1950's National Amplifier

Here's a rare one. A Valco made National brand amplifier. The Two 8" speakers are the original Jensen Alnico's.





The cabinet is in pretty good shape considering the age of the amp. The top and sides have some water damage from sitting in an attic for years.




Here's the chassis unloaded from the cabinet. You can see the really small output transformer as compared to the power trannie. That's a 5Y3G rectifier next to the PT. Lots of squashy tone there. There is an added master volume ( not really needed and I didn't do that, it was already done when I got it) and extension speaker jack. That black thing with the metal cap is actually a tube. It's a 6J7 and is the gain stage for the amp. The tube behind that is a 6SL7G and does the phase inversion. Two big bottle 6L6G's for output. I didn't pull the control panel out and a friend of mine has a suspicion there's another tube hiding up in there.



Here's the money shot. You can see the old waxed paper in oil caps. It's had a cap job done and the two prong cord has been replaced with a three prong. Which is necessary if you don't want to suddenly die of electrocution.



And the original RCA branded tubes. Still going strong after all these years.

PHIL X 1956 Gibson Les Paul Custom 01070

I really want one of these. The neck pickup has an amazing tone. Very thick and bluesy. Great sounding guitar over all. Gibson re-issued this at one point complete with the Alnico neck pickup.

It Might Get Loud

And it definitely does. Well worth the price of admission. While you may not agree with the choice of guitarists it's a great look at three different generations and what inspired and inspires them. Each of them take a walk back through their early days early influences. The deleted scenes are nearly as long again as the main feature.

I came away with a greater respect for Jack White. I just didn't get him before this but now I see that he and Page are not that far apart musically. Watch for the scene where White writes and records ( on an old 8 track no less) a song for the cameras. There are musicians who spend weeks in the studio trying to capture what White got down on that tape in a short period of time.

The best part was the look on Jack White and The Edge when Page ripped into "Whole Lotta Love". Like kids at a candy store.

Review on Analog War Cry

The review of my Monterey single coils and V-59 humbuckers went up today. It's a great site with tons of interesting and useful guitar related reviews on it. If you're not aware of it here's the link:

Analog War Cry

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Phil X and Gretsch Synchromatic 400

A little change of pace. Get some acoustic in ya. I just never get tired of this guy.

Snowy White - I Loved Another Woman

Awesome tone from a very under-rated player. Nice goldtop too.

Latest Copyright Infringement Case

This made me laugh. Right out loud. And I'm alone in the house so you know it's funny.

Link

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