A battle of the Larrys

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Amp makers that demanded wire transfer payment (balance due, not the initial deposit) to their Step-Daughter's RUSSIAN bank account in order to evade the German tax authorities: Larry Grohmann of Larry amplification. Amp makers that then sabotaged that very same product with circuit destroying epoxy resin: Larry Grohmann of Larry amplification.

Yes, I felt your pain - really!
But I hadn't felt that your pain was so great
😨


And someone like that accuses me of being 'childish' :giggle:
Look in the mirror if you want to see a childish old man!
 
In addition, it is not possible to copy a Dumble sound.
Without trying to stir the pot with all the other back and forths going on in this thread, I'm actually curious why an amp-builder who has knowledge of amp circuitry would say this?

Did Howard Dumble use some -now- unobtanium parts?
I mean, I'm sure the guy was good and all, but at the end of the day, it's still electronics, right? Not 'actual magic'? But something that could possibly be reverse-engineered...
 
$540 CAN is probably a few weeks worth of cigarettes to you.
I’m more concerned with how may packs of cigs my amps smoked. At 10 to 12 cigs a day (probably a gross underestimate) considering how long it takes for him to build an amp, and the rest of the time he’s probably smoking with the components just sitting there in the room with him, I’m sure that really bodes well for the longevity of the components.
 
Without trying to stir the pot with all the other back and forths going on in this thread, I'm actually curious why an amp-builder who has knowledge of amp circuitry would say this?

Did Howard Dumble use some -now- unobtanium parts?
I mean, I'm sure the guy was good and all, but at the end of the day, it's still electronics, right? Not 'actual magic'? But something that could possibly be reverse-engineered...
They don't make crystal lattice like they used to
 
How do you come to these beliefs?
- didn't you get your Jon Schaffer Signature preamp in 2011?
- did you not get your Dino 939 in 2016 either?

(By the way, the best sounding Dino's ever (rev 2.8) and actually sound even better than the best sounding Dino of Jon Schaffer's 5 Dino's)

- or did your crystal ball tell you that? Then you'd better take it to customer service!

Let me remind you: My name is not Mark, my name is Larry 😉

So far, EVERYONE has gotten their amp from me - and that won't change in the future.

There is also a reason why I now stated my previously (admittedly) overly optimistic delivery time of 18 months or 2 years as 4 years, not only because of the additional flood of new orders - and now specify 4 years & 6 months.

Btw: Thank you very much, my dear Disfigured, for spreading new rumors!
I always knew it: You and your beliefs are irreplaceable :cheers:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about the fears and rumors of the raunchers and grumblers who fear that I might no longer be able to deliver my last orders due to my premature death due to my age and the long delivery times:

I just have to laugh about something like that and I'll tell you why, because I'll definitely be building amps for another 12 to 15 years and, despite my slightly advanced age, I won't die until 25 years at the earliest - unless accidentally a F35 drops on my head, or I'll sign up as a mercenary on the Russian-Ukrainian war front:

I live and eat absolutely healthily, eat exclusively organic or Demeter products and hardly eat any meat. I also completely avoid sugar and white flour in my diet and do about 2 hours of exercise 2 to 3 times a week. In addition, there are frequent brisk walks lasting up to 3 hours.
Moreover - I don't drink any alcohol and don't consume any drugs with the exception of 10 to 12 cigarettes a day.

I'm not overweight (BMI = 24.4), have a blood pressure like a teenager (average 130/85), no heart problems, no diabetes - and I'm not impotent (I'm not allowed to become either, otherwise my teenage girlfriend will run away from me :D)

In addition, I constantly supply myself with plenty of high-quality nutritional supplements. To name just a few examples:
Vitamin D3/K2MK7
Vitamin C from acerola cherry & magnesium citrate
Vitamin B complex & extra vitamin B12
Omega 3 fatty acids (from algae, not fish)
Zeolite, taurine, MSM (organic sulfur)
Selenium, boron, glutathione, R-alpha lipoic acid
Nattokinase, Astaxanthin, Coenzyme Q10
and some more...
And of course I have my blood values checked every 3 months to avoid overdosing on one of these substances.

