Tonewoods are definitely more important for acoustic guitars--you can route a pickup into anything and make it a guitar.

I'm playing it out of this little guy, which is loud enough to play with my drummer, but can still have distortion at a volume I can play in my house. I can't say enough good things about the amp.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Vox-Valvetronix-VT15-15W-1x8-Guitar-Combo-Amp-483551-i1969466.gc

It makes a difference, but it's a very small difference. Like maybe 8 or 10% between, say, solid plastic and the nicest swamp ash yada yada. That is, you could bolt a neck and a good pickup onto your computer desk top and it would sound like a 60% Awesome guitar, whereas that same neck and pickup on a solid ash/alder/maple/mahogany body might be a 70%'er. Pine is soft and light. It should dent easily, though the harder finishes might help with that. Probably feels great on a strap, as opposed to a les paul at like 9 pounds.

Good for you, man. I am jealous. Love my 3-pickup tele.

Just finished during my sick day:

- Cut 11-ply plywood to fit front baffle of Project Amp
- Cut 11" hole in center for 12" speaker
- Painted baffle black
- Pre-drilled holes
- Covered baffle in 50's Marshall Salt-N-Peppa grill cloth
- Mounted Weber Silver Bell 12"
- Wedged baffle / speaker back into amp, bolted down


Except for the front plate decorations, this shit is READY. And holy fuck does it sound better than with the 10's. that was a rare good call on my part. HUGE difference, perfect speaker, home run. It has bass now. I could gig with it now as-is... I know what the knobs do even if nobody else does. Man, this thing sounds so good. Pics to come.

Ever consider using a 15"?

Yes but it wouldn't fit. The 12 is great, I think it's just right. The extra wattage headroom (50W @ 8 ohms for a 15 watt head) means it stays clearer and cleaner at louder volumes. Now it has a nice little chug to it when you turn the bass up and palm mute some chords.

What do I do with the two 10" speakers I pulled out of the fender? Anybody want them?

I wonder what they would sound like in your old Eden 210 cab but hooked up to the Black Pearl?

If I had a kickass shop in a separate building off my driveway, and a hankering for some fine-ass guitar tone, I would probably do the following:

1. Get some good quality birch ply
2. Say "hey squirg - send me those ten's"
3. Place an order for a Ceriatone 18W Plexi TMB - aluminum head kit version for $640 that comes as a working chassis with tubes and faceplates to be specific - (demo) ...which makes the most wonderful 70's marshall crunch sounds all by itself, to say nothing of what it sould sound like with a boost pedal tipping it over the cliff
4. Build a sealed 2x10 cabinet to get a nice tight punchy sound without losing all the low end
5. Install the 18W Plexi into the top of the cab, making it a combo, remembering to seal off the speaker portion and then ventilate the head portion so it don't fry
6. Buy some nice cab hardware, like metal corners and 3 straps for the top and sides, hell maybe even some tilt-back legs
7. Dye the birch ply some cool clear color
8. Rock that fucker


But I don't have a shop.

And I don't have an extra $640 laying around. And if I did, I'd buy a guitar with two humbuckers. I'm totally happy with my guitar tone.

I see what you're trying to do there though.

Ever since buying this thing I've been thinking about tone a lot. I've always loved electric guitars, I just never owned a good one and never thought about them. About a decade ago I bought a really wonderful Martin D17 and that was all I needed to get by.

Now I have two best friends.

I know it's pricey but it's SO worth it.

Though you do need more guitars.

So that amp project... only thing pissing me off right now is that I couldn't pull the grill cloth tight enough. I need a fence puller. Whatever, it looks fine, just a tiny tiny bit poofy if you look close.

The old baffle in front of the new sheet of plywood.


Using a level as a straight edge guide for the circ saw.


11" diameter hole marked up the old fashioned way.


And cut out. Started with a rotozip, immediately broke my last bit, finished with a jigsaw.


Quick shot of flat black on both sides to keep it quiet back there behind the grill cloth.


Empty shell.


Breaking into the roll of (expensive) grill cloth.


Cloth stapled to the best of my ability. It was REALLY fucking stiff stuff, wouldn't bend down around the edges.


Speaker installed.


With the extra cloth, now it was a REALLY tight fit. Had to use the clamps to get it in.


Done from the front (minus the face plate, and the awesome plastic Weber Speakers front logo they sent, which will get screwed onto the front baffle.


Done from the back.

YES.

Job well done on the amp project, BTW.

This really just whetted my appetite to do more. Like, to make a mini amp out of one of those tens. A sealed box, a single ten in it, and then a separate matching tiny head cabinet with something cool in it... I have enough grill cloth left for that.

Make two mini leslie extension cabinets! Then sell one to me.

What's involved? Is it just a box with a ten in it?

Well, the motion sound makes a 1x10 with a rotating styrofoam drum to create the tremolo, and little lanai used to sell a kit for you to build one out of a 10.

maybe check out this link

http://www.cyrguitars.com/Leslie_Project.html

my bad, motion sound uses 12s.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-central- ... -pics.html

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/0 ... eaker.html <--- cool shit with paint cans?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY0k734p ... re=related <--- this will whet your appetite.

Man, Belle & Sebastian's "The Life Pursuit" is a fun fucking album to play along with, using a headphone amp, a les paul, and shitload of crunch. A big double IPA helps.

Sold the two 10" speakers on craigslist today, $50 for the pair. They went QUICK... apparently some people like them a lot. I wasn't ever going to get off my ass and do anything with them, and they take up room.

A buddy is paying me to retube his Fender Hot Rod Deville 4-10 which means A. I've been absolutely trying to destroy the amp since the tubes are shot/about to be replaced and B. I've been watching waaay too many videos and reading waaaay too many articles and reviews about different tubes and rebiasing these amps. Pretty fun project. (Attention Rick Derris--Your amp is next, mf'er.)

Oh this is awesome. I know you did great things for Carson's... wish it sounded that good when I had it.

That certain friend of ours who has managed to play for 20+ years and yet doesn't own a guitar amp is once again sorta maybe kinda considering an amp... I have fallen in love with this one. Jet City, which is Soldano manufactured in asia somewhere, so it's cheap. 20 watts, 1x12, that distortion sound, good clean channel too, reverb, just damned perfect for his once-every-two-month urges to play metallica, and $599 new. I would be on this like stink on shit if I didn't already have the mesa to cover that genre. Youtube has some great clips of it.

http://www.jetcityamplification.com/201 ... jca2212rc/

Busty doesn't own an amp?

No man. In h.s. he had a solid state peavey 2x12 with chorus, then after he "owned" an ADA MP2, a peavey 60/60 tube power amp, and a 4x12 of some sort. But he hasn't had that shit for ... 13 years? Meanwhile he always played through one of mine. He gigs every week now (and has done so for like 4 or 5 years I guess) but it's all acoustic. He doesn't usually need one, ever, but he's got a great 40th anniversary strat. He's got someone else's at his house now, and he said he turned it on once in like January and not once since.

And yet I STILL say he needs one.