Noosh It!
say it really fast...

7-20-11
Finally, an update!
The past year has been really slooow in the 'ol amp biz. Slow, but not stopped! I did a channel-switching 10 watt combo for a local guy (the Serpentine), then a head version of that (the Cobra) for a friend in N.Y. I think I have demo videos of both of those on my YouTube channel, look for AcePepperCustoms.

Recently I aquired a 18 watt Marshall-style 1x12" combo built from a Mojotone kit. It was obviously someone's newbie build and the wiring was awful. But the chassis, cabinet and trannys were good, so I made a new turretboard for it with a new circuit modeled after my TopFuel/JCM800-style amp. The amp now has one channel, a cathode-follower-type circuit, a bunch of gain, and tone for days! Controls are gain, volume, highs, mids, lows, and dark. There are switches for more/less (like a "fat" switch, adds more gain in the preamp) and here/there (changes tonestack values, "here"= American/Fender Bassman, "there"=British/Marshall values.) I kept a lot of the cool stuff about the original design, including the 18 watt-style power section w/2xEL84 tubes, a EZ81 tube rectifier, and no negative feedback. The amp seemed a little bright with some speakers or guitars, so I added a Vox-style "cut" control, labeled "dark", for rolling-off obnoxious highs. I also loaded it with a lightweight and killer-sounding Jensen Tornado 12" speaker. This little 1x12" combo rocks my world and has become my favorite gigging amp for the summer. Pix and vid coming soon.

This amp, and several others will be on display and for sale at the upcoming Nashville Amp Expo, Aug. 19-21. I'm stoked about doing Nashville again. Sarge and crew from Creation Audio Labs put on the best, most fun trade show I've ever been to! Do yourself a favor, book a flight NOW for Nashville, 3rd weekend in Aug. You can thank me when you see me there!

9-27-10
New brand! Brand New!! New domain!! WooHoo!!!
Last weekend we were at the Nashville Amp Expo and anounced the new Ace Pepper Custom Amplifiers. Major fun was had by all! I want to thank Sarge and the whole crew from Creation Audio Labs for putting on the best amp/guitar/trade show I've ever been to! So many cool people, so many cool amps and guitars. Shout outs to Nicky Moroch, Janet Planet, Jeff Bober and Petra, Kurt and John from KW Cabs, Paul from Nolatone, Tommy Hatcher, Andy Fuchs, the guys from ARK Amps, Paul Sanchez from Red Iron Amps, Joel from Simple Amps, the guy from Chrome Dome Audio, Stretch, Caveman, Dave (who was very much here;-), Art and Steve from Wizard Amps, and so many other cool folks I can't remember. I've put some of this on the AcePepperCustoms YouTube channel. More coming, I promise.

This week I registered the domain acepepper.com. I'm stoked about that on a couple of levels! Easy way to find me and all that I'm up to. I'm always working on new stuff and there's more comin.

My band, Pepper's Blues has a busy (for us anyway) month coming up. Playing next weekend at a friend's place in Wimberley. We've had an old friend, Cris Chipman, show up to play sax lately. And who can't use more sax;-) Hopin' for good weather for good video. Stay tuned sports fans...

5-8-10
New day, new site, new host, new home.
I've found a new host and home for sonicdeli.com, the parent company of all I do. I'm really excited to work with Joe and BatCity Productions. It's nice to work with a small, local web company. Hopefully my email situation will be more reliable and it'll be easier to update and put groovy new stuff on the web.

Speaking of new stuff, I got a new toy for my birthday, the Zoom Q3 Handy Video Cam. You may have seen these little guys pop up in Musician's Friend, etc. Essentially a semi-cheesey video cam with KILLER audio. The built-in high-quality condenser mics do a great job of capturing what stuff actually sounds like and makes it really easy to post on YouTube. I've been using it to video band gigs and amp demos. I'm getting some of the best live recordings I've ever gotten of my band. Look for more amp demos and band videos, featuring the Acer (yeah, I really play!;-) and, of course, Ace Pepper Custom Amps.

I should say "bands", as I'm playing in 2 bands right now. I've got a 3-piece band called Mashed Potato Johnson. It's a loud, fast rockin;' blues band with my buddies Glen Erickson on bass and Scott Leidecker on drums. No, you've never heard of these guys but they're old friends, fun guys and rockin' players and I'm stoked about playing with them. We do ZZ Top, Zep, and other blues greats once a month at our favorite bar, The Triple Crown here in San Marcos, TX. Look for video very soon.

The other band is Pepper's Blues. Yeah, I'm into a blues-thing lateley. This group is 4 of us with more old friends. Paul Wilson is singin' (much better than me;-), playin' keys and a lefty Epi 335. Scott Wade is on drums (yes, that's 2 drummers named Scott. yes, it's confusing sometimes;-)and the great Jimmy McFeeley is on bass. I didn't really want/need a 2nd blues band, but when these folks were available I couldn't say no. I'd like to think Pepper's Blues is a bit more refined, not as obnoxious, more songs, less solos. This is the band you could bring your folks to see. The "Peppers" are doing a lot of covers too, but they're less "rock hits" and more well-written songs we like and originals. Paul has some cool songs and we're doing a few of my songs too. We're also lookin for more songs from some of our songwriter buddies in the area. We're so blessed here in central Texas to be surrounded with great songwriters, most of whom you'll never hear of. But they write great songs and I'm looking forward to playing some of those songs with my band. Musiclly this is a very exciting time!

The amp biz is slow right now. Very slow. But, looking on the bright side, it's allowed me time to build an amp for myself. My newest creation is a 20 watt D-Type 1x12" combo. It's based on a Princeton chassis and cabinet. I had the cabinet made for a 12" speaker and it's 1" deeper, front-to-back, than stock. I'm hoping this will give it a bigger sound with more low-end. I'm planning on writing a "build-blog" about this build and future build projects. I hope it'll be a fun read for amp junkies.

Anyway, I've got a gig tomorrow to get ready for, pack gear, etc., so I'm outta here for now.

3-29-10

I'm in the middle of re-donig the website again. Sorry if some stuff has gone missing. It'll be back soon with even more stuff. Ooooh, chck out the "linkage" page. I've added a new "Bias Calculator." I was searching the web for bias numbers and came across this nifty Javascript. Select your tube type, amp class, and enter your plate voltage/B+. The calculator will give you what the bias current ought to be for that setup. you can change any part, tube type, class, voltage, and recalculate. This way you can see a range of bias settings that will work for different setups/tubes/etc. Nifty! More drawings, pics and videos coming soon. Stay tuned sports fans!

1-29-10

yes, we're busy bees this week!
I'm posting "Ace's Cool Tube Amp Book". It's taking the form of articles that will be added to. Take a look at the first couple installments. Hope ya dig it! Lots more to come!

1-28-10

OK, now we're rollin a bit!
Posting new stuff like crazy on the linkage page. 10 Groovy Things You Can Do With A Plexi Board, my 1st web article. More of that on the way too! New layout and schematic drawings for several of my designs, including updated HEAVYwatter and shortBLOCK schems!

Also fleshed-out the Ace Pepper Custom Shop page. Sometimes ya gotta look back to see where you're goin'...