There's only one amp for that dude, same amp I'd buy if i sold mine and made an additional $1500-2000 appear: http://www.toneking.com/products/metro/index.html

The problem with that amp (besides the fact that it costs 4x what he might pay for an amp... he cheap) is that it doesn't do the one thing that he would ever want it to do, which is let him play Metallica in his bedroom. The only thing that ever remotely motivates him to play electric anymore is GRRRRRR. I was steering him towards those Jet City amps... cheap, solid, light, and pretty damned amazing soldano distortion. He doesn't want the same things we do, sadly. He wants a solid black explorer with EMG 85's in it.

P.S. Drooool. Jesus that Metropolitan looks amazing.

Yeah, anything you can power down to .5 watt and still get sticky icky Blackface tone is, well, ridiculous.

And not just a switch down to 0.5W, but a continuous rotary knob. How the fuck did they do that? Expensive magic, I guess.

I'm almost inclined to turn it over. I still toy with selling it and getting a Deluxe Reverb but I won't get near enough for my amp to meet half the cost of getting one.

I still love the clean tone on mine. I'd rather just keep it and get another guitar.

Forgot to update this, but...all went really well. Ended up directing him to a set of JJ tubes that were definitely an upgrade but not a bank buster. I watched a couple videos, read some stuff and did the biasing without a hitch--it's fairly easy on these amps if you have an electrical meter that reads DC (I do). Spoke to him last week and he is REALLY stoked about the upgrade in tone. I'm going to swing by his house in a few weeks and recheck the bias and that's pretty much that. Next patient.

Haaa ha ha awesome. You're developing an outright skill. I'd love to have my Mesa looked at... it's getting old and crackly, and the reverb tank shit the bed years ago.

Hey bloor I keep meaning to tell you about this, but I made a goof a couple of years ago on my strat wiring that I've now come to prefer, thought you might enjoy it. Was putting it back to "normal" setup with the Lil 59 in the bridge, and the texas specials in the mid and neck. So somehow (coughBeercough) I switched the leads from the mid and neck pickups on the 5-way. Bolted it together, strung it, and thought "ok yeah all's well." Sometime later I noticed that my neck pickup didn't sound right, and did the whole "ticking watch" test and figured out what happened. So now going back-to-front, I have:

Bridge
Bridge + Neck
Neck
Neck + Mid
Mid

The part I like so much is that I've traded the Bridge + Mid position that I almost literally never used for Bridge + Neck, which is very very useful. It has that telecaster like cluck between the pickups, being so far apart, and works really well distorted or clean, unlike most of the other options on that guitar. I'm remotely pondering bringing a soldering iron to BenjFest.

Aftermarket company's sell prewired harnesses now that achieve that mix. You achieved it by accident, haha.

Beer + Soldering Iron = "penicillin" grade happy accident.

I've dreamt of getting a hold of your Mesa for years, btw. I imagine it would be a 6 month+ project where I send you an invoice at the end of the month like I'm on retainer or some shit.

Billable hours: 2,247
Hourly Rate: $65.00
Total Invoice: $146,000

look guys, your stories are fine but I just want to see pictures of cool looking guitars I'm jealous you own.

(lol)

To be honest, I'm surprised there hasn't been a Squirg longform photo gallery detailing all of his guitars. It's a beast of a collection.

That's a good idea. I should start taking photos of them as I have time on weekends. Nice to have a record.

jesus fucking christ, this guy on ebay is asking over $2000 for my tele deluxe plus. His is a 99, mine a 97, his is rosewood fretboard and mine's maple. His has all 3 lace sensors, mine thank god has had the bridge swapped out for a fender broadcaster. And he has the case candy. But still, that's crack pipe pricing. I think I paid $800 or so on ebay for it in like 2001.

By the way, here's Bloor's excellent pedal rig set up:

So I plugged the mesa in for the first time in a few years and played like VH and Fugazi and such through it, and holy fuck my ass. It is every bit as amazing as I remember it being. Gain on the red channel at just 5, and it was liquidy crunchy lush clear goodness. Maaaaaaaan am I glad I never sold it. WHOOOO that amp does things other amps just can't.

I bought a Yamaha CP-70.

Hey Phil, have you ever played a Fender Bass XI?

A part of me wants to build one and play it through my guitar rig.

I have and they're fun. Do it, you can always sell it since the originals are so pricey.

Finally took a picture of some of them. Testing out my new old 79 minolta...

your tele has an extra pickup too