Who are we? Let's get to know each other!

[Leka]

My turn:

Timo Lekander
35 years old
Nice girlfriend who doesn't care if tubeamp / parts are lying on a living room table
BS in electrical eng.
MS in software eng.
Senior software developer
Jyväskylä / Finland

Have been playing guitar for 22 years.
Still have my first Tokai guitar as a main guitar. (Slightly modded...)
I had a Laney AOR 30 combo for years which I finally converted to this:

[img:640:480]http://www.elisanet.fi/speedking/dscf4093.jpg[/img]
[img:640:480]http://www.elisanet.fi/speedking/dscf4094.jpg[/img]
(The green fellow lives with us and is highly skilled electrician controlling the quality issues...)

My battle with tubeamps began about four years ago.
Thanks to you, I can't see the end of tweaking my amp, I've gone too far too long.

[harryk]

Hi folks! I am Harry Kneckt from dark and could country Finland like Leka. Because it is dark and cold most of the year, we have three alternatives to survive. One is to drink, the other is to drink and third one is to build tube guitar amps. I have been with tube amps all of my life (I am 51 years now). I play in a therapy band evey Sunday rock`n roll and blues. I have built all kind of tube amp replicas, own costructions etc. and now my band plays only tubeamps that I have made. They are called Bluetone. Yuo can see some pictures in www.bluetone.fi This forum is excellent place to learn more how to creat the best sounding amps in the world. People are very helpful and I appreciate that a lot. After seeing Geetarpickers/Glens clip in Yoube I fell in love with Twrecks. My first Twreck project is on the production/testing line right now.

My everyday jod is to lead a company as MD and co owner in automation field but this hobby beats it anyday. Regards Harry/harryk

[tweedeluxe]

Hello!
My name is Lowell - I live in Phoenix, AZ

I'm 24 years old, married for just over a year.

I picked up guitar when I was seventeen, but have played fiddle since I was just a little tyke.

I work in the music dept. of a large church, but am trying to get hired as a firefighter. I play guitar once or twice a week in worship bands.

I started building pedals about year and a half ago, after I sold all my gear to help pay for my wedding. I built my first amp this summer, a 5E3, and am now hopelessly addicted. Right now, I'm just reading every amp tech/electronics book I can find, and saving up to build an Express. Hopefully I'll be able to make a few extra bucks at amp building someday, because I really enjoy it.

Here's a photo of my first build - please be gentle.
[img:675:313]http://members.cox.net/lowell4prez/Imag ... 1554-1.jpg[/img]

Thanks to all on this forum. I've learned a lot from reading (and rereading) everything here. I wish I had more to contribute, but my experience/knowledge level is still pretty low.

[briane]

Hello all, thought maybe time I gave a shout out.

My name is Brian Elston, I live in seattle, and my day job is a computer programmer. Years ago I used to build video games for the kids, now I build electron microscopes for the scientists.

I have built 22 amps now, but my dumble clones are some of my favorites. My favorites are the ODS, the vox ac15, traynor yb2a, ampeg b25, and marshall 1986. Have to admit I am becoming a bit of a solder junkie.

I have built 2 dlite's, a clean king (with major tweaks), and am currently working on a 6an8 pre-amp for a #124 style type ODS. Hoping I can get more of a voxy-dumble thing going with this one.

I am primarily a drummer, side percussionist, and keys player. I love my hammonds and wurli's. I got into building amps mainly for the keys side of things, but its been very cool to learn about the guitar and bass side too. This came after the last 3 years of building effects, mixers, and a whole variety of pedals. I have many friends who do play guitar, and the feedback on the amps has been really positive.

if anyones ever up in seattle, your always welcome to stop by for a beer (or 2), a steak, and to test drive a few amps.

[stelligan]

Hello......My name is David Christensen.........I am an Amp-o-holic.......

