Hoot Owl

I'd go for the BOSS. I have the Yamaha, not the BOSS, but that's more about when I bought than anything else. The Katana range is a no-brainer, for beginners. Whatever you do, do not get into tone chasing tube amps. Maybe when you get wiser about what to purchase you can, but now, no. Invest your money now so you can buy something really nice later. Tube amps may be pointless by then anyway. They almost already are. Edit: Just to show you how stupid I am, this is what I'm looking at buying, AFTER telling you tube amps are almost pointless. Here's the ad. I'm thinking about making a low-ball offer this coming week. Next purchase, a very good attenuator and a Hot Mod to up the gain so I don't have to turn it up so much. Like I told the wife, it's like art, just looking at it will be enough. But when no one else is home, watch the #$^@ out! Yes, I like tinnitus. And I live in the country. Eventually, I'd put the cab in a separate room. You only live once. "Marshall 1959HW head and 1960AX Cabinet in Excellent Condition, Bought New, I've only played this amp about 5 times , This is the heavy hitter when it comes to classic rock, no other amp comes close when you get it loud I'm finally getting things ready to make the move to the Philippines to retire and need to start selling things now to get ready 5799.98 New selling for 4000,00 Cash only face to face , no scammers"

One Celestion Redback will handle that. There are others too.

Get a Fryette Power Station, which has its own loop. They lowered the price on the 100-watter, BTW.

PM-ed you.

If I were in that market I'd go with a Dr. Z Maz 18 NR. Better still, a Matchless c-30! You could always get a night job.😉

I've never heard a Fryette anything in person, but I'd bet a lot I'd be very fortunate to own one. I know they make good chit. I've been eyeing a Power Station for years.

Yeah but, most musicians have only played through a very limited number of amps, so they may not have a full appreciation for what 'works for them'.

After decades of buying gear one aspect has consistently risen in value when deciding what to buy: resale value. A good Marshall, or something like a Matchless, is going to hold it more - a few will even, eventually, start rising in value. And never forget that there are used buys out there where the condition is higher than the price is.

Yes. Tubes all tubes are new, though the amp has sat for a long time and there could be corrosion in the sockets. I could check that but here and now I'm exploring options for jettisoning the PCB board. BTW, found some informative videos on YouTube: The transformers in my chassis have identifying marks but they are mostly illegible - rusted over or never stamped clearly in the first place. Can a tech test these to find their specifications, or is that even necessary? I'm wondering if, since these are both EL34 50-watt amps, might it be safe to just swap the PCB board out for the hand-wired Marshall replica board and just roll with it? The Marshall board I would use would be a replica for a 2204 Marshall. Both amps have similar controls (Master, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, separate Power and Bypass switches, two Inputs, . I'd have to go without reverb, however. I'm just getting started in trying to figure this out.

I'm aware a transformer has to match up with a circuit to some degree, but what are the relevant specifications and how close do they have to be? This concerns an old amp I have - PCB circuit. Components are old and it's reputed to have design flaws (according internet experts😄). Sound is currently cutting in and out and changing volume too (no, I haven't cleaned it - would rather change it - long-term project). I'm wondering if I can buy a hand-wired board for a Marshall (they are sold on ebay) and stick it in mine. Both are 50-watt, EL34. Mine has reverb and 5 pre-amp tubes. The Marshall has no reverb and three pre's. I can do without reverb. Changing out the transformers makes it cost prohibitive. The amp I'm altering is reputed to have large transformers and with tubes that run at high plate voltage. My old one is a Bedrock 1200. The Marshall board is for a 2204. Both have the same control scheme of Master, Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, with two inputs and both Power and Bypass switches. The back is more different but I'm not worried about that at this point. Sorry, that's all I know. How close to possible is this change? Secondary question: I have a schematic and parts list for the Bedrock, and I just bought Valve Amplifiers, by Morgan Jones. Maybe in a year or ten🙄 I could develop a hand-wired board true to the original design. No clue how hard this will be. Any thoughts?

