Simple Amp Upgrade- cosmetic and functional

[tsp17]

The original black vinyl covered dog bone handle on this amp had gotten pretty worn and limp and generally uninspired.  The vinyl had worn completely off in big patches. Kind of a sad  relic’d look.

So i got this nice heavy duty saddle leather heavy duty handle made to order at a reasonable price on Reverb.  You can get it with two layers instead of three, but i liked this beefier model.   You can order color, thickness, stitching color and length.  

Good product.  Got here in 5 days. Made in USA.  

[TalismanRich]

When my old National Supreme was refurbished,   one of the things that needed replacing was the leather handle.   It had completely dry rotted after about 30 years of sitting in my parent's attic.  The right side was gone.  Luckily,  an almost exact replacement is still available.  It's a little darker brown, but who cares!?!

 

[tsp17]

8 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

When my old National Supreme was refurbished,   one of the things that needed replacing was the leather handle.   It had completely dry rotted after about 30 years of sitting in my parent's attic.  The right side was gone.  Luckily,  an almost exact replacement is still available.  It's a little darker brown, but who cares!?!

 

Nice!

 

[rockabilly69]

11 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

When my old National Supreme was refurbished,   one of the things that needed replacing was the leather handle.   It had completely dry rotted after about 30 years of sitting in my parent's attic.  The right side was gone.  Luckily,  an almost exact replacement is still available.  It's a little darker brown, but who cares!?!

 

National Supremes, when running properly. are KILLER amps! Most that I've played have been in less than stellar shape, but my buddy Troy has rebuilt a few of them, and they sound fantastic.

[TalismanRich]

Mine was rebuilt by Terry Dobbs, who really knows his Valco stuff.    I took it to one of the PSPs.   It was a little "underpowered" compared to most of the other amps there.  

I've been told that harp players love them.

[rockabilly69]

2 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

Mine was rebuilt by Terry Dobbs, who really knows his Valco stuff.    I took it to one of the PSPs.   It was a little "underpowered" compared to most of the other amps there.  

I've been told that harp players love them.

Terry Dobbs is a very close friend to Troy my buddy who rebuilt his two. They talk on the phone all the time about these vintage Valco amps. I think they've even sent amps back and forth to compare notes:) I love that they are underpowered they aren't too loud to record with!

[bolero]

I hate those handles. You can't put anything on top of the amp.

They look cool though

[DetroitBlues]

5 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

Terry Dobbs is a very close friend to Troy my buddy who rebuilt his two. They talk on the phone all the time about these vintage Valco amps. I think they've even sent amps back and forth to compare notes:) I love that they are underpowered they aren't too loud to record with!

Small world…

[TalismanRich]

19 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

Terry Dobbs is a very close friend to Troy my buddy who rebuilt his two. They talk on the phone all the time about these vintage Valco amps. I think they've even sent amps back and forth to compare notes:) I love that they are underpowered they aren't too loud to record with!

I had contacted Terry when I first got the amp from my parent's attic.   His place is on the way to one of the customer sites I would visit for work, so I made arrangements to drop it off on one of my trips.  I got to spend about an hour talking to him when I picked it up.  He's an interesting fellow.   Once it was finished, I stopped by to pick it up on the next trip.  It was around 2010 or so.  

Yeah, not loud, and they go to crunch time pretty early.    I was a little wary of turning up the volume very high since that speaker cone was about 60 years old.   It's still hanging in there, though, at age 70!