| More from the Seminar • See photos of the class • Watch a video of the class, including the amps being fired up • Take a tour of Specimen's gallery • See Specimen's projects in progress |
I suspect it’s not just the tones produced by veteran amp designs that creates the draw. There are plenty of emulations out there that come already built and ready to plug in, from the closest vintage spec to models with the most modern updates and refinements—and plenty of actual vintage amps, too, for those looking for nothing but the real thing. The fact is, the number opportunities for instruction in building these classics has increased in recent years, and attracted greater and greater interest among players and gear enthusiasts of almost every stripe. That alone seems to testify to a growing thirst not just for the tones, but for the concepts behind the tones, for the know-how, and perhaps most importantly, the kind of simple “hands on” experience that has become a rare commodity in the age of disposable, mass-produced consumer products.
PG’s editorial director, Joe Coffey, attended a similar class offered by Bruce Egnater last year, and reported on a great, rewarding experience—and he brought back a great-sounding amp, too—so I decided to take the opportunity to try out a class for myself.
The Chicago School of Guitar Making
The Specimen Guitar Shop, owned and operated by Ian and Nadine Schneller, is the home of both Specimen Products and the Chicago School of Guitar Making, which offers both weekly and weekend seminars in several guitar-related subjects, including tube amplifier building. Since Chicago is a comfortable driving distance for me, and a city I know well, it made sense for me to look there. I’d already visited Specimen’s website more times than I can remember to gawk at luthier Schneller’s whimsical musical inventions. I figured it would be just the place for me to spend a long weekend, so I signed up for the seminar running April 17–19.
Walking into the shop for the first time, I knew I’d made the right choice. More than a luthiery and a repair facility, the Specimen shop is also a gallery and an artist’s studio, a place where creativity and lighthearted inventiveness fit comfortably in among the workaday tools of the guitarmaker’s craft. Unusual instruments and other strange fruits of the imagination were as plentiful as the ordinary materials that went into making them.
All the courses are taught by Schneller, assisted by Jim Elkington, who’s been with Specimen for ten years. The school offers an ample selection of kits—all provided by Mojo Music—in a variety of flavors from the small Fender- and Marshall-type circuits to big, 100-watters. I settled on building a Tweed Deluxe model, a replica of the original design with the small addition of an artificial center tap on the filaments (to reduce hum and safeguard the power transformer) as well as an upgrade to a 3-prong AC plug. I didn’t already own an amp of that type and thought it would be cool to have one around the PG offices. It's a small, portable amp that promised to be a simple enough build that I’d be able to spend some time during the seminar doing my regular job—taking photographs, shooting video for PG, and talking with the other students.
And, while I’m not exactly a newcomer to the world of electronics, or the smell of solder fumes, I’d never built an amp from the ground up, and it had been a while since I spent any serious time at a bench hunched over a set of shematics. I wasn’t looking for the biggest challenge I could find. Fortunately, Specimen’s classes are geared toward students with a range of background experience, from curious beginners to more advanced solder jockeys. The building takes place under the watchful eyes and advice of Schneller and Elkington, and seminar participants frequently help each other out with suggestions, troubleshooting, or just an extra pair of hands. The mood throughout the weekend was one of collaboration and teamwork.
Specimen can accommodate up to eight students per class, and the seminar I took part in had a full contingent. Many were from the Chicago area, but a few had come from as far away as New York and Atlanta. One member of the seminar was building a Tweed Champ kit, and two others had chosen a Marshall-style 18-watt model. The rest were building the Tweed Deluxe model, so I was in good company. Specimen provides an individual workbench for each student and all the tools necessary to do the job (but you’re welcome to bring your own if you like).
Ready, Set, Build
After introductions the first morning, Schneller began right away to describe the goals of the course and the various stages of the building process: installing the hardware on the chassis, loading components onto the eyelet boards, and the many factors involved in assembly and point-to-point wiring. There were plenty of questions and answers as we spent some time going over the functions and values of the components, capacitor types, resistor color codes, and the like. Schneller also explained section by section the virtues of the early Fender amp designs, and the reasons for their great durability, a quality that makes them the perfect foundation for the kind of course he aims to teach.
