Lon if I remember correctly, Steve originated the EL34 MonoBlocks at your request.  I saw that you liked them, but I did not notice anyone else buying them.  Are you the only owner here on the bulletin board?

It is not the 34 Integrated, but as the monos do not have there own support forum, I did not know where else to post.

"It is definitely not true, to my knowledge, that I had any part in these amps coming to be."
Ahh!  I misunderstood or misremembered some of the discussions from back then.  

"I don't know of anyone active in the forum who has a set of these monoblocks."
That's what I thought.  This has always seemed strange to me.  But since you said they are noisier than the other amps, perhaps that explains it.  

"Neither the Monoblocks nor the SE34I.2 are in use right now, what a problem to have, right?"
You are definitely living the good life!

Well, it's a good life, but I'm starting to get fear creeping in. I'm about to start doing what is one of my top three things I fear to do:  go out and look for work. And I'll soon probably have to face the other two top fearful things to do and do them:  go to court (I need to do some probate stuff just for one CD my wife didn't add me as a beneficiary to) and go to the dentist (no immediate problem, but I've hid away from going for far too long and that means scalar cleaning, etc.).

Probably should start thinking about selling equipment I'm no longer using nor likely to use. But I don't enjoy selling . . . I also am beginning to not enjoy having equipment that is not being used that could be really giving joy.

But I really am enjoying stellar sound, the kind of sound I dreamed of having when I was a very young man.  Deep, satisfying sound. . . both in stereo playback and in instruments and their amplification.  And I have a very loving relationship with one of the most wonderful women I've ever known.  A great motorcycle as my only vehicle, one that I seem to appreciate more and more.  A nice little house (now with a new AC unit!) that is full of great books and recordings.  I dare not complain!

I have retired from state government, but at 54 I need to be doing more stufff than i'm doing, and I can't afford to do more stuff than I''m doing, etc. So I'm going back to work by the end of the year. I need the social aspects of work, need to get away from the internet, etc.

Thanks, I need luck. . . . I also need to come up with a clear notion of what type of job I want to do, etc.

Lon said:
"I don't enjoy selling"

No!  I can't let go of anything.  And the whole process & procedure of making a sale annoys me.

Hey Brian,

As I understand the term, the "motorcycle life" is often a way of life I've never really been a part of or likely to be. Many consider that the sort of "being a 1 percenter" that is portrayed in films and shows like "Sons of Anarchy" and not for me. . . . And if not this "outlaw" life, the other aspect of bar hopping on bikes, going to big biker events, etc. is one I've also never pursued.  I like riding motocycles a ton, but am not into "the life" at all.  I just have them as transportation and the bike itself and the act of riding as my entertainment and in a way meditation. (One really can get deep in one's thoughts as you put miles behind you hodling onto those bars and operating those controls).

But I know what you mean, and I think it would be cool if more persons were exposed to motorcycles when they were young. . . . it would be safer for all of us and some would get a different philosophy and technique of being on the road.

I love how you're just a part of the environment, smelling, hearing, feeling, seeing all around you.  You get hot, cold, wet, buffeted by the wind. You interact, engage, spread out from your innermost ego. And you get the sort of driving experience that sports car and hot rod and gran tourismo  or rally car drivers can, where you can melt into the zen of gear shifting and throttle control, your body takes over and your mind soars along in thought processes and manners it doesn't seem to in other ways.

I started off on off road bikes, and have about fourteen years of experience overall on street bikes, and after the first two years in Ohio, all the times i've had a bike I've NOT had a car, so I've had to bundle up, slap on rain gear, bungie chord bags and boxes, I've had to tailor my driving to two wheels and "man up" in some ways I don't think I would have otherwise.

I know and occasionally ride with a gentlemen who is 65 and started riding when he was 57, so it's never too late. We met a few years ago in a motorcycle safety class, he'd been riding five or six years without a licsnse.  He's a good rider, careful, mellow. . . . Those are the kind of riders I like to be around on the road.

In time it can get under your skin. I went without a car for ten years because. . . I just don't feel the same way about cars. My wife didn't want me to have a motorcycle, I didn't want her driving a car because she was the world's worst driver and prone to panic behind the wheel, so we set our lives up to use public transportation, the occasional cab, and a lot of walking this great neighborhood we've been a part of.  I really am enjoying my current bike, my first "new" one, the most powerful and stately one I've ever had.  June's trip of 3500 miles got me bonded to it in a way I hadn't yet the last few years; since then it's been hard to stay off it!

It's not for everyone, but it sure is for me.  If you can try it sometime, do.

I'm sure you would enjoy it. You've got the right setting for great rides. One of my biggest thrills (well, outside the bedroom at least!) the last few years was riding up and down the mountains in Virginia and Kentucky and Tennessee last month. Powering up and gliding down. . . it's just awesome.  I didn't even really "enjoy the scener" as I was concentrating on the driving and performance of the bike and the traffic around. I'd love to do that again very soon.

Getting a cycle is something you could plan for in the future.  I had one for the best twelve of my early adult life.  Then I did not have one for eighteen years, and I always thought of it, wanted one.  Now I can't imagine being without one.

Here is the styling I like, 1930s & 40s
http://www.rustyscustom.com.au/examples3.htm

I would like to build one like that using the S&S 93 inch Knucklehead replica motor.  
The leaf spring Indians have always appealed to me too. More the 1930s models than the twenties. When they changed to the fat tires and extra wide fender skirts in the forties, I lost interest.

That looks "nice" but it also looks very underpowered and unwieldy and uncomfortable for today's roads, speed limits and for my style of riding.

I can enjoy looking at old bikes but I really love the technology of today and its application to motorcycles.  Then again my needs are different: for long periods of my history and possibly into the future my motorcycles have been my only means of transportation and I enjoy long hours in the saddle. (I've been as much as fourteen hours on my bike in one day.)

:D  then you want a modern bike, with shocks fore and aft and a good seat.

Just drove to Dallas and back to see a friend of mine play tenor in a nice octet setting at a nice bar and grille. Was so much fun, and surprisingly the temperature dropped about fifteen degrees on the way home as a rain front had come through, but I only had a bit of drizzle.

It was a good three hours of jazz. My friend Jim Sangrey played some amazing tenor.  And there was a very nice vocalist, Sandra Kay, who sounded a lot like Dinah Washington.

It's so good to hear real instruments in the air. It's really the only standard to judge reproduced music, and it never hurts to be reacquainted with real sound when you spend as much time listening to reproduced sound as I do.