Cheryl Tweedy Is A Bit Needy

But she never sued me. Honest she didn't.

In fact, I have an admission to make.
It’s about the Cheryl and Amy tone amps.

Nothing nefarious or dastardly, no lawyers’ letters or anything, but there is a reason why I haven't
really gotten around to making any recently, and basically it is because they were becoming a bit (and whisper this), they have *gulp* all the makings of a product.

I mean, they all look different and there are loads of different types of tins and cigar boxes around, but fundamentally, they were all the same under the hood, as it were.

Don't get me wrong, the insides of a guitar are pretty lo-tech as well, and I'm not breaking any records making the Leona's and Kylie's, but there is a bit more scope and less chance I'll get bored.

And if I'm really honest, they are more fun to make.
More of a challenge.
I feel achievement when I plug one in
and it works.

Sad I know, you'd have thought I'd have got such bobbins out of my system years ago
what with me climbing Everest and all.

Don't get me wrong, there will be more amps at some point, but it was all getting a bit easy and so, well, that doesn't appeal.
I like to struggle
and believe me flower
I do.
I really do.

And now..

Well, the Paisley One is there at last, and between tweaking it a wee bit and playing it a fair bit more, it has been quite nice to get to the end of that particular, err, 'journey'.

I am soooo very Generation Zzzzz.

But, that isn't the end of things and it is equally cute to get back on track with what I should have been doing in the first place, and building some amps and effects.

To set the ball-a-rolling then, I'm going to put together a couple of Sophie's and an Amy or two. Maybe even a Cheryl if I'm feeling adventurous. I'm also plotting something new for the Cigar Box Guitar on the horizon, which will be nice.

Oh, and there is also a little Pink Elephant or two that I've got to get my head around...next in fact, but more on that anon.

But it is late,
or early

it is all
about
perspex

nitey-nite

Doing what I'm meant to be doing

Well, I've got it all mapped out as far as the Paisley one is going, but today, I figured, it was about time that I put together one of our little amps for real.

I don't mean that we haven't built one at all so far, believe me there are loads around the place. No, what I mean to say is that it is time to bring everything together into one little box and put it up for sale.

It's kind of put up or shut up time, basically.

So, it may or may not surprise you that our first ever amp is going to be a Cheryl-tone, Amy will have to wait until next time.

It is also going to be built using a cigar box (lovely little wooden one that we've artificially aged using some cold tea, believe it or not) as opposed to a cigarette tin, again that will probably be next time.

And it will be all hand-wired and feature a bit of mood lighting for those cold winter evenings. The picture up there on the right is it working-in-progress like. Although it needs re-wiring. But you can't see that from where you re sitting.

So anyway, next time I will hopefully be introducing you to JGE#1, 'The Little Square One', our first ever Cheryl-tone amp.

Be interesting to see if anybody will want her..

Cheryl-Tone: Tweedy Amps

When we decided to build some Jooky little amps, we were very keen to make them a wee bit special. All of them would be hand-made, we knew that, and all of them would be unique in some way (and we’re not just talking about the serial number.)

They would all run from a 9V battery, come in stoopendously imaginative and interesting boxes or tins, and generally would be pretty swish and special and excellent. Some would have mood lighting, others would have mad effects or crazy paint jobs. Whatever, they were all going to be good and we couldn’t wait to make them.

Of course, there was also the slight issue of what they would sound like, and so we put our thinking caps on.

First things first, they would be quiet. Not very quiet, but use-at-home quiet. They would be practice amps, with the added bonus of being able to drive a speaker cabinet if you wanted to. But generally around the ½ to 1 watt vicinity.

Next, they had to have some kind of clean tone to them. We always loved Smokies, but it has always been tricky to clean the sound up, and to be honest, we think that it’s good to have options. We like the idea of something that you can get clean tones out of, but that will break-up when things get a bit hotter. And do you know what? I think we got where we wanted to be, and are totally proud of our first, little amp.

But how to describe it? 

Well, suffice to say that our Cheryl-Tone circuit goes (and goes) from a tweedy sound to something more glam, at a twizzle of a knob.

But then things can start to go wrong. A bit of pressure or attack and everything gets as dark as coal and she turns into a hissing and spitting fishwife harridan of a nightmare.

So whether twang is your thang or you prefer something wrong in a thong, we call it Cheryl-Tone and hope you will want to make the lasses’ acquaintance.