Winfield Thomas "Elizabeth", Tele's & Tone

Brad · May 28th, 2004, 01:21 PM

I purchased a used Winnie Thomas Elizabeth head and mathching single 12 cab ( head and speaker cab by our own Rob DiStefano ) many months ago. It is my home amp, as I don't want to lug it around or leave it at church, where I seem to do most of my playing these day's. Last night, I had a rare night alone, so I decided to fire Liz up and get out a few guitars that have not seen the light of day for several months.

I wound up playing from 6pm to 11pm. I had forgotten what a beautiful, pure sounding amp this is. Simple circut with 2 6L6's, a 12AT7 and a 12AX7. I plugged in a midi verb ll I picked up cheap for a bit of ambience, although Liz sounds awesome just the way she is. I also switched a TS7 ( with the level up and drive off ) on and off for a bit of a boost.

First up was my trusty 78-80 ( not sure of the actual date, but I found it in pieces in 1981 ) Tokai strat loaded with Jason Lollar pickups & a deaf-eddie chromocaster switch. Wow! The notch positions were pure Knopfler, vintage Hendrix ( little wing ) tone and the neck pup alone got right to the heart of Texas. I marvel at this guitar every time I play it and it made me realize why I've hung on to it so long. Liz let the added tones the chromocaster provides really come through with thier various shades. Very, very cool. Next up was my stock 71 tele. The bridge pup on this baby is outstanding and the neck pickup is amazing....it sounds very rich and bluesy. Since I'm pretty much steeped in the blues, it was a blast hanging out in this neighborhood. The middle position was classic tele. Liz responed in spades to each volume and tone control tweak on every gutiar I tried, letting the subtle nuances shine. I always forget how great this guitar is till I get it out and play it. Next up was a Peavey Firenza with 2 P-90's I recently aquired. I had yet to play this guitar through the Winnie. Liz seems to be perfect match for P-90's. I must have had a smile on my face for 30 minutes as it sounded so sweet. I don't know who makes the P-90's for Peavey, but I am very impressed with the sweet tone they produce. Next up was the 67 ES335. This baby just ripped with the Winnie. Clean, the tone was about as classic as you could want. With a bit of dirt ( I raised the wickett on the drive knob ) I was right into the Carlton / Ford area. Controlled feedback was so easy, it was hard to put this guitar down! I'm not real fond of the the slim neck, since my hands are the size of huge meat hooks, but it plays very fast and the tone is golden. Last, but not least, was my #1. A USACG chambered mahogany bodied tele with a Seth Lover in the neck and an SK T-90 in the bridge along with a deaf-eddie inspired 5 way switch. All I can say is. "Blues City Baby"!! While I loved the tone of the other guitars through Liz, this one is THE ONE. Not only is it the best playing guitar I own, the tone is so rich, detailed and complex, I can't put it down. This guitar beg's to be played.

The amazing thing about Elizabeth is how she let's the true tone and individuality of each guitar shine through. I've been jonsing real bad for a Vox/ Marshall type amp and have been seriously considering selling Liz to fund such an amp. After last night, I believe she'll be with me till I pass her down to my Grandson. It is an amazing amp. It reminds me of a nice 60's blackface Super Reverb I used for a while in the early 80's. Liz has more clean headroom on tap and the tone seems to be more complex and 3 D than the Super though. It's kind of funny that I have never really gotten along that well with Fender type amps, but Liz is something different.

My life ( as I'm sure with all of you ) is so busy these day's, I rarely have 5 minutes a day when I'm alone. I seldom have a day or evening like last night where I have several hours alone. I had many things I should have done, but really felt the call to run Liz through her paces and get out some guitars that have been sitting in their cases for much too long . Man, am I ever glad I did. For those of you out there looking for an excellent quality, tone filled amp, I would suggest contacting Winnie ( our own Zook here at the TDPRI ) Thomas. I'll be saving my pennies for one of his EL84 based amps.

