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Tag: John Deacon

How to Identify and Collect Authentic Queen Band Member Autographs

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In 2009 I unwittingly bought what was very likely a fake item (an LP album cover autographed by all four members of Queen) from a reputable high street dealer of signed memorabilia in a popular U.K. tourist destination. After I had sought specialist advice from a knowledgeable collector and challenged the retailer, he accepted the item back and refunded my money in full.

Since then I have acquired a number of items signed by Brian May from official sources: Barry Moorhouse at Brian May Guitars, an in person meet and greet at the SSE Hydro arena in December 2017 and direct from his equipment technician, Pete Malandrone via charity auction at an enthusiast meet.

My YouTube content for January is a brief video lasting less than five minutes which aims to provide some insights and tips on how to identify and obtain authentic items signed by the Queen band members, Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.

Some of the content has caption credits in video (thanks to Jamie Rail, Shawn Leaver and Brian May via Instagram). I have extracted clips from other YouTube channel content under the fair usage policy. Photographs of signed Queen memorabilia also came from the following sources:

Queen Fan Store (eBay)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/queenfanstores

Queen Museum
https://queenmuseum.com/

First Class Memorabilia
https://firstclassmemorabilia.com/

#BrianMay #FreddieMercury #RogerTaylor #JohnDeacon

Supreme Queen Tribute Band Full Concert

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Supreme Queen tribute band guitarist Luke Timmins invited me to attend their concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow, Scotland on 30 September 2023 and back stage to film their set-up and sound checks. I was able to take advantage of empty gallery seats immediately overlooking the stage on the band’s left (right from the audience’s perspective) to film the band close up. Check out the video below which is 1h 46m in duration; each song is time indexed from the description.

The set list plus additional information and links can be found here:
https://dsgb.net/events/supremequeen/

Supreme Queen Tribute Band – Behind The Scenes

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Billed as “a concert through time and space” and a “dazzling tribute”, let me welcome you ladies and gentlemen behind the scenes at the Supreme Queen tribute band concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow in Scotland on Saturday, 30 September 2023. I cover band set-up, full song sound checks and some concert footage is included.

Supreme Queen are Scott Maley as Freddie Mercury on lead vocal, Luke Timmins as Brian May on lead guitar, Allan Brown as Roger Taylor on percussion, Alan Wallbanks as John Deacon on bass guitar and Ben Marshall representing Spike Edney on keyboards. Check out their website for futher details about the band:

https://www.supremequeen.co.uk/

Crew technical support is provided by Blue Thunder Sound from Ivybridge in Devon: https://www.bluethundersound.co.uk/

Brian May Deacy Amplifier: Legendary Tones

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This brief follow-up video to my series on building a replica of Brian May’s legendary Deacy amplifier illustrates some of the tones you can get from it when paired with a Red Special guitar and suitable treble booster. Thanks to Ricky Peraza of Miami, FL for demonstrating my DIY Deacy and Luke Holwerda of Phoenix, AZ for recording the clips.

Brian May Deacy Amplifier Build Project Part 2 – Circuit Board Assembly

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In part two of a series of three videos about making a replica of Brian May’s legendary Deacy amplifier, I unbox the Knight Audio Technologies (KAT) custom kit of electronic components and assemble it, discussing the characteristics of key components such as the transformers as I progress. The video duration is 21 minutes.

Brian May Deacy Amplifier Build Project Part 1 – Introduction

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In part one of a series of three videos about making a replica of Brian May’s legendary Deacy amplifier, I briefly discuss the origins of the Deacy amp circuit (salvaged from a vintage transistor radio that John Deacon found in a London dumpster in 1971) and what Queen tracks Brian used it to record on. I then move on to talk about the new Knight Audio Technologies (KAT) amplifier board kit and the other component parts required including suitable vintage and modern woofer and tweeter loudspeakers and the cabinet itself. I finish by introducing the only official Deacy amplifier replica which was made by Knight Audio Technologies between 2011 and 2019.

Vox VBM-1 Brian May Special Amplifier

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Launched in 2003 and retailing at US$199/£149, the Vox VBM-1 Brian May Special amplifier remains a popular choice for guitarists seeking to replicate Brian May’s signature tones at low volumes and on a limited budget despite being discontinued in 2005. It was designed to fulfil a specific purpose: to replicate the distinctive sounds of the legendary Deacy amp. Check out my latest musical equipment section article on this unit:

https://dsgb.net/gear/vox_vbm-1/

Brian May Deacy Amp Replica

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Check out the third article in the musical equipment section of this website which covers the Brian May Deacy Amp replica made by Knight Audio Technologies (KAT):

https://dsgb.net/gear/deacyamp/

It contains the original pictures shown below, technical specifications for the amplifier, hyperlinks and four embedded YouTube videos, including Jamie Humphries‘ review for Guitar Interactive magazine and some demonstrations recorded by Martin Pitcher at the 2018 and 2019 Brian May Red Special enthusiast meets.