The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons

Host: The Fretboard Journal (Jason)
Episode 156: "A Hoop and a Stick"
Date: November 26, 2025
Guest: Jack Weston (Allman Brothers Band memorabilia expert, author)

Episode Overview

This special Thanksgiving episode dives deep into the restoration, history, and provenance of a legendary 1968 Allman Brothers Band amplifier, featuring vintage amp restorer Skip Simmons and Allmans equipment historian Jack Weston. The show blends classic tales of amp troubleshooting, deep Allman Brothers lore, community Q&A, and hearty talk on music collecting passions. As always, the podcast delivers warmth, humor, and invaluable technical wisdom for amp nerds and musicians.

Main Discussion & Key Segments

1. On the Bench: Amp Mishaps & Wisdom

[00:32–03:50]

• Skip shares a story about a 1961-62 Fender Brown Princeton with reversed input jacks and the wrong factory volume pot (250k instead of 1M), leading to a "not quite right" sound.
  • Skip: “Most people would never know what it should really sound like… Thank goodness it only took me maybe ten minutes and I didn’t start replacing tubes and recapping and a bunch of crap.” (01:29)
• Takeaway: Always diagnose thoroughly; don’t over-service; and know your amp’s intended circuit.
• Mini-lesson: On tweed Deluxes with “all the input jacks as the low one,” which can greatly affect amp character.

2. Introducing Jack Weston: Allman Brothers Aficionado

[05:56–15:38]

• Jack’s entry into Allman Brothers fandom traced back to hearing "Live at Fillmore East" in 1971.
• His story arcs from tape trading in the 1980s, to connections with the band’s road crew and archivist, to co-authoring The Allman Brothers Band Classic Memorabilia 1969-1976 with Willie Perkins.
• The saga of acquiring a beat-up 1968 Silverface Fender Bassman believed to be the band’s, and the challenges verifying its provenance.

Jack [06:25]: “Just an infusion of blues, rock, country, a little bit of folk...so unique. It’s almost like its own genre.”

3. The Allman Brothers’ 1968 Bassman: A Tale of Restoration and Provenance

[11:05–20:43]

Restoration Journey

• Amp was non-functional, with a disintegrating cabinet when Jack acquired it.
• He tasked Skip with a “historical restoration,” carefully retaining original parts/sleeves.
  • Skip: “All I added was to be very, very, very loath to change anything we didn’t have to.” (42:23)
• Challenges included missing hardware and the theft/misplacing of the original “Lipham Music” badge (amplifier retailer’s custom badge).

Provenance Confirmed

• The Big House Museum matched the amp’s serial to original Lipham Music Company sales invoices, confirming it as an original 1969 Allman Brothers Band purchase.
• Emotional moment: the band’s gear was often fronted by Buster Lipham out of support for the fledgling group.
  • Jack [16:53]: "He advanced the band for almost a full year, free of charge, no interest, nothing, gear so they could get their feet moving... he’s actually on the credits on the Fillmore album."

The Elusive Badge: A Collector’s Quest

• Jack recounts tracking down a replacement Lipham badge—after being told “the odds you’ll find another one of those badges is one in a million” (Red Dog Campbell, founding Almonds roadie).
• Persistence pays off: Finds two through Florida Craigslist, finally securing a "perfect match drop-in replacement."
• Conclusion: The amp, now fully restored and verified, is an artifact for history, now displayed in prominent museums.

4. Collecting Allman Brothers Memorabilia (Checks, Gear & Stories)

[21:10–27:04]

• Jack’s collection includes a trove of band-signed checks—advance payments, rehab bills, home purchases, gig ledgers.
• Kirk West (Allmans road manager and Big House Museum founder) became an essential collaborator.
• The checks and ledgers offer a granular look at both the band’s business and personal lives.

Jack [25:32]: “There are checks that were made out by Willie Perkins to pay for The Allman Brothers Band going through drug rehabilitation…”

5. The History and Circuitry of the 1968 Bassman

[27:04–36:37]

• The amp was used by all three main Allman Brothers guitarists—Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, and Berry Oakley—on a wide array of classic guitars.
• Amplifier lore: After Marshall amps entered the fray, the Bassman ended up inscribed “Dick” (for Dickey Betts).
• Skip identifies it as an AB165 circuit (“blackface” or early “silverface”).
  • Skip [35:45]: “That's an era where you pretty much have to look inside the thing to know. You can't even trust the tube chart.”
  • He confirms the circuit as crucial for guitar tone (“I've always said is a fantastic guitar amp”).