From there, each student found a workstation and began the build; each of us worked alone at his own pace, as Schneller and Elkington made the rounds to check on progress, point out details, and make recommendations. Throughout the course, both explained and demonstrated the effects of playing with coupling capacitor values, negative feedback and bypass capacitor values, elements that have a large role in shaping the tone of the amp. As the members of the class began to reach each new stage in the process, we’d gather around one particular amp for a demonstration of the next set of tasks. Schneller used this routine to emphasize one of the core principles of the amp-building course: the importance of lead dress in construction. He discussed many different methods of wiring, and the problems to watch out for in the construction, along with topics such as parasitic oscillation and RF interference. Schneller’s own Specimen amplifiers are inspired by the same philosophy of simplicity and build quality. “You could say I’m fanatical about overbuilding,” he remarks, “and I want the amps I build to be used for generations.”
The course’s loyalty to minimal vintage designs is about more than just the kind of simplicity that attracts beginners, though. Schneller explains that using faithful original designs does allow him to introduce students to the topology and internal structure of the build in relatively short order. But a major goal of the seminar, he says, “is to get students to a fundamental understanding in order to to put them in position for beginning to experiment with modifications and adding modern elements into the designs.” Too much flexibility can be distracting, and the simplicity of these time-tested circuits also makes it easy to show how important the quality of construction is in the tone of a handwired tube amp.
“Almost any circuit will sound great, if it’s well constructed,” Schneller says. “That’s more important than whether or not you use the most expensive components.” The lesson was driven home, as predicted, when the completed Deluxes made their way, one by one, to the test bench to be fired up for the first time. Despite sharing all the same components, each amplifier sounded slightly different—which is not to say dramatically better or worse than the others, but distinctive enough to underscore the principle that the addition of human hands and human skill into the construction process plays a key role in the final outcome.
Having learned that lesson from a good instructor who’s eager to share his understanding and experience (and who also appears reluctant to play the role of the dogmatic guru), I am eagerly looking forward to my next build opportunity. Whether it’s another Specimen seminar or something else, I can’t say—but as we joked around on the last day of the class about Fender’s “friday-afternoon” amps, and imagined ourselves to be very much like the groups of women working in Leo’s factory fifty years ago, trading wisecracks and gossip while we put the finishing touches on amplifiers very much like the ones they made, the rewards of building something with my own two hands came back into sharp focus. It was the prospect of returning to work in front of computer that began to seem like the real irony.
For more information on the Chicago School of Guitar Making and the Tube Amp Building Seminar, visit the Specimen website: specimenproducts.com
Click "next" or one of the thumbnails below for a gallery of photos from the seminar.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
The Specimen test bench, surrounded by instruments and amplifiers in for repairs.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
These Specimen horns, powered by an EL34 hi-fi stereo amplifier connected to an iPod, provided great music for all three days of the weekend seminar. The amplifier is Schneller’s own version of a design by Joseph Esmilla (posted on the Angela Instruments website), and Specimen now offers classes in building it.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Seminar student Justin Deverell of Chicago installing the tube sockets on his chassis. Unlike me, Justin was careful and did this correctly the first time.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Seminar student Dixon James of Decatur, GA loading components onto the motherboard.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Seminar student Lou Femenella of Brooklyn, NY, studies the schematic as he prepares to solder components to the motherboard.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ian Schneller assisting seminar student Brendan Casey of Chicago with his Marshall-style 18-watt amp.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Seminar student Gene Magee of Chicago preparing leads for the center tap.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ian Schneller giving seminar students Adrian Novik and Brendan Casey, both of Chicago, some pointers on their Marshall-style 18-watt amps.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ian Schneller firing up student Mike Dunn’s Tweed Champ model on the test bench. (Click here to see a video of Mike demonstrating the amp and the mods he added)
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ian Schneller and Jim Elkington giving my amplifier a thorough check before firing it up for the first time. They discovered that I had, in an early moment of inattentiveness, installed the rectifier tube socket backwards—Doh! It took me a few minutes to rewire it, and it was back on the bench, where it roared to life.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Ian Schneller troubleshooting an Orange amp that came into the Specimen shop for repair. Several non-Specimen specimens like this one served as touchpoints for learning throughout the weekend.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
My completed Tweed Deluxe replica, ready to be installed in its cabinet.