I come from a musical family. Mom played organ in church. Our denomination was "Oh Ye With the Best Pipe Organ in Town". One brother played drums and guitar - sister played piano, flute, and sang her ass off - other brother played bass. I played guitar, sax, and sang for my supper from 1976 until 1992. My brother(the drummer) and I had the good fortune to be on the same bill as many great rock acts in those days. Santana, Elvin Bishop, U2, Marshall Tucker Band, Sea Level - to name a few. My sister Julie toured the world as a featured vocalist with Leonard Cohen and contributed vocals to a couple Robben Ford records among many other accomplishments that are chronicled here: http://www.stonecupid.com
I became a pharmacist to support my music habit. My pharmacy gig took me from Omaha to Sacramento to Kansas City then full circle back to Omaha, Nebraska. On a whim I sent a Fender amp to Jim Price "groovtubin" who proceeded to turn it into a screamin' beast that hooked me on guitar playing again. Then a long standing friend "heisthl", that used to work on my amps when I was gigging in the 80's, rebuilt an old MusicMan with a non-HRM d-clone inside. This sent me into a wild frenzy that forced me to build a D'Lite and then an HRM in a D'Lite chassis. I now have a voracious appetite for all things amp related. I need help, but something tells me you are not the guys I should ask.......... for help with my amp addiction - that is.

[RJ Guitars]

Dave H here. 45 yrs old.... I've built numerous amps, several being 'Wreck circuits....mostly Express style, with one being a variant using 6021 micro-miniature pencil type triodes in the preamp (the ones with flying leads) and a 6aq5 output.

Would you consider sharing the schematic and some gut shots on you 6AQ5 amp? that is the kinda stuff I really love!!

rj

[juse]

My name is Tim & I'm 42 yrs old. I live & work in big D, although I'd rather be cruising in a hammock with a good dopplebock & smoking a cuban cigar watching a Carribbean sunet. I design circuit boards, mostly Automated Test Equipment stuff for Texas Instruments. I'm married & have two boys and a new pug puppy named Marty.

I started playing guitar in 1980 and have owned about 100 guitars over the years. I currently have it whittled down to 10. As a teen I worked at a cool pawnshop called Pete's Pawn & Music that was one of the main hangouts for musicians (there was also Arnold & Morgan down the street - this was way before Guitar Center came around). It had tons of vintage stuff & I can kick myself in the butt for not being able to see the future and snag up so many instruments/amps/etc that were within my grasp there (example - there were about seven pristine 1969 Gibson SGs with original hardshell cases that we couldn't give away at the time, I could have bought them for $75-100 apiece). It makes me sick when I think of all the cool gear I shoulda grabbed, especially when I see what it's going for on Ebay.

Anyway, I eventually wound up in the Navy as an aviation electronics tech, but ended up washing airplanes most of the time instead, and forgot the majority of what Uncle Sam had taught me about electronics.

I love everything about tubes, always have... since I was a 5 yr old watching the glow of an old ham radio as our neighbor tracked a hairy tornado headed for us. Now I finally have the guts to build my own amps. I have about 4 brewing right now. Love it. This is a great hangout & I'm usually lurking here when I should be routing a board. I hope this forum is here for many, many years to come.

[nickt]

G'day! Nick T from Sydney Australia here.

Age: 14 years (mentally) 52 years (physically) - or is it the other way round?

Confirmed Fender player until now always with my beloved AC30 .
Last gig was in 1994 in an "all girl band" - I tried to tell them it wouldn't work out!

Built amps and guitars way back in the early 70s and on and off since. Mainly off for the last 15 years.

Always interested in electronics since I was a kid. Started playing when I was about 13. Flunked school and worked as a musician through the 70's under the Arts Grant (ie the dole). Woke up one day and realized I was poor so went to technical college, did electronics and then worked in scientific instrumentation through the 80s. Woke up in 1988 and decided my job sucked so went to university at the age of 33 and did a computer science degree. I've worked in investment banking technology since the mid 90's under the "corporate slave" model.

Living with my wife and two beautiful teenage daughters, plus one very large very hairy wolf and one very small stupid dog.

Woke up quite recently with a shock - "exactly when did I stop being a musician?" - still confused - but slowly getting back into playing while trying to build a dream amp or six.

Really love this forum and am totally in awe of the work and playing turned out by you guys - but I'll catch up some day!

[Ears]

Hi, I'm Richard Ch*****e.

Me
I'm 47yo, New Zealand citizen.

Background
I'm a full time musician - a University (College) graduate in classical guitar - but my main music teacher was (the late) Antonio Losada; i.e. outside such institutions. Antonio was a well respected, extremely charismatic ex-native of Madrid who after studying with Sainz de la Maza, Andres Segovia etc established himself in Sydney in the '60s. Anybody who has met him will know what I mean by charismatic.

