A little more information

The two main activities in my life: Helping the hungry in the late hours of the night and helping guitar players sound better one amp at a time.

I always try to remember that in order to do good one has to take action and actually do something.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I have watched the city and Southern California change for well over half a century.

I can be found on facebook at www.facebook.com/mylesr or on twitter at www.twitter.com/myles111us

As of late 2019 the music related links and prints noted on this page which had their links to by GAB (Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting) website are no longer accessible. I grew weary of updating my GAB website and let it go away. You can contact me on Facebook. Saunders Stewart Models continues full operation but we are not accepting new clients without a referral.

Los Angeles Architectural History

Los Angeles Architectural History
1935 Art Deco at some of its finest: No. 168 - Griffith Observatory- (click on the photo for information)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Monday is starting out by breaking records

Starting the week off Los Angeles saw 113 degrees downtown.  It was the hottest day in Los Angeles, or at least since 1877 when these things were recorded.

The 6th annual Los Angeles Ampshow is this weekend ( October 2,3) so folks are already coming into town for the event ( http://www.ampshow.com/)



Maria (above) is coming in from Las Vegas to be at the L.A. Ampshow.  Perhaps you can share a drink with Maria as I have already promised her that I intend to get her into all sorts of trouble this weekend.

The folks from Norway are here in Los Angeles.  Welcome Scandinavia!

There is a major press event happening on Friday night but I cannot go into details without checking with a few folks.  Maybe my friend will leak the event or some details on facebook.



110 degrees in Burbank California 9/27 at 4:30 in the afternoon.


Above:  Folks at http://www.urm.org/ (Union Rescue Mission) getting ready to head to skid row to pass out cold water bottles in 113 degree heat.

I am updating this a bit with a few more photos in case you did not think it was hot enough today....





OK ... this above takes the proverbial cake!  Andy Bales never ceases to amaze me but pushing a cart of water that weighs 3/4 of a ton in 115 degree heat and the guy smiles?  I am at a loss for words!



Above:  I had a bit of consulting work to do over at http://www.65amps.com/  in the morning.  I traced and spec'd some EF86 tubes for a few amps they were building or giving a tune up to.  I grade the tubes that go into their amps and the results are kept in a database.  They can look at your amp's serial number and they know what went in the amp when it went out.  If you need to retube, your 65 Amps amplifier will sound as it always did if you wish because the tubes that went into the amp were not a crap shoot.  This is one of the cool things they do that is not exactly a common piece of the build for most others.



Above is Arne Kr. Hast from Norway over at 65 Amps.  He is the owner of a great store in Norway.  If you speak the language check it out - http://www.vintagegitar.no/


Above:  This is what Arne looked like a year ago.


I spent a bit of time over at History for Hire.  It is not easy to describe the place other than saying that the owner Jim Elyea has the most extensive Vox amplifier collection on the planet.  Maybe the most extensive Fender collection?  Maybe the only guy with the instruments used in countless movies, the set from American Bandstand, the costumes and uniforms from most war movies you have seen, silverware and dishware from movies from the era of things like Gone With The Wind, the electric chair Sparky, enough rifles to storm the beaches of Normandy in film (for both sides) the two atomic bombs (fatboy and whatever), cameras, canned goods, cereal boxes ... .... ....  Bottom line, this place makes Disneyland look like an amateur attempt at entertainment and mind blowing exercise.

Last year they put out The Vox Guidebook ( http://voxguidebook.com/) which is the most extensive and detailed book (and the most heavy) ever produced on these amps.  If you are a Vox fan this is your book.  Full size prints on every model and even models that never made it to production.  

I'll toss in a few more photos here.  I posted a lot on facebook today in real time.







The guy in the photo above is Dan Boul of http://www.65amps.com/   65 Amps maintains all these Vox amps for History for Hire.  Another side note, the owner of History for Hire, Jim Elyea is a drummer and Beatles fan big time.  He is also the drummer in Dan's band.







Later on in the afternoon over at the shop there was a product photo shoot.  The Corona was not part of the shoot.


I like to stick to my cell phone camera for the really cool stuff :)   And for video?  Check out the ultra low resolution video I took today of the new "blackops" amp from 65 as we all took a bit of a break to play around a bit.




Does it get any better than that?

Two more shots of Maria ... what can it hurt?



Looking at this photo I told Maria ....  This was always one of my favorite shots too. In fact ... remember when I said "If I was 150 years younger you'd be in big trouble"? Forget I ever said that :)


The week is just starting and it has started off on fire .... 113 degrees and The Amp Show this weekend.

2 comments:

  1. YOUR BRINGING MARIA TO THE AMP SHOW. I'm showering, waxing my back, and buying a new shirt! I've already removed my wedding ring.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If she can get a place to keep her doggies back in Vegas she will be at the show. The hotel will not allow dogs unless you are blind and even if they were allowed the noise would probably do them in even if the crowd didn't.

    ReplyDelete