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Post subject: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 9:46 am
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An attack ..... of GAS, that is.

I was looking with lust at the Tungsten, Victoria and Clark 5E3 amps on their respective websites. I felt reasonably safe from GAS because these amps are priced rather high and although I do prefer quality gear to entry level stuff I still nevertheless take my time picking and choosing before laying down the green. Then just for giggles I thought I'd check Kijiji to see if there are any 5E3s for sale near me, thinking used amps will be cheaper. There were none in my region but when I changed my search parameters to province-wide I discovered a small amp builder in Calgary who builds all manner of Tweed clones and he builds them so close to the originals that he includes caveats in his ad copy pertaining to durability on the road of some of the parts Leo chose with options for tougher parts that may not sound as good. Now here's the kicker. Eleven hundred bones. That's for a new amp with a 6 month warranty and within two hours driving distance from me so no shipping charges or border fees. Compare that to 1,700 for a Victoria and well over 2K for a Fender.

Oh, man. I'm fighting the urge but it's hard. I was planning to do this next winter or spring anyway. I might have to start looking at bike parts to help get my mind off it. No wait, new bikes! I definitely can't afford a new bike right now.... that might do the trick. Anybody see the new Ducatis? Yah, that's it .... Ducati. I'll try to fixate on that newest version of the MultiStrada.

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 9:49 am
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For the price of a "boutique" 5E3 clone I'd buy the parts and build my own. All the fun of a custom built new amp with the added frisson of potential electrocution.

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:04 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
An attack ..... of GAS, that is.

I was looking with lust...
You are what I used to be... one sick puppy. I have resisted the urge to buy another guitar or amp for over SIX months now.

Your problem is LUST! You must deal with this problem on a personal level.

I wish you all the best.

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 4:39 pm
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Go ahead and give in. You're saving big bucks $1.1K vs $2K. Nine hundred smackers is a lot of dough! :twisted:

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:09 am
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OK, so I might be getting over my GAS on this one. I'm still not sure. I'm currently trying to sort my way around some things.

I initiated email contact with the guy and he answered the first email almost immediately, like within seconds and I responded back within seconds and then suddenly he's gone. Vanished. No contact now for over 25 hours. Also, he says he's in Regina, not Calgary. That puts him about 6 or 7 hours away, not 2. The too-good-to-be-true low price, the misdirection about his whereabouts and the sudden end to contact all add up to giving me an uneasy feeling about this. I'll give the guy another 24 hours. I just have this gut feeling like the guy stuck his nose up in the air like a dog and sniffed me and realised I wasn't gonna send him money for an amp sight unseen and ended contact. I dunno. Maybe I'm over reacting.

I'm just gonna leave it at that. I left him the last email. The ball is in his court. If he really does want to sell me an amp then he'll get back to me. If I don't hear from him then I guess I'll know my gut was right. I have a sneaky suspicion it will be the latter.

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:31 am
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I feel your pain on the Canadian gear-buying situation BMW. I am fortunate enough to live in Winnipeg so I can have things shipped to a place 5 mins south of the border, and make the 1-hour drive south to pick up gear and avoid duty fees. The taxes we have to pay though are still kind of ludicrous. :? Sometimes I wish I lived in ND so gear wouldn't be so expensive.

I can add one bit of personal experience with regards these amp builders. You get a quality product, but should you ever need to resell it there is no brand name familiar to others on it, and the result is usually a pretty hefty dive from what you originally payed for it, if you can sell it.


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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:41 pm
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So the guy got back to me this afternoon with a rather lengthy email containing 13 paragraphs. I no longer have the feeling there is anything going here on to be cautious about, only perhaps that the guy is a little slow checking and responding to his emails.

The general gist of what he said is that Sprague Orange Drops, which are very popular amoung boutique amp builders and home builders alike, work quite well in 60s BF designs but he does not believe thay have a rightful place in 50s Tweed designs. He mentions a personal comparison he conducted with a modern Victoria 45410 and an actual vintage 1959 Bassman. He said the Victoria sounded great but it wasn't the same sound as the real deal. He makes the comment it was like different amps wearing the same clothes, or words to that effect. He says he did some investigation into it and identified the Orange Drops as likely the most significant factor in the difference in tone. There were also several paragraphs about the difference between his builds and some other well known builds including Victoria and Purdy (a local Alberta builder who makes modified Tweeds) and also made some comments on the Mojo kits and parts.

He sounds like a true amp snob, a man after my own heart. I have not enough knowledge of electronics to comment on any of his opinions about parts but I think I'm going to stay on this for a bit to see if I can learn anything more. I do know that I have heard other players who own actual vintage amps say that some of the modern clones sound a little different but mostly in terms of the newer versions being voiced to carry a little more beef down low.

I welcome comments from the likes of Supro, Vulp, Arjay, Shimmi, bluesky and others and I also welcome suggestions for questions to ask of this guy. Try to keep it relatively uncomplicated so I can understand.

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Post subject: Re: Uh-oh ... I think I might be having an attack.
Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 8:21 pm
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Victoria, has a lifetime warranty on their amps and sound incredible. I've had the oportunity to try one when I was in NY a rew years ago and I was in heaven with it. If I were still gigging like I used to, it would be in my possession. I've had the oportunity to play an original 5e3 and yes they don't sound exactly alike but I don't think any of the originals do either. I'm seriously happy with my 5e3 clone I built. It's Tweed enough for me and sounds great with the Weber speaker I chose to install. The real deals are old. The components drift and everything ages. If you put new components in and old amp, I would think it would sound like it did when it was new. I wouldn't get too caught up in the old vs new tweed thing. I can get some seriously tasty tones out of my clone.

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