I also mis-spent 3 yrs of my youth studying elec engineering at uni before guitar, bands and girls sidetracked me. After burning my engineering texts in 1985 I never a spent minute in the intervening 20 years thinking about electronics. Funnily enough the only book from the era I kept with me was my copy of RCA manual (number 28 - over 780 pages!) and scrapbook of design ideas (and pcbs I made) for a guitar amp I put down in 1984.

Vision
I had a dream in '84 of incorporating a low wattage (0.5~ 3W) p-p miniature tube power amp complete with OPT into the preamp of a larger amp, maybe even Mosfet output. But lack of resources, information, geographical isolation and concentration on a fulfilling career in classical guitar interceeded.

Some outfit called Guytron (Hedrick) patented my idea in 2000.
Huh ! I'd love to see a law suit over that one, geezus - I couldn't have been the only other one to think of it!

OK - so its probably down to middle age crisis, my Bach and Shostakovich cds have recently gathered dust while I've bought and listened stuff I haven't listened to in decades - Steely Dan, Weather report, Tower of Power, David Bowie, Roy Buchanan, Allmans.....

Ive had an electric guitar made to keep my Ramirez 1a company. See pic

I'm making a Dumble preamp but with third channel: a Bassman/champ hybrid complete with SE 6V6 output and OPT and its own tube rectified power tranny. All three channels will feed a 100 Watt Power section 2 x KT88.

The Bassman/champ section is almost complete. In effect it is in itself a self contained amp, so I'm building two amps in one box.



The Guitar

Built by Peter Stephen.

Timbers: Carved Walnut top, Maple neck, Tasmanian Blackwood back.

23 fret compound-radius Ebony fingerboard deliberately free of inlay. Long (Fender) scalelength.

String-spacing: at nut 43mm, at saddle 55.5mm. Classical guitar spacing! This neck is for the real business, not a prissy skinny-job with cobweb strings.

Ebony and 'nubone' bridge-saddle. Ebony pickup surrounds, knobs.

Kinman Hx "Woodstock" neck Seymour Duncan "59' er" bridge

Note the front strap mount, this gun-black rod can be easily removed (unscrewed) and replaced with another pin that sits flush to the body when required. The long mount places the strap in the same position as the upper-horn on a Strat-style guitar does. Good bye to Les Paul style aches in the shoulder.

[matt.mcadory]

Matt McAdory
Unemployed computer geek
Greenville, SC
Musician since '87

just getting into building eletronics, but enjoying what I have done so far. getting ready to build an amp and see how she flies.

[pedro]

Hi all.

Pete Coates

44 yrs old. ( still feel 18 ! ) General Sales Mngr for a big soft drinks Co.
Married 19 years , 2 kids ( 14 and 10 ) 5 amps and 5 guitars !
Started playing guitar at 15 years old - my sister bought be a beat up tele copy.....

played in various college/local bands.

started learning seriously about a year before my first kiddie was born - missed my lesson on the day she came, and then took about 10 years off playing seriously !!!

Got bought a copy of Aspen Pittmans Tube amp book ( 4.1 ) on one of my birthdays ( sometime in my 30's) and decided to build my own champ - never looked back.

Ive built 3 18watters, a plexi 50, a bassman, and now a "dumble" 50w ODS.

- started having some reading and jazz lessons again over the last 18 months and now trying to get seriously into my playing again now that the kids are growing up. Looking for a new teacher just now, fed up with self teaching and internet based lessons.

Loved messing with technical bits and pieces ever since I took my Mum and Dads best clock apart as a kid.....

cheers
Pete

[Ears]

<snip> Looking for a new teacher just now, fed up with self teaching and internet based lessons.
cheers
Pete

Good move, you can't learn guitar from a computer screen. The proliferation of internet guitar tuition scams (IMO) is a worry, if not a curse. At best, if you hook into "lessons" from masters (eg Larry Carlton's Mr 335TV) all you get is a few good tips. Nothing beats good tuition over a few years coupled with the drive to discover things for oneself.

