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Stage Craft Gear Amp Cabinets Intro

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Apr 21st, 2009
by Gabi.
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Amp Cabinet

Amp Cabinet

If you ever thought building an amp cabinet is an easy and fun job for the DIY guitar amp builder, think again.

After I built my first 18w 1×12″ combo amp cabinet back in 2002, and toiling through dovetail joining the shell, gluing the bracing, stretching the grill cloth on the speaker baffle, not to speak about gluing the tolex on the routed corners of the cabinet, – I decided I’d rather pay someone else who does this for a living and does the job right.

Stage Craft Gear

Boys and Girls, please welcome maestro extraordinaire in guitar amp cabinet artistry, Anthony Bonadio of Stage Craft Gear (also known as the creator of Reason Amps)! :-)
Anthony has been building the cabinets for my Gabriel Amps for the last 5 years that have the now well-known “Bumblebee” look (yellow-black tolex).

And also, since 2007, Anthony is building the amp cabinets available at the Gabkits.com online store for a wide variety of Ceriatone amp models, kits, and with an outstanding degree of customization unheard of in any other amp cabinets sources, like choosing your own tolex color, grille cloth, handles, welt, piping, and so on. Not to mention the outstanding prices available for you!

Now you can finally have that purple- red with pink fuzzy front amp cabinet you always dreamed of !! :-)

A Factory Tour Video

Watch this Stage Craft Gear factory tour video where Anthony explains some of the procedures and materials used to put the amp cabinets together. I am very glad that people like him exists so I don’t have to endure the pains of building an amp cabinet myself!
Check that cool 1909 box joint machine!!

Posted in: Amp Cabinets.
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The Legend of Celestion Speakers

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Apr 20th, 2009
by Gabi.
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G12 Celestion Speaker

G12 Celestion Speaker

There are many excellent emulations, copies, clones of Celestion speaker models on the market at very accessible prices and with great tone, but really, when it all boils down, they are just impersonators of the real thing.
I have great respect toward Celestion speakers, simply because they have history. And even if there are many wonderful speakers that try to copy them on Planet Earth, they are really just slightly different flavors of the original Celestion guitar speakers.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Celestion Speakers.
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ProStageGear Instrument Cases Intro

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Apr 17th, 2009
by Gabi.
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Just a short post to introduce and rant about the ProStageGear Instrument Cases we now carry over in the Gabkits Store for your precious instrument ranging from guitar cases, amp cases, to keyboard cases, racks cases, equipment cases, shockmount rack cases, equipment cases and so on.

ProStageGear went to extreme length in designing a robust and affordable instrument case for the working musician.

A Case Against Roadies!

I really have nothing against roadies, in fact what would we do without them? But there are certain qualitys that they should have, one of them being MERCY! If your precious gear is being tossed around like in this video, you might seriously consider getting yourself a well built instrument case. Or else, fire those roadies. :-)

cushionsA soft ride for your precious gear

First, make sure your precious guitar, amp or keyboard will have a comfortable ride. Check the inside of a roadcase for proper cushioning, and padding. There is no use in having a strong shell if the inside doesn’t provide the necessary protection for any kind of shocks.

Ideally, the  inside cushioning should feature a mold as your gear’s shape but since that can be costly, a couple properly arranged 1” thick foam layers would work great also.

One Size Fits Many!

Guitar amps and rectangle shaped equipment are very easy to fit into road cases that were not custom designed for them specifically since any void inside space can be padded with extra layers of foam, or the extra space can be used to store accessories like cables, and so on.

For instance, a certain degree of customization and improvisation is allowed when adapting a road case to fit a guitar or a keyboard amp.

On the other hand, guitars, basses might require more attention.

Several options are available, but undoubtedly, a Case & Gigbag combo might give you the ideal solution, considering that the touring artist could bring his (or her) precious musical instrument along without the need to drag the heavy instrument case. Leave that job for Willie & Bart the roadies.

Airlines Will Love You (and you back)!

There is a 50 Lbs (or less) limit allowed on commercial airlines for all checked in baggage. The extra comfort and protection of a gig-bag for your precious guitar (bass, electric, acoustic or hollow-body) will be definitely the  ideal protection.

Posted in: instrument cases.
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The Over The Tone Overtone

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Apr 14th, 2009
by Gabi.
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front_close1bAn amazing reproduction of the We-Know-What-Amp became now accessible for the amateur amp builder and guitar player in the persona of the Ceriatone Overtone Special chassis coupled with a matching super-customizable RME Overtone Head or 1×12″ Combo.

Pop a Celestion Heritage G12-65 speaker in that Bad Boy and you have yourself a killer guitar amp that can dare the tone of the one that inspired it!

Features

The amp features a Rock & Jazz Switch, FET & Standard Input, Deep-Bright Switches,  Clean & Lead switch, Tone Bypass switch.

Tone Impressions

The Overtone Special can sing like Santana, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton to name a few. Has rich full organic tone, capable of a great jazz sound by just flipping the Bright switch, plenty gain for overdrive, and as if that’s not enough,add an extra kick to your tone using the Preamp Bosst button on the footswitch.

Posted in: Amp Kits.
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Gabkits – The Kits Of Gab!

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Apr 13th, 2009
by Gabi.
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guitarandampLegend tells that if you have the gift of replacing a tire on your car (or bike, to follow the green trend), you can definitely – with a little help from your friends – build a killer guitar amp yourself, that has great potential to sound even better compared to some of the big names out there. No kidding! Read along…

Together with the boutique amp companies, and with the help of the Internet, there are myriads of online communities that discuss to the very detail certain types of guitar amps, so you will never ever run out of resources. And luckily so, there are many companies that offer guitar amplifier kits of all sorts at excellent prices that beat the best “hand wired” series of any big name, notorious amp company out there.

Why GabKits?

The only unfortunate dilemma that still exists for the novice guitar amp builder is matching certain type of guitar amp chassis kits with certain types of amp cabinets.

GabKits was set in motion to help amp builders like you to match some of the best guitar amp kits and guitar amp cabinets and speakers manufacturers that exist on the market today, without going through the pains of finding what fits what, or more painful than that, discovering that your chassis doesn’t fit the cabinet you just purchased.

So, stay tuned, there will be tips to be shared, announcements to be presented, resources and exciting product reviews to read. Now you have no excuse to join the club of thousands of guitar amp enthusiasts!

Posted in: Amp Cabinets, Amp Kits, Flight Cases, Pedal Boards, Various.
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