This is WAY more information than you asked for, but it might be of interest.
It's kind of sad that not many touring pros got or even heard of Ken's amps back in the day. We are talking low low production, and by the time the word was getting out far and wide Ken was already slowing way down health wise in his ability to build. By the time his amps got a real buzz going they were already being put away as collectibles and the values rising, and I can also guess that not many touring guys were going to want something they had to baby sit on the road because of the darn value of the things.
Heck I had never heard of a Trainwreck until I walked into Angela Instruments one day in 1989 and there sat a Trainwreck Express. The owner used it to cut sub sandwiches on! He said it sounded great "for someone that works their guitar knobs to control it" and I said cool! The shop owner actually offered to let me borrow the amp for a week to check it out, as I guess he figured it was his way to help Ken get the word out. I barely knew the shop/amp owner but took him up on the offer. Anyway I played it a week and HAD to get on the list which I did. Still back then a Trainwreck amp was an odd duck. A homebuilt guitar amp was something you NEVER saw. Heck, a Trainwreck amp was the first handmade amp I had ever even seen other than one Mk1 Boogie. The only other boutique (not even what we called them then) amps that I knew about then were Boogies, Dumbles and Kendricks. It seemed the popular "hip" new rigs were all going to rack preamps and poweramps with tons a bells and whistles, and even Boogies and Dumbles were loaded with "features". Nowdays 3 knobs amps are retro cool, but back then folks actually made fun of my Trainwreck amps...that is until they heard them.
I had heard that back in the early 90s several studio guys in LA did plenty of session work with Trainwrecks, some even for TV and commercials. Not sure where though...
Just a couple months before Ken's death I did some clips of my Express on DVD that Ken really liked. Ken even paid me for some extra DVD copies of them. Ken apparently also forwarded them on to Mark Knopfler, as Ken was trying to convince Mark to somehow find a Trainwreck as a follow up to the Komets he was already using. Only a few months later Ken was gone...
I know that "BB" from "BB and the Stingers" was a blues/pop guitarist vocalist out of NJ that did some great stuff back in the day. Ken said BB used a couple of Liverpools. However I recently researched it and it appears BB played quite a number of amps and who knows what ended up on what tracks? BB sadly passed away earlier this year and his two Liverpool amps were recently sold, and one of them ended up with Brad Paisley just recently though he apparently has yet to record it. It will be interestng to see what tones Brad gets from it, though he tends to like to play several amps at one time for his tone so maybe a Liverpool and Dr.Z together?...I'm sure it will be good. Back to BB, I did find some info about him on a Myspace page with some clips but I have no idea if any of them were specifically his Liverpools. The clips I found were really great sounding and sure reminded me of a Liverpool but who knows.
Some say there is a particular Bryan Adams cut with an Express, maybe? And also rumored are some George Lynch recordings as for a while George had an Express but I don't think he kept it. Detail there is also vague...
There you have it. Others may have some more leads on this topic. It's one of the reasons I put out my CD this year even though the tracks were recorded several years ago actually (on analog 1" 16 track) but only recently mastered. It was a few years after completing the recordings that I realized the tracks might even be of interest specifically to hear these rare amps played in a band context. I used an orginal '91 Liverpool on one track exclusively and a little for rhythm on other tracks though the rest of the CD is my '89 Express.
That all said, I'm starting to record a second instrumental CD early next year, and yes with the same amp.
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