Ever wondered what a Trainwreck Amp sounds like?

[muchxs]

.
Everyone says it looks like he jumps on a pedal when he first switches from clean to overdrive. Glen says, "No pedals!" Considering that Lester probably has stock pickups... who changes pickups in an original '59? They're probably down around 8k each, pretty mellow for humbuckers. No shortage of gain there, though. Back off the volume, it cleans up like a good tube amp should.

 

[homesick345]

"No pedals!"

Friggin' crazy.

When he takes his volume up, it is a trainwreck indeed

Beautiful + magic

 

[muchxs]

Friggin' crazy.

Makes me wanna grow my beard real long and play da blues.

.


.
I get Billy and Dusty mixed up with Jake and Elwood.

.

 

[homesick345]

The coolest part ever? Light your cigarette with the dashboard lighter, then throw it through the window

I found it awesome & hilarious

 

[doc w]

That wreck needs more mids.

 

[mitchfit]

..."Jake and Elwood."...

"It's a hundred and six miles to Chicago---
We've gotta full tank of gas,
A half pack of cigarettes,
It's dark outside and we have our sunglasses on.

LET'S HIT IT!!!"

mitchfit

 

[Larry F]

The sound of the impact in the first video was beautiful, sonically speaking. It has a blooming kind of effect (not a pun) and the different frequencies came in at different times, once things were broken up, then landing somewhere. It also seem to have some compression, due to the way the camera records sound.

The other Trainwreck is great. Glen has been a dedicated ambassador for the amp for a long time. I have a Ceriatone version which was beautiful at low volumes. However, to get any OD I either had to use a Zendrive or an attenuator. The Bad Cat Unleash was the one attenuator that worked really well with the amp. There is no master volume on the Wrecks. It is like the Dumble clones that I have in the sense that they are transparent. I know transparent has been co-opted by marketing people, but for me it means that I can hear individual components of a complex sound, whether OD'd or a chord. The design of the Wreck is a lot different from that of a Dumble, but they share some of the same aural qualities.

 

[Wally]

The Trainwreck Express seems to me to be a take off on the AB165 Fender Bassman's Normal channel. There are some differences...and I am sure that those differences are important; but a comparison of the AO version of the Express and the AB615 Normal channels reveals the basic similarities. I may have to build one of these things, and make it 6v6 friendly.
LarryF, the secret of this type of amps is the compression and the reaction of the amp to the guitar's input, imho and ime. They have to be turned up in order to reveal this. This doesn't mean that they have to be as loud as they can be, but they have to be turned up to a certain point...usually at least half the way up but it depends on the amp..and the player has to control the input signal through pick attack and guitar controls.....as G. Kuykendall does there...and as The Rev. Billy G has always done. This yields a very 'hot' clean signal....and a thicker, compressed overdrive. IF the amp is too loud, then one needs a smaller amp, ime. I wish GK had mentioned or showed the control settings on that amp. I am going to think that the volume is just a bit over halfway...6-8 out of 10. FWIW, I have a '52 Pro sitting here that would amaze you in how it does something similar....just a guitar and a cord. don't touch anything but strings and go from the scream to the clean with pick attack change.....change things in the middle of a phrase or note...as GK does right around that 3 minute mark.
OR.....go for preamp gain through pedals or through the pushed preamp tubes and lower master volume settings...if an MV is there. Ken Fischer didn't really believe in master volumes. He thought that tube amps' gain stages should all hit the overdrive point simultaneously....and a MV defeats that philosophy...unless it is turned all of the way up, right?
Glen K. puts on a clinic of guitar output control and the amp's interaction, doesn' t he. The man hits a lick or two...

Now, I gotta go get back on that bus one mo time......

 

[Big_Bend]

That was a crazy Train Wreck!! Wow! Glad nobody got hurt.

And why was that lady doing a video recording in the first place? Seems a bit odd oh well...

 

[muchxs]

The Trainwreck Express seems to me to be a take off on the AB165 Fender Bassman's Normal channel. There are some differences...and I am sure that those differences are important; but a comparison of the AO version of the Express and the AB615 Normal channels reveals the basic similarities. I may have to build one of these things, and make it 6v6 friendly.

Ken Fischer set Express amps up two ways... either with EL34s or 6V6s. Same amp, same transformers, just re- bias.

The Liverpool has roughly the same preamp into 4x EL84s. That's another one that's easy to scale down. Just build it with 2x EL84s.

 

[mabley123]

A friend of mine.... Dana Hall.. Hallamplification. Suppliies many manufacturers with VVR. Hi Tone being 1. He lives 15 minutes from me. His brother Richie live 5 minutes away.

Dana was friends with Ken Fischer for years and years and was at his home and stayed there many times. I wonder what they talked about ???

When Ken died... Dana was voted on the Trainwreck forum to be the 1 to make the... Ken Fischer Tribute amp.

Dana knows his TR's.

Richie knows Watkins Dominator and anything Marshall especially the 18 watter.

They have a business but mainly do their own stuff and say if I wanted something done?? It would take a good while as they are very busy. Richie has also been having hand troubles on and off for years and has had several surgeries.

But they do some nice Wreck amps and also all out no compromise low watt Wreck type amps with subminature tubes. The Lil Devil.

Richie also modded my 69 Dual Showman reverb to Dumble ODS on 1 channel. I will say I think its the best sounding Fender amp Ive heard. Althought it is modded.. But it uses the Original Iron.

 

[Wally]

El-34's and 6V6's....I suppose that would include the ability to run 6L6's, right? With a rebias, of course. Thanks for that observation on the 6V6's.

