[Southbay Ampworks]

Hi...got a link to this site from a few of my speaker clients in Canada, so I thought I'd check it out! No, I'm not in Canada, I'm in Los Angeles, the land of...well, fill in the blank! LOL

I usually work at computer consulting in the digital video field, fixing up editing systems for Hollywood studios onsite, emergency repairs/rebuilds/fixes, and upgrades for commercial, film/video/special fx projects. I've been doing that for 12 years now, and have worked quite steadily at it in the Los Angeles area (www.lamacguru.com).

About five years ago I got the crazy idea for getting my ultimate guitar tone together, which was a cross between a Fender/Gibson tweed tone on steroids, and a fat Marshall roar with overdrive galore, so I hired my amp tech to build me an amp that fit those needs, what came to be known as the Major Crunch & Capt. Crunch amp line.

While I was doing the amp R&D, I found out that speakers played a huge part of the amp tone, more so than pickups, and tubes, so I then had to do research on speakers. About 300 Celestions later I found my ultimate guitar speakers, which were the old "pre-rola" type Celestion speakers that they quit making (correctly) in the early 70's, which is where most of my guitar heroes came from, and they also used these same speakers with their Marshall amps. I then contacted several speaker makers, and ultimately found the guy to replicate that old Pre Rola tone in Ted Weber at Weber VST. I sent him the best sounding speakers from my huge collection, and he replicated the tone they produced pretty freaking close to the originals. I figured other guitarists didn't want to pay $300 USD plus (per speaker) for that old Pre Rola tone, so I offered them up for sale on various websites and forums. The Scumback speaker line was introduced in December, 2004. Word spread quickly about how they sounded, and I even went heads up in a blind taste test for clips with Eminence and Celestion last June, and faired very well, edging out both company's offerings on a Celestion tone comparison thread on the TGP forum. So far, it's been very well received, and I now have several speaker models to choose from. You can find lots of info at the TGP forum (www.thegearpage.net), or on my speaker page at my site.

I am now bringing out my line of custom single ended Class A amps as well, as they've just been finalized for the combo & head versions, and plan to get those into production later this year.

As busy as I am, I manage to get out to the local blues jam every couple of weeks, or meet up with friends to play at parties & jam sessions. I have quite a selection of amps (not just my own), guitars, and cabinets...uh...and speakers (big surprise, eh?) which has stuffed my home so full that the wife & I are looking for a bigger place to live...hopefully with a basement I can soundproof, and keep the amp/speaker/computer business downstairs and quiet. Yeah...good luck about the quiet part!

I like to help people out with their guitar tone, and have a fair amount of experience with recovering/repairing Marshall & Fender combos/cabs, & installing grillcloth. I have a few of these tutorials online at the TGP if you think they would help you out for DIY recover or repair. I could send you the links, although I believe they are also in the TGP archives.

Been playing guitar for 34 years, 9 of them in a touring night club (several Top 40, and two original bands) band, which I stopped doing and went back to college in 1984, getting a degree in computer programming (long obsolete with dead languages!). I've been involved in computer sales, installations and repairs onsite since 1985. I moved to LA to start my computer consulting business in 1994.

Right now I'm restoring some old guitars. My wife (God love her) has been very supportive of my guitar gear fetishes, and has given me several wonderful gifts over the last six years, including a 63 SG to restore, along with a "Keebler LP replica" and a Gibson PAF, amongst other things guitar and golf related.

Due to the huge pile of gear I have here, this year's birthday present was open water scuba certification, which I just passed the final exam for last night. Assuming I don't drown this weekend when completing my first two open water dives, I hope to contribute some of my knowledge & experience here, and learn from others as well.

I'm going to go cruise around the site and check it out. Thanks for having me here. Feel free to email me if you need some questions answered on any of the above topics I covered, as I mostly work out of the house unless I'm onsite, and can usually reply fairly quickly to emails.

Jim Seavall
Owner - Southbay Ampworks

:rockon2:

 

[Xanadu]

Hey welcome to the forums.:wave:

 

[GuitarsCanada]

Knowledge is what it's all about Jim, we welcome anyone that brings it to the table. Thanks for teh offer of a donation as well. :wave:

 

[PaulS]

It's Ok we won't hold it against you.... Welcome aboard nice to have you here, will check out your stuff when I get a chance sounds interesting..:smilie_flagge17:

 

[Southbay Ampworks]

There's a guitar player of some note in Montreal that's using my speakers in his rig. You may or may not be familiar with him, his name is Stephane DuFour, of Eric LaPointe's band.

