D 13 mini amp fest

I would love to be there, but it's a long way from Atlanta! I bought a guitar from Russ recently. He is one heck of a nice guy that I enjoy talking with. I'd love to hang around and hear him play and meet the other folks. Plus, all those D13 amps would be mighty GAS inducing.

How'd he get the name "The Railgun"?

Have fun,
Ken

PS - Howdy Russ! How did the Suhr PLEK refret for the Morgaine LP go?

 

Ya, one day is not enough time. Sorry...won't be able to make it.

 

D13 for one, and one for all!... I'd dig hangin' with you guys. I am so stoked with my 37, I would love to hear some other 13's back to back with my rig... after reading some reviews here, I am wondering if mine is doing something different.

...Anyways, I LIKE IT ALOT! ...But, more of a notice would be cool. I am down that way every now and then I may be able to arrange it. Maybe next time.

 

Hey dude. So... How'd it go?

 

Yeah...........how did it go?

 

I couldn't get on the computer at home last night (two kids). I'm at work right now, but I will post some thoughts later today...

It was a real fun time with great friends and incredible sounding amps, guitars and cabs!!

Later,

T2

 

Hey T2, are you from Carlsbad or have you moved there? I ask because I'm from down there.

 

Hi,
All the amps sounded great. Russ Reiser is a great player and a great guy! I hope I get to hang out with him again!

Ron's FTR sounds great, like a tweaked Pro Reverb with more complexity and bloom. The RSA 23 sounded great as well. For what I do, I really like the Snider amps the best out of them all (having heard some 13s before I purchased the Snider). I "personally" prefered the Snider over the 9/15 by a long shot, however, I did like the 23. Frederic has some great ears, and its clear that prefers a more fundamental tone that has more headroom in the preamp section.

The one thing I really like about my snider is the way it can get full blown lead tones that sing withn clarity and bloom when the guitar volume is on 10, to absolute clean clean clean with the volume on 7, with very, very little reduction in volume and FULLNESS of tone overall. I have heard no other amp that does this in the manner than the California and the Chicago are able to.

Everyone had their favorites, and its waas a good time for sure. Everything sounded great!

thanks to Ron for having me over, and thanks to Lamonte for bringing his collection of A+ gear.

 

Just got off the phone with Russ. Russ is a great guy, really cool player and has been through many amps over the years. He has great ears. Love the guy. He told me the RSA23 was easily his favorite. I have no doubt that it would be mine as well.

 

Thanks guys! The hospitality was really great at Ron's. You guys have to come to Wisconsin for some brats and beer. Steve Snider was the first ampaholic I met thru the internet. Great guy who can really play. Wish you could of been there Steve! Its always a pleasure talking music and amps with you. Lamont kept us laughing and can really play. We have similar tastes in the old classics.Ron's friend Steve kept the technical end going but I couldn't get him to play. Super friendly guy with a really nice swamp ash Tyler he let me play.. Ron Ellis is another class act and his original instrumental music is great. Thanks Karl for bringing the Snider. Very cool with a real singing quality. Reminds me of a cross between an AC15 and a PA20. Nice playing Karl. The RSA 23 has a certain authority and richness in tone that makes it unique. Very tight lowend with a chime similar to an EL-84 amp. It seems to have a little of the HiWatt vibe but warmer and with the Click channel you can get it to sustain. Big sounding amp. Loud enough for any gig. I like the fact that in the clean channel you can turn your guitar volume all the way up and it is still clean but warm. I preferred it thru the Silver Dogs. Thanks again to Ron, Lamont, Steve and Karl.

 

We had a great time hanging out playing through some cool amps, cabs and guitars. Russ was in So Cal for a while, so it was nice that he could make it down to finally meet him in person. We had the “Cloudy San Diego blues” for weather, but it was all nice and sunny in the T2 garage! Attendees were… Lamont, Steve Lamb, Russ Reiser, Carl H and me (T2). This was kind of a trial run to a much larger amp/guitar get together that we're planning later this summer… date and location TBA.

Here’s what we had to play with…

Amps:

Divided by 13 FTR 37, RSA 23 and JRT 9/15.
Jeff Snider California combo (2 EL-84’s) 1x12 Greenback.

