Hey guys, I am having my very first boutique amp built. Jim at Li'l Dawg amps is building me a 6G14 amp head. I would like to say his customer service so far has been excellent, among the best I have ever received (in any field).

I will post some pics and specs throughout the process. Any suggestions or feedback is more than welcome. Peter Mather is building the cab, which will compliment the 1x15 extension cab he just shipped me. Sandy at Precision Design is making me the faceplate. Here are some tech specs below:

Li'l Dawg 6G14 Showman chassis (Mojotone Twin Reverb chassis)

Mercury Magnetics Showman 4/8/16Ω multi-tap transformer set (FBLS-P, FBLNDSH-OM, FC-SHOW)

Sprague Atoms power filter & cathode bypass cap upgrade
SoZo Blue Molded coupling cap upgrade

Tube set of new JJs (4 6L6GC, 6 12AX7)

Red Fender style pilot light

Cream/white Fender style barrel knobs

Normal & vibrato channels with both hi & lo gain inputs

2 1/4" parallel speaker jacks (main & extension)

External bias tap points & adjustment pot

That is a list of some of the parts he is using (tried to highlight in bold, not working for some reason). A lot of this technical stuff is Greek to me, but I believe we are using some high quality components. Let me know what you guys think!

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Last edited: Sep 20, 2021 16:00:32

Ah, I forgot about lil dawg amps. I’ve heard good things about them. That amp sounds like it will very nice and very loud.

-Eric

New music!
https://thedesolatecoast.bandcamp.com/releases
Spotify

Also:
https://theverb.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theverbseattle/

You’re gonna LOVE it!

Daniel Deathtide

The 6G14 is coming along nicely. Jim at Li'l Dawg Amps has been incredible, and his communication skills are a 10/10. Sandy at Precision did the faceplate and backplate for me, and they look great. She is very customer friendly as well.

I have attached some photos for you guys to see how things are coming along. Two small things I want to point out. The resolution of the photos is not great, but you can still clearly see the build. Also, because of my goof up on the dimensions, the length of the back plate is too short (you can see where Jim tried to cover the hole with aluminum tape for me).

I am paying Sandy to remake it a little wider, so it will look nice and flush. I know I am being picky, but I want it to look right. So far, I am very happy with the work being done. I have already received my 1x15 cab from Peter Mather, and installed the 175 watt Weber California. The cab for the head should be ready in about a month. I'm getting very excited!

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Last edited: Oct 04, 2021 20:00:57

Hi guys, I just wanted to give an update concerning my new amp. I received the amp and cabinet on Monday of last week. After a late night struggle getting the chassis in the cabinet, I was able to test the amp out the next morning.

Before I get into how the amp sounds, let me talk about the head cabinet by Peter Mather. It was definitely taller than I was expecting. I would have preferred it to be the actual size of a vintage Showman head, even though we used a Mojotone Twin Reverb chassis. Also, I wasn't expecting there to be vents in the front panel, but I understand why he did it (tubes get extremely hot). Other than that, both the speaker cab and head cab were very well made, and are very solid.

Now, for how the amp itself sounds. When I first plugged it in, I tested it without reverb. It sounded nice, but it didn't sound like I had imagined it in my head. I then plugged in my 6G15 Fender tank, and the world changed...

The amp absolutely blew me away! It was the tone that I had been chasing for years. It was the sound of the the old surf records from the early 60's, specifically Dick Dale. I could not put down my guitar, I played before work, I played after work.

Honestly, it sounded exactly the way I had hoped and imagined it would. The most obvious difference is in the mids, especially on the lower part of the neck. But everything was different, it sounded nothing like a blackface amp.

I always thought Dick Dale was doing something magical, something that the average guitar player could never achieve. I now have that beautiful, unobtainable tone. Seriously, I can't stress enough how Jim at Li'l Dawg amps perfected this amp and tone for me.

I give the amp a 10/10, and will never be able to go back to playing blackface or silverface amps again. In fact, I have already put my '65 Bandmaster, and 1x12 cab up for sale. Another thing I should mention, the amp is excruciatingly loud on the normal channel (slot 1). The tremolo channel is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with the amp that Jim built me. Also, his customer service is some of the best I have ever experienced, in any industry. He promptly responded to all of my emails and phone calls (even one or two that were after hours). He would send me photos throughout the build, showing the progress of the amp. If you're reading this, thank you Jim!

I also want to thank all the forum members who helped me along the way (special shout out to DeathTide and synchro), and gave me advice about what circuit to get, etc... Also, thanks to kick_the_reverb for telling me to make sure the length of the ext cab is 28" wide. I have attached some photos of the amp below, and will get some sound clips up soon. Keep on surfin' everybody!

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Last edited: Nov 07, 2021 22:19:25

Looks awesome and I can totally relate to that feeling when the first few notes come through. Mesmerizing is a great word for it! And I agree it changed everything. I have two 1964 Showman that I never touch now.

My 6g14 that was built by Carl’s also has a slightly taller cab than an original, but it’s okay. It used to bug me but doesn’t now. I kind of like that it’s not the same as the originals. More room to cool them toobz! Is yours 4x 5881?

So here’s a tip - if you ever want to just throw some clean tone in, you can use a pedal like the Radial Bigshot ABY pedal. You’ll need to phase switch one input and that pedal uses a transformer so it’s passive. I used to use a buffer pedal with a phase switch, but the Bigshot sounds way way better to me. It’s a $90 pedal so not too crazy to try out. Honestly the buffer sounded awful compared to the passive “tone-sucking” pedal haha!

Dan

Daniel Deathtide

That looks fantastic! Congratulations! Have you gotten to turn it up yet?

-Eric

New music!
https://thedesolatecoast.bandcamp.com/releases
Spotify

Also:
https://theverb.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theverbseattle/

Unless you're planning to blow thst single JBL, I strongly recommend you don't crank the amp to 8.

Ran

SixStringSurfer wrote:

Thank you for the comments, everybody. It has six JJ ECC83S tubes, and four JJ 6L6GC tubes. DeathTide, thanks for the tip about the Bigshot pedal. I have briefly turned it up at home, but I have not had a chance to really crank it to 7.5-8 at band practice yet. I am looking forward to that!

The Scimitars

I know this sounds crazy, but I hooked my Brownfacer pedal up to my 6G14 amp. You know what, I actually liked it! Seriously, has anyone else tried this. Like others have said, it makes it a little dirtier, and slightly more aggressive. To my ears, it also adds a bit of a boost.

Anyway, I will not use it every time I play, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the tone. I would love to hear if anyone else has tried this.

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

That really made me chuckle .

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.