Sorry for the long winded babbleing, but that beautiful tone is still on my mind this morning....I had to tell someone!

klasher · May 28th, 2004, 02:17 PM

I bought an Elizabeth prototype from Winnie a few months back. It's different from his standard Elizabeth. It's designed to sound like a low-powered Bassman w/reverb. You'd have to contact him for the specifics, but it's a pretty fine little amp.
Unfortunately, I barely had enough cash to buy the amp from him, so I bought it without a speaker. Once I got it, I stuck in a beat up old Fender speaker that I had and it worked pretty well. I'm kind of new to the world of trying different speakers and playing low wattage amps, so I never really knew the difference between speaker distortion and tube distortion.
Well I started to blow out the beat up old Fender speaker so I plugged the Elizabeth into the speakers of my 2-12 hot rod deville. All I can say is Wow!!!! Absolutely incredible tone. It seems I've been getting a lot of speaker distortion from the old fender speaker (which is fine if you're a fan of that), but now through the speakers in the deville, which is much higher wattage than Liz, I'm getting this incredibly smooth, warm and nicely compressed type tone that has this great sustain but it's really clear. Then when you really dig in with your pick on a power chord then you hear the overdriven crunch that I just love.
Well, I now understand the difference between tube distortion and speaker distortion. The more powerful speakers in the deville aren't distorting nearly as much as the older speaker, so I think I'm hearing mostly tube distortion, and I'm thinking I have definitely found my sound.
Very cool experience. So now I'm looking into converting the liz to a head and buying a 2-12 cab with pretty powerful speakers. I'm going to have to sell some things, but I think it's definitely worth it.

Rob DiStefano · May 28th, 2004, 02:55 PM

Brad's Lizzy ...

Brad · May 28th, 2004, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

Brad's Lizzy ...

I appreciate your adding a pix of the ol girl. I love the cabinet's you made for this beauty. I'll be orderinga 2 X 12 from you somewhere down the line! Thank again Rob.

Rob DiStefano · May 28th, 2004, 06:04 PM

Winnie built me an amp that's based on an MMB converted to Harvard spex - it uses twin EL84's and twin 12AX7's, for 18W. I've been lagging on building a cab for the Weber 15F150 speaker for this amp, and now's as good a time as any. Winnie builds GREAT amps, for sure.

