What a combo!

lovestrat74

Fender Excelsior and a partscaster with
T-Armonds..



Picked the amp up last week. Already had the shite MIC valves swapped out and I've just done the tone pot mod today. What an amp!

Put the partscaster together this afternoon. A cabronita guitarbuild body - that didn't sell on here. An allparts fat neck (that I am gradually thinning to taste) and some TV Jones T-Armonds.

They take a bit of getting used to but they are magnificent pickups. Really get you tuned into your feel as they are so responsive. 

dazzajl

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!

stickyfiddle

Lovely! You’re not helping my GAS for those pickups!!!

munckee

Always wanted to try an excelsior. Looks a great guitar you’ve put together. 

lovestrat74

stickyfiddle said:

Lovely! You’re not helping my GAS for those pickups!!!

I know...They were sitting on a shelf and kept looking at me. I had some time off this week so I thought I'd give them another try.

I cant be hamfisted withm these though, they need caressing. Definitely improve your touch/ feel... also every other pickup now sounds flat in comparison 

lovestrat74

munckee said:

Always wanted to try an excelsior. Looks a great guitar you’ve put together. 

The amp is great. Had my eye on these for a while but they never came up locally until last week. Really glad I pulled the trigger on this one. They are sweet sounding but with some volume get pretty ballsie

Dave_Mc

Awesome 

Does yours rattle? I got one way back fairly soon after they were released, and mine rattled like crazy IIRC (even with different valves). I had to send it back. Was supposedly fixed. Wasn't. Cut my losses at that point, was kind of annoyed as it was pretty cool apart from the rattle.

lovestrat74

Dave_Mc said:

Awesome 

Does yours rattle? I got one way back fairly soon after they were released, and mine rattled like crazy IIRC (even with different valves). I had to send it back. Was supposedly fixed. Wasn't. Cut my losses at that point, was kind of annoyed as it was pretty cool apart from the rattle.

I think it must have Dave, but it has been lined with some thin rubber-like material. It is around the cage that hosts the power valves and also on the preamp chassis. 

Dave_Mc

lovestrat74 said:

Dave_Mc said:

Awesome 

Does yours rattle? I got one way back fairly soon after they were released, and mine rattled like crazy IIRC (even with different valves). I had to send it back. Was supposedly fixed. Wasn't. Cut my losses at that point, was kind of annoyed as it was pretty cool apart from the rattle.

I think it must have Dave, but it has been lined with some thin rubber-like material. It is around the cage that hosts the power valves and also on the preamp chassis. 

Ah yeah that might explain it! I'm assuming that rubber stuff isn't stock, it's so long since I had mine that I forget, but I don't think mine had that (or if it did, it didn't help!). Unless they became aware of the problem and fixed it in later models. But IIRC it wasn't an isolated case, I remember being aware of it before I bought it, that some of them just rattled pretty badly, and unfortunately mine was one which did.

lovestrat74

Dave_Mc said:

lovestrat74 said:

Dave_Mc said:

Awesome 

Does yours rattle? I got one way back fairly soon after they were released, and mine rattled like crazy IIRC (even with different valves). I had to send it back. Was supposedly fixed. Wasn't. Cut my losses at that point, was kind of annoyed as it was pretty cool apart from the rattle.

I think it must have Dave, but it has been lined with some thin rubber-like material. It is around the cage that hosts the power valves and also on the preamp chassis. 

Ah yeah that might explain it! I'm assuming that rubber stuff isn't stock, it's so long since I had mine that I forget, but I don't think mine had that (or if it did, it didn't help!). Unless they became aware of the problem and fixed it in later models. But IIRC it wasn't an isolated case, I remember being aware of it before I bought it, that some of them just rattled pretty badly, and unfortunately mine was one which did.

It's definitely not stock Dave. You can tell a previousownerhas added it. I read a lot of users removed the cage around the power valves altogether.

You can pick them up between 200-300 quid now and if the amp has had mods, chances are they would have tackled any annoying rattling too.

Teyeplayer

The Excelsior is a cracking little amp -even with the rattles. As you’ve already experienced it’s a great modding platform with lots of foibles to mess with. Also raises the question of why there aren’t more low powered valve amps with 15inch speakers, it’s such a great sound combination. Enjoy!

That Cabronita looks SWEET!!!!! 

Keefy

That looks like a whole lot of fun!

bazxkr

Love the Excelsiors.... simple but very effective. Had the brown and a surf green one. Regret moving them on. Looks a great setup you have there. The big box with 15" speaker works great but for home does make them a bit big to have around & that is the main reason think I moved on from them. Wanted to try the vaporiser too which I think came out similar time when that pawnshop series was being played with but never managed to see one in the flesh

lovestrat74

bazxkr said:

Love the Excelsiors.... simple but very effective. Had the brown and a surf green one. Regret moving them on. Looks a great setup you have there. The big box with 15" speaker works great but for home does make them a bit big to have around & that is the main reason think I moved on from them. Wanted to try the vaporiser too which I think came out similar time when that pawnshop series was being played with but never managed to see one in the flesh

I built an outbuilding in my garden a few years ago, so I can crank it a bit down there. Although this amp sounds sweet at low volume too.

There is a Vaporizer for sale near me, tempted, but I already have too many amps! 

Dave_Mc

lovestrat74 said:

Dave_Mc said:

lovestrat74 said:

Dave_Mc said:

Awesome 

Does yours rattle? I got one way back fairly soon after they were released, and mine rattled like crazy IIRC (even with different valves). I had to send it back. Was supposedly fixed. Wasn't. Cut my losses at that point, was kind of annoyed as it was pretty cool apart from the rattle.

I think it must have Dave, but it has been lined with some thin rubber-like material. It is around the cage that hosts the power valves and also on the preamp chassis. 

Ah yeah that might explain it! I'm assuming that rubber stuff isn't stock, it's so long since I had mine that I forget, but I don't think mine had that (or if it did, it didn't help!). Unless they became aware of the problem and fixed it in later models. But IIRC it wasn't an isolated case, I remember being aware of it before I bought it, that some of them just rattled pretty badly, and unfortunately mine was one which did.

It's definitely not stock Dave. You can tell a previousownerhas added it. I read a lot of users removed the cage around the power valves altogether.

You can pick them up between 200-300 quid now and if the amp has had mods, chances are they would have tackled any annoying rattling too.

Thanks

I can't remember if I tried it without the cage, but I have a vague feeling that I did, just to see if that helped, and I don't think it did. But it's also possible I didn't think of it!

Teyeplayer said:

The Excelsior is a cracking little amp -even with the rattles. As you’ve already experienced it’s a great modding platform with lots of foibles to mess with. Also raises the question of why there aren’t more low powered valve amps with 15inch speakers, it’s such a great sound combination. Enjoy!

That Cabronita looks SWEET!!!!! 

IIRC mine rattled like crazy if you played a D chord. If I had a better chord vocabulary that might not have mattered...

bazxkr said:

The big box with 15" speaker works great but for home does make them a bit big to have around & that is the main reason think I moved on from them. 

IIRC mine was definitely a bit louder than I'd have hoped- it was noticeably louder than the little single-ended 5 watters I had.

TheMarlin

Love those pickups!  Sounds like is a great pairing. 

lovestrat74

There's one going cheap with the upgraded speaker if you live near Sheffield!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166920483669?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=l-s-g730SSG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=lCjCByEWTiO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY