Sound Garage Tales

Where I show how I am attaching the EM80 Magic Eye tube to the inside of the Gabriel 1×12″ Stinger Combo. The hole I drill has a 1-3/8″ diameter using a Forstner bit. Then I am using a transparent plexi and a metallic shield screwed on the front valance.
The electrical connections are made via an octal tube socket connection on the side of the chassis. The electrical layout of the Magic Eye can be found here.

I thought this particular build (a Gabriel Stinger 7w Head with an Celestion AlNiCo Blue open back bottom) was worth of recording a video demo to keep for the records. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the way the Blue interacted with the Stinger. It is as if they were from the same movie.  The 100 dbs sensibility of the Blue helps making this Stinger rig pretty loud for it’s humble 7w power rating. Obviously what you hear is NOT what it sounds in reality since you really need to be in the room to get the full emotional vibe of the tone but you can get an idea. Sit back and enjoy! And of course please leave a comment!!

Stinger 7 review in Premiere Guitar Magazine

It somewhat a great way to start a day by waking up to news that your Gabriel 7 w amp got a stellar review in PREMIER GUITAR magazine. It’s a very concise and truthful review, fun to read and to the point. Make sure you listen to the recorded clips in there as well.

PREMIER GUITAR’s verdict:

“The Gabriel possesses a bluesy and rocking musical soul. Most everything there is to love about rock and roll is presented to you in this little combo—the irreverence, the fun, and the grit are all there for the taking. It won’t do super-saturated modern sounds, nor is it supposed to. But because it’s got the craftsmanship and essential musicality to compete with boutique amps at twice its price, the Stinger should be shortlisted if you’re hunting for a sweet low wattage screamer.”

Well, that cannot be worded better if you’ll ask me. So yes, indeed the Gabriel Stinger 7 got a well deserved exposure in the PREMIER GUITAR magazine which I might add that it is a publication I respect and you guys should subscribe to it!

Thought of making a quick video of this deliciously sounding Gabriel Stinger 7 watt with a Greenback G12 going to Glen. The 12″ gives a nicer more round bottom end. Enjoy!

This is what happens if you have too much coffee before building guitar amps! In a way, I wish this would be the case! I could build with the speed of one amp every 3 minutes or so!

The time lapse amp building video features me building a Gabriel Stinger 7 watt that’s now at Fat Tone Guitars. There were a total of 8.45 hours of amp building spread out in a span of 7 days (an hour or two of work every day). There were 3,657 shots taken at an interval of 7 seconds with a Nikon D40.

Leave a comment if you like coffee!!

Speakers

So I finally edited the video with the Gabriel Stinger 7 watt speaker shootout results. Quite impressive. Some performed as expected, some below and certain speakers were just outstanding! certainly I picked the one I liked but I am curious of your impressions. Please leave a comment below with the one(s) you liked.

Gabriel Stinger Rig

Played yesterday with the first Stinger Head and shot this video to have an idea of how wicked this amp sounds!! Drove it with a Gibson LP Standard, both pick-ups, and with a Weber Silver Ten speaker in the 1×10″ cabinet.

Eat your heart out, Jimmy Page!

With help from my buddy Peter, I narrowed down the speakers I’m going to try out with the 1×12 (or 1×10″) Gabriel Stinger 7 watt combo. For some mysterious reason I lean towards the 10 inch speaker configuration more than the 12 inch. The Stinger is a 7 watt single ended amp, and I assume it will  perform better through a 10 inch speaker because of the more focused sound dispersion characteristic. I suspect bass will also be more tight as compared to a 12 inch speaker. Here is a list and also a video update on the Stinger status. Hope you enjoy it!

Weber 10F150T (replacement for Jensen 10q)
Weber AlNiCo Signature 10
Weber 10A125
Webber AlNiCo Silver Ten (Silver Bell)
Webber AlNiCo 10V (paper or hempcone)
Webber AlNiCo 10VS (paper or hemp)
Celestion Greenback 10
Celestion AlNiCo Gold 10″

And of course I’ll have the 12″ counterparts available, like the Celestion G12H30, the AlNiCo Blue, and the Greenback G12M.

Later on I will post the results of this speaker shootout for the Stinger amp. Will post a video with the sound bites also and let you guys vote for the best speaker!

I am curious to hear if you have a specific speaker in mind that you would suggest testing the Stinger with! Please leave a comment below!

It’s official!  The latest amp project I’ve been working on–a single-ended 7-watt switchable EL84 and 6V6 tube–has a name now, thanks to Matt LaPlaca, a Gabriel Sound Garage Facebook fan: The STINGER! I chose that name because it describes its character the best. . . and it fits into the Gabriel Sound Garage beehive family just perfectly!

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