What are you playing today
- Thread starter Robb
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Ampeq
Well-Known Member
This is my no. 1 and always will be. The woods, the workmanship, the playability and tone, awesome. Forget buying one because they are stupid expensive. When I got this one they were $9000! (I paid $4200, which was still a lot.) Now they are who knows what. Brazilian Rosewood finger board, Spanish Cedar body / neck, one pc. flame maple top, all hardware top notch, love it! I have a P90 gold top version being made but who knows if it will ever be done, it's been almost 3 years and will be another 6 months minimum. If I ever get it though it will be worth it.
Look at the back of the body, this guitar is almost impossible to take a picture of. There is like a "mineral" in the wood that you can't see until you hit it with a flash of a cheap camera, then everything changes. In the room it all looks the same, super nice wood grain. But try to take a picture and forget it.
Look at the back of the body, this guitar is almost impossible to take a picture of. There is like a "mineral" in the wood that you can't see until you hit it with a flash of a cheap camera, then everything changes. In the room it all looks the same, super nice wood grain. But try to take a picture and forget it.
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syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
What brand is this beautiful guitar?
Ampeq
Well-Known Member
Thank you, I wish you could play it. It’s made by a friend of mine, Rick Maguire of Maguire Guitars in Wakefield, RI. I couldn’t find his website but he is all over Instagram and I saw some of his older stuff at Norms Rare Guitars and Chicago Music Exchange. This thing is incredible, he spends a ton of time on them when building and it shows. The inlays are perfect, no lines or gaps. It’s the only guitar I have ever owned that is rock solid, every time the weather changes and all my guitars go out of tune, this one is fine. If you ever see one somewhere try it, and if they don’t know what they have grab it. On the hollow body’s he makes, the inside is hand carved the opposite of the outside, crazy.
Ampeq
Well-Known Member
Thanks I just got it this weekend. I bought the whole rack and a Teac 4-track reel to reel for $5000 so I said ok. I have been trying to find another Pioneer receiver from a 1050 and up but they are getting scarce and EXPENSIVE! A good 1250 can be $5000, I was just looking at one that was all recapped and serviced for $5000. Then I saw this set, it's 150w per side and the reel to reel and pre-amp have both been serviced /cleaned.
(I have all the old parts.) Both tape decks are very good, better than I have had in the past. We shall see!
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PelliX
Well-Known Member
Very, very nice! I don't know if you intend to seriously use the 1/4" but I believe suitable heads can still be bought if there's too much wear on the current ones. That TEAC is also cool - I serviced a similar one a while back. Take good care of the rubbers (applies to the casette deck, too), keep an eye on the motor run caps and they should go on for decades. 
That is a very unique stringed instrument.
frostyjr2
Ambassadress Of Shadow Essence
It is indeed.
Everything (except for drums/percussion, of course) on this album:
For someone like me that doubles on bass and guitar, it's the perfect travel instrument, but also so much more!
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Ampeq
Well-Known Member
Thanks, that’s great to know. I checked the whole thing out at the house before I got it and it all seems very good right now. I will be using both tape decks and keeping them no matter what I do. If I found a rebuilt 1250 or so I would just keep the decks and sell the rest, just for space really. I’m using JBL L-100 speakers with it I bought a couple years ago, they are pretty good and broke in very well. I even have a Bluetooth unit on my receiver so I can play backing tracks, works great.Very, very nice! I don't know if you intend to seriously use the 1/4" but I believe suitable heads can still be bought if there's too much wear on the current ones. That TEAC is also cool - I serviced a similar one a while back. Take good care of the rubbers (applies to the casette deck, too), keep an eye on the motor run caps and they should go on for decades.
SG John
Ambassador of Cool Guitars and Amps.
I thought I would switch things up tonight. Put away the Rickenbackers and dug out the Burgundy Mist Strat. Wanted to play my Martin, but the Taylor was easier to get at so played that for a little while. Went for the Matamp 3000 to change up the amps a bit. With the 335's toggle switch in the middle position and neck pickup on 7 and bridge pickup at around 3 it had real meaty cleans. Then kick in the JTM side of The Engine pedal, and it's all sorts of fun. Maybe tomorrow I'll play the Strat.
Ampeq
Well-Known Member
What a setup, love the amps. I have never played those Matamp amps. What is the difference between those, Orange and the Green ones?
SG John
Ambassador of Cool Guitars and Amps.
Matamp and Green are the same amps. It's your choice if you want the original panels, boxes, aesthetics, etc, or the Green versions. When Jeff Lewis bought Matamp in the nineties, he started the Green line of amps as a tribute to Peter Green who was one of Mat Mathias's first customers when switching over from high fidelity sound systems to guitar amplifiers. Their old mixing consoles and P.A.s are sought after in the UK and Europe.
The original Orange ORSTs and I also believe the OR-120 were made by Matamp. When they started outselling Marshall, Mathias did not want to go into mass production and sacrifice quality, so he split with Orange.