Some more facts*:

Last summer I went to a pulmonologist to have my lungs checked because of my cigarette use. The results:
- My lung volume is 94% of an average non-smoker's of my body weight
- My lung capacity is 91% of an average non-smoker of my body weight and age
- There are no signs of possible onset of lung cancer
And all this despite the fact that I have been a smoker for almost 50 years.
Apparently God blessed me with good genes?

Three months ago I went to an orthopedist to have my bone density measured. The results:
- My spine has a bone density of that of an average 35 year old
- My thigh bones and pelvis have the bone density of an average 28 year old
The orthopedist finally said that I would never have to repeat this examination again for the rest of my life, as good as my bone density is - and I wouldn't have to worry about breaking my femur neck or anything like that if I fell down the stairs.

Otherwise, I'm in perfect health and don't need any medication for or against anything.

(*) Since everyone can say a lot about himself, but others who are far away cannot verify this, I tell you that I can prove all of this through research reports.
But not in the way that I post these documents publicly here in the forum...
... but by sending these for example to alund (he is a doctor/surgeon) - and he could then confirm what I had said here :giggle:

So tell me again that someone has to worry about not getting his amp anymore because I might die prematurely 😄
In fact, I would be very surprised if I didn't live to see the year 2050 or even 2055 :cool:
That's funny, because, at least five times, during the 18 months wait for my Dino and four years waiting for my British Purist, you have used your poor health as an excuse to keep delaying the delivery. You even mentioned multiple times you had ended up in the hospital for weeks, and that was one of the reasons why you was so behind your amp delivery dates. You even sent me a picture of your crashed BMW, and said it happened while you blacked out while driving, due to your high blood pressure and poor eye site?
Why is your health so shitty when asked about the delivery delays, which are the worst in amp making history, but you insist in saying you're the healthiest guy on earth, when you try to calm down people that you took their money and get more deposits from more clients?
 
That's funny, because, at least five times, during the 18 months wait for my Dino and four years waiting for my British Purist, you have used your poor health as an excuse to keep delaying the delivery. You even mentioned multiple times you had ended up in the hospital for weeks, and that was one of the reasons why you was so behind your amp delivery dates. You even sent me a picture of your crashed BMW, and said it happened while you blacked out while driving, due to your high blood pressure and poor eye site?
Why is your health so shitty when asked about the delivery delays, which are the worst in amp making history, but you insist in saying you're the healthiest guy on earth, when you try to calm down people that you took their money and get more deposits from more clients?
Again, for good measure! I dare you Larry to answer that.
 
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Without trying to stir the pot with all the other back and forths going on in this thread, I'm actually curious why an amp-builder who has knowledge of amp circuitry would say this?

Did Howard Dumble use some -now- unobtanium parts?
I mean, I'm sure the guy was good and all, but at the end of the day, it's still electronics, right? Not 'actual magic'? But something that could possibly be reverse-engineered...
In the post where he said that he linked an earlier post where he said:
Or let me illustrate it with another example:
During my now 36-year career as an amp designer, I had 7 different original Dumble amps in my house - and I had all colors of Dumble clones in my house, also well-known brands like Two-Rock, Van Weelden, Bludotone, Fuchs, aso.
Believe it or not, but none of these all (with the exception of the Bludo) could touch an orig. Dumble soundwise
So the Bludo apparently was close enough. And many of those guys did “reverse-engineer” at least one Dumble but still didn’t measure up. I don’t know if Larry built/sold any Dumble clones but I guess I’d be surprised if he didn’t built it at least once just to try it.

But he did/does build Trainwreck clones inspired amps, the Wrecky 35 for one. Another legendary/heirloom brand that apparently is difficult to replicate.

I’m glad I love Marshalls, those are easy to clone. :ROFLMAO:
 
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This is why I want Larry banned from the board. Any thread about him never goes anywhere. There’s never any resolution or reconciliation. I think it’s clear he’s not a reputable person. Just get him out of here already…
 
This is why I want Larry banned from the board. Any thread about him never goes anywhere. There’s never any resolution or reconciliation. I think it’s clear he’s not a reputable person. Just get him out of here already…
Not true. Disfigured got his 440 Euro back after a 5 year battle. That gives me hope. And not to mention the other RT members here currently waiting for amps. It would be a disservice to them if Larry was banned.
 
Without trying to stir the pot with all the other back and forths going on in this thread, I'm actually curious why an amp-builder who has knowledge of amp circuitry would say this?

