Vibro King

[boots]

Thanks Guys for the input. I need to meet with the guy and let him play through some of my builds and see what he is really looking for. I'm not sure if he really knows what he wants or not.

I work with his brother, who tells me that he is a big Hendrix freak. I guess I never really associated the Vibro King with Jimi.

Hopefully I can talk him into something with a more conventional design. Using 6V6 or 6BQ5 as a reverb driver seems too weird to me.

[LeftyStrat]

There are quite a few studio recordings where Hendrix used a Fender amp.

Get him to listen to clips of the Germino Club 40:

http://www.germinoamps.com/club40.htm

http://www.germinoamps.com/audio/tribute.mp3

I modded a JTM45 build to the specs of the Club 40 and it was heavenly. Then I stupidly let someone talk me into selling it to him. I'm planning another build.

[Structo]

Yeah, I was surprised to learn how much Jimi used Fender amps in the studio.
We always saw him with Marshalls on stages but from what I understand, he used Fenders a lot in the studio.
Especially on the cleaner tones he used.

[LeftyStrat]

Yeah, I was surprised to learn how much Jimi used Fender amps in the studio.
We always saw him with Marshalls on stages but from what I understand, he used Fenders a lot in the studio.
Especially on the cleaner tones he used.

From the biographies I've read, his personal at home (and drag to jams) amp was a Twin Reverb. One account has him using on Voodoo Child (the slow version), a blonde bassman, with the guitar tuning dropped down to D.

Of course, what complicates things is a lot of times, some of his clean tones still have the fuzz face on, with just the guitar volume rolled back. Those germanium fuzzes clean up pretty well.

[boots]

To me, things like Little Wing and some other stuff, especially on Axis, have a very tweed sound. I always wondered if he used a Champ or Deluxe on Little Wing.

[Leo_Gnardo]

If you're trying to record "Jimi thru a Twin" tone might consider using period-correct mics, or as near as you can get. For instance AKG D12E jam up to the grille, and Telefunken/Neumann U47 room mic for ambience. OK I know not too many folks have a U47 available for use, so put up any decent-quality condenser mic & try to find a sweet spot for it in your room.

Live thru Marshall - I often see the Shure SM56 in use. These days SM57 will do. (Not the Beta variety, just the original item).

Slather with lots of deep compression. An LA-2 if you have one, or a plug-in version on your computer recording system will do.

Then again, as with all great guitarists, Jimi's sound was in the brain-to-finger connections.

[LeftyStrat]

One account has him using on Voodoo Child (the slow version), a blonde bassman, with the guitar tuning dropped down to D.

According to this interview with Eddie, Voodoo Child was a Showman into an 8x10 cab:

http://gc.guitarcenter.com/interview/eddie-kramer/

[Blackburn]

One account has him using on Voodoo Child (the slow version), a blonde bassman, with the guitar tuning dropped down to D.

According to this interview with Eddie, Voodoo Child was a Showman into an 8x10 cab:

http://gc.guitarcenter.com/interview/eddie-kramer/

Thanks for that! Excellent read.

[Leo_Gnardo]

One thing I didn't hear about 'til recently is the Voodoo version with Steve Winwood on organ & Jack Casady on bass. Now I'm listening with new ears.

Another thing to try for a Hendrix (& many other guitar meisters) tone: a Leslie. The kind with real rotating horn 147, 145, 122 for instance. Plus another amp, or alone. Get a real Leslie into your rig & you won't stop playing for days. You won't sleep, you'll miss meals, etc. I lost 3 days once long ago...

[LeftyStrat]

One thing I didn't hear about 'til recently is the Voodoo version with Steve Winwood on organ & Jack Casady on bass. Now I'm listening with new ears.

Another thing to try for a Hendrix (& many other guitar meisters) tone: a Leslie. The kind with real rotating horn 147, 145, 122 for instance. Plus another amp, or alone. Get a real Leslie into your rig & you won't stop playing for days. You won't sleep, you'll miss meals, etc. I lost 3 days once long ago...

Yeah, playing a Leslie is so much fun. Carrying one around, not so much.

[Turret]

My friend just scored one of these, 6V6 reverb driver model, from the 90's

I asked him to take few pictures of the insides, and he did... 250MB's

I should have the CD burned with them here soon. I won't upload them all here, but I can draw the layout and matching schematic if you guys want it. I'll do it anyway for my own record

[KellyBass]

Yes, I'd like to see that circuit. A drawing would be much appreciated.

[Randall]

I just went through a friend's 90's custom shop Vibro King. I thought it was quite well done, more so then the vast majority of modern Fenders, and he now loves the sound of it. He's one of the top players in the area, and owns quite a collection of amps. So maybe there are different versions/eras of this amp?

[Leo_Gnardo]

So maybe there are different versions/eras of this amp?

As far as I can tell, the reverb drive tube was changed from EL84 to 6V6 somewhere along the line.

And in my audio opinion the VK can be vastly improved by changing speakers. Those OEM blue Eminence Alnicos sound hard as granite to me. Almost anything else is better. Replaced just one with a MOD 10-35 for a local customer and he got happy. If you were to replace all 3 - cheap - it would take that clacky hard edge off. Unless you like that kind of thing.