Bought a new amp!

[Plank_Spanker]

During a visit with a friend of mine's and his amp tech yesterday, I spied a most unusual amp. I was graciously allowed me to play it, and it was love at first note. The amp was for sale, and I couldn't pass............

The chassis is a 1965 Gibson Titan Medalist. Here's where it gets interesting:

The amp was a wreck when the tech received it some time back. He reworked Channel One back to health and decided that two channels of Gibson clean was boring.....and he had fun. So, Channel Two now has a Marshall JCM800 cicuit in it with a master volume and negative feedback (attitude) control on the back, as well as a rectifier selector for firm or soft response and speaker voiced line out on the back. It's loaded with overkill components and a beefy output tranny. The power tubes are four 6L6GC's. The enclosure is custom built. It's a Frankenstein, and there's no other amp on the planet like it.

When I played it, it was absolute joy - a Gibson style clean amp, and a Marshall JCM800 roilled into one!

More to follow when I get some time to dig into this jewel..........

 

[Robert]

A Franken-Titan-Gibson! Wow, that is awesome! Play it loud! :dude:

Tell us more about it later, and how about some sound clips?

 

[bigG]

Very cool, plank! Truly an original-one-of-a-kind! Mucho congrats! :applause

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Going to have some fun with this one. The tremelo is to die for - very smooth and foot switch controlled. Channel one clean is beautiful. Channel two has the Marshall balls, with a master volume and a foot switch controlled boost. The feedback control on the back really changes the response of channel two - from very tight to singing in your ears.The amp is rated at 80 watts into 16 ohms. It comes with a one year warranty....................and I know where the builder works....

This is going to be a fun amp!

 

[Spudman]

Ah my dear Watson, it appears as if someone is remounting his horse. Albeit with a different saddle.

Cool sounding rig Spanky. That's quite a find.

 

[mrmudcat]

GIDDY-UP COWBOY PLANK:socool

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Ah my dear Watson, it appears as if someone is remounting his horse. Albeit with a different saddle.

My dear Spud,

You are correct. While I really like my Axe FX and such, my heart has always belonged to tubes.

This amp is different..........................:dude

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Very cool Plank! I am glad to see you excited, and well you should be!

 

[hubberjub]

My first amplifier was a 60 something Gibson Duo-Medalist. It was a great amp but I traded it for my Roland. I miss that amp. Congrats man. That sounds like a fun mod.

 

[Kazz]

Congrats Spank......nothing like a new set of tubes to get those juices flowing again.

 

[oldguy]

Great score!
Mmmmmmmm...........tubes..........good.......

 

[Rampant]

Wow.
Sounds awesome.
And it's unique.
A keeper, if ever there was one

 

[piebaldpython]

Congrats on all of that tubey goodness. The great thing about your amp is that yours is UNIQUE. Nothin' like a CUSTOM job to make you feel special. I bet she really wails.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Bosstastic!

Conrgats!

 

[M29]

Ooh I wants ta hear that baby:dude

 

[duhvoodooman]

Whoa, super-sweet!! CLIPS!! CLIPS!! CLIPS!! oke

 

[Plank_Spanker]

I haven't had a chance for a proper playing with it yet, much less record clips. Tomorrow I get to sit down with it and see what it can really do.

 

[sumitomo]

Yep! Something about playing on a good sounding tube amph,some of those notes and the way the amph projects the sound and the tone,just makes the hair on the back of your neck standup.Great score Plank that is truly one of a kind.Sumi :rockon:

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Spent a few hours with it yesterday and I'm in love. The tremelo is butter smooth and very old school. The cleans on channel one are typical old school Gibson - excellent.

Channel two is interesting with all of the knobs. Without the boost, it sounds like a clean, driven just into edgy JCM800. Hit the boost and the amp gets mean - lots of growl and punch....variable with the master volume on the back. The rectifier switch is interesting. It switches from SS to a tube and it definitely impacts the tone. The firm setting really runs the amp pretty tight, and the soft setting gives you a good sag when you're getting on the amp. The negative feedback control is very cool - dial a lot in and the amp runs tight, dial it out and you can hear the amp starting some sweet sustained feedback. Dial it all the way out and the amp will sing on just about any note. I still have a bunch more experimentation to do to get myself dialed in with this amp.

I'm playing the amp through a Mesa 4x12 with V30's at 8 ohms. It sounds good, but would probably really come alive with a 16 ohm cab with Greenbacks. I just might have to find another cab.........

The amp also runs hot. If I gig with it, I'm going to use a small fan to cool the back.

It's a very cool amp!

 

[mrmudcat]

Sounds fun.............:happy