Did Howard Dumble use some -now- unobtanium parts?
I mean, I'm sure the guy was good and all, but at the end of the day, it's still electronics, right? Not 'actual magic'? But something that could possibly be reverse-engineered...

No, he used commercially available components, not even NOS components, like I sometimes do.

I also had Dumbles in the house where he had installed Fender (Schumacher) transformers and not his own.

He also hadn't used purple colored cables that are bent during the full moon, which are supposed to keep werewolves away 😆

But there's something else that many even well-known amp designers either don't know or simply ignore because they think it's insignificant anyway.

It is the countless electromagnetic fields inside high-resistance tube circuits that can influence each other both positively and negatively - and in order to take this into account, you not only have to know which component is more of a transmitter and which is more of a receiver. The same applies to all cables inside the amp...

... so you not only have to know how to arrange the components on the board according to the existing circuit diagram and at what distances from each other, but you also have to know how to optimally design the lead dress in order to achieve your desired result - even when some cables may appear ugly or unprofessional due to their routing.

You won't find these insights in any of the numerous books about 'building tube amps' that have now been published, instead, it's a sweaty and a long 'trial and error' phase until you understand how things work 😉

HAD got it, Ken Fisher got it, and only very very few of other amp designers got it yet :cool:
 
In the post where he said that he linked an earlier post where he said:

So the Bludo apparently was close enough. And many of those guys did “reverse-engineer” at least one Dumble but still didn’t measure up. I don’t know if Larry built any Dumble clones but he did/does build Trainwreck clones inspired amps. Another legendary/heirloom brand that apparently is difficult to replicate.
Well, I did read that post, but I read it in a 'all the guys that tried so far failed'...but to have an amp builder say 'it can't be done'...well, that tickles my engineering fancy, because then I wonder 'okay...but why not then?'

FYI, it's not a sound I'm chasing at all... I had some pedals in the past that were suggested to be in that low gain break-up, smooth realm, but I didn't really care for it.
I recently built a PedalPCB Thermionic Deluxe (Friedman BE-OD Deluxe clone) and I haven't enjoyed a 9V distortion pedal that much since...ever.
And for awhile I owned the original Friedman pedal, so I could compare the two; really close, but I had to substitute 2 caps, because of size constraints, resulting that my version has slightly thicker/rounder mids than the Friedman. Otherwise, same gain character, same low level of noise, etc.
 
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This is why I want Larry banned from the board. Any thread about him never goes anywhere. There’s never any resolution or reconciliation. I think it’s clear he’s not a reputable person. Just get him out of here already…
Proven time and time again he’s not reputable, not willing to reconcile, still collecting deposits from customers, posting misleading wait times and making secret deals to jump the line. Falsely threatening legal suits for things to which he clearly has no legal standing. And now add to that, with the NATAS fiasco that he is too much of a complete pussy to answer to, it looks like he intentionally defamed another amp builder and lied about having proof, misleading the entire rig-talk community.
I mean the list goes on and on.

He needs to compensate Thegame, maybe start refunding deposits. Once customers start not getting amps at their deadlines and he ghosts them, maybe they can join Thegame and start a class action lawsuit against him. He says he has a lot of money, and I know he has a lot of NOS tubes. Get him before he moves to Siberia.

Or…
He can do the right thing, get his shit in order, make things right with everyone now, post an apology for misleading everyone, and self-ban.

Who am I kidding?! The malignant narcissist will never admit that he did anything wrong.
 
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Ok, I think I figured it out (kind of obvious, really) :
















View attachment 296921

And I do apologize, as it seems that your headstone has been further defaced by these damn taggers. I will get to the bottom of who's behind this vandalism. Perhaps it's the same group of people who keep breaking into Anomaly's place.
I don’t think my shits are small enough to go down that drain, a few trips to Taco Bell should do the trick.
 
Hilariously waiting for the inevitable Larry quote, "as a result of this libelous thread, I still received 5 new orders. Orders which I'm currently not accepting but actually accepting. You see, my closed wait list grows by 3 months every time I mention it, even though it's closed". Just like last time and the time before that.
 
