New Amp: Splawn Quickrod (2008)

Since the Laney AOR didn’t quite scratch the JCM800 itch, I went on the hunt again. A local vintage music shop had been posting listings on craigslist, but the owner does not ship. I saw a JCM800 2204 in some photos, so I took a day and drove down to see what was in the shop.

This shop is Jimmy’s Vintage Music of Auburndale FL, a beautiful small town roughly halfway in between Orlando and Tampa. It was no let down - vintage Fenders, Marshalls, and all manner of beautiful guitars were on display.

After trying out the JCM800 2204 and feeling that the master volume was just too difficult to control, the knobs very easy to rotate and slightly scratchy at the lowest settings due to age made it hard to imagine taking it home to my studio. The owner suggested I try the white Splawn, complete with a road case and matching white 4x12 Splawn cab.

I was immediately thrilled by the sound - it wasn’t overly gainy, but it was much thicker, fuller, and more in line with the modded Marshall tones I wanted out of this type of amp while keeping its vintage Character. After some quick negotiating, I took the head home sans cab and road case. The cab was fantastic - no argument - but I just couldn’t justify the space at home.

New Amp: Laney AOR 50 Series II

While I love my current amps, I’ve been on the lookout for something a little more classic sounding. I’ve read that Warren Dimartini of Ratt, one of my favorite guitarists, used Laneys on stage in the 80s and heard these AOR models compared to the JCM800s of the time.

However, these are priced far lower than any JCM800 I’ve seen, this one I picked up for only $350 on Reverb! (This is my first Reverb purchase as well).

My first impressions are that it is no JCM800 clone, or at the very least the circuit is different enough that it isn’t a replacement for one. The AOR channel has quite a bit more gain on tap, and the regular channel is much darker than any 2203/2204 I’ve played. There are several “pull” knobs that add in boosts in the EQ, so it’s definitely more versatile than a stock JCM800 type amp.

So far, my favorite setup is using the “AOR” channel with the bright engaged, but the normal channel without. I can dial in a decent dirty clean without being ear piercing, then footswitch to the AOR channel for a huge gain boost as well as cutting through better with the additional highs the bright switch adds.

More Details Here

New Amp: Laney Linebacker 100R

Happened across this one in my local GC super cheap. After some quick googling, I found these came with a few variations of nice vintage Celestion speakers… the salesperson wouldn’t let me open it in the store (closed back) so I bought it, took it out to my car and opened it up in my trunk instead.

I was pleased to find an ‘88 Celestion G12H-100 speaker - I knew it would be nice but I didn’t expect it to be as good as it is - one of my favorite speakers so far!

New Amp: Jet City JCA2212C

Back when I was searching for my first tube amp, I settled on a Marshall TSL. However, near the top of my list was the Soldano Avenger, or Hot Rod 50, which could be found in the low $1000 range at the time. I never got my hands on a real Soldano, but with the Jet City amps out using very similar circuit designs it’s hard to argue with them for the price.

While browsing the MusiciansFriend website, I found an open box JCA2212 combo amp in “fair” condition for a very low price - $193. It arrived with some large dents on the top panel, but otherwise it’s in good condition and the amp sounds perfectly fine.

The stock Eminence speaker is close to the Legend series, though I’m not wowed by it. I plan to purchase a Celestion Creamback speaker instead and see how that sounds instead.

These Jet City amps are also popular modding platforms, since they have relatively simple circuit designs and the Soldano circuits are easily reversed so in theory, you could modify a Jet City amp to be nearly identical to a real Soldano amp.

I planned out and purchased a number of different caps and resistor values to try in different areas of the circuit. Initially, I installed 5x 3-way mini switches, but settled instead of some larger 2-way switches with component values that made a more noticeable change. This was my first experience with modifying amps and I had a blast and learned a lot. Looking forward to tinkering with some other amps in the future!

New Guitar: 1985 Ibanez XV500

I’ve known about this model for a while, and it was my go-to when someone would ask something like “what’s the most ridiculous guitar you’ve seen?” While working for Colorvision, I happened to see an ad on my local craigslist at a very reasonable price. Generally, I only use craigslist when searching for something specific across all of craigslist, not just local postings, so this was a lucky find. After some quick scrambling, I spoke with the owner who was very amicable and we decided on a public meeting place and agreed on cash as the payment method. After having dinner, I came to a horrible realization: I had no ATM card. I called my brother, who I had intended to bring along anyway so I wasn’t alone, and he was nice enough to withdraw some cash for me and I returned the amount to him via paypal. My brother and I met the owner in the parking lot of a gas station along I-4. He had brought a tiny battery powered amp and a pick and let me play the guitar sitting in the back of his SUV for a moment - above and beyond what I would expect from any craigslist meetup. We both had a nice chat about cool guitars from the 80s, I paid him and took it home.

