by almano » 17 Jun 2010, 20:07
First off, may I say thanks Neil for the info about Barry's disc at Leo's Den; that will provide an excellent reference source regarding the Amtech echo unit. I also note that I can get backing track CD's from there as well - this will be really perfect for me - I won't have to annoy family and neighbours with my rusty and creaky fingering of the fretboard whacking out some poorly timed backing chords into Garage Band on the Mac - I can do the lot very quietly, in the hopeful starring role as Hank, through headphones! Probably the best option for me these days I suspect! - Now where can I get some 3 in one oil for my fingers? - they used to work so wonderfully up and down the fretboard years ago! - Where's it all gone now?
Many thanks also to David for the info on the Amtech - it will certainly help me in working out my ultimate goal with these echo units - it's definitely a tricky subject. Oh, by the way, yes, I actually reside in the old East London suburbs - so, if I find myself up in your neck of the woods at some time in the future, I would very much appreciate any chance of comparing various echo units.
At the moment I'm repairing a MKII Watkins Copicat and I'm hoping that unit may give an authentic sound when it's sorted - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the heads are still in good shape - although I believe that replacements are still available (hopefully!)
And, - not only that, I'm also getting a really ancient Vox AC15 (with the prototype treble boost circuit fitted by Dick Denny himself) back into working order. The usual suspects, HT smoothers and EF86 have "gone west" - but the rest of the amp looks good - so it's fingers crossed time with that project.
My references to those CBS Fenders came from the June issue of Guitar and Bass magazine which I chanced upon while shopping - I recognised the headstock on the front cover, it caught my attention and more significantly, it reminded me I had a couple of those actual guitars - so I "dug them out" and here I am now as a new member of this forum and a purchaser of a Burns Noiseless Apache - and all through reading an interesting looking guitar mag a couple of months ago (it came out early for some reason). They, the Guitar & Bass mag, seemed to think the CBS era was rather variable - and the chances of a good Strat' from those days was suspect - although, I somehow believe Jimi Hendrix may have succeeded well with a CBS one - so perhaps things may not be all that bad after all - hopefully!
Apologies for rambling on - I'm afraid that I do tend to chatter on quite a bit I'm told.
Thanks once again for all the info,
Cheers,
Alan.