Blondeshell hits Aussie shores!!

knudi wrote:

Diggey wrote:

Can you tell me what the plank/ F hole switch does in the back to the tone and also, the reverb circuit. I can't see a close up of the front but is it 2 knobs Depth and Verb or what? Sure looks sweet as a bunch of naked betty's in a Tickle Battle Royale.......

The plank/F hole switch for solid state like a 63' but switchable to soft like a 61' for teles n strats(planks).
From left it is the power and Standby switch, then it is the bias and then if you have a cab which is either 4 or 8 ohm you can choose

The plank/Fhole switch is actually this:
in F-hole mode (gretsch mode) the amp is matched to how my 2 vintage 63 blondes
sound. Its the original sound.

When you switch to plank mode, it shifts the EQ..much more mids.. its purpose is dual.
If you want to use a solid body guitar like a strat..flip this on and you will love your guitar (stock bassman amps with a strat are horrid sounding)

Also if you are running your blondeshell head through a small openback cab, you can flip on the plank mode as well and get a much more full sound that "feels"
much bigger with your gretsch.
(Knudi I may have accident set your switch backwards.. have the tech flip it over
when you swap the power tranny)

Also the reverb is like a simple princeton reverb. Although we use One 12ax7 (both sides) and a 3 spring tank. It is tuned for guys that use delay pedals so that the delay is never washed out by the reverb. You can get surfy but you will have to
switch over to plank mode and hit the front of the amp with the nocturne pretty
hard with your guitar in the bridge position.
If you want longer tail reverbs you can easily swap in a full size 2 spring(which is actually 4 springs coupled together) 8ohm tank.. or if its too wet for you, you can
swap a 5751 tube in as its got less gain.
The bias taps and bias pot will allow you to use any 6L6 tube you want.. Obviously taking out the 20watt tungsols and putting in svetlana 6L6s will give you a much bigger girth to the sound and give you the full 50watts out of the amp.
I have the amp designed as is to be as spot on Brian Setzer tone as possible when used with a 4ohm bassman style 212 cab loaded with V30s. 4 and 8 ohm taps so you can ALWAYS find a cab to use!
reverb

YES! a reverb that doesn't wash out delay! I may have to stop reading these threads, or I may do something that could put me in a pinch! hehe.

I'd love to see what a Blondeshell can do with a plank/ traditional tele...and a spectra sonic kicking out some heavy from some TV Jones powertrons that'd make 335's and LP's blush but still knock some gretsch sound out!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

knudi wrote:

Diggey wrote:

Can you tell me what the plank/ F hole switch does in the back to the tone and also, the reverb circuit. I can't see a close up of the front but is it 2 knobs Depth and Verb or what? Sure looks sweet as a bunch of naked betty's in a Tickle Battle Royale.......

The plank/F hole switch for solid state like a 63' but switchable to soft like a 61' for teles n strats(planks).
From left it is the power and Standby switch, then it is the bias and then if you have a cab which is either 4 or 8 ohm you can choose

The plank/Fhole switch is actually this:
in F-hole mode (gretsch mode) the amp is matched to how my 2 vintage 63 blondes
sound. Its the original sound.

When you switch to plank mode, it shifts the EQ..much more mids.. its purpose is dual.
If you want to use a solid body guitar like a strat..flip this on and you will love your guitar (stock bassman amps with a strat are horrid sounding)

Also if you are running your blondeshell head through a small openback cab, you can flip on the plank mode as well and get a much more full sound that "feels"
much bigger with your gretsch.
(Knudi I may have accident set your switch backwards.. have the tech flip it over
when you swap the power tranny)

Tavo!

