I am asked many times about the programs I’m using to design my amp layouts. So I thought of putting together a three part video tutorial about using Inkscape, a free vector based drawing program (for Win or Mac). I also made available the actual Inkscape amp layout drawing presented in these tutorials so you can use it as a blueprint starter template for your drawings. Please share your drawings! They are art!
Because the EF86 pentode is such a finicky tube but sounds so wicked (once you find the right one), I thought it might be worth showing the pain I’m going through (besides replacing Fallon with Leno), to keep things quiet:
I can’t believe it! I still remember the day(s) when I first stumbled over the 18watt forum over on yahoogroups and getting to know the extraordinary people and friends there in early 2002, getting all fired up about building, starting gathering parts for the 1×12″ 18watt combo, building the actual cabinet, tolexing (I hated that!) chassis and everything, including the goosebumps I got when I first hit the STANDBY on switch! So yes, today that First Born amp is 10 years old!
the First Born Gabriel 18 watt amplifier
I thought this particular build (a Gabriel Stinger 7w Head with an Celestion AlNiCo Blue open back bottom) was worth of recording a video demo to keep for the records. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the way the Blue interacted with the Stinger. It is as if they were from the same movie. The 100 dbs sensibility of the Blue helps making this Stinger rig pretty loud for it’s humble 7w power rating. Obviously what you hear is NOT what it sounds in reality since you really need to be in the room to get the full emotional vibe of the tone but you can get an idea. Sit back and enjoy! And of course please leave a comment!!
This is what happens if you have too much coffee before building guitar amps! In a way, I wish this would be the case! I could build with the speed of one amp every 3 minutes or so!
The time lapse amp building video features me building a Gabriel Stinger 7 watt that’s now at Fat Tone Guitars. There were a total of 8.45 hours of amp building spread out in a span of 7 days (an hour or two of work every day). There were 3,657 shots taken at an interval of 7 seconds with a Nikon D40.
Leave a comment if you like coffee!!
So you finally received your tube guitar amp, you spent a fortune for it, and you love its sweet tone and all, but. . . You live in a small apartment, with sonically transparent walls, and you want to have happy neighbors. Your dilemma was addressed actually by a lot of amp builders by building attenuators that act just like a speaker load and output just enough power to the speaker that you need. But there’s an easier and more effective way of taming your amp by using a Variable Voltage Regulator (VVR) that will let you turn your amp’s Volume to where you want it, but control the overall amp output to an optimal level.
It’s official! The latest amp project I’ve been working on–a single-ended 7-watt switchable EL84 and 6V6 tube–has a name now, thanks to Matt LaPlaca, a Gabriel Sound Garage Facebook fan: The STINGER! I chose that name because it describes its character the best. . . and it fits into the Gabriel Sound Garage beehive family just perfectly!
Paul Riario, did an exceptional video demonstration of the Gabriel V33 guitar amp, that was coupled with the print review that appeared in the Guitar World magazine a while ago (by Terry Buddingh). Paul explains in very easy terms the V33’s features as well as the footswitch functions. Sit back relax and enjoy the video!
It’s worth watching.
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