New Guitar: 1986 Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Another amazing stroke of luck - the only bidder on this fine piece. This beautiful Pacer is a rare transparent blue finish, with a great neck in amazing condition. The rosewood fretboard has very tight grain and it’s as smooth in appearance as my other Kramers, and the board is very well hydrated looking with rich color. It also has some very interesting light blue control knobs, and an original Kramer case - but not original for a pointy necked one. I’ve since moved another guitar into this case, and now this one resides in a more period correct case.

New Amp: EVH 5150 III 50w Head

I came across this one at my local Sam Ash music store. The amount of gain and how thick and full it sounded really surprised me so I worked out a deal and took it home.

It’s a great compliment to my Marshall TSL, which has a dryer tone with more upper mids and less bass. The EVH can be dialed in conservatively for classic rock tones but the fun to me is going all out on the red channel, which is as saturated as the 5150/6505 it is based on but with more hollow sounding mids and more complexity, making it sound a little more clear and articulate.

More Details Here

New Guitar: 1992 ESP Maverick Deluxe

Won this auction on eBay while at work back when I worked somewhere you couldn’t have your phone out while at work. Special thanks to my supervisor for turning his head the other way for 30 seconds at the end of the auction so I could place my bid!

This guitar was my first time owning one with EMG’s, and quickly became one of my favorites. I placed a stop on the floyd to make it dive only, and it became my #1 player for years. The “elastic” sound of the EMG-X pickups, and the great thick tone from the SA-X neck single coils (this was before I’d ever had a guitar with a neck humbucker) made it my favorite for playing all sorts of music. The stopped bridge allowed me to quickly switch to drop or open tunings as well. It’s still a staple of my collection although these days it spends a lot of time in the case as its value has greatly increased since I bought it and I’d like to keep it in excellent condition.

New Guitar: Charvel Spectrum

On a whim, I dropped by my local Sam Ash on the way home the other day and spotted this very strange Charvel on the rack. I didn’t actually know what this was, and they had it listed as a “51 style Charvel.” The electronics didn’t work and it sounded quite strange. This was around the time that Fender/Squier had released the very inexpensive “pawnshop” series with a similar 50s bass style pickguard, so I think they priced it in that area not knowing what it was exactly. I did a little research and found out this is a “Spectrum,” and it had acoustic strings on it and I could not get the tone knob or switch to really do anything. Still, the price was pretty tempting and I figured I’d come back and trade my Kramer XL1 for this, to have something a little different from my Kramer Pacer Custom 2.

Upon returning, I was able to get 85 bucks for the XL1, which seems fair especially considering the case that came with this Charvel - a nearly brand new Road Runner ABS case, which is much nicer feeling than the SKB Freedom I traded in with the XL1.

I completely disassembled this guitar, cleaned and polished it, and threw away a very crusty old 9v battery. After adding a new battery and lightly cleaning the contacts, I’m happy to say the electronics work great now - and I’m very surprised just how much I like it! The JE-1500 is a parametric EQ circuit, and the frequency is adjusted by the second tone knob. This circuit can be completely taken out of the circuit when flipping the mini toggle switch, which makes for some really cool ways to play parts - I was enjoying playing some songs by The Cars and then flipping on the JE-1500 for solos or other lead parts. Basically, it can be set in a half-cocked wah type position that sounds really great, and there is a bit more gain when engaged too which makes it perfect for solos. I also think it does a very good Humbucker impression tuned just a little lower, and the factory pickups are three J200 stacked single coils. Overall, I’m very impressed with this guitar even if it took a little love to bring it back to its full potential.

New Guitar: 1986 Kramer Pacer Deluxe

Lucked out and was the only bidder on this beautiful guitar - in pristine condition. The seller even had towels underneath of it when taking pictures - that’s usually a sign it was well cared for!

Interestingly, this has a transition era neck - a one piece instead of the usual 3-piece ESP made pointy neck. The story goes that these were originally banana headstock necks, but when ‘86 came, they were fitted with the new pointy shape. Compared directly with my 3-piece neck pointies, this one is a very slightly different shape as well - and is also somewhat unique that it has the “American” script as many transition necks only had the Kramer block logo. There are also transition necks with the rosewood “skunk stripe” down the middle in the back - I haven’t had one of those yet but I’ve heard they are excellent.

This neck is a thin C shape, a bit more rounded than most of my other pointies which tend towards a more “D” shape, although Kramer was notorious for wild variations through the run so I’ve had 3-piece necks with all sorts of varied back shapes.