What's in your library challenge
by @wizardave
Three of my favorites are exhibit catalogs that i won in a bidding auction at a library. These are probably my favorite books to own.
I read A LOT when i was younger. And it was almost always books i checked out at my school library or the local public library. So i never actually owned those books which is good thing because they a just too heavy to cart around. It would be nice to own a huge home with book shelves all over :)
After going back to college in my thirties and majoring in art/drawing and painting i started playing in a band again and realized i didn't really know anything about guitars and there were huge areas of music that i had only a little exposure to so i bought every guitar and amp book i could find. Before the mid nineties there was nearly zero information available unless you knew the guy that knew the guy who was friends with the guy ...
So that might lead us in a roundabout way to this gem
The 14 pound heavy weight champion of the world VOX amplifier book
AND the companion schematics book
In a box/slipcover thingee that looks just like an early 60's AC-30 amplifier in it's own cover and i'm really starting to lose it here. maybe i just might make it through to the end of the post ;)
topview
Here's a couple of shots my 64 AC-30 with it's beat up cover.
I wanted one of these for a very long time.
how this library post turned into this i have no idea and right about now i have no idea how to tag this ???
Cool collection 😎 @rossfletcher!
Congrats on being entry #8 in the contest
Good luck!
Hi, Thank you Dave.
I got totally off track with this once i started and then i just thought it's too late to stop now i'm posting it Haha
Here's a link to Jim Elyea's page. I don't know if the book is still available. There's always Amazon too.
http://www.historyforhire.com/VB/voxguidebook.html
I did some work on tube guitar amps after studying all the books! I can do some minor service and repair. It's pretty cool if you play old amps. Fenders are probably the easiest because of the way Leo designed them and all the info you need is easily available. Whew i'm really spun with all this. I'm really just a photographer and artist/musician who really can't write to save his life :)
You CAN write, Ross!!!! You certainly express yourself and who you are. Don't stress about it!
I'll second that. You did just fine!
Thank you.
Yes there are new tubes available but they are a mixed bag when it comes to quality, lifespan and tone. I bought some new old stock tubes (nos) 50's and 60's stuff about fifteen years ago and wish i would have bought more. They are harder to find now and much more expensive. If you have a small project or something to restore they are worth it though.
Great post. I almost went off on a tangent in mine too. I should have, tangents are always interesting :)
I really like the whattheheck tag. I'm going to use that very soon...
Thank you !
I make myself crazy here! : ) I thought i was going to focus on art books! Then next thing i know its 4 hours later and i'm posting about Vox amplifiers
Oh gosh, drive myself crazy here too. I have this horrible habit of writing a paragraph and then stopping to re-read it, then my mind wonders to whether or not there is any cereal left...
Oh shit! I forgot to turn of the hose that i left running in the planter box... Haha. I totally get it.
And i turned off the water before it flooded and the water police arrived to arrest me
Wait, there's 2 contests??
Oh oh i can't even think right now...
Past this on @wizardaves as well as @happysmileyman and tag @mrprofessor to say you answered him, then spin three times in a circle saying the name of your first pet under the moonlight wearing a cape, and you'll pretty much be done..
Hahaha!
Haha! Another layer of complication...
I've had just that thought during writing procrastination! Although my husband is the water police here. He doesn't scare me :D
The water police... I'm not willing to let my plants die, so it's like a war every time i water. Of course it's mostly in my imagination! :)
Clapping!! He he it's a hard one to tag huh!!! I love the way you moved from books to your amp, a perfect segue. Art and music leaping from the pages of books. It says alot about you! Love how your passions are in the pages of your books, but also they leap off the page into your real life! My Dad is giving me one of his guitars as he's getting rid of a lot of them (he's not dead yet, but i think he's got that feeling of getting his affairs in order, so he's giving me his parlour guitar which i kinda wanted as it fits me well and I want to start learning again) plus distributing them to his nephews. It kinda makes me feel sad but there it is. Why am I talking about me? See, you're not the only one losing it he he he. Thanks for sharing!!!
I love guitars! Books, all of that. Most of the books i have actually paid for and keep are research historical stuff. The others i get and read from the library. I used to go to a coffee shop that was next door to a bookstore and i wanted every book in there.
Lets see some pictures of your guitar!
I have to get it first! Dad's home from hospital today, but I've got a cold, so I cant visit him (white blood cells disappear due to chemo)...
I'm sorry to hear about your dad. xo
Thanks xxx it's hard... he is my surfing yoga guitar buddy!
Oh, way too much text.
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Right! That post took all afternoon and i expect at least $1000. dollars for the torture! lol :)
Aha!!! I knew you had some nice stuff over there.
I could spend hours reading all those guitar books and The Beatles Gear, super cool.
Awesome that Vox book, it seems to give all the info on how to build one, right?
Now the cherry on the cake is that awesome 1964 Vox! Man I'd give you my kidney to connect my Casino in there hahahahah.
Thank you for sharing Ross!
I don't need that kidney yet but you never know! Haha :)
The Beatles one is great. The story follows all their equipment so it's different than most histories. It shows all the things as they happened during that era when all the classic gear was being made. Most everything now is a reissue or a variation of all that original stuff. It gives you a really great perspective. Whenever i go to a guitar store it all makes sense seeing all the things in there. It's pretty cool!
The Vox book is nuts! I got to meet the writer - Jim Elyea - when he was promoting the book. Amazing guy. He talked about being a hoarder and having obsessive compulsive disorder - jokingly - but how he used that to build a huge collection of Vox amps and tons of other gear. He filled a giant warehouse and rents out all of it for movie sets in Hollywood!
If you really want a great Vox look for an AC -10 it's a smaller version of the AC 30. They sound fantastic and are smaller and not as loud. The AC 30's are almost 80 lbs and really loud. Too heavy to carry around! Haha. They aren't cheap but prices have come down a bit. I can't emphasize enough how good they sound. It's worth every penny : )
Amazing, imagine back then going to a gear store and discovering all the new stuff that didn't exist before, now I see how those guys had so much creativity flowing. All those amazing equipment destroyed by Pete Townshend - the man himself said that he regrets so much he had broken those things.
I have here a baby Vox, the solid state Pathfinder 15r, just to play around inside my apartment and small bars, actually it's been some years that I don't play in a bar.
At the studio we used to play with either the AC 30 or the Fender Bassman, both deafening, too loud to crank hhaahaha