Whatever happened to that Trainwreck thread about the ampstrument?

[procos]

I watched it for awhile and then got caught up in the holidays. Was just thinking about it. It was the one with the guy with the kid who was the player and he said he was trying to learn as much as he could about Trainwreck amps. Was it a hoax? If so who put on the hoax? It was entertaining for sure.

[Anna_Laurel]

Probably buried about a hundred pages deep by now, which is not quite as deep as the thread itself got. Do us a pretty and don't go dredging it up, it likely smells somethin awful by now.

Hey - you got a lil erp on yer chin....

[Frankee]

Closed by the mods.........we were having too much fun.

[leofenderbender]

Derailed.

[redshark1105]

one of the funniest threads!! "Ampstrument", that was genious, still that term is used as a joke at least by me at the amp garage.
He eventually posted pics of his "clone" at the amp garage and was sort of a joke, he wasn't using the correct wire and seems to me they didn't have the skills they claimed to have. I just built one of those, great amp!! much better than a D-style, at least more versatile, although is a rock amp and the D-style is a clean amp.
I still prefer real Trainwrecks over real Dumbles. More fun to play.

[Carol-AnnAmps]

Originally Posted by redshark1105

one of the funniest threads!! "Ampstrument", that was genious, still that term is used as a joke at least by me at the amp garage.
He eventually posted pics of his "clone" at the amp garage and was sort of a joke, he wasn't using the correct wire and seems to me they didn't have the skills they claimed to have. I just built one of those, great amp!! much better than a D-style, at least more versatile, although is a rock amp and the D-style is a clean amp.
I still prefer real Trainwrecks over real Dumbles. More fun to play.

You think you can't nail a TW tone with different wire ?

Built 4 for actual TW owners...never used the same wire, never even used many of the same components....still they were tonal clones, not 'scale models'.

An amplifier is a piece of Engineering at the end of the day. What you are trying to acheive is a tonal goal not a physical one. Many roads can lead you to the same place.

Ther approach of using the same materials that Ken did alone rarely acheives the results. The ability to listen to an amp and know what to change to make to sound they way you want is the key.
Too many people on clone sites seem unwilling ot too impatient to learn fundamentals and become feared to build outside of the box. Very few 'picture perfect' clones with exactly the same materials Ken used deliver the goods. Still, I understand people having fun building exact replicas, it's rather like model-making, but don't get that mixed up with tonal cloning or using a technical methodology to replkicating the tone of an amp, they are far far different.

Your statement on versatility is obsurd, but I do agree TW style amps are a lot of fun to play.

I actually think Ken was a great Engineer, but I also think he had a great sense of humor. People have taken his every word as gospel....sometimes I think his overstatements about his amp designs were more for self-amusement than of any technical relevance.

I have no clue about the actual amp you are talking about in this thread, I am just generalising based on your statement about wire.

BTW, I have submitted a lot of information to Amp Garage over the years on both TW and Dumble style amps, including a lot of information on 'Ginger', Kennys first, having serviced and repaired her on a couple of occasions. I've worked on more original TW amps than I can remember at this point, I am pretty versed in them. Also for the record Ken didn't always use the same wire type / capacitors / resistors / tubes / transformers / switches etc etc either and each amp sounds different. Some are awesome, some leave me cold.

[redshark1105]

Hi Alan!,
just a quick reply, and considering the little experience I have building amps, those guys posted pictures of their "express clone" and compared to the actual clones on TAG and the pictures of Francesca it was a joke.
I agree with you on the option of using diferent components, I used diferent electrolytics, impedance switch and pilot lamp than what the building guide says it should be used and what is in the Francesca pics. Still, I used solid core wire and besides the mojo there's a very important reason. Solid core wire stays in the same position unlike stranded and with a express circuit with so much gain, the layout and placing of wire is crucial to achieve better results and help the amp be more quiet.
Before I played my clone I played 2 wrecks so more than copying a layout I knew what I was trying to achieve sonically and I did.
Clean with harmonic complexity, transition from mean to clean with not a lot of dB's lost, superb touch sensitivity and all of that just using a guitar volume and tone controls and attack. That is why I mentioned the versatility, without the need to step on a stompbox or a footswitch you can go from funky clean to hard rock lead tones.
Is just my apreciation on the topic and yes I like better the TW sound than the D sound....is a matter of taste, still go to the amp garage, find the topic and read what those "ampstrument" dudes were writing about, it was a joke.
Cheers,
redshark