 

[cochese]

The Trainwreck Express seems to me to be a take off on the AB165 Fender Bassman's Normal channel. There are some differences...and I am sure that those differences are important; but a comparison of the AO version of the Express and the AB615 Normal channels reveals the basic similarities. I may have to build one of these things, and make it 6v6 friendly.
LarryF, the secret of this type of amps is the compression and the reaction of the amp to the guitar's input, imho and ime. They have to be turned up in order to reveal this. This doesn't mean that they have to be as loud as they can be, but they have to be turned up to a certain point...usually at least half the way up but it depends on the amp..and the player has to control the input signal through pick attack and guitar controls.....as G. Kuykendall does there...and as The Rev. Billy G has always done. This yields a very 'hot' clean signal....and a thicker, compressed overdrive. IF the amp is too loud, then one needs a smaller amp, ime. I wish GK had mentioned or showed the control settings on that amp. I am going to think that the volume is just a bit over halfway...6-8 out of 10. FWIW, I have a '52 Pro sitting here that would amaze you in how it does something similar....just a guitar and a cord. don't touch anything but strings and go from the scream to the clean with pick attack change.....change things in the middle of a phrase or note...as GK does right around that 3 minute mark.
OR.....go for preamp gain through pedals or through the pushed preamp tubes and lower master volume settings...if an MV is there. Ken Fischer didn't really believe in master volumes. He thought that tube amps' gain stages should all hit the overdrive point simultaneously....and a MV defeats that philosophy...unless it is turned all of the way up, right?
Glen K. puts on a clinic of guitar output control and the amp's interaction, doesn' t he. The man hits a lick or two...

Now, I gotta go get back on that bus one mo time......

This is true the TW is based on the BF Bassman circuit. My tech had recently built a clone of an TW Express a few years ago. I had my '66 Bassman in for service and he explained to me that the Express is "basically" the same circuit with some tweaks. I was really impressed when I played his clone. When I cam back to pick up my Bassman he told me he "threw in" the TW Circuit in the Bass channel.

Subsequently over a few months he did a number of tweaks to the amp to get it really close to the TW circuit. He also installed a VVR so we could lower the voltage to 6V6's tubes in place of the 6L6's. Here is a clip of the amp with the 6V6 tubes. Guitar straight into the amp through two Celestion Classic Lead 80's.
http://chrisdelis.com/music/GTR%20samples/bass_wreck.mp3

It's a cool amp and probably a bit more flexible than an actual Wreck in that you have the pretty much stock BF Normal Channel and the hot rodded Wreck Channel. It's a great studio amp but I do use it live as well but usually running the normal channel with pedals.

 

[TDPRI]

We removed the original post in this thread as it pertained to a video of an actual train wrecking a semi-truck.

 

[TDPRI]

Here is a clip of the amp with the 6V6 tubes. Guitar straight into the amp through two Celestion Classic Lead 80's.
http://chrisdelis.com/music/GTR%20samples/bass_wreck.mp3

Chris... that's a BF Fender Bassman? Wow, who knew they could sound like that. Color me amazed.

 

[Wally]

FWIW and ime, the AB165 Bassman circuit and the later Bassman amps that are based on that circuit are some hot guitar amps...in stock form. IMe, they do something that no other BF/SF amp does.

 

[Wally]

Did I just hear the price for BF AB165 Bassman amps go up??? I was looking last week....$850 and up asking prices. I thought..hmm... that is higher than I thought it would be. A few mods and you are there. What's a real Trainwreck Express bring these days.....$20-30K????
And....Pro Sonics won't bring that much. I like AB165's, and I have played through a clone of the express....but the Pro Sonic whips them both for versatility....and maybe for basic heat, too. Like I have said...I consider the Pro Sonic to be the most undervalued amp on the market.
Now, if I could play like Glen K. perhaps I could convince people, right? (;^) I'll work on that!!!

 

[muchxs]

Did I just hear the price for BF AB165 Bassman amps go up???

Dumble's favorite mod platform was the pre- '68 non- reverb Bandmaster. Those are still the red headed stepchild of Fender amps.

getbent's favorite Ry Cooder Dumble isn't too far removed from Dumble's modded Bandmasters.

 

[FrancoisVillon]

This is true the TW is based on the BF Bassman circuit. My tech had recently built a clone of an TW Express a few years ago. I had my '66 Bassman in for service and he explained to me that the Express is "basically" the same circuit with some tweaks. I was really impressed when I played his clone. When I cam back to pick up my Bassman he told me he "threw in" the TW Circuit in the Bass channel.

Subsequently over a few months he did a number of tweaks to the amp to get it really close to the TW circuit. He also installed a VVR so we could lower the voltage to 6V6's tubes in place of the 6L6's. Here is a clip of the amp with the 6V6 tubes. Guitar straight into the amp through two Celestion Classic Lead 80's.
http://chrisdelis.com/music/GTR%20samples/bass_wreck.mp3

I've got a stock '66 Bassman head in my living room that I'm thinking of converting into a 1x12 combo amp and having the bass channel modded on. I'm not a high gain player but, hey, some friends are trying to get me to play in a rock band with them, so why not fix up an amp to do dirty with? This sounds like a pretty good way to go.

I did not know you can use a VVR to swap tubes. Is is possible to put a VVR on, say, a Princeton Reverb that has been modded to run 6L6 power tubes so that you can power down to 6V6s?

 

[flyingbanana]

With a strat.....dang.