 click | February 28, 1969: Photo of my first amplifier build; a Marshall 100 Watt Super Lead. No need for an amplifier cabinet, it was just plug and play. Photo taken at Fresno High School with my band King Sax. Mike Ferrell is on Hammond M-3. |
 click | May 21, 1972: Photo of my second amplifier build based on a Marshall 50 Watt Lead Amplifier. This was also my first attempt at making a cabinet in which to place and protect the amplifier. At the time, I was playing with a group called Sky West & Crooked and living in the East Bay (San Francisco/Oakland area). I added the name Sandrome Amplifiers to my second build. |
Fast forward to 1995. After about a half-dozen amplifier head builds, I started designing combo amps based on traditional Fender designs.
I have always built my own cabinets:
 click | From the mid-to-late 1990's: A Bassman combo, using a 1966 Fender Bassman head with a 12" speaker. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. This amp is currently owned by one of my former guitar students. |
 click | From the mid-to-late 1990's: A Bandmaster combo, using a 1966 Fender Bandmaster head with a 15" speaker. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. Custom brown 1-10 faceplated designed by Larry Rodgers. This amp was parted out and sold on ebay. |
 click | From the mid-to-late 1990's: A Custom Deluxe reverb, using a custom chassis, with with 2 x 10" speakers. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. Custom black 1-10 faceplated designed by Larry Rodgers. |
 click | From around 2002: A Vibroverb clone, using a Bandmaster Reverb chassis, with a JBL D130F orange frame speaker. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. Custom black faceplated designed by Larry Rodgers. Except for the JBL, this amp was parted out and sold privately. |
 click | From around 2005: A brownface Super Reverb, using a 1971 Bandmaster Reberb head with a standard complement of 4 x 10" speakers. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. Custom brown 1-10 faceplated designed by Larry Rodgers. The amplifier is currently owned by one of my guitar students. |
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 click | From around 2005: A 1966 Blackface Bandmaster head with a prototype slant dual 12" speaker cabinet. The cabinet is designed to project sound 90 degrees on axis with twin JBL K120s. The cabinet is constructed from finger jointed pine, oak ply baffle boards, and the Tolex is applied with hide glue, mixed 1:1 with water. The speaker cabinet was sold on 3-5-10 to my good buddy Noah at McNeil Music. Enjoy! |  click |
The Miserable Amp line from Bob's Tone Ranch
Around November 2008, I designed my own faceplate and started applying it to all my amplifier builds.
The name "Miserable" is from a running joke about amplifiers that my friends Kirk Poole and Michael Karagosian came up with around 1970.
The phrase "Bob's Tone Ranch" was coined in 2009 by Don and Noah, my good buddies at McNeil Music.
