Got two more visitors passing through for a bit of setup work – a rare ’70 rosewood Tele and a late 50’s Vox AC15.
Tele
The first rosewood Teles from ~’68 (like the one George Harrison made famous in The Beatles) were solid and weigh a ton. Realising their mistake, Fender soon added chambers in the body to take out weight. This one from early ’70 is therefore quite comfortable.
It plays well, though it’s not the best playing Tele I’ve come across. The neck profile is typical for the period, but because it’s rosewood it fells slightly fatter. The wood figuring on the neck is expecially lovely and of course the ‘skunk stripe’ is pale maple.
It currently has Bare Knuckle pickups dropped in and they sound fine, but I’ll be reinstalling the originals soon.
AC15
Quite big and heavy, but a great amp. Two input channels with separate volume control, one normal on for the onboard foot switchable vibrato and them, and a master tone.
With an A/B switch, you could set this amp up for rhythm and lead with fx. Incredible facilities for an amp that’s almost 60 years old.
And the sound! Clean and transparent until it breaks up,when it goes soooo smooth. And it loves pedals – a Klon Centaur or Rockett Archer just extends the smooth drive, whereas a nastier pedal add more hair and bite. The speaker is a Goodmans Audiom.
Set with vibrato and breakup, this is the perfect amp for the solo from ‘Old Brown Shoe’. I’ll be taking a lot more interest in old Vox amps from now on…