ilovefuzz.com

I know Shannon had one but I don't know if he ever opened it up. Not sure when he bought it, either, so that could change. Plus, I'm pretty sure he's sold it since.

I have a JetCity Pico Valve that I bought when Musicians Friend was blowing them out for $99. Can't really beat that. I need to do a tube swap on it to get rid of the cheap junk that's in there but I don't hate it.

skullservant wrote:Yeah, they are usually made out of Jet City amps.
Now, I will say the Jet City that I had that was modded by Verellen was very nice on the inside. The construction in the chassis was very sturdy/sound/etc but it seems like the one I had was an older version before Jet City switched over to the plastic switches and whatever. Curious if there is any difference on the inside as far as the circuit board goes.

Anyways, I'm curious how much Hovercraft does on the inside of the amps to justify the price. Is it a few caps and resistors being swapped out, or is it replacing the circuit boards entirely and wiring in new ones, just using the hardware and iron as a platform. I could justify the price if it was the latter moreso than the first

You know, I'm also curious about this. I tried asking some questions on some of his posts on FB about this and he just ignored me. Same when I asked what the ionostrofear fuzz was based on. I guess he's more of an email guy.

Pizza wrote:You know, I'm also curious about this. I tried asking some questions on some of his posts on FB about this and he just ignored me. Same when I asked what the ionostrofear fuzz was based on. I guess he's more of an email guy.

He won't answer you in email either and actively seeks to have gut shots taken down when he finds them posted. That said I've seen ONE pic, and unfortunately it was not replaced circuit boards, it was just some minor value changes and adding the typical depth / fac mods and what not. From what I've read elsewhere the Orange / Matamp style builds don't even have a Bax eq. That's why you mainly see "Model T" spec ones as they're FMV style EQ, he just puts bigger caps in there for more bass and smoother treble content. The only place he seems to really spend money is on the visual aesthetic.

Which is totally aberrant for the genre, of course.

Well that kinda sticks. I was considering adding one to the collection. Now I'm not as certain.

all that said schnikes loves his,dont he?
doesnt he have 2 now?

I still want to try one. I wonder if someone could figure out the mods because those jca22 go for pretty cheap on ebay.

Pizza wrote:I still want to try one. I wonder if someone could figure out the mods because those jca22 go for pretty cheap on ebay.

this thread has a lot of the mods people are doing...i kind of think that hovercraft guys are just doing a mixture of these mods?? i could be completely wrong.
http://namm.harmony-central.com/t5/Amps ... p/31535203


i modded my jca50, and it only cost me £80 to get a depth mod and kt66 in place of the 6L6 tubes...so its relatively cheap to mod these amps.

I don't know if it's relevant to the quality/legitimacy of what's going on inside the amps, but when I picked up my Hovercraft up from their shop (I live about 10 minutes away) I was really impressed with what a well-oiled machine the shop seemed to be. Everyone was on-point, buzzing around actually working... Maybe it's just from growing up with/working for/dealing with so many ultra-relaxed Portlanders, but catching a glimpse of this kind of setup was refreshing. And Nial seemed like a zero-bullshit dude (and was perfectly accommodating when I had to bring back the footswitch), I'd be really surprised if they were intentionally misleading people in the way you guys are sort of implying they might be...
In my case, I was looking for a beefier, higher-gain amp that looked slick and the Falcon does that nicely. (I don't know what these amps promise that they don't also deliver.) My main regret now is just that it was before this new black-on-metal sweetness was an option:

you guys seen these amps?

http://analogoutfitters.com/amplifiers/the-road-amp

seems like a good idea...

No but that looks pretty neat. I still like the look and sounds from the Hovercraft albums I've gotten to hear samples of, I'm not totally out but it's a few months down the road before I commit.

TheStevenLasombras wrote:I don't know if it's relevant to the quality/legitimacy of what's going on inside the amps, but when I picked up my Hovercraft up from their shop (I live about 10 minutes away) I was really impressed with what a well-oiled machine the shop seemed to be. Everyone was on-point, buzzing around actually working... Maybe it's just from growing up with/working for/dealing with so many ultra-relaxed Portlanders, but catching a glimpse of this kind of setup was refreshing. And Nial seemed like a zero-bullshit dude (and was perfectly accommodating when I had to bring back the footswitch), I'd be really surprised if they were intentionally misleading people in the way you guys are sort of implying they might be...
In my case, I was looking for a beefier, higher-gain amp that looked slick and the Falcon does that nicely. (I don't know what these amps promise that they don't also deliver.) My main regret now is just that it was before this new black-on-metal sweetness was an option:

The gut shot I've seen could have been from when they were first starting out before they started really producing units at the rate they are. I am in no way saying with 100% certainty they are just modding them and not replacing parts, but it is what I was lead to believe back when I was following them more closely. And his secrecy about what he does doesn't help with that assumption.

All I know is alot of people are raving about their amps, from the 20w up to the 200w so they gotta be doing something right.

samzadgan wrote:you guys seen these amps?

http://analogoutfitters.com/amplifiers/the-road-amp

seems like a good idea...

It should have been called the Road Head.....

Due to recent developments i cannot afford to go through with the hovercraft idea so im going to nab a bugera 1960 infinium, throw some 6550s in there and blow it up

Should sound great with a rat and muff with all that headroom.