Blondeshell in da house now with the Mercury Magnetic FBLNDB-P/240, and I can`t stop playing

It is THE rock machine loaded with super sonic 2x12 (Stock celestion V30).
I started out dry, only with the SSLVO and the amp and at 5 oclock. Clean, clean pure tone which makes me want to play more. At 7 oclock it starts to break up, but then the volume is high, a bit to high.
On with the Nocturne and volume back at 2,5, treble at 7, bass at 3,5 and the precence at 10. Oh yeah, the sound is just so clean and crispy. I add some T-Rex Reptile slapback and the sound is there. The sound I have been wanting for some years now at a respectable volum which I can digg.
With TIM on top in the end it is pure magic, it is as close to Sezter as it gets (only the fingers missing). I crank it a bit more to 3 oclock and it gets better. I do some sleepwalk, close my eyes and the sleepwalk version from the live in Japan DVD rings in my ear. Christmas is early this year This is something which can`t be descriped, it has to be tried out at home!

The cool thing about this amp is that at the same time you can get your own tone for sure with the blondeshell. That is what I want to do now, find my own sound but with blondeshell, Nocturne and TIM as a basic and that is why I can`t stop.

Then of with the delay and on with the reverb. I like the reverb at 3 oclock, perfect for blues tunes or rock stuff. For surf, I still prefer the DIgitech Digiverb. When the delay is back on I notice that the reverb dosen`t drown the sound like the reverb on my Traynor does. It stays put and dosen`t colour the sound. I must admit that I do not notice much difference between 3 oclock or 7 oclock.
Possible to add, say like a Twin reverb reverb in the blondeshell?

I noticed that the F-hole/plank switch was the other way around(forgot to tell my amp tech.). There is a lot more higher output on my Fhole(org. plank) and at first I couldn`t figure it out because there were so much middle. When I did the switch I noticed right away. My strat is out for a lone so I have not tried it yet.

The amp tech. who switched the MM transformer was really impressed how the amp was build, it was the first thing he said when I picked it up today. Made by a pro. This guy has been around for years and is well known amp builder in our area. He also liked the idea with reverb.
Well, I got to go, the blondeshell is screaming for more

BTW;
Every rocker should have a blondeshell

Fantastic review Knudi! Thanks for posting that feedback, pun intended!

Yes Knudi that was a spot on analysis! I'd hoped you'd remember about that switch!
I know we could have called it a million different things since its just opening up the
circuit and makes the low mids really bloom plus some more gain..but its intent was
exactly twofold. Gotta have one killer amp that loves both my solid body guitars and
my hollowbodies. particularly my strat and tele with dynasonics
as well as my forthcoming jazzmaster meets tele "telemaster" from rutters


..and also the ability to sound "full" with a horrible openback 1x12" cab. I just put a
handmade british celestion heritage G12-65 into a princeton cab and plopped the
Blondeshell down on top. In the normal position which is standard 63' 6g6-b
an 8ohm skinny little 1x12 cab is rather "focused" and lean. BUT.. when you flip
that switch over to "plank" mode it becomes nice and full and you can feel the speaker
getting the Lard it needs.

to address the Reverb on the amp Knudi, the goal was totally just "rockabilly ambience" to compliment a good delay going through it so your comment is totally correct. You have a great ear and the amp dont surf unless you dime it, flip the fat switch on, turn the presence and treble way up and punch on the Nocturne. Even then its still only about 60% wet over dry.
Initially we had it very hot and it kept blowing the chinese 12ax7, so it got scaled back.
I actually prefer the NOS GE 12AT7 for the reverb as there is a tad more treble and bite.

There is literally NO room on that chassis to put any more complex a reverb circuit in.
Its purely one 12ax7 with both sides of the tube being used straight to the reverb tank.
I did have a dwell but that had to go so the Plank/Fhole switch had a place..
One thing to note about this reverb is that it is 100% bypassed when turned down.
To test that, you can unplug the rca jacks to the chassis(remember white is closest to the
OT and red is closest to the reverb tranny) and then strum your guitar as you turn the
reverb knob up.. instead of hearing reverb you will hear more highs and a bit of gain
come into play (which is another option of tone texture if you dont want the reverb).