[dB King]

Hi folks my name is Bob King, I live in Hermon, Maine, it not the end of the Earth, but you can see it from there. I have worked as the Tax Manager for Maine's second largest utililty for the pass 36 years, I start work at the age of 21 so that put me at 57. Been married for 35+ years to the same women with 4 grown up children. My older son who serve in the Air Force just return yesterday for Iqan. I started to play guitar when I was in the 8th grade and build my first amp when I was a jr in high school. My older brother had a TV repair shop so I have all the parts and his knowledge to help me. About 7 years ago I start to get back into amp building, after all kids had left the nest and I had a little more free time. I build a number of Fender amp's from 5E3 up to a Fender twin reverb. 4 or 5 Marshall 18 watt amp + a 45 watt watt Marshall. A couple of Fender outboard reverb unit and a pre amp. I have tax business on the side that support my amp hobby. I have a number of Guitars, but my Guitar of choose is a black Fender Strat. You can find me Sunday morning rock & roll for Jesus at church.

[LeftyStrat]

Tomy Hudson, Seattle, WA.

Computer Geek by day, tube nut by night and weekends.

Though I have no formal EE training, back in the late sixties, my dad was program director and morning DJ at the local rock station. I use to hang out doing odd jobs, and was sort of adopted by the broadcast engineer, who would let me help him, and taught me to solder and do various tasks.

My mother was a piano teacher, and my dad would bring home play copies of singles that were "too heavy" for the station (Hendrix, Cream, etc). I guess I was eleven or twelve when I started playing guitar. My parents bought me a left-handed strat when I was fourteen (the headstock in my avatar). I built a lot of fuzzes and things, and was the default tech for every band I was in.

I was in college when "Electronic Projects for Musicians" came out, that sparked my interest in music electronics even more, and within a couple of years built my first modular synth.

I guess I always had a really good ear, probably much better than my playing, because after gigs, other musicians would always come up and rave about my tone or sound, not my playing though a lot of tone is in the fingers, I was just never a speed demon. I prefer a single BB King note to every one Malsteem has ever played.

Anyway, I occasionally do amp mods or repairs for a few bands in the Seattle area, most of them fall into the shoe gazing category (which means a lot of Super Reverbs and Ampeg VT40s). I also get a few requests for pedal designs. I really don't make much money at this, I do it mainly for struggling musicians that can't afford a "real" tech, and I only do it for bands whose music I like, which is pretty easy for Seattle, the music scene here is fantastic.

I don't play out anymore, most of my time is teaching my three kids to play. I can say they each own some the nicest tube amps of any eight, nine, or eleven year old and if they don't like theirs, they know daddy will happily build them a different one.

[drhulsey]

I am Tim Hulsey, 58 yo, and I have lived most of my life in Bowling Green, KY.
I am a plastic surgeon. As someone said earlier in this thread, it's not brain surgery. It's more complicated But it's like anything else: if want to do it, you get 12 years of post-graduate training, and you're off
I started playing the guitar at age 12 with a Silvertone acoustic (that's right! From Sears) that required vise grips to fret. Since I worked hard at it, my father bought me a used Gibson ES 135. At age sixteen, he bought me a Gibson ES 335 TD SV(you know- the one with stereo wired pickups, a Vari-tone switch, and gold plated hardware)! That set him back $750 in 1965 (>$4000 in current dollars) I don't know where that money came from. He was a traveling salesman
I played in rock bands in the '60's, but when I went to medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, I started playing Bluegrass I learned to play the banjo and mandolin and had a great time with all the pickers around the campus.
As a resident in general surgery and then plastic surgery, I had little time to play, being in the hospital 36-40 out of every 48 hours
I moved back to Bowling Green in 1982 and didn't play much until about 8 years ago. For about 6 years I have been the lead guitar player for Skip Bond & the Fugitives. We play about 40 gigs a year as a cover band. Our lead singer is one of the Circuit Judges. We do old time R&R. We have 3 horns, 2 percussionists- 9 pieces- and we're HAVING A BLAST My avatar comes from the final Concert in the Park which we do each year. The first year, we were thrilled at the crowd of 750 people. This year, the crowd was over 7,000
I am married, and Cynthia's name will go on my Express. I have three grown boys and am expecting my first grandchild in 3/08.
For some reason, I like to know how and why things work. That lead me to try to understand tube amplifiers, and here I am.
I am finishing an Express and plan a Liverpool and a Wreck Jr. build. I have NO training in electronics, but books and the internet have helped me a great deal. This forum has been an amazing resource, for which I thank you all I plan to use my newly built amps gigging with my Strat and my PRS single cut- well, that is, if they work
I have found no reason to quit my day job just yet Hillary may change my mind