Doctor Don

[ram_g]

So for those of you who like to put a face to a name, the guy on the right there is Doctor Don himself, of Corvette Bose radio fame.

https://www.zr1.net/forum/picture.php?albumid=477&pictureid=4517

I live about 1.5 hours away so rather than ship my defunct amps to him I told him I would drive them up. He offered (and I happily accepted) to swap out the circuit boards for rebuilt ones while I waited, in effect doing a core swap.

He has a great little shop piled high with car stereo components of every description, mostly Bose/Delco but other brands as well - in fact he was working on a 1940s car radio that had vacuum tubes! While he was swapping out my circuit boards he talked nonstop about himself, the radios, coronavirus, world politics, and some other things. He came across as a standup guy, a bit eccentric and very passionate (the latter two could describe a lot of us, I suspect!).

I would go to him again in a heartbeat.

(Mods - I don't see many people faces here so if I am breaching some kind of etiquette please delete this post.)

[Ccmano]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
H
:cheers:

[Demps]

He has some of my money & referrals $s. Does great work. I sent him 16 amps & a CDM.... turned in a week.

Ted

[dredgeguy]

Dr Don is the best, rebuilt my head unit and added the aux input on the cassette side so I could plug in an XM radio. It is hidden in the center console so everything looks stock while sounding amazing.

[32valvesftw]

With the help of Steve at Crossed Flags performance, The Dr recently restored my whole system, it sounds great!

[boyking]

He previously repaired my Bose amps, and just last week he refurbished my CD player and tuner. He does nice work. Everything sounds great and works like it should. Fast turn-around too. Highly recommended.

John:usa:

[jss06c6]

Been with Don numerous times. He's the best I've seen! The systems he has repaired for me literally had what I would describe as "sparkling" sound. Extremely clean and bright.

Little known fact is that Don is also an accomplished musician and song writer. His "shop" is filled with lots of Marshall amps and stacks and recording gear.

Don's the real deal!

Sent from my SM-G950U using ZR-1 Net Registry mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=90383)

[GOLDCYLON]

Putting a name to a face is always great. :cheers:

[rush91]

Putting a name to a face is always great. :cheers:

Speaking of faces. I just noticed your avatar!!!! Sitting at my desk at work, Pepsi came flying out my nose!! I love the movie Aliens, that is hilarious.....

[PhillipsLT5]

Putting a name to a face is always great. :cheers:

Same here

[GOLDCYLON]

Speaking of faces. I just noticed your avatar!!!! Sitting at my desk at work, Pepsi came flying out my nose!! I love the movie Aliens, that is hilarious.....

I aim to please lol. Thanks :cheers:

[93RubyZ]

Thanks for sharing! I didn't realize he was in Texas. My radio has recentlly stopped working so will need to get repairs done. Of course I may elect to replace everythign with something newer and better, but that would of course change the look and with the exhaust note, sound quality isn't going to be great anyway.

P.S. Vacuum tubes? Seems like that wouldn't last very long in a car with all the vibrations, but in a home setting, they are great! I use vacuum tubes in my home system.

[ram_g]

Thanks for sharing! I didn't realize he was in Texas. My radio has recentlly stopped working so will need to get repairs done. Of course I may elect to replace everythign with something newer and better, but that would of course change the look and with the exhaust note, sound quality isn't going to be great anyway.


He is indeed in Huntsville TX, a bit north of Conroe on I-45. Easy enough to get to from the highway.

I considered replacing everything too, but I opted to keep the stock unit. It sounds fine. I use a Bluetooth FM transmitter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PHTNQSL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to listen to the music on my iPod - works perfectly alright and I don't need to mess with the CD or cassette functionality. Don will install a hardwired audio input jack to the head unit if you send that in - mine was working fine so I skipped that for now.


P.S. Vacuum tubes? Seems like that wouldn't last very long in a car with all the vibrations, but in a home setting, they are great! I use vacuum tubes in my home system.

Yeah I was skeptical too so I had to google it. Sure enough AM radios were quite common in cars by the late 1930s while the transistor was only invented in the mid 1950s. So evidently the early units must've used vacuum tubes.