May 28th, 2004, 01:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Brad Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 1,294	Winfield Thomas "Elizabeth", Tele's & Tone I purchased a used Winnie Thomas Elizabeth head and mathching single 12 cab ( head and speaker cab by our own Rob DiStefano ) many months ago. It is my home amp, as I don't want to lug it around or leave it at church, where I seem to do most of my playing these day's. Last night, I had a rare night alone, so I decided to fire Liz up and get out a few guitars that have not seen the light of day for several months. I wound up playing from 6pm to 11pm. I had forgotten what a beautiful, pure sounding amp this is. Simple circut with 2 6L6's, a 12AT7 and a 12AX7. I plugged in a midi verb ll I picked up cheap for a bit of ambience, although Liz sounds awesome just the way she is. I also switched a TS7 ( with the level up and drive off ) on and off for a bit of a boost. First up was my trusty 78-80 ( not sure of the actual date, but I found it in pieces in 1981 ) Tokai strat loaded with Jason Lollar pickups & a deaf-eddie chromocaster switch. Wow! The notch positions were pure Knopfler, vintage Hendrix ( little wing ) tone and the neck pup alone got right to the heart of Texas. I marvel at this guitar every time I play it and it made me realize why I've hung on to it so long. Liz let the added tones the chromocaster provides really come through with thier various shades. Very, very cool. Next up was my stock 71 tele. The bridge pup on this baby is outstanding and the neck pickup is amazing....it sounds very rich and bluesy. Since I'm pretty much steeped in the blues, it was a blast hanging out in this neighborhood. The middle position was classic tele. Liz responed in spades to each volume and tone control tweak on every gutiar I tried, letting the subtle nuances shine. I always forget how great this guitar is till I get it out and play it. Next up was a Peavey Firenza with 2 P-90's I recently aquired. I had yet to play this guitar through the Winnie. Liz seems to be perfect match for P-90's. I must have had a smile on my face for 30 minutes as it sounded so sweet. I don't know who makes the P-90's for Peavey, but I am very impressed with the sweet tone they produce. Next up was the 67 ES335. This baby just ripped with the Winnie. Clean, the tone was about as classic as you could want. With a bit of dirt ( I raised the wickett on the drive knob ) I was right into the Carlton / Ford area. Controlled feedback was so easy, it was hard to put this guitar down! I'm not real fond of the the slim neck, since my hands are the size of huge meat hooks, but it plays very fast and the tone is golden. Last, but not least, was my #1. A USACG chambered mahogany bodied tele with a Seth Lover in the neck and an SK T-90 in the bridge along with a deaf-eddie inspired 5 way switch. All I can say is. "Blues City Baby"!! While I loved the tone of the other guitars through Liz, this one is THE ONE. Not only is it the best playing guitar I own, the tone is so rich, detailed and complex, I can't put it down. This guitar beg's to be played. The amazing thing about Elizabeth is how she let's the true tone and individuality of each guitar shine through. I've been jonsing real bad for a Vox/ Marshall type amp and have been seriously considering selling Liz to fund such an amp. After last night, I believe she'll be with me till I pass her down to my Grandson. It is an amazing amp. It reminds me of a nice 60's blackface Super Reverb I used for a while in the early 80's. Liz has more clean headroom on tap and the tone seems to be more complex and 3 D than the Super though. It's kind of funny that I have never really gotten along that well with Fender type amps, but Liz is something different. My life ( as I'm sure with all of you ) is so busy these day's, I rarely have 5 minutes a day when I'm alone. I seldom have a day or evening like last night where I have several hours alone. I had many things I should have done, but really felt the call to run Liz through her paces and get out some guitars that have been sitting in their cases for much too long . Man, am I ever glad I did. For those of you out there looking for an excellent quality, tone filled amp, I would suggest contacting Winnie ( our own Zook here at the TDPRI ) Thomas. I'll be saving my pennies for one of his EL84 based amps. Sorry for the long winded babbleing, but that beautiful tone is still on my mind this morning....I had to tell someone! __________________ We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old becasue we stop playing.

May 28th, 2004, 02:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
klasher Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 238	Speaking of time with Elizabeth last night... I bought an Elizabeth prototype from Winnie a few months back. It's different from his standard Elizabeth. It's designed to sound like a low-powered Bassman w/reverb. You'd have to contact him for the specifics, but it's a pretty fine little amp. Unfortunately, I barely had enough cash to buy the amp from him, so I bought it without a speaker. Once I got it, I stuck in a beat up old Fender speaker that I had and it worked pretty well. I'm kind of new to the world of trying different speakers and playing low wattage amps, so I never really knew the difference between speaker distortion and tube distortion. Well I started to blow out the beat up old Fender speaker so I plugged the Elizabeth into the speakers of my 2-12 hot rod deville. All I can say is Wow!!!! Absolutely incredible tone. It seems I've been getting a lot of speaker distortion from the old fender speaker (which is fine if you're a fan of that), but now through the speakers in the deville, which is much higher wattage than Liz, I'm getting this incredibly smooth, warm and nicely compressed type tone that has this great sustain but it's really clear. Then when you really dig in with your pick on a power chord then you hear the overdriven crunch that I just love. Well, I now understand the difference between tube distortion and speaker distortion. The more powerful speakers in the deville aren't distorting nearly as much as the older speaker, so I think I'm hearing mostly tube distortion, and I'm thinking I have definitely found my sound. Very cool experience. So now I'm looking into converting the liz to a head and buying a 2-12 cab with pretty powerful speakers. I'm going to have to sell some things, but I think it's definitely worth it.

May 28th, 2004, 02:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
Rob DiStefano Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Park Ridge, NJ Age: 64 Posts: 5,241	Brad's Lizzy ...

May 28th, 2004, 06:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
Rob DiStefano Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Park Ridge, NJ Age: 64 Posts: 5,241	Winnie built me an amp that's based on an MMB converted to Harvard spex - it uses twin EL84's and twin 12AX7's, for 18W. I've been lagging on building a cab for the Weber 15F150 speaker for this amp, and now's as good a time as any. Winnie builds GREAT amps, for sure.

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