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.