Keith Williams sent this in to be made as good as possible. In this first video I go through the amp and see what works needs doing.
If you don’t know Keith and his excellent channel…
/ @fivewattworld
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These are things I get asked about a lot :
Amp Tech Gear Used :
Hakko FX-951 soldering station Weller SPG 80L soldering iron (chassis work) Rigol DS1054Z digital oscilloscope Thsinde 18B+ digital multimeters Kester 60/40 solder Techspray #4 No-Clean Desoldering Braid
Below are things that make this channel possible that people don’t usually think about. If any of these companies want to send me new and wonderful toys, I’m open to that. I can’t take free stuff when it comes to the amps I review, etc, but for the stuff below, bribe away!
Microphones/Audio Equipment :
Guitar Amps : Royer R-10 Hot Rod and/or Shure SM57 (noted in videos) Voiceover Bench : sE Audio sE8 (small diaphragm condenser) Voiceover Streaming : Shure SM57 with shockmount and windscreen Voiceover Mic Arms : Elgato Wave Mic arms Guitar Mic Stand : Gator Frameworks short weighted base stand with boom Mic Cables and Guitar Cables : Mogami/Neutrik Mic pre : MOTU M2 DAW : Logic Pro II on MacBook Pro 16 running Sonoma 14.5 Plugins : No effects other than level matching/normalization unless a recording specifically has reverb etc added in post (rare, various Waves plugins) Monitors : Yamaha HS7s Monitor Stands : Gator Frameworks Desktop Clamp-On Stands Monitor Isolation Mounts : IsoAcoustics Iso-Puck Minis Headphones : Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (main) Headphones : Sony MDR-7506 (alternate)
Video Equipment :
Camera : Sony ZVE-10 with SmallRig Cage (main) Lens : Sigma f2.8 18-50mm (main) Lens : Sony ZVE10 kit lens (rarely used) B Camera : Apple iPhone 13 Pro (rarely used) Tripod : SmallRig 71” with SmallRig Fluid Video Head Streaming Mount : Elgato Master Mount S with SmallRig Ballhead Bench Light : SmallRig RC 120D Bench Light Diffusor : SmallRig Lantern Softbox Bench C-Stands (light and overhead camera) : Neewer Pro SS Heavy Duty Streaming Light : SmallRig RC 120B Streaming Diffusor : SmallRig Parabolic Softbox Streaming Light Mount : SmallRig 148CM Wall Mount Boom with Triangle Base Various Other Lights : Neewer LED Panels with Neewer Softboxes
Video Software :
Davinci Resolve 19 Inkscape GIMP Because seriously, screw Adobe Ecamm Live (streaming software)
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I’ve owned a GA-40, GA-40T, six GA-5 and T variants (tweed, Crestline, white, and vert), a GA-25RVT, GA-20RVT, GA-35RVT, and still use my GA-80T Varitone constantly.
I have a killer early GA40T Kemper profile from Bert Melandjik that really nails that whole Jim Hall scooped archtop sound.
I heard that the Swart Atomic Jr. is an idealized skylark. Any insight into this? The Atomic Jr. is my favorite 5 watt amp by a mile.
I never approached the Atomic Jr. as a Skylark, but I think it might be very similar to the tweed GA-5, if anything.
Skylarks are Champ killers to me. I used to gig with them, believe it or not. I’d mic two in stereo and crank them all the way up.
Scooped isn’t how is describe my GA-40T. If anything, Gibson amps had more mids than any Fender analogs of the 60s. My best Gibbo amps have been the 80T and the 20RVT (1959 and 1966 respectively.)
Both are full bodied and have excellent breakup.
Ps. It’s all in how you EQ it, I guess. I liked the midrange information that it had available but I (back then before Lage) liked to slightly scoop the mids out to get that fat single note Jim Hall sound.
I don’t use an EQ pedal and most of these had bass or treble roll-offs. Few had 3 band EQs. My GA-80T has tone roll off as well as presets.
Coincidentally, Rhett Schull just did a video featuring a 65 Gibson GA-5T Skylark next to a Champ and a 76 Plexi.
I’ll check it out.!I’m not necessarily ever blown away by Rhett’s playing but he does know how to coax a decent tone out of most amps he plays through.
Before this thread, I already knew that that Gibson amps were mid heavy to work with the dark sounding Gibsons while the Fender amps are scooped to work with the bright, ice-pick Fender sound.
Honestly, though, my favorite clean sound nowadays might be a Dynasonic style pickup through a Gibson-style amp.
It’s not about the playing. It’s about the versatility of 5 watt amps next to 100 watt rock machines.
Agreed. Here’sy favorite Champ 5F1 sound I’ve ever heard. He’s basically straight into the amp here:
Thanks for sharing. I’m seriously considering building a 5 watt amp as my first build and right now, a Swart clone is at the top of my list.
Good luck. That should be fun.
What?
