Zaphod'd New Amp Rig

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Zaphod B

Zaphod B

Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Zaphod's New Amp Rig

I finally got around to taking a few pictures of The Rig From Hell.

This first picture shows the Egnater M4 preamp in a rack with a Furman power supply, atop the Randall RT2/50 power amp which is in a separate 2RU case. The 2 X 12 cab is a homebuilt that I put together many years back, and the speakers are Celestion G12K-85s. (These speakers have recently been relabed by Celestion as G12K-100s.)
 

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Here's a closeup of the preamp and amp.
 

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The preamp and power amp are all tube - no modeling. The preamp has four two-channel modules for a total of 8 channels. :eek:

The Egnater preamp modules' circuitry is based around preamp designs for various well-known tube amps. MIne are based on a Fender Deluxe, a Vox AC30, a Marshall Super Lead, and a Mesa MkII.

The power amp is a dual channel thing, with 6L6 finals on one side and EL34s on the other. (I swapped the EL34s for 6550s.) The power amp channels can be assigned to any channel on the preamp, and all the switching is MIDI-controllable.

Finally, here's my current pedalboard setup. There's a power strip, a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah, a Fulltone OCD overdrive, a Boss OD-2 boost, a Boss TU-2 tuner, an Eventide Modfactor, and an Eventide Timefactor.

The MIDI controller to the right is a Rocktron MidiMate.
 

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Anyhow, the whole mess sounds great and it's an embarassment of riches, soundwise.

The Celestion speakers in that 2 X 12 cab sound a bit sterile at bedroom volume levels - they really need to be pushed before they come to life - so I may get a couple of lower-powered speakers and build a smaller more portable cab. My wife will love me for that. :D
 
The main disadvantages are size, complexity, and the fact that it's not in the least bit sexy looking. :laughings:

I've considered building more conventional-looking "amp head" enclosures for the preamp and power amp, but I wanted to get it all buttoned up in something. Maybe in my spare time. :cool:
 
nice rig but you gotta paint that baffle board black man ........ looks like ..... well, hell ...... can't think of an equivalent but that white baffle ...... holy crap that's white!
:D
 
Lt. Bob said:
nice rig but you gotta paint that baffle board black man ........ looks like ..... well, hell ...... can't think of an equivalent but that white baffle ...... holy crap that's white!
:D
Click to expand...

The reason it's white (it's actually laminated with white countertop formica) was to match the old Matamp head that I used to pair it with. The Matamp had a white face with black knobs and Tolex.

But, yeah, it's a lot of white! :D
 
Several months back, I went to jam with a few guys that I knew from the local cigar shop. We actually jammed in the cigar shop after hours since the owner was the guy hosting the jam session. I hadn't left home with my gear for years, so I decided to bring everything. My guitar, my 2x12 amp, 3 or 4 of my pedals, my power attenuator, and a rack with my G-Sharp and a couple of unused rack units (the pretty lights excite my insidey parts, plus I have no other place to store them). Plus all of the cables it takes to plug all that shit in.

Anyways, the other guys there just had guitars plugged directly into amps...one was a (very nice) LP Custom into a Peavey Vypr, and the other was an Ibanez Iceman into some amp I don't remember.

These guys looked at me like I was a total freak when I kept making trips back to the truck to haul in more gear for my rig. Hell, I hadn't left home with it in so long that I wanted to bring it all to show off! One guy was infatuated with it all, I had a blast explaining what everything did and how it all worked. The store owner was none too impressed...I think his response to my gadgets was "I just want to plug in and play, man".

So yeah, they would have shit a brick if I would have walked in there with that rig :) It would have been like walking in there with ENIAC doing my DSP.

Me, I'm a budding tone freak and a techie geek so all of the toys just make me happy. I love to hear how each component affects the tone, and I love to have options since I'm just a humble one-man-band in my totally amateur home studio.

And with that background info, I hope it means all the more when I say that I'm totally impressed with your rig. The ultimate in flexability, versatility, and just cool geek factor. That preamp module is sweet. That's all some high-quality gear, from the first input all the way to the speakers.

And yeah, that baffle is friggin' white! :-D
 
Thanks, Tadpui. It's an impressive chunk of gear for sure (for better or worse!),

So now I'm facing the same dilemma as you were - when you go out jamming do you bring the small combo amp and one guitar, or the whole truckload of stuff? :D And which half of the guitar collection? :laughings:

OK, I get it about the white baffle board! :o

Black Krylon, here we come! Maybe even some grillcloth! :D
 
I'd like to offer my assistance

by lightening your load in the quantity of one LP Special.

No need to thank me.
 
notCardio said:
by lightening your load in the quantity of one LP Special.

No need to thank me.
Click to expand...

Oh, no. You wouldn't have it anyway, since it's been defiled with a bridge-position humbucker. :p

You'll be happy to know that I got rid of that abomination of a bridge I had on it and replaced it with a proper Gibson wraparound piece. :cool:
 
Damn Zaphy!

Dats beautiful! Love the gadgetry myself. Your cab looks a lot better than mine. :o
Mine's like the butt ugly sister that never gets laid but has huge boobies. :D
Looks like shit but freakin rocks. ;)

And I say keep the white. Ith thuper thpecial.


:laughings:

(kidding.............sorta) :D
 
Zaphod B said:
The main disadvantages are size, complexity, and the fact that it's not in the least bit sexy looking.:
Click to expand...

WTF are you talking about... It's looking pretty sexy to me!

I've always wanted to get separate pre and power amps and stick em in a rack but couldn't do it until I had a good amp head first :(

Lovin the setup zaph, but like lt. boob said, get rid of that white baffle board!!
 
Zaphod B said:
Oh, no. You wouldn't have it anyway, since it's been defiled with a bridge-position humbucker. :p

You'll be happy to know that I got rid of that abomination of a bridge I had on it and replaced it with a proper Gibson wraparound piece. :cool:
Click to expand...

The thing is, I've got to keep you from finding a way to further degrade it. Imagine how beautiful it will be with the inlay I have to come up with to hide the scars when I put the p-90 back in. I can do matching inlay for the holes where the tailpiece was.
 
notCardio said:
The thing is, I've got to keep you from finding a way to further degrade it. Imagine how beautiful it will be with the inlay I have to come up with to hide the scars when I put the p-90 back in. I can do matching inlay for the holes where the tailpiece was.
Click to expand...

There never were any holes for a tailpiece. That aftermarket bridge was a direct replacement for the one-piece wraparound.

So there. :p

Sorry, you're gonna have to try a little harder. :D
 
Come to JF

We'll get drunk and discuss it further. :D

PS. - bring the guitar ;)


BTW, how is that P-rail workin' out for ya?
 
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