6. Museum Life & Expanding the Exhibit

[36:38–38:31]

• The amplifier has been displayed at both The Big House Museum (Macon, GA) and the Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ).
• Jack aims to augment the exhibit with rare items like platinum records and signed photos, enriching the tapestry of the Allman Brothers story.

7. Audience Q&A: Gigs, Gear, and Allman Mysteries

[38:32–44:54]

• Listener Bruce from Orcas Island shares a photo and story of jamming on Duane Allman’s Goldtop at a 1970 college gig, seeking amp identification.
  • Jack: Most likely a 50w Marshall; “amazing gear...still comes out of the woodwork and hits the collector market.”
• Jack shares final thoughts on the book, available widely and possibly to be expanded in the future.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Skip [20:43]: "We call that passionate here... we celebrate that kind of dedication.”
• Jack [20:51]: “Okay, you're a weirdo or you need a hobby or...are you single? Right. No, we're—we celebrate that kind of dedication."
• Skip [86:42]: “If something seems really weird, it might be really weird... Call me.”
• Jason [45:56]: “Yeah, it's like Rashomon—everyone’s got a different perspective on stuff.”
• Skip [48:16]: “A million years ago, a kid would be excited because someone brought him a hoop and a stick that you rolled on the ground and hit with a stick.”

Community Letters & Q&A Highlights

Amp Safety & Repairs

• [52:58]: Skip gives advice regarding “Deathcap” amps & transformerless, two-prong amps:
  • “Don't play it barefoot on a concrete floor. Pay attention...don’t touch other amps when you’re playing that amp and you’ll be fine.”

Gear Value, Franken-amps, and “What do I do with this?”

• [80:41]: Bruce in Nashville asks what to do with a rare, heavy, but essentially unsellable (and unmovable) West Mini IR combo.
  • Skip: Suggestions include converting heavy combos to heads, parting out valuable transformers/tubes, or selling to deeply invested collectors.
  • "[Some things] are rare yet worthless… high quality but useless... what say ye, Skipper?"

Amp Technical Advice

• [56:45]: Fuse blowing at a gig—“Is it possible for a fuse to blow when there isn’t anything wrong with an amp?”
  • Skip: “Fuses blow when the amp is flipping out, but they can also blow when your wall voltage is flipping out, surging up and down. So the answer is yes.”
• [62:07]: Output transformer mismatches—prefer parallel wiring (“go down” in ohms if following Fender extension cabinet logic).

Listener Recipes & Traditions

• [66:55]: Brian from Vintage Tube Amplifiers shares his world-famous corn casserole (sour cream, Creamed corn, Jiffy mix—classic Midwestern comfort!)
• [101:33]: Jeff "The Shick" shares classic chili recipe; sincere seasoning talk ensues.

Deep Amp Geekery

• [70:41]: Russian tubes (“6N2P,” “6N6P”) and obscure tube amp builders: Skip asks for more info from global listeners.
• [73:03]: On guitar amps built from weird tape recorders and PA heads: “You might find that you can’t have long wires coming off a grid … without it causing all sorts of noise.”
• [75:25]: Golden Tone Amps of Australia: a listener shares a revival story—buying brand rights from a Facebook Marketplace post and hand-building amps true to originals.

Closing Thoughts

• The show ends in classic, meandering TAVA fashion, moving from amp minutiae to family musings, to safety warnings about old tractors, and lots of warm, community banter.
• Skip and Jason reflect on gratitude, tradition, and the vast, odd landscape of vintage gear.
• Jason [106:08]: “Well, Skip, we did it. Thanks to Jack, our special guest. Thank you, Skip. Thanks to all our listeners.”

Additional Noteworthy Timestamps

• The importance of the Lipham badge: [17:58–20:43]
• Jack’s provenance confirmed by The Big House Museum: [13:09–15:38]
• Discussion of Allman’s amp circuits & blackface/silverface differences: [35:45–36:37]
• Skip’s advice on restoration/excessive repair bills: [86:50–90:54]
• Classic chili recipe & PA powered speakers for harp: [98:32–105:08]

Where to Get the Book

The Allman Brothers Band: Classic Memorabilia 1969–1976

• Available on Amazon, at Mercer University Press (Macon, GA), Barnes & Noble, and other major booksellers.
• As Jack says: “It’s in plentiful supply out there, but it’s been out for 10 years. We sold a lot of copies.”

Final Thoughts & Tone

Friendly, at times irreverent, and always passionate, this episode is an ode to musicianship, obsessive restoration, and the communal love of vintage gear. It features troubleshooting gems, deep dives into provenance, and the perfectly oddball intersection of music, engineering, and story.

Recommended For:
Anyone who loves amps, the Allman Brothers Band legacy, music-history ephemera, or just good company around Thanksgiving.