VAUGHN SKOW's blog

Best Replacement Speaker For Peavey Bandit

Okay tone friends, today we discuss one of the most humble and under-rated amps of all time.  In production for nearly 40-years, the Peavey Bandit is an amp you are VERY likely to run across in a pawn shop, used music store, or stage near you!  The amp has been through several cosmetic changes over the decades and has had slight circuit tweaks, but two things remained constant: 1) they ALL sound decent, and 2) They are ALL 1x12 combos.

What IS That Bright Cap Across The Volume Pot on A PRS For Anyway?

Hi guitar gang.  As you may know, I've became fairly well known for upgrading the pickups in PRS guitars; and I'd like to address one of the main questions that comes up when folks are replacing the pickups in their PRS.  The "Bright" cap!  First, what is it?  It's a small-value cap soldered across the first two lugs of your volume pot, Second, why is it there: to increase the brightness of the pickups.  Simple enough.  Let's dig in just a little deeper!

Best Way To Clean and Polish your Frets - Don't Use Steel Wool!

The Best Way To Clean and Polish Your Frets (Don't use Steel Wool!)

Post-Covid: How Much Should You Get Paid To Play Guitar?

Howdy Guitar Gang!  It's summer of 2021 as I pen this blog.  Like all of you, I have spent nearly TWO FREAKING YEARS without playing gigs.  That's like living without oxygen ... or food ... or water ... combined!  But yet, here we are, still somehow alive and the world is trying REALLY hard to get back to some sense of normalcy after Covid sent us all burrowing into our caves wearing face-masks, gloves, and being afraid of our friends, neighbors, family members, and maybe even the family pet.  It's been hard for everybody, but especially hard for those of us who make our living and/or get validation via getting out and playing shows.

4th of July 2021 - Live Music Is Back!

Holy cow y'all!  I think Live Music in the USA is back, and the old saying is Sooooo true:

"Ya don't know what you've got until it's gone!"

For musicians, man, has the last couple of years sucked ... big time! Getting out and making music with other humans is the zenith of what our world is all about.  Take THAT away and we all turn into sad blobs with eyes.  Okay, maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic, but not THAT much so!

But in the last few weeks (basically June through July 4th) I've played 12 live gigs, and boy does it feel freaking AWESOME!!!!!  So, folks, if you are not already, go out and celebrate this great country by getting some musical buddies together and make some darn music!

Taming the Fender Twin Reverb Amp: From Twin Reverb to Princeton Reverb!

Howdy guitar folks and welcome to 2021 and the "new normal" ... but this time we ain't talking at ALL about COVID-19 or lock-downs, or any of that crap ... we're talking about a trend that began a number of years back: SMALLER AMPS!  All throughout the 1950s through the 1980's amps just kept getting bigger and bigger and louder and louder.  But then it all began to change.  Thanks to readily available great PA systems and in-ear monitors, what everyone NOW desires are amps that can sound MASSIVE whilst putting out very little actual volume.  And so it is that vintage Fender Princeton and Deluxe Reverb Amps are VERY desirable and bring top dollar, but the "big dog" or the 1970's, the 100(+) watt Fender Twin Reverb is Waaaaaay under-valued.  Shoot, these days a

Post-Covid Live Music Playing Etiquette

Okay gang, last week I got all giddy about having (finally) gotten out and played a live show, my first since COVID-19 killed everything.  In that blog I carried on about how fun it was to get out and play, and when you look at the photos, you will notice that NOBODY is wearing masks.  That was at a redneck/army base club in the army town of Clarksville, TN.  Them "good-ole-boys ain't afraid of nuttin'!  But you may not be so lucky at every club so be prepared.  Especially in the big cities, lots of places will hold firm to the "must wear a mask" policy, and they might not feel at all comfortable with humans at a bar acting like ... humans at a bar!  \

2021: Time to Get Back Out and Play!

Howdy guitar gang!  Man, was 2020 a "B with an itch"!  and so far 2021 has not been much of an improvement.  If you're like me you've been asking yourself "when will the world be normal again", and as a guitar player "when can I get back out and PLAY LIVE GIGS again?  Right?  Well as I pen this blog in late April, the answer for me was last Friday. It was a fill in gig for the Swamp Monsters, a band I'd never heard of.  They played a lot of Zydeco/Creole and Tex/Mex tunes, many I'd never even heard before.  The bar allowed SMOKING, no kidding!  But ya know what?  It was AWESOME!  Yep, I came home smelling like an ashtray with beer spilled in it, and kinda had a hard time getting going the next day, but it was TOTALLY worth it! 

Best Replacement Speaker For Fender 68 Custom Twin Reverb Amp

Whew!  We made it.  This is the last installment on the series of speaker upgrades for Fender's awesome "drip-edge" Custom 1968 re-issue series of amps.  This blog will focus on the big daddy of the bunch the Twin Reverb.  This is a seriously cool amp, and I have some serious deja vu going on as I think about this amp ... because it is SO much like the amp I carried to hundreds of gigs in my first high-school band!

Best Replacement Speaker For Fender 68 Custom Pro Reverb Amp

Howdy gang!So this week we continue looking at the possibilities for improving the tone of the already awesome sounding "drip-edge" 1968 Fender re-issues.  If ya have not already, you might want to head over to my blogs on the 1968 Custom Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb.  This week we will look at the interesting 1968 Custom Pro Reverb.  Why do I call it "interesting"?  Well, because, while it is using the Pro Reverb moniker, the Pro has NEVER been in this configuration ever before!  So, same old name ... but a VERY different amp than any other Pro Reverb for sure! Let's talk about it!