tips from my friend Kris of KJ Audio
Amplification (a great local amp builder
from Minneapolis). Taking the advice
of both gentlemen and my following
my own inclination to open up every
single thing I acquire and mess around
with it, I got to work. Utilizing a rented
’59 Bassman for sound reference, I
socket nearly every component in a
dissected Box of Rock and kept trying
different caps, educated-guess values,
and tweaking trimmers until getting the
right sound. The ’59 Sound, if you will.
Hi, my name is Tommy Rehbein and I do
various tasks at Z. Vex Effects.
Many years ago when it was time to
procure a proper rock ‘n’ roll amp for
touring and recording as a young punk,
after going through a slew of different
rigs, it was with a Fender Bassman that
I fell in love. Everyone else was playing
Les Pauls with Marshalls. I was playing a
Rickenbacker with a Fender.
I set aside the prototype for Zack
to check out, thinking he might like
it enough to make a limited edition
dirtbox to sell through the website.
Turns out he dug it enough to add it
to the product line, which was a pretty
cool feeling. I also received a kind and
encouraging email from one of my
heroes, Nels Cline, who purchased one.
Wow, thanks! I am but a lowly tinkerer!
Seriously, though, such a privilege
getting to work on this pedal. Hope you
like it!
Z. Vex has a popular pedal called
the Box of Rock, which is based on
the Marshall JTM45. Knowing that
-----Tommy Rehbein
the JTM45 itself was inspired by the
Bassman, I’d wondered if it was possible
to work backward and modify the Box of
Rock to sound like a Bassman, too.
After approaching Zack with the idea,
we combed over some schematics
together and I also received a few
ToneReport.com
33