Anyone heard his stuff? Great player, tasty licks...love what he did with this old swing tune called "In the Mood"... here it is, I'm going to be hiring him to do some clips for my site in the near future.

http://southbayampworks.com/jf/InTheMood.mp3

 

[Lowtones]

Welcome aboard Jim, (Scummy) Glad to see you here. Also glad to hear that your ankle got better and you got your cert., dives in. If you want to make the trek I'm hosting a BBQ/ Picnic for a very large Scuba Club at my place on July 29th. davetcan, the boys & I will be playing as well as some guest musicians. Should be a great time:rockon2:

BTW guys Jim/ Southbay Ampworks puts out a killer product. He is very well know throughout the States and is talked highly of on many other forums.

 

[Robert1950]

There's moderator and several members on TGP that rave about your speakers, the Scumbacks

 

[Southbay Ampworks]

Lowtones, hey didn't know you were here! Should have figured though, right? LOL Thanks, my knee (not my ankle but WTF, right?) is still a little sore, but I'm putting the elastic brace on it and going anyway. Tomorrow is a beach dive at Veterans Park in Redondo Beach @ 7 AM (time to go to bed!), and Sunday is a boat dive off the isthmus on Catalina Island...should be quite colorful out there, to say the least. I'm going to Hawaii for a wedding on August 2nd, so I won't be able to attend your scuba party, sorry! But if I have as much fun as I have been having already, I hope you guys have a blast. Play well, OK?

Robert1950...yeah, Big Mike is a complete Scumback convert. I did to him what no sane man would do. I sent Chet Feathers and him an original (no issues holy grail) Pre Rola G12M and a Scumback M75, and told them to tell me what they thought after comparing them. I left those speakers with them for 4-5 weeks I think. After a couple of days, I got an email back that said "We're keeping these until ours come in. Let us know how much they are and where to send the check. We'll send these back when you ship ours out. We want the following speakers..."

That told me all I needed to know about how close Weber got when making these to my spec. I figured if you could compare a $300 vintage speaker to a $150 brand new speaker and hear little or no difference, then it was good to go.

Ok, I've got to get some sleep. If I survive the weekend dives :wave: I'll check back in on Monday...hope you all have a good weekend, and thank you for the nice comments and warm welcome.

 

[davetcan]

If you want to make the trek I'm hosting a BBQ/ Picnic for a very large Scuba Club at my place on July 29th. davetcan, the boys & I will be playing as well as some guest musicians. Should be a great time:rockon2:

bastid is finally making me stand up and play in front of people :2guns: I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

Welcome Jim, glad you're here and hope we can help spread the Scumbag legend up here in Canada

 

[Southbay Ampworks]

To add insult to injury, the napraxin, or whatever this anti-inflammatory drug they gave me for my knee made my stomach so nauseous that I wound up spending over 1/2 the night burping and running to the bathroom. I got three hours sleep total. After doing a valid assessment of:
1) 3 hours sleep
2) Knee is working, but still hurts a little
3) Falling asleep as I packed up the wife's scuba gear

I decided to call our instructor (at 5:30 am) and ask his advice. He told me "Jim, I'm not going to sugar coat it, this dive will kick your ass, so if you're not rested, and ready, I suggest you not go and do two dives tomorrow in Catalina, then do a make-up beach dive in two weeks."

So, I packed up the wife's gear, and she's going...and I'm going to hit the sack and sleep...if I can. It's already getting hot here...I am pretty bummed, as I was really looking forward to this dive. But, I figured, given the circumstances and my present condition, that this was the wisest thing to do.

Time for some sleep, I'll check in later, and let you know how she did.

 

[Xanadu]

To add insult to injury, the napraxin, or whatever this anti-inflammatory drug they gave me for my knee made my stomach so nauseous that I wound up spending over 1/2 the night burping and running to the bathroom. I got three hours sleep total. After doing a valid assessment of:
1) 3 hours sleep
2) Knee is working, but still hurts a little
3) Falling asleep as I packed up the wife's scuba gear

I decided to call our instructor (at 5:30 am) and ask his advice. He told me "Jim, I'm not going to sugar coat it, this dive will kick your ass, so if you're not rested, and ready, I suggest you not go and do two dives tomorrow in Catalina, then do a make-up beach dive in two weeks."

So, I packed up the wife's gear, and she's going...and I'm going to hit the sack and sleep...if I can. It's already getting hot here...I am pretty bummed, as I was really looking forward to this dive. But, I figured, given the circumstances and my present condition, that this was the wisest thing to do.

Time for some sleep, I'll check in later, and let you know how she did.

shitty man.

 

[Southbay Ampworks]

Ahh, there is justice in the world. The surf was so high that no one could get out with their gear, and bottom conditions were murky at best, so they called off the dive for two weeks. However, the Catalina dive is still on for tomorrow at 6:45 am, I plan on eating a few Tylenol PM's around 8 pm, getting a bunch of sleep and being ready for that one in the morning.

And to think (if we'd known) the wife could have slept in...oh well....at least I don't have to pay the $100 extra fee for missing a dive! Woohoo!