Monday, June 01, 2009

Winners not in the news.

As a palate cleanser from yesterday's wanker post (and readers are right, there is no shortage of material there), I bring you a guy who is brilliant at what he does. His name is Tim Ristau and he is the owner and tube tech supreme for Superfine Ampworks.


For those of you who, for whatever reason, read this blog, you'll remember that I ran over this amp last year. Then CH, my friend (another unsung hero) put it back together for me and it worked, surprisingly. That earned this amp the name of Lazarus.

Lazarus is 61 years old and from the looks of her,* she's been around the block a few times. Built for a lap steel guitar, she's got the right industrial mojo for a harp amp and I've always loved her voice.

But Tim took her and breathed new life into her old tube chassis, taking her from a good amp to a great amp. I brought her home on Saturday and played for hours, still not believing how good she sounds.

Yes, children, there are heroes in our midst. They don't get on Fox News. They don't squeeze 17-year-old pages. They just do their jobs brilliantly and for that, I am grateful.

Thanks, Tim.

To leave you with some musician eye candy, I found this guy, David Barnes, who builds new amps to the specs of the old Valco amps from the 40's. His work is incredible. Take a look.











Beautiful, Mr. Barnes, just beautiful.

*I know Lazarus was a man. I can live with cognitive dissonance just fine, thank you.

1 comment:

Beneath the Carolina Moon said...

Just as a point and not to be an asshole or anything, and since you point it out, you do seem to get by just fine while carrying a load of cognitive dissonance. It doesn't help a manuscript very much, but having a high tolerance for it does make the world a bit like wonderland.