Month: July 2021

I impulse-bought an Ampeg V-4 and matching speaker cabinet this week.

Price was bordering too good to be true, but it’s in pretty great shape considering it was built somewhere between 1972 and ’75.

I’ve hoped to run across a deal on an old Sunn or Hiwatt to pair with my Sunn 2×12 cabinet for a long time, but it was always a long shot. This isn’t quite the same sound, but it is in the ballpark of big, loud cleans and classic drive tones. I’m considering it an upgrade to both that Sunn cab and my Music Man Sixty-Five and its 1×15 ported cab, which will be looking for new homes soon.

This is a huge amp, physically and sonically. I tested it outside, and it was rearranging my internal organs with the volume on about 3. The head and the cab each weigh something like 80 pounds. The output transformer is the biggest I’ve ever seen.

It needs a little TLC from a good tech and I won’t get to turn it up very often any time soon, but this is a super cool upgrade in the big clean and bass-friendly amp department and my first all-tube vintage amp. (The Music Man has a solid state preamp.)

I haven’t done any meaningful soldering since making last summer’s Thereatari, but I’m getting ready to. The other day I modified my Caroline Guitar Company Meteore reverb.

I always liked (and haven’t changed!) the sound of this pedal, but I had a couple problems using it: the sweep of the reverb volume knob made it hard to dial in the amount of reverb I want, and the “Havoc” switch went to instant oscillating madness when the size, regeneration, and gain controls were above about halfway.

To address the first issue, I switched out the stock anti-logarithmic “C” taper potentiometer for a linear “B” taper. No change in sound, but more fine control over low and medium reverb volumes.

For the second, I put a potentiometer wired as a variable resistor in the “Havoc” switch feedback path. This is the new knob on the side of the pedal. At maximum, it gives the stock sounds. As it’s rolled back, it reduces the feedback when “Havoc” is engaged. This is great because I can set the reverb how I want, and still get a useable sound from the “Havoc” switch (instead of immediate blaring chaos… though it can still do that, too!).

Had no problems, other than cleaning off my iron’s tip, so it was a good warm-up for summer projects like a pair of semi-modular delays for Drew and I, my AX-60 power supply (finally), and maybe a short run of pedals (probably a transistor boost). We’ll see how far I get on that list.

Our own Cory Kibler and Mike Papagni are Van Ripper & Galactifader, a seriously funny and oddly poignant rap duo. You can check them out on Spotify below.

There’s no way to explain this music that makes it sound cool or real, but it is both. Mike is an incredible drummer, and Cory worked his way into bars that reflect his point of view without pretending to be anything he’s not or assuming any kind of weird affectation, and a delivery that manages to put a touch of edge into his dad jokes (“Extra Virgin” being Exhibit A).