Hmmmmm....

[dbishopbliss]

I like the EF86 sound.  A friend had a Vox-ish amp using EF86 preamp with a 12AX7 Phase Inverter and 2 EL84's.  Great sounding amp.  Different from the 12AX7 pre, 12AX7 PI, EL84 output amp I have (which I like as well), but there is something great about the EF86. 

I recently swapped out my Celestion Vintage 30 for an Eminence Red Fang.  I like the sound, but originally the Red Fang was in a closed back cabinet.  I gotta admit, I liked it better in the closed back as opposed to the open baffle.  I'm thinking of swapping the V30 back in and building a cab for the Fang. 

[vladimirwolfe]

Sounds like a great project Doc. Looking forward to hearing more about it and more importantly, being able to order one! Sounds like it would be a nice addition to my '59 Harvard and '65 Deluxe.

Doug

[Doc B.]

Sent the driver over to PB yesterday. Hopefully that's the last piece he needs to construct the prototype.

[Doc B.]

We've had a busy few days, and this is the end result -



Thanks to PB for cranking this proto out in a couple of days, and to Bob Bean for driving.

[porcupunctis]

The Penned Toad pun just seals the deal.

Nice sound.

[Doc B.]

Thanks for the complement. We shot that with a little Fuji point and shoot I bought for Eileen a couple years ago. Fairly decent sound for a mic that peeks thru a hole the size of a flea's ear canal. When (well, if) we get a production prototype done I might take it down to the studio and record it properly. Speaking of demo videos, I was looking at the TV Jones demos today. Tom lives a mile or two away from me. His pickups are awesome and man, that cat can play.



I love this one. I think that UPS guy is Bob, who delivered to us at our house for something like 15 years.

[dbishopbliss]

...When (well, if) we get a production prototype done I might take it down to the studio and record it properly.

I don't think "might" is an option.  You "must" if you want to compete with all the other boutique amp builders out there.  Also, I would suggest getting an array of guitars to record with, Les Paul, Strat, Tele, Gretsch (w/TV Jones).  Finally, find a player that can play the same progression/lick consistently from sample to sample so people can hear exactly how the amp sounds with which guitar.  Actually, the TV Jones site does this nicely with their pickups.

http://www.tvjones.com/soundclips/

[Doc B.]

I don't think "might" is an option.  You "must" if you want to compete with all the other boutique amp builders out there.  

Ah hah! But the buyer is the boutique amp builder in our case! ;^)>

I agree that it is necessary to get a very concise player to play consistently with various axes and styles. Kudos to Bob, who is actually an acoustic player, for getting all the different tones he got out of something we had zero experience with beyond a somewhat beer induced session the night before. I have a demo player or two in mind, it will be interesting to see how that pans out. But first things first. We found 1) that the bass control was working outside a useful range and 2) that the thing plays pretty darned loud. I don't think the volume is ever past about 6 on the demo. So the next iteration will have a brake in place of the bass knob. This will make it a lot easier to practice with and to make it crunchy when using the headphone jack. I also have a few adjustments to the cabinet styling in mind.

Stay tuned...

[Pfenning]

I think it's a great idea to have sound samples with different guitars, but, depending on price point, it might not be that big of a deal. If you show case some good tones through a couple guitars, that will get most folks interest including mine (the video was almost enough for me). Bottlehead has a strong reputation for cranking out killer gear in my mind, and I can't wait to get my hands on one. I'm almost more excited to see how this community starts tweaking it. Adjustments to the tone stack, swapping in new tubes, trying different capacitors , and getting the amp tweaked specifically for jazz, rock, country or whatever. The brake is a fabulous idea, and really important to me, a home player. Keep the sneak peaks coming, and I'm sure I'll be in line with a bunch of others for that first run. I should be done building my Crack by then.   

[Grainger49]

The demo got Cat Scratch Fever stuck in my mind for hours.  And I've got it again.

I think this product will not only make it but will expose a new group to Bottlehead products.

Congratulations!

[ironbut]

Very cool you guys!
Looking forward to hearing what it can do for stuff like jazz.
Keep up the great work Dan!

[Doc B.]

It sounds nice played clean, but it's all pentode (penned toad) and has a nice bite, so it may be more of a rock/blues/chicken pickin kind of amp than a round toned jazz amp. I'm sure people will want to mod it all over the place so who knows what tones they might end up with?  

For jazz I built the amp you hear in this clip. It's quite different, 12AX7 and 6V6, parafeed, 10" Eminence alnico driver. Guitar is an Epi Joe Pass with Kent Armstrong neck pup and, IIRC, Thomastik strings-

http://jacquinaylor.com/media/mp3/lucky-girl/09-sunshine-and-rain.mp3

[ironbut]

Ooo,.. that sounds sweet!
If I decide to pick up an ax again, we'll need to talk!

[Chris]

"I think this product will not only make it but will expose a new group to Bottlehead products."

Congratulations!.......................... I second this...

[Maxwell_E]

I can second the quality of Tom's pickups. I've had a pair of the TV Classic in my Gibson SG for a few years now and I couldn't be happier. I wanna build another guitar and give it either some coil-tapped Classic Plus' for versatility or just straight P90 single coils.

On the sound, I love the clarity I can get from them. The PAF clones that came in the guitar were muddy and thick (like they should be), but I found I got lost in the sound of any band I was playing in. These have a really tight bass and cut through a mix, and even with the dirtiest amp you can get a great clean tone just by picking softly or rolling the guitars volume down a little. Anyway, just my two cents.