Thanks for the message about my Vox amp head and cab. Sadly, they are nothing very exciting.
When I was just starting to learn I picked up an old Vox VTX50 for $40. It’s a hybrid tube / solid state combo with a bunch of fairly crude amp models. It’s about 20 years old & looked crappy with a metal grill. More as a learning project, as I like to build things, I took the amp out of the cabinet and fitted a socket in the speaker cab so it can be used with any head. I modified the speaker cabinet by putting a more classy Vox grill cloth on the front. Then I built a separate cabinet for the amp, out of wood, and I also put the same grill cloth on and a logo and then stained the wood blue / green and coated it about 20 times with TruOil and polished it. It looks nice but doesn’t sound any better
Actually, I think the amp is probably quite good - the Tweed models and the AC15 and AC30 models are quite nice, and you can tell that there’s a valve in the preamp. But I think the 12" speaker is not good quality. Probably by updating the speaker to decent Celestion would make it sound great. I will probably do it one day when I have time.
I think it looks quite good and like an expensive rig, even though it was very cheap. I learnt a lot about making cabinets too.
I just like making and modifying things.
Here are some pics. It looks slightly different now compared to the photos. The speaker cab has gold trim above and below the grill cloth. So I have also now added that to the amp head so it matches.
@madmetal I don’t tend to look at age as an inhibitor. I think too many people do that, even at an earlier age than I am. I plan on sticking around to 105, so I got a lot of years left. Better to be doing than sitting. That’ll kill ya. Also, as I don’t much care for age discrimination from those younger than I am, I try not to discriminate against those who are. We can all learn from one another, so I embrace the difference. That’s me and my philosophy. So far, so good with it. I built a music room in the basement, largely due to the fact our dog has sensitive ears and just howls and yowls away after one or two notes. She’s a rescue, so maybe someone trained her to do that thinking it was funny. She does not. Anyway, it’s not big, about 8x10, and I should have gone big with it. I played drums early on, taking lessons for 5 years starting at age 13. I got really good on them. I now have a snare drum, but long for a whole set again. Addition? Maybe. After the room got built, I got more. I was signed into another platform online that had banjo instruction way before the room came along. They offered ukelele, fiddle, and piano, which I had piano lessons for another 5 years, back in the 50’s, my 50’s that is. I still plink around with it once in a while, and it came in handy for playing music melodies I didn’t know, and learning some theory as well. I also have a couple of tin whistles, harmonicas, and an autoharp. I love them all. If my instruments are in a case, in another room, I’d have to go get them, lug them downstairs, and probably wouldn’t play as much. Out of sight, out of mind. They’re out in the open now, so every time I walk by them, or purposely go play them many days a week, there they are. I pick one up, play it a bit, and next thing I know an hour’s gone by. Now what was it I came down for and what was I supposed to really be doing??? All good fun with my many other hobbies I enjoy. Good to have a mix so one doesn’t become bored. While most people we know are downsizing, we’re upsizing. All for the common good: ours. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I am mine. Post some videos of you playing. You’ll get great, positive feedback here.
nicely done. Yes your probably spot on about changing the speaker and you have made it so easy by splitting components out. Plus now you have the cabinet making skills you could slam another cabinet together and Celestion has so many options. Funny that yes the modeling might be dated but thats not always a bad thing (so i am told). A friend who used to play on the big tour circuit was helping me learn and set up an old boss gt-100. Even though it was old, it still had some more desirable patches then later versions. Things for through such weird cycles: “To dirty clean it up, now to clean lets add dirt” Look at how many vintage sounds get chased yet never really reproduced. Mistakes become iconic
@madmetal Sorry, I got to rambling on and forgot to answer your question on the blues course. Yes, Blues Immersion, aka BLIM, is on Justin Guitar. Well worth the money in my opinion. I was early on, maybe middle of grade 3 when I started the Blim course in January this year. I hesitated as it said people in Grade 4 or above would do well with it. On the advice of others in the JG group, I tried some of the blues lessons in Grade 4 and did ok with them. I posted a few videos and got good feedback, so I said screw it and went for it. I figured if it was over my head, I’d catch up later as you get the materials for life. I was not disappointed in the least, and glad I didn’t have demands of work and family life to disrupt my practice. It’s a lot of material. Some I got right off, other things took a while, but I was able to grasp all the concepts I think. Many of course still need work. As it’s a lot, it will take a while for me to get things to the point where I can play them without thinking. I say give it a try, go for it, and try grade 4 blues segments. Those reappear in Blim at one point or another. Hope you enjoy it!
We just did an small gig for my “second mom” who turned 100 on Sunday past. I’ve know here and her daughters (one i had the total hots for) and son since diapers …so about 65 years. Moma Lee made sure we were all exposed to music and art. We have faithfully all come back together, about 20 of us, gather and do round robin call out typically blue grass\country\americana.
