KF Memorial Amp Clips

[Allynmey]

Hi All! Glen Kuykendall recorded some clips with the Ken F memorial amp shipped to him a week ago. Here are the clips and I'll let Glen give his own opinions....

http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK1.mp3
http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK2.mp3
http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK3.mp3
http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK4.mp3
http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK5.mp3
http://www.ampbuildersguild.com/clips/KENAMPbyGK6.mp3


Allyn

[Richie]

Great Clips, and Glens playing is killer as always.

[philmanatee]

Cool stuff! Great work Glen! Phil

[Distortion]

Great clips and playing.
I will be interested to hear Glen's comparisons of the tribute amp to his original Express.

[skyboltone]

Really really something else ain't it. Wow. I hope we get about a hundred pictures inside and out. Great job guys. You are to be congratulated on this noble effort. This will be auctioned when?

Dan H

[sliberty]

Thanks for putting these up Allyn.
Outstanding clip;s of some outstanding playing. Nice job Glen!

[geoffreysnow]

what happened to the build progress site following that amp?

[bnwitt]

can't download them, can't open them oh well, I'm sure they sound fine.

[geetarpicker]

Here are some details on making the clips.

First the KEN amp sounds great! Sustains great, cleans up well, and feels right. Definately the best Express "clone" I've ever played. It however is a damn bright amp. But I was able to dial it in. So, to get a sound similar to what I am use to getting with my original '89 Express I set the amp as follows:

Bright: full position
Volume: just a little over half
Treble: off (yep, off)
Middle: half
Bass: half
Presence: 1/4

Interestingly if I set the treble on my original amp off the amp turns to mud, almost as dark as the bass channel on a Marshall. My normal control settings are all on 1/2 with the volume on about 1:00, with bright on full. I tried swapping tubes from my original into the Ken amp, but the amp just sounded best left with what it came with. I biased the Ken amp to 45ma. My bet the brightness issue is in the output transformer, but who knows?

So, that said the tone is there albiet with odd knobs settings. I ran my typical two guitar cord setup (x2 Mogami 20' cords end to end) to tame the high end going in just a tad.

Hope you all like the clips!

[img:20:20]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/ ... Wlight.gif[/img] www.myspace.com/glenkuykendall[img:20:20]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/ ... Wlight.gif[/img]

[riscado]

thanks for the clips, great playing Glen as usual...

Also thanks Allyn for the build, I've seen the web page for the project and I believe I also saw a youtube clip, your memorial amp sounds and looks great.

I'd like to ask what transformers were used, I think this was on the site but it isn't active anymore and I don't seem to remember.

thanks

[UR12]

Glen
The clips sound just fantastic. I keep listening to them again and again and I keep having to pick my jaw up off of the floor. You make the amp sound like no one else I know ever could. Thanks so much for taking the time to help us out on this project.

I'd like to ask what transformers were used, I think this was on the site but it isn't active anymore and I don't seem to remember.

thanks

The trannys are Heyboers that were built to Ken's specs some time ago and had been on a shelf for a few years. They were donated by Brian Wallace. The OT is a 5.2k like Glen mentioned.

Guys
We have had a couple of technical difficulties with the ampbuildersguild website. I think the powers that be are working on getting it back up.

[riscado]

So possibly the 5.2k primary can be part of the reason for some of the added brightness...

Great amp you guys got going on there.

thanks

[UR12]

So possibly the 5.2k primary can be part of the reason for some of the added brightness...

Great amp you guys got going on there.

thanks

Possibly, but after hearing Glen's clips I doubt that we change it. That amp just sounds to good to screw with. Someone is going to get a great sounding amp when it is auctioned off.

[riscado]

yeah I agree, not to be messed with, it sounds great...

thanks

[Allynmey]

Riscado, this was a Dana build. A lot of people contributed and did work on their parts and shipped them to Dana for final assembly. He did a great job!!!

Glen those clips kick ass!!!!

The Ampbuilders Guild site is being redone and will be up soon.