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
This is my amp, ready to go. It sounds great (if I do say so myself).
| | | | | | |
| | | | | |
Hotone Wong Press
Cory Wong Signature Volume/Wah/Expression Pedal
Renowned international funk guitar maestro and 63rd Grammy nominee Cory Wong is celebrated for his unique playing style and unmistakable crisp tone. Known for his expressive technique, he’s been acclaimed across the globe by all audiences for his unique blend of energy and soul. In 2022, Cory discovered the multi-functional Soul Press II pedal from Hotone and instantly fell in love. Since then, it has become his go-to pedal for live performances.
Now, two years later, the Hotone team has meticulously crafted the Wong Press, a pedal tailored specifically for Cory Wong. Building on the multi-functional design philosophy of the Soul Press series, this new pedal includes Cory’s custom requests: a signature blue and white color scheme, a customized volume pedal curve, an adjustable wah Q value range, and travel lights that indicate both pedal position and working mode.
Cory’s near-perfect pursuit of tone and pedal feel presented a significant challenge for our development team. After countless adjustments to the Q value range, Hotone engineers achieved the precise WAH tone Cory desired while minimizing the risk of accidental Q value changes affecting the sound. Additionally, based on Cory’s feedback, the volume control was fine-tuned for a smoother, more musical transition, enhancing the overall feel of volume swells. The team also upgraded the iconic travel lights of the Soul Press II to dual-color travel lights—blue for Wah mode and green for Volume mode—making live performances more intuitive and visually striking!
In line with the Hotone Design Inspiration philosophy, the Wong Press represents the perfect blend of design and inspiration. Now, musicians can channel their inner Cory Wong and enjoy the freedom and joy of playing with the Wong Press!
For the first time in the band’s history, the Dawes lineup for Oh Brother consisted of just Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith (left and right).
Goldsmith’s lyrics spoke to me the loudest, with lines like “Well, you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks / Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it’s starin’ right back” (a casual Nietzsche paraphrase); and “Oh, the snowfall this time of year / It’s not what Birmingham is used to / I get the feeling that I brought it here / And now I’m taking it away.” The way his words painted a portrait of the sincere, sentimental man behind them, along with his cozy, unassuming guitar work and the band’s four-part harmonies, had me hooked.
Nothing Is Wrong and Stories Don’t End came next, and I happily gobbled up more folksy fodder in tracks like “If I Wanted,” “Most People,” and “From a Window Seat.” But 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albumschart, didn’t land with me, and by the time 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die was released, it was clear that Goldsmith had shifted thematically in his writing. A friend drew a thoughtful Warren Zevon comparison to the single, “When the Tequila Runs Out”—a commentary on vapid, conceited, American-socialite party culture—but it still didn’t really do it for me. I fell off the Dawes train a bit, and became somewhat oblivious to their three full-lengths that followed.
Oh Brotheris Goldsmith’s latest addition to the Dawes songbook, and I’m grateful to say that it’s brought me back. After having done some catching up, I’d posit that it’s the second work in the third act, or fall season, of his songwriting—where 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscrollercracked open the door, Oh Brother swings it wide. And it doesn’t have much more than Dawes’ meat and potatoes, per se, in common with acts one or two. Some moodiness has stayed—as well as societal disgruntlement and the arrangement elements that first had me intoxicated. But then there’s the 7/4 section in the middle of “Front Row Seat”; the gently unwinding, quiet, intimate jazz-club feel of “Surprise!”; the experimentally percussive, soft-spoken “Enough Already”; and the unexpected, dare I say, Danny Elfman-esque harmonic twists and turns in the closing track, “Hilarity Ensues.”
The main engine behind Dawes, the Goldsmith brothers are both native “Angelinos,” having been born and raised in the L.A. area. Taylor is still proud to call the city his home.
