tbonesullivan

Not really, unless you don't know what you're doing, like the Guitologist who makes videos on youtube. The 3 and 4 channel amps can be a bit cramped to work on and hard to diagnose, but the 2 channel ones are much less complicated.

Ugh... not this crap. Sadly, there is a HUGE market for it. Some companies pretty much ONLY make relic guitars now, which I guess really does help keep costs down: it's no big deal if you buff right through the clear coat by accident! As long as it plays good no one is going to care.

Nice sound! Looking at the unit, it's very well designed! Really allows you to get some real dirt in your sound without losing all of the articulation.

There's a lot out there in that power range. The mesa Express models are nice. You can also find their "Dual Caliber" series such as the DC-5, as well as the somewhat off the beaten path Maverick and Blue Angel members of the "Dual Rectifier" series. They are vintage voiced and lower gain. There's also the Rectoverb 50, and some other lesser known mesa amps out there.

So glad to hear that he made it through. Hopefully the after effects of the surgery and bladder removal aren't too bad.

I don't see this going well for Gibson. Dean has a 40 year history of making those guitar shapes, which have become "generic" for all intents and purposes. Fender tried to trademark the Strat design, and they failed. Gibson already tried to sue PRS, and they also failed. Still, they want a JURY trial, and they may be able to convince a jury of just about anything, depending on how they word it.

It really is. I need to bring it back out of the case. It needs to be played.

The problem is more related to the strings not returning to pitch after using the vibrato, and possibly even after bends. I'm going to start out with oiling the bigsby, and also putting some graphite in the nut slots to see if I can improve things.

Came stock with Sperzel locking tuners, Schaller locking bridge. The problems seem to stem from either the nut, or the bridge. There are some mods that can be done to a Bigsby to make it more "Friendly", but all of those only apply to the USA B5, which has the actual oiled bearings, and not just nylon bushings.

I've seen tutorials where people coat the entire bottom of the tensioning roller with grease, kinda like how people would coat the top of a kahler with chap stick. I've also heard some say that the licensed and the original are pretty much the same, and others say that the original is far superior.

Rivera makes good amps. My R55-12 is definitely a favorite, easy to dial in, and great sounding. I did find that switching out the stock G12T-85 Custom speaker in favor of an Eminence CV-75 definitely helped the sound.

Many may remember my H-158 Millennium from past postings and a PSP or two. Well, one thing that has always been less than ideal for me is the functioning of the Bigsby, as well as tuning stability. Now, I know that no matter what I do, it's never going to match the likes of a modern 2 point trem. However I think it still can be better than it is now. It came with the Licensed B50 overseas made Bigsby, which uses nylon bushings for the roller joints. The original Bigsby uses captured bearings, which can be oiled and maintained. So I'm looking into the possibility of sticking a B5 on in place of the B50, as well as having a new nut installed, optimized for tremolo use. It still has the stock nut, but I don't feel that it's as well cut as it could be, and doesn't have the flat bottom string slots cut that you'd usually want on a tremolo guitar. So also getting that re-cut would be on the list of things to do. I LOVE the guitar. The sound is incredible. I'd just like to make it MORE incredible by having a more functional Bigsby. I've always felt that Licensed bigsby has too much slop in operation.

Wow, that IS a really nice simple setup. I guess I should really just decide which pedals I want/need, and then make it happen. I also did check the speaker in the Pubster 25 finally, and it's an Eminence Legend 1058, which is what I assumed it was. I do wonder if putting a lower power speaker like the Legend 1028K would make much of a difference.

Nice!!! Glad you were able to find something that really fit the bill! Looks like a great little amp!

That really would simplify things. They also tend to be very high profile pedals that are heavy, so they defy most hook and loop fasteners. Hmmmmmm.