My amp, the Series 3000 is the modern version of the S2000 or ORST, but at a tame 30 watts with two EL34 power valves and tube rectifier. That's the amp that Peter Green wanted to sound like "honey." I've used it live, and it's really a fun amp to play. I've noticed that when I use this amp or my DST Engineering amps, I tend to use pedals less and rely more on the natural break up of the amp. Even though it's clean, it has a lot of girth and note bloom.
The modern line are beasts, and many of the "stoner" bands love them because they are loud, clean, and take a ton of pedals.
If you want to know what my amp sounds like, play pretty much any Wishbone Ash record. The last time I saw them live (2024 maybe), Andy Powell is still using his vintage Orange by Matamp amps.
Here's the New Amp Day thread if you're interested.
New Amp Day. One of Meltham UK's finest.
Here's some information about Matamp. The new owner, Hayden Minett, seems to be a nice guy and takes time to answer questions on the FB Matamp page when he's not totally swamped building amps.
About Matamp | Matamp
The original Orange ORSTs and I also believe the OR-120 were made by Matamp. When they started outselling Marshall, Mathias did not want to go into mass production and sacrifice quality, so he split with Orange.
My amp, the Series 3000 is the modern version of the S2000 or ORST, but at a tame 30 watts with two EL34 power valves and tube rectifier. That's the amp that Peter Green wanted to sound like "honey." I've used it live, and it's really a fun amp to play. I've noticed that when I use this amp or my DST Engineering amps, I tend to use pedals less and rely more on the natural break up of the amp. Even though it's clean, it has a lot of girth and note bloom.
The modern line are beasts, and many of the "stoner" bands love them because they are loud, clean, and take a ton of pedals.
If you want to know what my amp sounds like, play pretty much any Wishbone Ash record. The last time I saw them live (2024 maybe), Andy Powell is still using his vintage Orange by Matamp amps.
Here's the New Amp Day thread if you're interested.
New Amp Day. One of Meltham UK's finest.
Here's some information about Matamp. The new owner, Hayden Minett, seems to be a nice guy and takes time to answer questions on the FB Matamp page when he's not totally swamped building amps.
About Matamp | Matamp
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66 Galaxie
Well-Known Member
I rediscovered this beast the other day... I love this guitar!
67plexi
Ambassador of Amps
Played my Dumble #183 build today years ago Shad Damron sent me high res photos and exact voltage charts
I had a 1968 Marshall Super Lead 100 output transformer my friend at Two Rock had ten power transformers made I got one
and used the same tubes Dumble used the hard part was getting the pots that measured the same as Dumble used
to my ears turned out better than the real amp but it's very loud had to build a Dunbleator that gave me two master volumes
Speakers I used a pair of EVM 12-S in my Mesa 2 x 12 cabinet the only mod I did was a three way bright switch
that gave me Hendrix Page and AC/DC with the flick of a switch
I had a 1968 Marshall Super Lead 100 output transformer my friend at Two Rock had ten power transformers made I got one
and used the same tubes Dumble used the hard part was getting the pots that measured the same as Dumble used
to my ears turned out better than the real amp but it's very loud had to build a Dunbleator that gave me two master volumes
Speakers I used a pair of EVM 12-S in my Mesa 2 x 12 cabinet the only mod I did was a three way bright switch
that gave me Hendrix Page and AC/DC with the flick of a switch
Ampeq
Well-Known Member
Are all 3 hand wired? Out of the 3, which do you like best? I’ve never been a huge fan of Orange, I don’t hate them just never did it for me. I like the fact the 30w uses EL34’s instead of 84’s or 6V6 tubes. I never see the Matamp or Green around here, only Orange. But if I do I will make it a point to try one.
Ampeq
Well-Known Member
This is the guitar that came with Lindy Fralin pup’s folks have heard me yak about. I poo-pooed them at first and the builder told me to give them a chance, boy was he right. That is the best sounding guitar I have ever owned, by far. I put a set in that ES335 beside it also, made a world of difference. I used to be all about powerful pups, however I have found that real good tone is much more important. I can get the same sustain and drive from the LF pup’s as I do from the DiMarzio SD’s but with much better tone. Food for thought.
frostyjr2
Ambassadress Of Shadow Essence
i've never heard a Lindy Fralin pickup that didn't spund great to me.
When the pickup in my old Musicmaster died, i replaced it with a LF
Blues Special while Lindy was rewinding the original pickup.
i thought the replacement sounded so good in that guitar that i never
bothered to put the rewound pickup back in.
When the pickup in my old Musicmaster died, i replaced it with a LF
Blues Special while Lindy was rewinding the original pickup.
i thought the replacement sounded so good in that guitar that i never
bothered to put the rewound pickup back in.
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SG John
Ambassador of Cool Guitars and Amps.
A vintage "Orange by Matamp" should be hand wired. The modern Matamp and Green amps still are. After the split between Mathias and Cooper/Orange, comparing a Matamp and Orange would be like comparing apples and rutabagas. They are nowhere near each other in the sonic universe. Matamps sound wonderful, Orange amps, well.... uh... not the same.