Amplifiers: Tone Of The Gods Or Tone Of Mere Mortals? What's Your Pleasure Sir Or Madam?

[László]

I have zero attachment to guitar or guitar amp history.

OK, but consider this:

Mahavishnu Orchestra released The Inner Mounting Flame in 1971, which by my reckoning was more than half a century ago, so you're simply attached to a different kind of history.

I'm not casting aspersions, so don't feel badly. Lots of the music I write might have been interesting in 1842, but probably not thereafter, and certainly not now.

By the way, I bought The Inner Mounting Flame when it came out. Great record.

At the time I was in college experiencing guitar and amp history, though at the time the stuff was new, so it wasn't history.

On the other hand, I'm well on the way to being history myself. When I go, I'm taking a tube amp.

Oh, I seriously doubt I'll get to play through it where I'm headed. I'm simply worried the place I'm going might freeze over, and I can warm myself by the tubes if there's a place to plug in.

 

[László]

I only believe in the Greek Gods

Uh-oh, Osiris is gonna be mighty pissed.

 

[Jcub]

Tube amps providing heat is yet another reason to buy them!! I am in real trouble if my modeler is giving off that much heat.

To be clear, my guitar playing friend is attached to the signal path and gear on Inner Mountain Flame - I am not. I am very attached to the album and band, though. But I was a mere 6 year old in 1971 and did not hear it for another 7 years.

I do have irrational attachments to the acoustic piano and could make an educated guess as to Mozart’s signal chain when he composed the Jupiter symphony.

 

[László]

I do have irrational attachments to the acoustic piano

I share your irrational attachment to the piano.

and could make an educated guess as to Mozart’s signal chain when he composed the Jupiter symphony.

Pen, paper, probably pianoforte. Forget the printer's shop for the score, strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and hall reverb. There's no evidence to suggest the Jupiter Symphony was ever performed by an orchestra while Mozart was alive.

Come to think of it, no orchestra will ever perform my orchestral music while I'm alive, either!

Mozart and I have so much in common!

 

[Wyzard]

I'm enjoying this thread, with different takes on the how and the why of the noises we make.


My strongest influences are Prog and Americana. My amps, collected over many decades, are mainly big Fenders, Two Rocks, Boogies, Hiwatts, and Groove Tubes. Speakers are mainly Celestion Black Shadows, and a few EVM12Ls. Guitars are mainly my own S-types, and a few PRS (mainly the SS Dead Spec these days).


I've stopped looking for any more amps, as I'm covered for for what I do: big, loud, proggy, and heavily Yes (West)-influenced. Some Eric Johnson, Steely Dan, and jam band-type stuff woven into the mix at times, too.

Core tones: Two Rock and big Fender cleans, Hiwatt-with-pedals or big Zinky-era Fenders with pedals for mid-gain, and Boogies for everything else and in-between.

 

[Steve's addiction]

Perfection is always the goal for me but what is perfection? It's why we are always chasing that tone. Right now I am satisfied with my tone and I am basically just playing straight into the amp. However the pedal board is ready should I need it. My personal goal is not to necessarily sound like one of my heroes but to have that same professional sound I hesr on their recordings or live performances. I do believe at some point we'll all find our tone that we can be happy with and stop searching for.......well, maybe

 

[Prina]

Regardless of which path or paths taken along the Fender/Marshall/Mesa/PRS/Fractal/Kemper/Helix routes, from a players viewpoint imagine how nice it would have been to have all those options years ago.

 

[László]

Perfection is always the goal for me but what is perfection?

"What say you about perfection, Socrates?"

"Well, I have said this:

If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.

Now then, Laz: If you substitute 'music' or even 'tone' for the word, 'poetry', you'll have a pretty good idea of perfection as it applies to your topic."

"I wonder if I sometimes qualify as an 'inspired madman', Socrates?"

"No. The madness of the Muses never touched you. And the term, 'technique' is way out of your wheelhouse. But don't lose heart. 'Madman' is a term that certainly applies to you."

"Seriously?"

"It's my pleasure to say that you're as crazy as a sh!t house rat, Laz."

 

[Steve's addiction]

Well said Socrates, you crazy tone searching philosopher poet!

 

[László]

Well said Socrates, you crazy tone searching philosopher poet!

I was angling for the Philosopher-King job this morning, but I couldn't locate Plato to confer the title. Later, I kinda lost interest in that.

I decided to interview for the position, 'Immortal Demigod'. Being deified would be a suitable topper to my other qualifications.

 

[Steve's addiction]

I'll vote for you if they'll let me!

 

[László]

Tales From Laz' Crypt, #49,862.5

On Saturday I played through my amps and couldn't get a tone I liked. Yesterday I played through the same amps, no changes, and got phenomenal tones.

The meter on my power reservoir said 121 Volts on both days.