The fun factor is that the tube choice and tank choice make a great difference with the reverb. I find that my accutronics tank is slightly more "sproingy" than your MOD tank, but I had no choice as Accutronics sold out and moved to china.. not the same quality as the United States version. and the MOD tank is a very heavy duty replacement version of that american tank.. it just ends up having a warmer sound to it.
If you can locate an original USA built 3 spring (or long spring version, tail is too long for
me) accutronics 8ohm tank you will hear what I'm talking about regarding the "sproingy" thing.
Also, for continuity I kept all Ruby tubes in the amp but for the reverb a robust tungsol 12ax7 or a JJ Ecc83 step it up.. like I said the NOS GE 12AT7 or 5751 are tasty too...

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

You have a great ear

Thanks, I will show that sentence to my wife, she says I don`t hear much

What I also noticed when I had the reverb and delay of, only TIM and Nocturne SSLVO you get that ACDC sound from their first records, dry, crispy and powerful...




The reverb which I had in my Princeton RI was great, I assume it would fit because the cab is the same length?
Actually it is no big deal, I love reverb as it is and when I want to go Dick Dale/Ventures the Digitech is there.

One other thing, even at 1 oclock it rocks and sound great, and for me it means that I can practice with it late in the evening without waking up family and neighbours

knudi wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

You have a great ear

The reverb which I had in my Princeton RI was great, I assume it would fit because the cab is the same length?
Actually it is no big deal, I love reverb as it is and when I want to go Dick Dale/Ventures the Digitech is there.

the reverb in your princeton is not this reverb That is a very wet and surfy verb.
you can using any length tank from any manufacturer but it needs to be an
8ohm tank. A long tank (the full 17" long spring tank fits in the headcab) will only
make the reverb in my amp sound like an empty parking garage at midnight. A
cool long tail but maybe for comping shoegazer music

the unplugging of ther reverb tank sounds like a great idea! Then again the reverb sounds like an excellent idea too, and sounds like my kind of reverb! I don't like to surf too much, and I love to rock out more so perfecto!!

I need to get a blonde shell in my hands, and a Dyno Brain or atomic Duo Brain to keep things somewhat civil with a Spectra Sonic! I wonder how a good fat Les Paul would sound through a blondeshell with a good set of PAF type pickups? I'd only imagine a Les Paul Jr would kill through a blondeshell (not sure what it is about my Gibson fixation lately? )

It sounded killer when I hooked on my Les Paul G0 (loaded with burstbuckers), I was Dazed and Confused . Really fat and ruff Page/Gibbons stuff, but I am afraid my Les Paul has to go, need cash
But there is always room for a cheapo Telecaster

Thinking of 3 alternatives, all Mexico.

69 Thinline
60`s Roadworn
50`s Esquire

What do you think I should choose?


Another great thing with the blondeshell is that the knobs respond right away. If you adjust the volume from 2 to 2,5 you hear and feel it right away. The same with the treble, bass and precence. Other old amps don`t respond before you have turned it halfway around.
Practice with the band tonight and the blondeshell comes along. I`ll blow them away

knudi wrote:

It sounded killer when I hooked on my Les Paul G0 (loaded with burstbuckers), I was Dazed and Confused . Really fat and ruff Page/Gibbons stuff,

Heck yeah! That's exactly what I was hoping for with a Les Paul rocking into a blondeshell. I've been loving (old) Gibbons and Page tones lately, maybe this is where my Gibson fixation has been coming from? I still have my Spectra Sonic as my go-to guitar...just for some reason I'm starting to reappreciate a nice burst LP, LP jr and a Gibson semi-hollow.

Now I may hold on to my Les Paul Studio and try to convince my sister-in-law that a telecaster is a better choice, and then sell her mine...I could build a better tele on the cheap, or if I could hold out for a nice long-tenon neck'd bursty whether it be Gibson, Epi, japanese equivilent.

btw, how do you like the burstbuckers? I've heard great things about the BB 1&2, and the 57 classics. My studio had the 490 and 498T in there, then I put a SD Alnico pro II and a JB in the bridge. They seem to match up pretty well, but I'm always looking for that "one better" I suppose.

