mumford wrote:I'm gathering parts for a skylark right now. The schem I'm using is basically a tweed champ with 220k plate resistors and 2k2 cathode resistors. I had one years ago, it was amazing for slight grind. I also had a gA8 discoverer that was pretty shrill. I won't be cloning that one.
Gibson had three versions of the GA-8 that I know of. The original had dual 6V6 tubes in single ended Class A.
The later ones used 6BMQ or EL84's with tremolo. The later ones were shrill, the earlier ones weren't.
Scumback - Spring Break Sale!
Speakers are $10 off 3/19-3/30/25
sales@scumbackspeakers.com
www.scumbackspeakers.com
https://www.facebook.com/scumbackspeakers/
https://www.instagram.com/scumback_speakers/
mumford wrote:I'm gathering parts for a skylark right now. The schem I'm using is basically a tweed champ with 220k plate resistors and 2k2 cathode resistors. I had one years ago, it was amazing for slight grind. I also had a gA8 discoverer that was pretty shrill. I won't be cloning that one.
Gibson had three versions of the GA-8 that I know of. The original had dual 6V6 tubes in single ended Class A.
The later ones used 6BMQ or EL84's with tremolo. The later ones were shrill, the earlier ones weren't.
Jim is right, IMO, about the shrillness.
Either here or at AX84, someone posted a solution to the shrillness. There is a notch filter in many of the designs that IMO is all wrong for modern players. It is a matter of changing a cap or two. In multichannel amps, look for more than one such notch filter. I have yet to put this into my Minuteman, but it is on my list.
Scumback - Spring Break Sale!
Speakers are $10 off 3/19-3/30/25
sales@scumbackspeakers.com
www.scumbackspeakers.com
https://www.facebook.com/scumbackspeakers/
https://www.instagram.com/scumback_speakers/
Entirely possible. I got rid of it before I started learning about amps. It didn't get anywhere near as distorted as that, it was kind of shrill and choked sounding. Blah cleans, horrible overdrive.
Phil_S wrote:Jim is right, IMO, about the shrillness.
Either here or at AX84, someone posted a solution to the shrillness. There is a notch filter in many of the designs that IMO is all wrong for modern players. It is a matter of changing a cap or two. In multichannel amps, look for more than one such notch filter. I have yet to put this into my Minuteman, but it is on my list.
I bought a Gibson Skylark 1963 with tremolo. It needed a little bit of work some caps changed and the speaker was gone also be aware and beware many early Gibson amps are not grounded the only have two wires so need to have a technician 3 wire them for more safety. Having said that I have had quite a few amps over the years and this one is wonderful! All those years plugging into amps with tone controls and dual channels and never getting a great sound and with this i just plug in and turn up the volume and its there! My guitar sounds great! Off course its no metal amp but for the purist and blues guy its great for the house and recording. I have even heard of these five watters being gigged at small places!
Phil_S wrote:Jim is right, IMO, about the shrillness.
Either here or at AX84, someone posted a solution to the shrillness. There is a notch filter in many of the designs that IMO is all wrong for modern players. It is a matter of changing a cap or two. In multichannel amps, look for more than one such notch filter. I have yet to put this into my Minuteman, but it is on my list.
Yes, it is, Martin! This mod is on my to-do list for my GA20-RVT Minuteman which suffers in spades from the ice pick, particularly on channel 1 (no RT).
PS Why don't TAG members copy/backward engineer Standel amps. Joe Maphis Merle Travis, Speedy West, Chet Atkins, Hank Thompson, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Larry Collins, Ralph Mooney, Noel Boggs, Buddie Emmons, and Wes Montgomery (Solid State) played Standel amps and many more of the top session musicians of the 1950's and 1960's cut loads of records with the amps.
I agree. I've been able to scrounge some information regarding the Standels from the internet, but there is very limited info regarding what many consider the "holy grail of clean tone". I would like to be able to construct one myself to see if it really is "all that", and to see if it just wasn't studio wizardry.
Doctordog wrote:
I agree. I've been able to scrounge some information regarding the Standels from the internet, but there is very limited info regarding what many consider the "holy grail of clean tone". I would like to be able to construct one myself to see if it really is "all that", and to see if it just wasn't studio wizardry.
JB
They aren't very loud, but yes they are clean and dull enough to sound great with a 6db roll-off @ 8k. Sounds just like the records. I have a friend around who is a Travs picking monster with a nice one, and a matching guitar.
Too much carving!
Signatures have a 255 character limit that I could abuse, but I am not Cecil B. DeMille.
I have early 60s Crestline versions of the GA-8T and GA-19RVT. Both are cool little amps and sound pretty darn good. I can see where the GA-8T could be called shrill, but for certain things, it works great. The trem on that amp is killer. The GA-19RVT is a poor mans deluxe reverb. Kind of screwy tube compliment, but it sounds cool. I got both of them a few years back for less than you could build them for with similar parts. I particularly like the tolex and transparent handles on these amps. Cool stuff.
