sounds sweet! I found a little time to post a few photos in the gallery.
A custom 4×10 bass cab.
Possibly a custom 2×10 bass cab.
Recovering a 4×12 guitar cab in white to match the prototype H50 amp.

It’s good to be busy!