My LP black beauty had an SD Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge the middle position
was so nice, everything you'd expect from a vintage paf 50s gibson.
I still prefer SGs though and would die to have this SG lp custom with my blondeshell

I do like the white LP/SG customs from back in the day! I never quite got into the SG though no matter how much I like the looks of them and how other people sound with them. I think it's the same with Jazzmasters.

I think the jazz and the JB are a favorite combo of Seymour himself! I got the Alnico II JB combo because I liked Slashes neck pickup tone and I needed something high output to cater to my pop-punk power pop stuff. I got a bit of Burst fever, but I will play my faux black beauty until my sister-in-law takes it.

I thought I posted this here... hope I didnt double post like a moron..

ronnie demo's the Blondeshell and dyno brain

I think it might have been posted in the "One Good Thing" thread, but hey...I don't think anyone here will mind more Blondeshell goodness!

I NOW HAVE A COMPLETE BRAIN SELTZER /BLONDESHELL /VINTAGE30 LOADED CABINET!!!!!!!
TAVO YOU HAVE OUTDONE YOURSELF!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Vid up soon

maybe I missed a post, do I still need a Dyno or Atomic with a Blondeshell or would that just be more iceing on the iceing on the cake.

I need to stop reading this thread, or find a get-rich-quick scheme!

I was curious on how many Blondeshells have been born? If I've been counting right, there seems to be only five around...

Pistol Pete wrote:

I NOW HAVE A COMPLETE BRAIN SELTZER /BLONDESHELL /VINTAGE30 LOADED CABINET!!!!!!!
TAVO YOU HAVE OUTDONE YOURSELF!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Vid up soon

Ohhh....I forgot vto mention the Atomic that I ordered as well.
Now that WILL be a killer combo.

Yeah, I am waiting for either a get rich scheme or getting a recording contract that involves a non-recoupable bonus and equipment budget and a Blondeshell will be in my rig!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

My LP black beauty had an SD Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge the middle position
was so nice, everything you'd expect from a vintage paf 50s gibson.
I still prefer SGs though and would die to have this SG lp custom with my blondeshell

Oh, now I REALLY dig that! Always been an SG fan.

ATTENTION.............

Blondeshell and Atomic Brain get a debut next Friday night gig....CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

Hi Hoodooo Woodoo!

Played with the blondeshell this evening piss drunk, sorry but I came directly from a bachelor party so I had no option
Still am, but what a heck!

I know the Gretsch sounded awesome, but when I swithced to do some strat playing, god da.. that amp sounded like a killer. Even with the stock tex mex stock pickup on my Road Worn baby. Hey, SRV was out there.

So the message in 2011 for all you wannabes is to go and get yourself a blondeshell, have a killer sound and no worries what so ever, god bless!

I'm hoping 2011 is my year! Lord knows that this was *the* amp for me when the cat was let out of the bag!

I'm over halfway saved for the amp...but a little under halfway for the speaker cab/amp package. I've kicked up saving a little bit, just to really try and nail my target date. Hopefully I'll have enough left over for an atomic duo and a t-shirt! haha

@Knudi, Pete: Any vids yet?

It´s so hard for me to wait for that Blondshell to be built and shipped so I have to watch the available vids over and over again...

I´d be VERY glad if there´d be more vids to shorten waiting time with pleasant anticipation.

knudi wrote:

I know the Gretsch sounded awesome, but when I swithced to do some strat playing, god da.. that amp sounded like a killer. .....Hey, SRV was out there.

Hi, i totally agree. I falled in love again with my Strat. Amazing sound...
Tomorrow night i`ll try my Gretsch and the Blondeshell with a 15" open cab.