1959 LP with the first Trainwreck. Came for the gear, stayed for the playing. The playing starts at 6:20.

Trainwreck history:

An original Trainwreck:

BTW, a tip: I phone-ordered some things from Musician's Friend this week and they were going to give me 10% off the internet price. Bonus! But we discovered my credit card had a hold placed on it. So, I straightened that out and called back after making a change to the order. One of the changes didn't get the discount so the rep took 15% off one of the other items to make up the difference. So cool. I usually go with Sweetwater when doing internet buys. No one can beat Sweetwater's customer relations. Seems like MF is trying, though. In this case, MF happened to carry something Sweetwater didn't.

Opinions vary. From what I've seen, I'd say they are about 3/4 positive. The other 1/4 is mostly indifference. Occasionally someone rips their transformer quality. You can order them without transformers and put your own in. That saves shipping costs too when they are shipped direct from Malaysia. Check out one review that was in Guitar Player. This particular model is more intended for mass production and doesn't have the old-school hand wired turret board: 2202 Guitar Player Review (guitarampsusa.com) The internal views is why I started this thread. It's not often amp companies show you the inside of their products. I think they aren't too proud of them. Ceriatone is, for good reason.

I just did. On a Trainwreck Express clone, with EL34's. I added a master volume and bias points, without cab and tubes = $819. Ordered it off their U.S. website (Guitar Amps USA). I think shipping is included...I'd better check that. Also ordered (separately) a Metropoulos silent loop kit for this amp. If I like that one I'm thinking of getting a C-Wreck, which is a clone of the Dr. Z Z-Wreck. I feel a little guilty ordering something copied from a business that's still up and running, but I don't expect the component quality to be up there with Dr. Z, so it's sort of a different beast, and I doubt it's an exact copy. Sure looks like the wiring is tops, though. Also have a Bluguitar Amp1 Iridium arriving in two days. Selling six old amps and coming out ahead.

I've been perusing the amps at Ceriatone. Each amp has a "View more pictures". That's where the porn is, like this: British Style : Plexi51 All Access | Flickr Unfortunately, you can't copy the photos. Home | Ceriatone Pronounced Chair-e-uh-tone, I believe.

Another knob topic: What are the best, what are the worst? Absolutely the worst, IMO, are the ones MESA uses. How in hell does anyone see the little dot against the chrome without getting right up close? And yes, I've had two MESA's.

Who has the most? BTW, that thing is $8,000!

Update: I finally took a serious look at the BluGuitar Amp 1 boxes. Awesome! They have the Amp X coming out soon too. So, I've decided to change course. Am selling six tube amps. The only one I'm keeping is the Bedrock. I cancelled an order for a Marshall that I made a big deal over . I'm that blown away by BluGuitar. So small, so portable, so affordable, no tube biasing, sounds so damned good, AND feels like a tube amp. Kemper and Axe FX never quite did it for me. Helix's are $1,600 and not exactly what I want. I'm pretty sure Blu is IT, for me, the goal being to downsize, simplify, and focus a bunch of gear into one rig that is easy to move. I'll admit a REVV Dynamis is intriguing too, though. Edit note: Just found out the Amp X may not be ready this year, or possibly toward the end of the year. I'm probably going with the Amp 1 Iridium for now.

Apartments suck. What else can I say?

Mind your own business. You don't want to be friends with someone like that, and you certainly don't want to get on his bad side (which is actually all his sides, sounds like).

Thanks. I already contacted Brad via email. He said he's "moved on" and "I really can't help you". Left me wondering if his Bedrock experience was less than rewarding. They were in biz 13 years, I believe - enough time to lose a lot of money or not make any. But who knows? The other guys I couldn't track down. I think I'm moving on too, though I haven't given up on reinterpreting the PCB design into a hand wired one.