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To Wreck or to Rock?
Amp DIY

To Wreck or to Rock?

How to know when a vintage amp is worth rescuing.

How to Buy a Used Amp
Gear

How to Buy a Used Amp

Tim Schroeder—amp builder for Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline—offers seven tips for avoiding the post-purchase blues.

8 Guitar-Amp Mods for Newbies
Gear

8 Guitar-Amp Mods for Newbies

Removing or replacing a single component in your amp can have significant impacts on both its tonal character and the amount of gain or headroom on tap. Here we guide you through several easy projects you can do in relatively little time with a few basic tools.

Why and How to Replace Your Amplifier’s Output Transformer
Gear

Why and How to Replace Your Amplifier’s Output Transformer

The output transformer plays a very large role, but is not everything in shaping an amp’s tone. Upgrading it takes what the amp already is, and then enhances it.

Sprucing Up Your Amp For Touring

Sprucing Up Your Amp For Touring

Jeff Tweedy''s Fender Princeton is on the bench for a summer tuneup.

Tube Amp Buying Basics
Gear

Tube Amp Buying Basics

Tube amps sound their best when pushed to some degree—and while playing a 100-watt Marshall half stack at home might look cool—the amp won’t get to shine if you are limited to keeping the volume level at one.

Adventures in Amplification: Lineage of a Dumble Overdrive Special
Gear

Adventures in Amplification: Lineage of a Dumble Overdrive Special

Peek under the hood of a Dumble Overdrive Special with a unique configuration, and listen to sound clips!

Adventures in Amplification: Don’t Overlook the Cables
Gear

Adventures in Amplification: Don’t Overlook the Cables

Cables, whether used for power, for linking pedals, connecting amplifier to speaker, or in the internal connections of an amplifier, offer different tonal qualities that will enhance, decrease, or be transparent to your tone