Enjoyed the pictures Jeff 
The photo of your Usher 1.5 is 'naked' - Did you ever get the wood trim done, I remember Marvda1 telling me about it when we were listening to his.
Of course if it isn't you could now get it to match the Dodd battey pre... 
If it was, can we see?
Jim
Jim, the faceplate for the Usher Amp has yet to come to fruition.
Mike (Curly Woods) said he could and would make the faceplate for my Usher R-1.5 amp when I purchased the wood for the preamp from him. I bought a big enough chunk to accomodate both the preamp and the Usher face plate.
Mike had the metal face plate from my Usher amp for at least 3 months but never got around to completing the project and finally bowed out of it. I think he just has tooooooo much to do with his regular job plus the exotic wood business on the side.
When I picked up my preamp from Gary I told him that the face plate on the preamp he was giving me was not the wood that my wife picked out and purchased. Mine was supposed to be Big Leaf Quilted Maple, but what I got was Angled maple. Gary thought that Mike might have messed up my wood and substituted angled instead. After waiting almost a year I took what he had.
The angled maple looks great but it will not match the wood I have for the Usher face plate. Gary said not to worry. He would get his hands on some Big Leaf Quilted Maple and not only make new sides and a faceplate for my Dodd pre but he would also make the face plate for my Usher. Everything will be what Michelle picked out, Big Leaf Quilted maple. All is good!
Gary later called me and told me that Danny got my preamp face plate and I got his.
We both have the same configuration so we are going to swap preamps the next time he's in town.
This is important to both of us because Danny also purchased wood for his new Dodd power conditioner and 120 mono amps. The wood for those projects is ready and is also Angled maple. Once we make the swap Danny will have matching gear in Angled maple and Gary is going to make the the faceplate for the Usher amp from my leftover Big Leaf Quilted maple so I'll have matching gear as well.
I'll post some pictures once the dust settles.
By the way, I like this pre enough to wait another year if I had to.
And....we all live happily ever after.
