Samamp VAC 40

[kirkham13]

Ordered one of these tonight from Wes at Rebel Guitar. Sam does his cabs through Mojotone, and so I was able to piece together whatever tolex, speaker grillcloth, handle and nobs at no extra charge, (which is good because the amp was not cheap). Looks like its going to be a fawn Vox grey with white cane grill, white nobs over black panel. I can see myself changing those specs a few times at the last minute though.. should be a killer one-off.

[Briggs]

Congrats! you'll love it. Post some pics when you get it. Sam's a great guy and makes some great amps here in B'ham.

[kirkham13]

Thanks. So, as I had guessed, I changed my specs. The amp will now be Carolina Blue with silver blue fender cloth.. below is a pic for inspiration.
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=tolex+carolina+blue&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1440&bih=754&tbm=isch&tbnid=3DgbEN3wPbcmbM:&imgrefurl=http://surfguitar101.com/forums/post/223688/&docid=Ki6bXbVqCEUNXM&imgurl=http://gomezamps.com/BlueTahitianReverb_ProfileCrop.jpg&w=750&h=438&ei=1JhGT977D5GK0QGKgqmCDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=465&vpy=157&dur=1168&hovh=171&hovw=294&tx=147&ty=100&sig=102025643463867792011&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=184&start=0&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

[tom]

i've got sam's little vac25 and it's a pretty great little amp. he's a great guy too.

[kirkham13]

Should be here tomorrow! :)
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/amp.jpg

[Briggs]

NICE! we expect a full review by the weekend. Love the carolina blue too btw.

[kirkham13]

Amplifier has arrived in great shape. Plugging it in and playing is very rewarding, especially with new vintage Fralins, especially in the middle and bridge. The neck pickup is lame IMO and I will swap for a blues pickup. I don't have much to compare the amp to, nor do I have a recording device, so hopefully I can add more useful feedback at a later date.

[Briggs]

That's odd about the knobs, I'll bet if you tell Sam he'll send you replacements.

[kirkham13]

Yea, I'm not worried at all. I am still going through knobs trying to find a good replacement with a more heavy duty metal shaft. Also, it does appear that the pots are all 1/4inch heavy duty, I think I misspoke earlier. The amp is going really well. Getting into the distortion, very smooth, no pedals yet. I will add some more pics and a final review soon, and paste it over to the GP. :)

[kirkham13]

Couple pics of my beauty.. ;) video review to follow.
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/newpicsmay049.jpg
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/newpicsmay050.jpg
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/newpicsmay051.jpg
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/newpicsmay057.jpg
http://i756.photobucket.com/albums/xx203/kirkham13/newpicsmay058.jpg

[kirkham13]

wow there pretty overexposed..

[Briggs]

wow! that's nice. Love the carolina blue!

[kirkham13]

Thanks!............

[kirkham13]

Quick update:
Samamp is incredible, I am playing it daily, granted it sits at home in my guitar "area." (bedroom). I have gone through the whole euro NOS tube experience and gained some wisdom at some cost... enjoying how the English 12ax7's can fatten up the scooped mids of a Fender inspired pre-amp. I have settled on long plate valvos, some labeled amperex, for 12ax7 and 12au7 spots, with the D code from Hamburg for whatever that's worth, they sound musical and full and to me are worth the price of a good pedal.... 12at7 are some Brimar variant also long plates, cheap.
Next wave, pedal craze. Tried the Creation Audio Labs, love the clean boost, returned the Holy Fire as it was a little bright and harsh... still loved it in a lot of ways. Have the Plimsoul, great with the samamp to push the mids.

[kirkham13]

Having a great time recording with the Olympus LS-20M. Unfortunately when I transfer to Quicktime or make any sort of file transfer it becomes a project file, and has no audio. Online forums say this is a common problem. If anyone knows a simple way to turn these into a video file, that would be great.

[kirkham13]

Wanted to say I am still (greatly) enjoying this amp. With the power scaling
/attenuation it nicely bridges being both a bedroom home studio amp to also having the balls when needed. I have scaled back on using the fancy tubes having resold most of them on tha bay but have found with cheap power tubes and a couple inexpensive tweaks to the other tubes I get great sound going directly into the amp. I think this company is struggling not due to its products but more due to marketing strategy. If you find one of the used I highly recommend them.