Thomas Vox SS Royal Guardsman - repair shop near Baltimore?

[Jot]

I also forgot to mention that the trem still works like a dream and sounds like The Beatles' "Flying".



I answered your PM, but about the cab, what would you do about the horn? Is that a decent part of the tone equation?

I had dreamed of marrying the Defiant/Conquerer distortion preamp channel to the 7120 power amp section (or something similar) because I think the all guitar amps sound better without the ss ice pick top end from ss power amp.

If I were to sell any of the amps I currently own, the mid-'60s AC-50 and various other tube heads would go long before the solid-state Royal Guardsman and Buckingham amps. All the tone I ever desired.

[cthulhu]

If I were to sell any of the amps I currently own, the mid-'60s AC-50 and various other tube heads would go long before the solid-state Royal Guardsman and Buckingham amps. All the tone I ever desired.

Okay, lets not get crazy now.

[Jot]

Okay, lets not get crazy now.

I understand your skepticism, but there are other people out there who apparently feel the same way. See post #6 in this Talkbass forum thread:

Acoustic 150 or Vox Royal Guardsman Questions - TalkBass Forums

[R.G.]

... I think the all guitar amps sound better without the ss ice pick top end from ss power amp.

Solid state amps are very, very good at putting out exactly what they're told to. Tube amps often spray a thin, buttery gloss of "feel good" over what they're given before putting out on the speaker. Don't want ice pick top end from an SS amp? Don't give it the treble to sharpen. Or neuter its top end with a resistor and capacitor right up front of the power amp.

This is not to say that a poorly designed SS amp can't have obnoxious distortion products that sound nasty. Bad design is with us always. And it may be that all the SS amps you've listened to had issues; the early ones often did.

But it's not inherent in the technology.

I think I mentioned removing the horn from the speaker cab of a Guardsman or Beatle. These horns put out way too much and too sharp high end for the resulting sound to be what listeners expect to hear from a guitar amp. It improves the sound of Thomas Vox cabs a lot.

I think of this as not playing with sharp things unless you're careful.