Jason Tong / Headfirst Amplification

Burger

Burger

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Hey guys, stoked to be offered a thread here amoungst an esteemed list of industry greats! Headfirst Amps is the main gig, but I also have a YouTube channel under the same name that focusses mainly on vintage Marshall tones, tech tips, DIY mods, lots of live chats with other amp designers and tone hounds...and the occasional promo vid on my own amps. My daughter runs our DIY supply store, you can find that over at EvolveDIY.com

Thanks for having me here!
 
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Dude! Love your youtube channel, we have similar taste in guitar tones. :beer

I really enjoyed your video on the Bogner Ecstasy 101B from a year or so ago.
I'm curious to know if you've ever played the 20th Anniversary version of the Ecstasy and if so, how does it compare to the 101B? From what I can gather online people say that it's mostly changes in the voicing of channels 2 and 3, but is it really a meaningful difference?

The closest I can get to either amp right now is via the Axe-FX III, where the 20th Anniversary version is modelled but the 101B is not. :whistle
 
hemmelight said:
Dude! Love your youtube channel, we have similar taste in guitar tones. :beer

I really enjoyed your video on the Bogner Ecstasy 101B from a year or so ago.
I'm curious to know if you've ever played the 20th Anniversary version of the Ecstasy and if so, how does it compare to the 101B? From what I can gather online people say that it's mostly changes in the voicing of channels 2 and 3, but is it really a meaningful difference?

The closest I can get to either amp right now is via the Axe-FX III, where the 20th Anniversary version is modelled but the 101B is not. :whistle
Click to expand...

Yeah I have, but honestly I can't recall the difference as I never A/B'd them side by side. I think the Ecstasy was way ahead of it's time, it's construction method and feature set rival any modern day amp. I do however find them all a bit too dark - one factor being the use of an audio taper treble pot.
 
Ha, well perhaps...all you need to do is to set that pot up to 8 or 9 of 10 and there you go, hello top end....but as we know many just set the EQ at noon, or close to, as OCD gets in the way...
 
James Freeman said:
Great to have you here!

What's your take on higher (and lower) heater voltage above/below 6.3vAC, and its effect on tone and longevity of the tube?
@santiall chime in too.
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Don’t run them higher than 6.3vac, maybe a little with normal tolerances but never deliberately.

Lower than 6.3vac, down to say 5vac is part of the brown sound and if you’re chasing THAT tone you gotta have it. I have not seen any empirical evidence that proves tube life is shortened with a reduced heater voltage.
 
Burger said:
It's actually called a Tong Burger...
Click to expand...

Do you have to eat with these or something?

Sunglasses Nadia GIF by Redbrick
 
Hey Jason, check out this Jubilee profile
from Eddy.
DAYUM!!
-he’s onto something here.
Those Kemper’s don’t look so strange anymore..


 
@Burger, what were some of your biggest challenges learning how to work on amps? Going back to the early days before you had much experience. And I suppose a follow up would be, is there an order you would have learned things differently that you think would be beneficial to you now?
 
Burger said:
Don’t run them higher than 6.3vac, maybe a little with normal tolerances but never deliberately.

Lower than 6.3vac, down to say 5vac is part of the brown sound and if you’re chasing THAT tone you gotta have it. I have not seen any empirical evidence that proves tube life is shortened with a reduced heater voltage.
Click to expand...
I read this with your accent. Haha

Welcome!
 
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