I’m glad I love Marshalls, those are easy to clone. :ROFLMAO:

No, not correct.
Even many orig. Marshall amps especially from during the 70' and 80' have driver stage & power stage oscillating due to a suboptimal lead dress.
The reason, why some of them are so much bity trebly w/o balls and others from the same ear are juicy and punchy.
I've had already uncounted old Marshalls on my bench only for optimizing the lead dress, no mod.
 
In the post where he said that he linked an earlier post where he said:

But he did/does build Trainwreck clones inspired amps, the Wrecky 35 for one. Another legendary/heirloom brand that apparently is difficult to replicate.

Yes, after Ken Fisher (RIP) had passed away long ago and nobody could build a comparable clone.
But I didn't adorn myself with someone else's feathers, instead I published the following:

Wrecky 35

Housed in a stylish case made of sublime highly flamed maple this tiny gadget offers a great diversity of superior guitar tones hardly imaginable when considering its modest appearance and the use of only five potentiometers and a single 3-way toggle switch.

Contrary to all my other creations the design and circuit of this amplifier is not my own brainchild but a tribute to the late and great Ken Fisher who tragically succumbed to his fatal illness way too early in his live.

However, this amplifier is not another clone like many others being offered but a true tribute to the now legendary TRAINWRECK EXPRESS AMP by Mr. Ken Fisher, who has built approximately a mere seventy units extending over several years if not decades delivered to his customers with lead times up to four years due to his illness and inability to work on his amps. As a consequence, these amps cost in excess of fifty grand or even more on the second-hand market!

There are numerous schematics and layouts of the original Express design floating around the worldwide web consequently leading to this amplifier being one of the most popular DIY-projects of hobbyists around the globe rivaled in popularity only by the likewise legendary Dumble Overdrive Special. However, all of the schematics available to the public are not completely faithful to Ken’s original design.

Those who may wonder why I boldly step forward and call my version a tribute rather than a mere clone must know that this statement is based on the fortunate coincidence of getting in touch with an individual who not only owns one but two of these legendary amplifiers and who was kind enough to send me countless hi-resolution pictures of the amp’s guts and shared even more precious knowledge virtually unobtainable to the public.

The manufacturer of Ken’s own transformers agreed in crafting several sets of trannies matching the exact specifications of the original Trainwreck specimen meaning that the heart and soul of any tube amplifier (the transformers that is) is virtually identical to Ken’s own versions. Moreover, the tube complement comprises a set of those tubes originally preferred by Ken (NOS Tungsram ECC83 preamp tubes and NOS RFT EL34 power tubes)! All in all, I guarantee a perfect replication of the tone that otherwise can only be obtained by a real Trainwreck amplifier.

But be warned, this amp is not for those who are so used to getting their tones from channel-switching amplifiers no longer being able to use the guitar’s volume control in order to obtain many tonal variations just like the ancestors of electric guitar playing did back in the day. On the other hand, this amp might be a dream for those who have preserved this somewhat forgotten art. They will be able to conjure up anything from several shades of clean to serious crunch to searing overdrive just by correctly dialing in their guitar’s volume control. There is no need for channel switching or foot controllers of any kind when using a “Wrecky 35”. By the way, you won’t need any kind of “treble bleed” circuit in your guitar either. It all works without one due to the amp’s shining but never obtrusive and always perfectly balanced treble. There is probably no second amp offering this kind of touch sensitivity reacting to even the subtlest movement of the volume control and slightest variation in pick attack.

The amplifier’s fundamental tone is very woody and unmistakably “British” when using a set of EL34 tubes. But it simply requires re-biasing the circuit (using the internal adjustment pot) in order to enjoy the bluesy sweetness of 6V6 valves. This way, the amp’s output comes down from a stout 35 watts to 20 watts probably being even more akin to the blues player’s taste.

Posthumously, I would like to express my deepest respect and sincere gratitude to Mr. Ken Fisher for providing us with his rather simple but nevertheless ingenious concept in circuitry true to the slogan “As many components as necessary but as few as possible!”

I sincerely hope that my “Wrecky 35” lives up to Ken’s legacy. Unfortunately, I cannot ask for permission in paying tribute to him by offering my own Trainwreck-style amplifier but I strongly believe that Ken has a smile on his face and takes a little pride in his own work when he is looking down on my tribute amplifier from somewhere high above.

Larry
 

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