Cabs:

Marshall 2061X 2x12 with 2 ea. G12h’s.
Dr. Z Z best 2x12 with G12h and Greenback.
Matchless 2x12 with Pre-Rola G12h and vintage 30.
Divided by 13 2x12 with 2 each original Celestion Silver Dogs.
Aiken 4x12 with 2 ea. G12h’s and 2 ea. Greenbacks (all made in England).

Guitars:

’65 Tele with alni 3 Alan Hamel pickups.
’51 Nocaster with alni 3 Hamel’s.
’68 Tele with alni 3 Hamel’s
Relic Strat with alni 3 Hamel’s.
RI flame top Les Paul.
’65 Gibson ES-345.
Tyler ash Strat, maple board with SSS Suhr low output pups.
Tyler Landau Strat with Suhr low output SS and a Landau bucker.

This little amp fest wasn’t a shootout at the OK Corral for a winner or looser. Each one of these amps has its own individual strengths. You could pick any of these four amps and be real impressed with their tone. I give Fred Taccone and Jeff Snider major kudos’ for working their asses off developing and building some of the finest amps around today. It all boils down to where and how you use ‘your’ amp and if it puts a **** eaten grin on your face every time you plug in and play it!

The FTR 37 is my amp, so I’m real familiar with what it sounds like. I use it as a reference to all other amps… and as of yet I haven’t heard one that would come close to taking its place as the ‘do all’ amp. It is so incredibly versatile at low or high volumes, half switch totally changes its character, wonderful clean side with beautiful reverb and the click channel screams like Hilary Clinton yelling at poor Bill upstairs at the White House!! The favorite sounds from the 37 were with the Tyler’s and Lamont’s relic Strat (with Hamel’s) through the Aiken 4x12 (duh) and the D/13 cab with the silver dogs… big and complex tone.

The RSA 23 sounded fantastic with anything plugged into it or any cabinet out of it. Fred has created a very unique sounding and (again) really versatile amp. We were all pretty blown away at how you could just plug any guitar in and just start turning the tone controls to almost any position to get amazing results. Like Russ and Scot said, there is a bell like sparkle in the mids and highs that is so pleasing. The bottom end stays real nice and tight at any volume, roll off the volume a bit on your guitar and it cleans up without loosing volume or any of the fat and 3 dimensional tone structure. I love reverb, but this amp doesn’t need it at all, it has such a natural bloom to it… its extremely ‘breathy’ on its own. The cool thing about the 23 is that even at high volumes it doesn’t beat you up or tire you out, this is an amp that’s really hard to stop playing through… girlfriends and wives will hate this one. Again, my favorite setups with the RSA 23 were the Landau Tyler (in humbucker position) or Hamel equipped relics into the D13/silver dogs 2x12 cab… wow!!! My new RSA 23 should be here any day now?

The JRT 9/15 is an ideal small venue or recording amp, it has a lot of the same character as its bigger brothers, but obviously when your comparing these amps side by side, the 9/15 sounds a bit looser and breaks up much earlier than its more powerful siblings… like the 23 and 37. It is very rich in harmonic content and versatile, going from 6V6 brown deluxe to EL84 AC 15 sounds. It sounded really cool through the Dr. Z front ported cabinet and D/13 cabs, the 4x12 was not the match for the 9/15, in fact I wish we had a 1x12 cab to try it with. Very cool amp, but a little pickier to what cab and speaker it’s matched with.

The Snider California is a beautiful sounding amp. Jeff Snider is indeed an amazing guitar player and amp designer/builder. He has spent many years in the trenches as a top live player/studio musician developing this amp along with his Chicago and New Jersey models. The California (Carl’s anyway) is real different sounding than any of the D/13 amps with more emphasis on a higher gain structure. Snider has voiced the California to sound much bigger, tighter and focused than most 2 EL 84 amps out there. It has a really nice sustain and harmonically rich lead tone and would be a great choice as a soloing amp. It also cleans up pretty nice when you roll off some volume on your guitar. The California’s lead tone sounded great coupled with the Tyler Landau (Suhr) bucker and the Aiken 4x12 cab. I would like to see Jeff make his amps available in head versions and a 2x12 combo. The Snider California’s lead tone is real nice, with a great sophisticated gain structure. I like the amp, but I prefer amps that have both a strong and dimensional clean tone and smooth transition to gain. The Snider is pretty much always in the gain territory… nice amp!

