About this episode
Special guest Charles Baty joins us on this week's Truth About Vintage Amps podcast! Twice a month, guitar amp guru Skip Simmons fields your questions on vintage tube amp buying, restoration and repair. Co-hosted by the Fretboard Journal 's Jason Verlinde. Submit your guitar amp questions to Skip here: podcast@fretboardjournal.com or by leaving us a voicemail or text at 509-557-0848. Some of the topics discussed on this episode: 1:37 Charles Baty (Little Charlie & The Nightcats! Little Charlie & Organ Grinder Swing!) joins in: Termites, Spanish rice and amp tips from the road 43:09 Movie recommendations: Wattstax; Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey 44:16 Skip plays a gig 46:30 This week's sponsor: Grez Guitars 46:55 Robert Keeley (!) calls in on Dean's Echoplex woes (from TAVA 21) 50:24 A '68 Fender Vibrolux reissue with a wonky footswitch 54:16 Replace a two-prong cord with a three-prong cord 57:29 "Getting to 'no' you;" "Suzie Q," the Instant Pot, mashed potatoes and hot dogs 1:04:10 An amp with a noisy front plate 1:06:27 Instrumental music picks (Leo Kottke, Nels Cline), Skip's early music influences 1:12:19 Future TAVA interviews plans 1:14:25 "Why we don't replace all vintage electrolytic capacitors" video (link: https://youtu.be/GMNQDoFpYQY ) 1:18:00 Robben Ford's Dumble-modified Fender Super Reverbs 1:24:29 Why don't amps have no-speaker protection? 1:31:53 AC568 Bassman amps, Fender grounding plates, sources of hiss, the 500 pF Baffler 1:37:55 Music picks: Erkin Koray's 'Elektronik Turkular' ( YouTube link ) and Bloodstone's "Natural High" ( YouTube link ) 1:39:07 Bogen PA heads and Harvey Mandel's fuzz tone 1:43:43 Replacing drop capacitors in Victoria amps 1:49:47 Canada, part one: a Traynor YGL-3, Mark III with no input signal 1:53:14 Canada, part two: Sleeper Canadian amps (Garnet, Traynor, Johnson); check out the Corry Boys 1:57:00 An (almost) free vintage speaker (act fast) 1:58:15 Coffee in a can updates