Totally agree about being in the game not on the side lines. Lol, we have a bull mastiff rescue who does the same thing. not sure if i can post video but a screen shot from back in jan when doctors said she had a few days left…haha, she’s still going strong. If i can figure out how have plenty of videos to post
Posting the videos is easy: you load them on You Tube after creating a You Tube account; very simple. It takes you through the process, and asks if you want the video made public where anyone can see it, or ‘unlisted’ where only people you give the link to can see it. Post the link on the site here by adding the link to your comment, and poof! Yer done.
Wow that sounds fun as heck. My wife and I took a 4 months long road trip just driving across the USA from The Bay Area to Washington DC and then then down to Key West. We were in a SUV, but I bet it would be even more amazing on a bike. Trips like that are the only way to see the country.
Timmy, since I am just playing at home and want to avoid annoying my wife too much I’ll eventually get an electronic drum kit, so thanks for the suggestion of the Roland gear. I had seen Alesis and Donner a lot on Amazon, but looking at some of the reviews online it looks like the Roland electronic drum kits are a step above the others. They are a little more expensive for the same features but more durable. I’m a little slow to pull the trigger, but I have a birthday coming up
I have had Alesis gear and the quality was a total bummer. The thumper amp died within weeks of the warranty and Alesis was totally non-responsive. We work to hard for our dollars for that kind of non-sense.
The roland gear I have, some is 20 + years and still is great. Original v-drum pd10’s to pd-30’s, a cpl keyboard amps and a jc-120. All stellar gear however, stay away from the v-20 series as they are know to have led display failures and the replacements are hard to get.
I found with all e-drums the cymbals are the big issue. It is so hard to replicate the analog wash of cymbal\piano notes in the digital 0/1 format. Its like when you zoom in on a digital picture and you see the little squares used to define color in a photo…it gets blockie looking.
With Roland v-drums, v-30 series had a major break through in the sound which is contained in the brain module - there lies the expense. I like those modules due to the on screen controls and menus plus all 1/4 inch jacks. Later models went to usb which became proprietary (another pet peeve) plus features became buried or taken away due to expense\size and gee wiz marketing stuff.
If your ok with used gear, the v-30 stuff is available on the market for a good price and has all the sound stuff you need as well as usb connection to your pc for recording etc. The drums are mesh heads that give a pretty decent feel. It all folds up pretty nicely but dont be fooled, there is always some setup involved when moving gear. It play nicely through headphones which actually give the best sound. I can also patch in songs from your favorite online music, drumless backing tracks, rehearsal takes. They actually record great as they dont pick up room noise where as my acoustics grab everything in the room (admittedly showing off a bit with this pic of machine shop to studio transformation)
Timmy, that is a great music studio that you have there. All it needs is a few more guitars
Thanks for the info on Roland electronic drum kits. I knew that the technology was good, but I didn’t realize how much more durable it was. I remembered that Boss is part of Roland and I learned that the Boss Katana uses Roland technology so you don’t have to sell anyone here on Roland, since the Boss Katana 50 amp has its own lesson module in the Guitar, Amps & Effects section of the courses on the JG website
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There really isn’t a centralized media location, but you did inspire me to take a ‘family’ picture of the guitars I have built. They are in build order from left to right and are named #1, Desert Island, Midnight at the Oasis, Reso-Gator, Rising Phoenix (aka ‘Bad Ass Bass’), & Sailing at Midnight. And look, there is an empty hanger.
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I just discovered that this photo didn’t upload.
Hey Timmy!! I am so glad you decided to pick up guitar and choose Justin to teach you!!! I hope you will have no regrets with this program!!! What type of drum do you play? Is it hard going from drums to guitar !!! Enjoy and God bless.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for all the info and areas to check out. The mentor and pay it forward mindset is truly what attracted me to the site. As always, one wonders if its just words on a page or if it for real. By all means I believe this is what the site is about. When looking for people to join our local group of musicians, it is always attitude over talent as a criteria. life is to short for non-sense.
Again,thanks for the welcome - Cheers
I’ll eventually get an electronic drum kit, so thanks for the suggestion of the Roland gear. I had seen Alesis and Donner a lot on Amazon, but looking at some of the reviews online it looks like the Roland electronic drum kits are a step above the others. They are a little more expensive for the same features but more durable. I’m a little slow to pull the trigger, but I have a birthday coming up 
I am so glad you decided to pick up guitar and choose Justin to teach you!!! I hope you will have no regrets with this program!!! What type of drum do you play? Is it hard going from drums to guitar !!! Enjoy and God bless.