| 65amps |
I am now spending a lot of time at 65amps and consulting to other amp makers as well. I am up scaling my blueprinting work and now have nobody to answer to other than to myself. I am now mobile and will be moving all over the USA to work with amp builders, to visit friends and work locally to many more of you than I was able to work with directly in the past. On August 15, 2008 I left Groove Tubes after six and a half years as they were sold to Fender. On September 12, 2008 I started consulting at 65amps (www.65amps.com) as a member of the 65amps brain trust for lack of a better term. I am sure Dan Boul, one of the founding partners of 65amps will come up with a name better than my "brain trust" label at some point. I will continue to do what I have always done ... help guitar players sound better, one amp at a time. My Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting business will continue and will operate out of the 65amps complex. 65amps is very close to the Burbank Airport and Third Encore. I am on 24 hour call for clients of Third Encore through Tour Supply. I will continue to moderate the forums for Guitar Player Magazine and the Dr. Z amp Forum and help in any way I am able in the Feel Free to Ask Myles columns or the Ask The Experts column on the Z forum. I will also continue to be available for phone support, email support and single night local show support for all of you. Questions can be posted in one of my columns on the two forums listed or you may send me a direct email. My level of tour support will increase. As before, I will be happy to set up things prior to a tour, train the techs that will be on the tour, produce full documentation for the techs to follow to keep things running during the tour, blueprint if requested amps prior or during the tour and provide 24x7 phone and email support during the tour. As of September 12, 2008, my tube test facility was relocated to the 65amps complex. If you are local to the area and wish to have some tubes tested or verified I will be happy to do this in the case of a few tubes. For larger quantities you will need to contact Sam Austin at 65amps for pricing. As a public service for all players, I will continue to produce and publish test reports on the current state of production tubes available to the end user on this website. 65amps has a superb staff of some of the top folks in the industry and will be adding to their collective expertise area over the next year. The 65amps complex will be a place where you will be able to turn in time of need for help in the resolution of most any problem. |
| For more info on 65amps head to their website at www.65amps.com The area below are some bits and pieces of cool 65amps info, some photos and videos. This area will be updated on a regular basis. |
| 10/17/08 last update |
| This was an impromptu party at 65 amps on Friday 9/19/08. Some of the secret new stuff is being tested by some of the players that kept on playing until close to midnight. There were a lot of folks that played and many more that came in and out as the party progressed. Some of the folks were: Brett Petrucek - Premier Guitar Jon Levy - Premier Guitar Terry Gordon - Maken Music Brian & Charlie from Bogner Amps Mark, Jeremy & others from Minneapolis who were out in L.A. working on George Lynch sessions Dan Boul - 65amps and others who wandered in from who knows where. Free beer was flowing and Dan Boul made sure everybody had a way to get back to their hotels safely after the gathering. |
| Over at the 65amps complex you will find a lot of vintage amps of every kind. A great amp needs to be able to cover the foundation base of the classics and the only way to do this properly is to have players A/B the classic with the new amp. For an amp to be a great one it must cover the tone base of the classic and at the same time be able to extend the envelope and vocabulary beyond the scope of the classic amp's limits. |
| During the day at the 65amps complex there is always music playing. Dan has a collection of vintage tube audio gear and vinyl to assure that proper tunes are always playing. There is more than one setup for high end audio in the complex and each has a real turntable as well as CD player. |
| Custom color? 65amps will build amps in any color you want. |
| My general work area. Some of my test gear can be seen here. As a side note, every 65amps piece that is sent out will be blueprinted as standard and will have a spec sheet included that lists all the tubes used in the amp. If you need to retube down the road 65amps can supply exact replacements rather replacement being a crap shoot. 65amps owners can also select tubes of different qualities to fine tune their amp for different gain, feel or tone with humbuckers vs single coils or just make the amp a bit more gainy or less gainy, compress earlier or later, etc. |
| This is where Sam Austin lives at 65amps. He is a great player and knows a lot of great licks but I do not think he knows an entire actual song :) |
| Videos (and poor sound clips within the videos are downloadable from the links below: clip 1 clip 2 clip 3 clip 4 clip 5 clip 6 clip 7 clip 8 clip 9 |
| CLICK HERE to return to the main GAB page |
| This page may be a good place to add a bit about my lifestyle change. In the past when I have gotten divorced I always just moved back on a boat. Well ... I have been there, done that many times. I wanted to be mobile as I have friends and support folks all over the place so at the end of a new boat transaction when there were problems I took the problems as a sign. So, I decided to be land based but mobile rather than sea based. The vehicle below actually gets better mileage than a Chevy Suburban, a Hummer H2 or Ford Excursion. It has a 7.5kW generator and an inverter so working on amps anywhere is a piece of cake. Cummins diesel and Allison 6 speed make going up hill at 70 easy too. Air ride, self leveling etc ... on a Freightliner chassis. |
These shots are in West Hills. The popout is
not extended as it was parked on the street
for a week or so while I was visiting my kids.
The "bus" as it is called will be the 65amps
tour support vehicle at times.
not extended as it was parked on the street
for a week or so while I was visiting my kids.
The "bus" as it is called will be the 65amps
tour support vehicle at times.
There is a microwave / convection oven in the galley area even though I don't cook, side by side fridge/freezer
and the bathroom has more storage space and a larger shower than the bathroom in the house back home.
and the bathroom has more storage space and a larger shower than the bathroom in the house back home.
| This shot above is with the slideout moved in for travel. |
| More storage and hanging space in the bedroom than the three drawers I had at the house! |
| Double bed at the house ... queen size bed here |
| Car and bus over at 65amps |
| 65amps is two minutes from Third Encore, Center Staging, Tour Supply, Warner Bros. Studios, Paramount, NBC, and many other places. This is the hub of the music and entertainment industry. |
| If you are in the area please contact Dan, Sam or myself to arrange a factory tour. If you are at Third Encore or Center Staging with a tour bus 65amps has tour bus support. I can fill your water tanks, charge your house batteries, check and top off your oil and take out of town folks on a tour of Hollywood via the Metro and a less than 15 minute trip from the shop. I also have the proper tools for Cummins, Cat and Detroit Diesel engines (71 series and 92 series) and the Series 60 used in almost all Prevost tour busses. Standard 65amps shop rates will apply on engine work or amp blueprinting on any amp you bring along. I charge the same for amps and engines :) |