Obey Me!

[László]

I just said that for attention.

I don't really care if you obey me or not.

Now how about some nice discussion? The topic of this thread will now be changed to, "What's more exciting to you, a great guitar or a great amp?"

There are no right or wrong answers. Unless you say "a great guitar." In that case, you will be wrong, wrong wrong. Because a great amp is more exciting. What's that you say? You are more excited by a great guitar than a great amp?

Well, maybe you should obey me, then. Because I'm always right.

 

[veinbuster]

It never crossed my mind to think about it that way. For many years I got the best that I could afford that fit my budget and was always exciting. In the late 80s I bought a really good amp (Mesa Boogie Mark III) and didn't really look at amps much for 20 years. Getting it was exciting. Learning what it could do was exciting. Playing through it was inspiring. So on the amp side, the excitement lasted a long time.

When I could afford to have more than one nice guitar, it was exciting to fill gaps. CU22 was incredible quality. HBII gave my tonal qualities I'd always found appealing. The Archtop is still one of the best guitars you can't buy. Then I got a guitar that was good enough I pretty much stopped looking at guitars for 10 years. Now if I buy a guitar it is as much a form of artistic expression as anything else. I find that exciting.

So...I don't disagree, but for me the excitement is in what I can discover more than what it is.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Absolutely a great guitar will sound like crap without a good amp.So my vote good amp first

 

[JustRob]

I must believe somewhere deep inside it's the guitar. I keep buying them even though I keep telling myself my next purchase needs to be a nice amp.

 

[rugerpc]

My first reaction is that this is a chicken/egg question.

For electric guitars, the two are inseparable. And you need quality on both ends to get quality out.

 

[László]

For electric guitars, the two are inseparable. And you need quality on both ends to get quality out.

Well imagine Led Zep onstage. Page has his Hammer Of The Gods guitar. But he's playing it through a Roland Jazz Chorus.

Now imagine that Page is playing a Squier Hello Kitty guitar through his usual Marshalls or his Hiwatts.

Which rig will sound more like Zep's records when the concert starts?

 

[jfb]

Now imagine that Page is playing a Squier Hello Kitty guitar

He stole it from his girlfriend.

 

[tabl10s]

Well imagine Led Zep onstage. Page has his Hammer Of The Gods guitar. But he's playing it through a Roland Jazz Chorus.

Now imagine that Page is playing a Squier Hello Kitty guitar through his usual Marshalls or his Hiwatts.

Which rig will sound more like Zep's records when the concert starts?

As they say in the high-end audio world "it starts at the source".

 

[AP515]

I couldn't answer the question until I'd gotten at least one of each. Luckily I have and it's a fairly easy answer for me. I've played a poor guitar through a very poor amp. I've played a great guitar through that same poor amp, and I've later played the same great guitar through a great amp. There is no question for me, the amp trumps the guitar. The best guitar in the world sounds like crap through a bad amp.

 

[Egads]

I've gone back and forth. Most of my hunts have been for guitars. Once I had a couple guitars that I really loved, I started paying so much more attention to the amps. While I still lust after certain guitars, I spend way more time trying out amps and exploring the variety.

I do feel that the amp (and cab) have the biggest impact on the final sound. Guitars make better gear porn, though!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Well imagine Led Zep onstage. Page has his Hammer Of The Gods guitar. But he's playing it through a Roland Jazz Chorus.

Now imagine that Page is playing a Squier Hello Kitty guitar through his usual Marshalls or his Hiwatts.

Which rig will sound more like Zep's records when the concert starts?

Not even recorded through an amp.


I vote guitar all day, every day.

 

[aristotle]

Well, I'd say "great amp" of course. But I have to admit that my lowly S2 Vela sounds great through just about anything.

I have several guitars and amps. Lots of them are what I'd consider to be fantastic. Truth be told though, I think that I'd prefer the Vela through a DRRI with a couple of pedals as a general do-anything rig.

Then again, I've rekindled my love affair with my Signature Limited....but again, it sounds great through a DRRI and some pedals.

On the fourth hand, there is nothing like a Les Paul through the most excellent MDT.

Hell, I don't know. Gun to my head? I'd flip a coin....

 

[daveyisgreat]

I agree, chicken or egg. Great music potentially can be made with anything, I think. Although there is something visceral and awesome about a well-designed, well-built, great amp with its power tubes a-cookin'...

 

[PRSAK]

What’s the penalty for disobedience? Man, I’m the other side of this argument. A nice guitar has appeal to me on so many levels. I love the artistry and craftsmanship. I love the feel. I love the resonance. I love a look of beautiful wood grain. And then there is this: I can make music on an electric guitar with no amp at all. (Can’t go the other way.) In fact, I’d say 25% of my playing is unplugged on an electric. It’s just more comfortable to sit around and noodle on an electric than to find sitting space for the acoustic and it can still be really satisfying. So, for me, the guitar is where it starts. If I can’t get excited enough to translate my feelings to the fretboard, ain’t no amp in the world gonna make me sound good! How did Jack Nicholson put it to Helen Hunt in As Good as it Gets ?: “You make me want to be a better man.” Uh…yeah…something like that.

 

[veinbuster]

I can play my guitar without an amp.
With just an amp, I have someplace to sit.

 

[jfb]

I can play my guitar without an amp.
With just an amp, I have someplace to sit.

Maybe a space heater?!

 

[veinbuster]

Maybe a space heater?!

Good point.
Nothing like the boil of a good tube amp, or four.

 

[László]

Not even recorded through an amp.

The example posited was for a live show. Get yer monkey wrench out of the works here.

But that was recorded with a Hello Kitty Squier. So there's that.

And certainly not recorded through a Roland Jazz Chorus, though the Roland is a cool amp under the right circumstances, IMHO.

 

[László]

As they say in the high-end audio world "it starts at the source".

So you're saying that the LP through the Jazz Chorus would sound more like a Led Zep record than the Hello Kitty through the Marshall or Hiwatt rig then...?

 

[László]

I dunno guys, I have two Private Stock PRS electric guitars, and two PRS amps, and if someone said, "You have to choose between your PS PRS guitars and your PRS amps," I'd have to watch Sophie's Choice over and over until my brain was numb and then kill myself.

So it's a good thing no one is making me do that.