The bottom line is…

Carl H picked the Snider as his fave… he absolutely loves the tone of his California, it’s the ultimate amp for his style of playing.

Steve L picked the JRT 9/15 over all, for were and what he plays… the 9/15 is his choice. He just picked up his bitchen looking Royal blue with the cream colored V 9/15 head last week from Fred.

Mr. Lamont ABSOLUTELY LOVES HIS RSA 23, you couldn’t pry it out of his hands… in fact pretty soon he will have two 23’s, a big box and a small box (9/15 size) version. “Hey Scot, why don’t you just have Fred make you an RSA 46, it would be cheaper, the two KT88’s will put out the 46 watt’s and it will take up less room”. All you have to do is go listen to Scot play live and you could then understand why the RSA 23 fits his needs so well. The RSA 23 is flexible and versatile and so is Scot’s playing. He’s an experienced and tasty player, plays a wide variety of musical styles… 50’s through new rock, funk, R&B, pop, rockabilly, blues… you name it (except for rap) and he plays it with feeling and authority.

Russ Reiser is a really top notch and experienced picker, he spent the 4 hours or so carefully going through all the amps and cabinets, back and forth between guitars playing a bunch of different styles, tweaking and listening. Russ also ended up picking the RSA 23 as his favorite for the day. He thought the FTR 37 was also right there with the 23. The D/13 2x12 cab with the silver dogs was his pick out of the cabs and he liked the Tyler guitars.

For me it was the FTR 37 as my first pick with the RSA 23 right there with it. I also have been taken by the unique sound of the RSA 23; in fact I have one on the way… any day now Fred? Having both the 23 and 37 will cover anything that I need to do.

All these amps are winners, no losers here in this bunch. Thanks to Steve, Carl, Russ and Scot for making it a great afternoon!

Thanks for reading this…

T2

 

Great report dude. Just a few Q's: Have you done anything to your 37? Any tube swaps or ?? What pedals are you liking with it? Where do you typically run the volumes?

I've had my 37 for 6+ months now, and totally dig it as well. I was thinking about experimenting with some preamp, and rectifier tube swaps for fun. I use an attenuator when needed, and have been using a few diff OD pedals for lower volumes. All with great results.

Just curious how you run yours. Many thanks.

 

This is my first post...I've been "lurking" for a while and have learned a tremendous amount on TGP. I have played guitar for 30 years and have a fair amount of professional experience. I'm posting here because I own a Snider California, I live in the San Diego area...and well, it's time to join in the fun! Could you guys let me know when the next amp fest will be held?

Hearing Jeff play through his amps around San Diego for the last couple of years has been a revelation for me. I bought my California in January of 2003, and Jeff has since asked me to bring it by his shop in order to tweak it a few times...it sounds better everytime and is ripe with the kind of tone(s) I like. In the past, I've used an American Standard Strat, a '56 Relic Strat, a Heritage H535, and a G&L Bluesboy – all sounded awesome. Currently though, I'm playing a Grosh Bent Top Custom (SSH) and Grosh Retro Classic – both have Fralin pickups. Needless to say, I'm more than pleased with my arsenal and have Jeff to thanks for creating his wonderful amp and the TGP members for hipping me to Grosh's instruments. Life is good!

 

Hey Jemlite,

I haven't yet messed with any tube variations, but I'm looking foreword to trying some old NOS tubes... it sounds pretty darned fantastic as is!

I like the volume set at about the 1:00 O clock position on the clean side and use my volume control on my guitars vary the amount of gain. Mine is modded on the click channel with a pull boost switch on the volume knob and it gets really loud, so I have to turn it down and balance the two volumes when I combine the two channels with the Switchhazel.

As for pedals, the Klon works real well, but it's quite noisy. My absolute fave is the new Fulltone OCD, a great pedal that sounds like an amp, not a pedal, it works really well with both the FTR 37 and RSA 23. The T-rex Replica delay sounds great with my 37, it has an output level control that works like a fat and harmonic clean boost... gives it a really amazing Dumble like tone! The ultimate tone is the Switchhazel combining both the clean and click channels, with the T-rex and OCD between the clean side and the Hazel.

I love this amp!


T2