Photo by Jon Chu
“I have this working hypothesis that who you are as a songwriter through the years is pretty close to who you are in a dinner conversation,” Goldsmith tells me in an interview, as I ask him about that thematic shift. “When I was 23, if I was invited to dinner with grownups [laughs], or just friends or whatever, and they say, ‘How you doin’, Taylor?’ I probably wouldn’t think twice to be like, ‘I’m not that good. There’s this girl, and … I don’t know where things are at—can I share this with you? Is that okay?’ I would just go in in a way that’s fairly indiscreet! And I’m grateful to that version of me, especially as a writer, because that’s what I wanted to hear, so that’s what I was making at the time.
“But then as I got older, it became, ‘Oh, maybe that’s not an appropriate way to answer the question of how I’m doing.’ Or, ‘Maybe I’ve spent enough years thinking about me! What does it feel like to turn the lens around?’” he continues, naming Elvis Costello and Paul Simon as inspirations along the way through that self-evolution. “Also, trying to be mindful of—I had strengths then that I don’t have now, but I have strengths now that I didn’t have then. And now it’s time to celebrate those. Even in just a physical way, like hearing Frank Zappa talking about how his agility as a guitar player was waning as he got older. It’s like, that just means that you showcase different aspects of your skills.
“I am a changing person. It would be weird if I was still writing the same way I was when I was 23. There would probably be some weird implications there as to who I’d be becoming as a human [laughs].”
Taylor Goldsmith considers Oh Brother, the ninth full-length in Dawes’ catalog, to be the beginning of a new phase of Dawes, containing some of his most unfiltered, unedited songwriting.
Since its inception, the engine behind Dawes has been the brothers Goldsmith, with Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums and sometimes vocal harmonies. But they’ve always had consistent backup. For the first several years, that was Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards. On We’re All Gonna Die, Lee Pardini replaced Strathairn and has been with the band since. Oh Brother, however, marks the departure of Gelber and Pardini.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is an intense time; this is a vulnerable time,’” remarks Goldsmith, who says that their parting was supportive and loving, but still rocked him and Griffin. “You get a glimpse of your vulnerability in a way that you haven’t felt in a long time when things are just up and running. For a second there, we’re like, ‘We’re getting a little rattled—how do we survive this?’”
They decided to pair up with producer Mike Viola, a close family friend, who has also worked with Mandy Moore—Taylor’s spouse—along with Panic! At the Disco, Andrew Bird, and Jenny Lewis. “[We knew that] he understands all of the parameters of that raw state. And, you know, I always show Mike my songs, so he was aware of what we had cookin’,” says Goldsmith.
Griffin stayed behind the kit, but Taylor took over on bass and keys, the latter of which he has more experience with than he’s displayed on past releases. “We’ve made records where it’s very tempting to appeal to your strengths, where it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this, I’m just gonna nail it,’” he says. “Then there’s records that we make where we really push ourselves into territories where we aren’t comfortable. That contributed to [Misadventures of Doomscroller] feeling like a living, breathing thing—very reactive, very urgent, very aware. We were paying very close attention. And I would say the same goes for this.”
That new terrain, says Goldsmith, “forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do. I’m really excited in that sense, because it’s like this is the first album of a new phase.”
“That forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do.”
In proper folk (or even folk-rock) tradition, the music of Dawes isn’t exactly riddled with guitar solos, but that’s not to say that Goldsmith doesn’t show off his chops when the timing is right. Just listen to the languid, fluent lick on “Surprise!”, the shamelessly prog-inspired riff in the bridge of “Front Row Seat,” and the tactful, articulate line that threads through “Enough Already.” Goldsmith has a strong, individual sense of phrasing, where his improvised melodies can be just as biting as his catalog’s occasional lyrical jabs at presumably toxic ex-girlfriends, and just as melancholy as his self-reflective metaphors, all the while without drawing too much attention to himself over the song.
Of course, most of our conversation revolves around songwriting, as that’s the craft that’s the truest and closest to his identity. “There’s an openness, a goofiness—I even struggle to say it now, but—an earnestness that goes along with who I am, not only as a writer but as a person,” Goldsmith elaborates. “And I think it’s important that those two things reflect one another. ’Cause when you meet someone and they don’t, I get a little bit weirded out, like, ‘What have I been listening to? Are you lying to me?’” he says with a smile.
