Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 02

Photograph by Topher Lucas

RESURRECTING THIS OLD AMP

By Tom Anderson and Wendell Anderson

Vintage guitar amplifiers are available on eBay — brands like Fender, Vox, Marshall, Acoustic, and Sunn. We’ll show you how to restore one of these old amps and make it sound as good or better than the day it was made. »

Set up: p.113 Make it: p.114

TRANSISTOR AMPS DELIVER THAT OLD-SCHOOL SOUND

Musicians use vintage amplifiers for their uniquely satisfying tone. Old tube amps are expensive, but you can find solid-state models from the 1970s for less. Some audio-philes argue that transistor amps from this era have the best sound of all, because they don’t ...