(reposted from rtopiaradio with edits and amplifications)
(post in progress)
chapter 1 – the origin story
1991 Norco CA – I bought a 1977 Fender Twin (ser A768591) from some guy named Viv, who lived in a geodesic dome.
Date and time unknown – my friend Jim “Flames” Brennan bought a 1977 Fender Twin (ser A769024) from somebody in the wilds of San Bernardino County CA.
Both amps were initially serviced by Smokey “The Amplifier Man” Stover. Both amps had the Pre CBS mods done. They were also completely recapped (including some caps replaced with polystyrene). Flames also opted for Smokey’s “Grunch” mod (which removed the master volume and tremolo and replaced the “intensity/speed” controls with “grind/crunch” controls) .
I’ve forgotten exactly how the “grunch” mod works on a technical level. I just remember that I wanted to keep that part of my Twin stock.
Flames used his Twin (the Flames Twin) until approx 1995 before selling it to a friend.
After nearly 30 years, a couple circuit mods and a few speaker and power tube configurations (KT88’s and currently 6550’s) it’s been my primary amp.
In 2013 I was able to buy the Flames Twin from the person he sold it to. The cabinet was already in bad shape when Flames originally bought it. The repairs that held it together for nearly 20 years didn’t survive the cross country journey (it appears most of the damage happened on on a crater infested section of I40 between Garth Brooks Blvd and OKC – that section of interstate has been improved).
chapter 2 – the reconstruction
The cabs were made from scratch by the same vendor that built my eurorack cases. Theyre solid pine with some joint enhancements (better than CBS did) to make them stronger.