Taylor Goldsmith's Gear
Pictured here performing live in 2014, Taylor Goldsmith has been the primary songwriter for all of Dawes' records, beginning with 2009’s North Hills.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Gibson ES-345
- Radocaster (made by Wylie Gelber)
Amps
- ’64 Fender Deluxe
- Matchless Laurel Canyon
Effects
- 29 Pedals EUNA
- Jackson Audio Bloom
- Ibanez Tube Screamer with Keeley mod
- Vintage Boss Chorus
- Vintage Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
Strings
- Ernie Ball .010s
In Goldsmith’s songwriting process, he explains that he’s learned to lean away from the inclination towards perfectionism. Paraphrasing something he heard Father John Misty share about Leonard Cohen, he says, “People think you’re cultivating these songs, or, ‘I wouldn’t deign to write something that’s beneath me,’ but the reality is, ‘I’m a rat, and I’ll take whatever I can possibly get, and then I’ll just try to get the best of it.’
“Ever since Misadventures of Doomscroller,” he adds, “I’ve enjoyed this quality of, rather than try to be a minimalist, I want to be a maximalist. I want to see how much a song can handle.” For the songs on Oh Brother, that meant that he decided to continue adding “more observations within the universe” of “Surprise!”, ultimately writing six verses. A similar approach to “King of the Never-Wills,” a ballad about a character suffering from alcoholism, resulted in four verses.
“The economy of songwriting that we’re all taught would buck that,” says Goldsmith. “It would insist that I only keep the very best and shed something that isn’t as good. But I’m not going to think economically. I’m not going to think, ‘Is this self-indulgent?’
Goldsmith’s songwriting has shifted thematically over the years, from more personal, introspective expression to more social commentary and, at times, even satire, in songs like We’re All Gonna Die’s “When the Tequila Runs Out.”
Photo by Mike White
“I don’t abide that term being applied to music. Because if there’s a concern about self-indulgence, then you’d have to dismiss all of jazz. All of it. You’d have to dismiss so many of my most favorite songs. Because in a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.” (He elaborates that, if Bob Dylan had trimmed back any of the verses on “Desolation Row,” it would have deprived him of the unique experience it creates for him when he listens to it.)
One of the joys of speaking with Goldsmith is just listening to his thought processes. When I ask him a question, he seems compelled to share every backstory to every detail that’s going through his head, in an effort to both do his insights justice and to generously provide me with the most complete answer. That makes him a bit verbose, but not in a bad way, because he never rambles. There is an endpoint to his thoughts. When he’s done, however, it takes me a second to realize that it’s then my turn to speak.
To his point on artistic self-indulgence, I offer that there’s no need for artists to feel “icky” about self-promotion—that to promote your art is to celebrate it, and to create a shared experience with your audience.
“I hear what you’re saying loud and clear; I couldn’t agree more,” Goldsmith replies. “But I also try to be mindful of this when I’m writing, like if I’m going to drag you through the mud of, ‘She left today, she’s not coming back, I’m a piece of shit, what’s wrong with me, the end’.... That might be relatable, that might evoke a response, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily helpful … other than dragging someone else through the shit with me.
“In a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.”
“So, if I’m going to share, I want there to be something to offer, something that feels like: ‘Here’s a path that’s helped me through this, or here’s an observation that has changed how I see this particular experience.’ It’s so hard to delineate between the two, but I feel like there is a difference.”
Naming the opening track “Mister Los Angeles,” “King of the Never-Wills,” and even the title track to his 2015 chart-topper, “All Your Favorite Bands,” he remarks, “I wouldn’t call these songs ‘cool.’ Like, when I hear what cool music is, I wouldn’t put those songs next to them [laughs]. But maybe this record was my strongest dose of just letting me be me, and recognizing what that essence is rather than trying to force out certain aspects of who I am, and force in certain aspects of what I’m not. I think a big part of writing these songs was just self-acceptance,” he concludes, laughing, “and just a whole lot of fishing.”
YouTube It
Led by Goldsmith, Dawes infuses more rock power into their folk sound live at the Los Angeles Ace Hotel in 2023.
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