So I think maybe it was just one of those weird things, where the amps are fine, the guitars are fine, but my brain is not functioning normally.

"Your brain rarely functions normally."

"If I was normal I wouldn't be talking to you, would I?"

 

[Wyzard]

Hmmmmm....... rhythms. There are days when everything seems easier, and it all flows. Then, there are days when the music remains stubbornly just out of reach. Days when your ears are open, and the sense of possibility is strong; and days when you can barely get your hands to co-operate. Days when your gear sounds like it was wired together by that idiot sound guy from your worst-ever gig.......


On days when I'm more musically alive, I make progress; then, there are the other times, when I can just about get through the mechanicals of warm-up, scales, and ear training.


There's no evidence for the existence of biorhythms, as far as I'm aware; and yet, there are musical days and .....less musical days. There are rhythms - peaks and troughs - in my musical awareness that allow a keener sense of the .....I guess "Gestalt" to surface occasionally. These give me a gift: it's as if I've climbed a high tree in the forest, and am being given a glimpse of the forest itself.


Days like these are what have kept me going musically for over fifty years

 

[László]

Hmmmmm....... rhythms. There are days when everything seems easier, and it all flows. Then, there are days when the music remains stubbornly just out of reach. Days when your ears are open, and the sense of possibility is strong; and days when you can barely get your hands to co-operate. Days when your gear sounds like it was wired together by that idiot sound guy from your worst-ever gig.......


On days when I'm more musically alive, I make progress; then, there are the other times, when I can just about get through the mechanicals of warm-up, scales, and ear training.


There's no evidence for the existence of biorhythms, as far as I'm aware; and yet, there are musical days and .....less musical days. There are rhythms - peaks and troughs - in my musical awareness that allow a keener sense of the .....I guess "Gestalt" to surface occasionally. These give me a gift: it's as if I've climbed a high tree in the forest, and am being given a glimpse of the forest itself.


Days like these are what have kept me going musically for over fifty years

Wisdom there. ^^

 

[GGJJGG]

I can’t even keep 4/4 time. So my biorhythm must be way off the chart

 

[László]

I can’t even keep 4/4 time. So my biorhythm must be way off the chart

Simple solution:

Just tell people you're playing in 11/4. They'll think you're a genius prodigy, and most of them can't count that high.

 

[Wyzard]

I'm writing a dance number in 11/4. I expect it to be a big hit in the clubs.

 

[Nick_S]

When I were but a lad, my very first amplifier was an Italian thing, a Davoli J5. I'm certain it was a solid state thing, covered in carpet, but most importantly it made a noise. It wasn't very loud, and the drive tone from it was pure cone distortion. It did the job and helped light the fire. Furthest from tonal heaven I could get.

My idea of tonal heaven doesn't come from a single amplifier, so I have to find a happy medium.

I am a sucker for Fender cleans, big 6L6 powered Fender Twin would be spot on for me there, as a pedal platform to add swathes of reverb, delay and chorus to, with some compression occasionally too.

My ideal crunch tones are classic Marshall all the way, full of bark and bite, mid range heavy and not saturated at all.

My ideal heavily distorted tones are also Marshall, but I would absolutely turn my head at a Dual or Triple Rectifier. I did dabble in Engl a while back, but found the amp a one trick pony.

So what do I run now? My compromise that gets me most of the way is my Marshall TSL100H and a variety of cabs. I got my first one way back in 2002 when the JCM2000 range was a young pup and suffered from bias drift. I sold it to fund my honeymoon, and yearned for another, so got a 2007 Special Edition (sans bias drift) earlier this year. It is now backed up very well by the JMP-1 and 9200 Dual Monobloc.

Is there a single amplifier that does everything I want it to? Probably not. I won't keep hunting, I will let it find me, else I will fall completely down the rabbit hole chasing tone that I may never find.

https://flic.kr/p/2r6GVbi

 

[László]

Is there a single amplifier that does everything I want it to? Probably not. I won't keep hunting, I will let it find me, else I will fall completely down the rabbit hole chasing tone that I may never find.

Wiser people than I say it's not the destination, it's the journey.

But without a destination, why would anyone embark on the journey in the first place?

Hey, mind handing me that shovel so I can dig this rabbit hole a little deeper?

 

[Nick_S]

Wiser people than I say it's not the destination, it's the journey.

But without a destination, why would anyone embark on the journey in the first place?

Hey, mind handing me that shovel so I can dig this rabbit hole a little deeper?

Oh absolutely agree on the journey, my issue with it is the pitstops along the way and the amount of money I'd undoubtedly spend along the way.

I thought I'd get close with the Engl, as it was more vintage voiced (Thunder 50), with 6L6 power tubes like the Twin, but with two gain channels, one more vintage, one more modern. It just didn't do that Marshall crunch at all. I'm definitely an EL34 guy (I know I know, I've got a 5881 amp too).