ToneFest in Clearwater, FL on Saturday

[jdogric12]

Adam, from Tungsten Amps, was there. These sounded cool.

Some Vox amps, and a real '59 Bassman. The 4003S/5 sounded amazing through it.

The church pastor's rig on stage... very cute names...

[jdogric12]

My wimpy little '65 Gretsch 6150T never even got plugged in! Talk about bringing a knife to a gun fight!

[jdogric12]

One more pic, then I'm off to rest on the couch and watch me some Olympics!

[jdogric12]

A few hours were devoted to demos of many of the amps. The rest of the room got quiet and watched, as they were videotaping it for a DVD. If anyone's interested let me know, I think they'll be $25 USD each. I forgot to get on the sign up list but I'll be contacting Nick so I can get myself a copy. I even got to be the "Rick guy" for some of the demos! Used the '87 360/12v64 FG, '48 SP, and '99 325/12v63.

Thanks Nick C. for hosting such a great event. I can't believe this went on in my backyard for years and I just now found out!!!! See you all soon, please let me know if I can ever help y'all out. Cheers, J Dog



PS - Hey forumites... Minutaglio even crawled out of his hidey-hole for this event to drool over some Vox amps! No picture to prove it, though - dang!

[8mileshigh]

That looks like a cool day J Dog! And John M showed up? WOW........that must be about as common as a bigfoot sighting these days?

[jps]

...I can't believe I let him do this... a rare moment of J Dog nervousness...

...you knew PW could fix you right up!

[JakeK]

PS - Hey forumites... Minutaglio even crawled out of his hidey-hole for this event to drool over some Vox amps! No picture to prove it, though - dang!

I wonder what he's up to these days. Last we heard of him, he had his '08 Trade Bait thread (with my two dream Rics!) and that's the last we've heard of him (aside from him buying the John Kay 381).

[Nickcha]

Let me tell you guys, Jason represented the RRF, Rickenbacker Guitars and himself, in a most excellent manner. I was very pleased to have him at TF'08, and I'm looking fwd to his continuing involvement. I have to tell you one story from today's gathering. After quite some time, demo'ing amps using Les Paul and Strat players who were very good, classic Rock/Blues/Slide players I asked Jason to demo any of the amps that he felt were appropriate for a Ric 12. I plugged him into my '61 Fawn AC30 and Jason ripped through some classic Byrds and Beatles tunes. When he finished guys clapped and shouted. Although we had listened to hours of ripping and tasteful guitar playing, Jason transported us back to our roots and some of the best and happiest days of music with the Ric 12 and an old AC30. It was a special moment.

Jason also pulled out his 1948(?) Ric archtop (converted Harmony w/ a Ric pup), and did some classic old blues lines through a really great Red Iron Amp and a Glassworks Dumble Clone.






I also enjoyed speaking for some time with John Minutaglio about VOX AC30s. It's great to know there's another person in town here who loves the AC30. My journey into the vintage amp world began with early 60s VOX AC30s (and anything else JMI-VOX put out), and it was only a matter of time before we collided with Rickenbacker players. I think we're finding out that Clearwater (and Tampa Bay) is a haven for that classic Ric/VOX combination. Being new here, I don't if you folks know my friend, Don Butler, but he's a big Ric/Vox fan, AND comes from Clearwater. Imagine that.

[jps]

Don "The Toneman" Butler used to be very involved here on the forum, don't know what happened with that.

[8mileshigh]

I repeat.......VERY COOL J Dog!

[sloop_john_b]

Don "The Toneman" Butler used to be very involved here on the forum, don't know what happened with that.

BGC.

[sloop_john_b]

Awesome pics dude! Looks like an incredible event.

So, have the tube guys finally converted you from the Cyber Twin/Jazz Chorus thing?

[rickenbrother]

Cool pics, Jdog. It must have been fun!

Hanging the guitar from the amp like that would have made me nervous also!!

[paologregorio]

Hey Jdog!

Thanks for sharing all of the photos from the event. Really cool!

[doctorwho]

Hey Jdog!

Thanks for sharing all of the photos from the event. Really cool!

Ditto!

And congrats (and thanks for pics, too) to Nick for what looks like a really wonderful event.