Ep. 151: "It Starts Out Cool"

It's the 151st episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps! Thanks, as always, for being a part of the world's finest call-in tube amp repair show. Want amp tech Skip Simmons' advice on your DIY guitar amp projects? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com ! Include a photo, too. Some of the topics discussed this week: 1:03:05 What's on Skip's bench: A pile of Standel amps; Vacaville's Pacific Hardware (redux); a baffler of sorts 8:28 Tom Gunterman ( Instagram ); Kevin from Ohio; Joe Walsh 11:30 Our sponsors: Grez Guitars ; Emerald City Guitars and Amplified Parts ! Marshall Capris; Christopher Guest 19:07 Julian Lage and Leo Kottke (tour dates here ) 22:45 The Fretboard Summit August 21-23, 2025 in Chicago: 23:57 What to do with the unused bass control on a modded Vibrochamp? 31:38 Weak tremolo on a late 1970s Fender Deluxe Reverb; optocouplers 36:36 The Bastard Instrument ( Amazon link ); the Ampeg book 44:57 A Teisco Melody amp; Takt amps; installing an isolation transformer 55:49 ESR / Multifunction testers 59:51 Channel jumping on a black panel Fender; Yellow Jacket tube converters ( Amplified Parts link , we'll revisit this on our next episode...sorry) 1:05:30 The Soundmaster 600; Traynor YGM-3; Fender PS-400 and the Allman Brothers Want amp tech Skip Simmons' advice on your DIY guitar amp projects? Want to share your top secret family recipe? Need relationship advice? Join us by sending your voice memo or written questions to podcast@fretboardjournal.com ! Include a photo, too. Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. Don't forget, we have a Patreon page . Support the show, get behind-the-scenes updates and get to the front of the line with your questions.

You can listen to Ep. 151: "It Starts Out Cool" online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Ep. 151: "It Starts Out Cool" is an episode from The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons by The Fretboard Journal.

This episode is 01:20:23 long.

This episode was published on Jul 25, 2025.

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