New Amp & Guitar Day

[PhilKing]

I have been waiting for this amp since February, but I was waiting for the guitar for much longer!  The guitar is a Bravewood 64 Strat with an HSS set (John still thinks it should be all single coils!).  The pickups are a Rebel Yell bridge and two Mother's Milks.  There are quite a few original parts that I had on the guitar, but John has made it feel just like a real vintage guitar.  It is amazing.  I love playing it, it has just the feel I wanted and with the HSS combo, it is great for anything I want to play.  

The amp is an idea that I have had in my head for a long time, and finally I found someone who would make it for me.  It is a TMB 18W preamp, with an AC15 EF86 second channel and a JTM 45 (KT66 & GZ34) power stage.  Nik at Ceriatone put it together for me.

I fitted the cab and put the valves in, and then hooked it up to just a 2x10 cab (Eminence Ramrod and Lil' Buddy).  The sound is awesome.  It is everything I thought it would be and more.  The clean tones through the EF86 channel have the Voxy chime, it nails the Dire Straits split tone, and through the TMB channel it can get as bluesy as I want, whithout losing note definition.  It has a triode/pentode switch which can bring the volume down and doesn't seem to change the tone too much.  I initially was using it in triode mode, but think I will try to keep it in pentode because it thickens up the tone a bit.

I have only tried the Bravewood through it so far, but I want to try my Zemaitis Pearl Front clone (with an AV Mule and AIV Stormy Monday).  That pickup combination is one of the best I have tried for straight rock and blues, and I am sure with this amp I will have the SEG fixed in place for weeks (along with ringing in my ears!).

Anyway here are a couple of pictures:

[WezV]

i do like red amps.... and you know i like the guitar!!!

[sgmypod]

Nice....

[Philly Q]

The guitar is a Bravewood 64 Strat with an HSS set (John still thinks it should be all single coils!).  

I was surprised by the HSS set, I always got the impression from the Bravewood site that he's a real traditionalist!

Is the guitar relic'd at all Phil, or is it more of a "closet classic"?  I think Bravewood's relic jobs look awesome.

[WezV]

we need better detail photos phil... so here we go!!

[noodleplugerine]

Crikey - I quite like the look of that baby!

[Philly Q]

we need better detail photos phil... so here we go!!

Ah, that's better.  It really does have a vintage vibe - and I like the way the bucker's been added to a modified standard Strat scratchplate!  :)

[hunter]

This looks very nice. The relicing on the guitar is unbelievably authentic. There is really some passion behind that work.

Regarding the amp: What brand KT66s are you having in there at the moment? You should try the new Gold Lions, they are pretty amazing. At first I didn't like them, but after I had broken and dialed them in a bit, they are great!

[PhilKing]

The guitar is a Bravewood 64 Strat with an HSS set (John still thinks it should be all single coils!).  

I was surprised by the HSS set, I always got the impression from the Bravewood site that he's a real traditionalist!

Is the guitar relic'd at all Phil, or is it more of a "closet classic"?  I think Bravewood's relic jobs look awesome.

As you can see from Wez's pictures, it is reliced in that the paint is all crazed, but not rubbed away.  That's exactly what I wanted.  I am getting a couple more from him that will be a bit more worn too.  He is restoring my 1961 Strat with a refret and a new body which will be olympic white over sunburst.  That will have wear marks to show off the sunburst.

The reason John agreed to make it for me with the HSS set is because it is an original 1963/64 scratchplate that was already cut for a humbucker (yes it was me who cut it back in the early 80's).  But he did tell me that he would walk past it and want to restore it back to all single coils!!

[PhilKing]

This looks very nice. The relicing on the guitar is unbelievably authentic. There is really some passion behind that work.

Regarding the amp: What brand KT66s are you having in there at the moment? You should try the new Gold Lions, they are pretty amazing. At first I didn't like them, but after I had broken and dialed them in a bit, they are great!

I am going to get a set of Gold Lions.  I don't know if you can see but Nik put me a set of bias probe sockets and a bias trim pot.  He was telling me that he finds 38mA is about the 'magic' point for KT66's.  

All I know at the moment is that the ones in have no name on them, I am thinking that they are the chinese Shuhuang since they have the brown bases.  Once the amp settles in a bit I will try some different preamp tubes too.  It has JJ ECC83S's in there at the moment and an EH EF86.  I have Mullards, Groove Tubes, Tung Sol and a lot of NOS tubes too, so I can play a bit.  However I have another amp which will take some of them that is arriving tomorrow I think! More on that one when it gets here though.

This is the first KT66 amp I have eever had (when I was younger they were all EL34 Plexi's that I had).  I am really liking the tone and it is cleaner than the EL34's I think.  The individual notes really ring out.

[il˙ti]

Those incompetent Fender douchebags. Put ukulele frets on a guitar... you should take it back.

[dave_mc]

excellent!  :)

[hamfist]

 The clean tones through the EF86 channel have the Voxy chime

Congrats on the new guitar and amp...but.... There's no Vox EF86 channel with any chime. Raunch a plenty, but no chime.
    Nik's a great bloke, maybe he's put some Malaysian magic juice in there somewhere !!

[PhilKing]

 The clean tones through the EF86 channel have the Voxy chime

Congrats on the new guitar and amp...but.... There's no Vox EF86 channel with any chime. Raunch a plenty, but no chime.
    Nik's a great bloke, maybe he's put some Malaysian magic juice in there somewhere !!

The EF86 channel has the 6 position tone selector and it really can give a chimey sound with the Mother's Milks.  Perhaps it has something to do with the KT66's too?

[Twinfan]

They will be Shuguang KT-66s in your amp, Phil - Nik's standard fitment  ;)

Interesting amp and nice looking gee-tar!