For those who'd not guessed. This physical manifestation of awesomeness is mine:
You already have more details than you could hope for on the build thread. I'll just add a few points.
Firstly: My overwhelming thanks to EZ for guiding me through the options in selecting a kit, and most especially for putting it together with his increasingly epic build chops. Some quality product from the Scots islands will be necessary to reflect this gratitude more clearly.
Secondly: To lapdawg for doing a spectacular job with the cabinet. Having seen EZ's original '60s Marshall combo cab up close this, at least in pics, gives nothing away. EZ and I barely hoped we'd get anything close to a repro of a '60s 1974X combo cab, only to find lapdawg's relentless perfectionism at very close proximity in Claremont.
I haven't yet seen the amp in its finished state. That's tonight. I've also not yet played it with my loudspeaker in the cab. For those who're interested it's a 1978 (if I remember) Celestion "Blackback" (a greenback with the alternative cover they were using at the time). Someone on the forum spotted it going for 800 South African Ronts, and I swooped long before I had anything to put it in.
This journey started with me hearing the Beano album for the first time and deciding no electric guitar tone had ever been better, got up to escape velocity by hearing EZ's 18W for the first time (eyes bulging, true Beanotone power amp distortion and I had to f***ing have one because I had
never heard a guitar amplifier sound that good in real life), through the notion that a combo would be handy, thinking that red would be nifty, and deciding that the only thing I was interested in was the straight Lite IIB channel with tone, volume, and power-scaling to get that incredible sound at almost any volume. You'd best believe it's pretty amazing to see the thing now in physical existence.
More pics and (if I'm less lazy than usual) clips to follow.
I should also mention that this is the kind of thing this forum makes possible. Without EZ, now among my best friends in the world, and lapdawg, who's just a phenomenal craftsman, I'd still be looking for a pedal to simulate the sound that is inherent to an amp like this. So you can get sick of the endless gear debates or whatnot, but the true value of this forum is in the people you meet.
