The Steel Guitar Forum

Some time ago I had my treasured Valco amp repaired by Matt Farrow. When I sent it to him it was in pretty sad shape. He explained all of the options, gave me the (reasonable) prices and went to work. It came back right on the estimate, and man does it sound good! It is dead quiet when it's supposed to be, invokes the rippling waves of Oahu when asked, and can also do Billy Gibbons imitations with the right axe! I've been playing it in, out, and at a recording session. It really sounds great. Thanks, Matt Farrow, for ressurecting my old '49.
T. Sage Harmos

Glad to hear there are still good amp techs out there. I made the mistake of going to Ferg's Amp Shop in Nashville and got the poorest service you can imagine. I took my Premier reverb unit in for service. I would drop by every few weeks and ask about it and he would say, "Yeah, what are we doing to it again?". He finally called (after having the unit for more than four months) and said it was done and I went to pick it up and it was humming. He kept it another few weeks and when I went back again it was still humming. I asked what they had done to it and he said "I think we just put new tubes in it". Then he charged me $110. Anyone want a Premier reverb that hums a little and has new tubes?

------------------
<FONT SIZE=-2>
Emmons Push Pull S10 | Peavey Session 400 | '52 Fender Lap Steel | Goodrich L120 & Matchbox
</FONT>

Michael......

If you care to bring your Reverb unit by the house, I will be glad to take a look at it for you. I make no promises, but at least we can make sure that it is the reverb unit itself that is bad and that hum isn't being introduced into the unit somehow.

Just one Steel-player offering to help another.....

Bill

Sage, thank you for the kind words. I'm not always on time, as I'm sure Gary Dillard will tell you! But I try to be. Right now I'm concentrating on pedals for guitar players and don't have a lot of time to do repairs, but I'm happy to help steel players in any way I can.

I am working on a "modernized" Boss-Tone clone for my next product. It will clip to the leg of your steel and have easy to access knobs for adjusting while playing. It will also feature a tone control so you don't have to mess with your amp or guitar tone when you need string or fuzz sounds.

When I have finished a couple, I'll be glad to send them to fellow Forumites for reviews, and I'll be selling them on my website and through ebay.

A humming Premier reverb? Probably either a) the filter caps have gone bad, b) the reverb tank is picking up induced magnetic hum from the transofrmers or c) you've got a bad coupling cap in there. Electrolytic caps are only built to last about 10 years and I bet the ones in your reverb are at least 30 years old. Take it to any "reputable" amp shop and have them check it out. I've worked on these (is yours two-tone with a script logo?) and they shouldn't hum *too* much.

Regards
Matt Farrow




------------------
Matt Farrow
Marlen 9-string 6+2
Kustom K150

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

I will certainly be waiting in line for one of these. The changes to the old BossTone you have suggested sound great!

Matt I think I saw one of these amps at in a garage sale, the lady that own it didnt wont to sell it with out the lap steel that went with it. I didnt know what these were worth so I didnt really haggle with her over it. Is this one of those deals of a lifetime or just a novelty item. I would probably go back and buy it if I knew a little more about it.

------------------
sho-bud,session 500,american standard strat,shecter tele,peavy classic 50

The 2 6V6 valco amps are (last I heard) being reproduced under the "Oahu" name. They go for about $750 bucks. It is a favorite of Billy Gibbons (ZZ top). The Supro/National/stencils that came with them in that period with the string-thru-pickup design have a distinctive tone. It was the axe of choice for much of David Lindley's work. They are not worth as much as Ricks but well worth having IMO. FYI I bought my original matching amp and lapsteel set from the daughter of the original owner 12 years ago for $150. I'd pay more than that now. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Sage on 11 October 2001 at 01:57 PM.]</p></FONT>