Wonder how long today's guitar amps will last?

[Lewguitar]

I have hand wired Fenders and Gibsons that are still solid and sounding great after 70 years of use. My '51 Fender Super is till kicking booty...as is my '54 Esquire.

https://imgur.com/ZABAdSJ

Wonder how long my HDRX amps will last?

Kind of a moot point since I'm 73 and I'm sure they'll outlast me!

But will some young guitarist be wailing through my HDRX amps 60 years from now?

I hope so! I hope they hold up like the old ones.

They deserve to...they're great sounding amps!

 

[veinbuster]

Assuming you can still get tubes, I'm sure my MDT and the Boogies will stil be waking the neighbours.
Nothing solid state I’ve had has lasted that long.

 

[Black Plaid]

I have an GK RL-250 that's from the mid 80s that still works, although the PCB has some worrysome spots, but the Mk III and Tri-Axis look fine inside.

I think it really depends on if repair costs (capacitors always have a limited life-span) are worth it compared to replacement.

 

[Lewguitar]

I have an GK RL-250 that's from the mid 80s that still works, although the PCB has some worrysome spots, but the Mk III and Tri-Axis look fine inside.

I think it really depends on if repair costs (capacitors always have a limited life-span) are worth it compared to replacement.

Well also the ease of replacement. Old hand wired amps are relatively easy to work on.

Just unsolder a resistor or capacitor and solder another one in.

Printed circuit boards are always more of a challenge for me to work on.

I haven't looked inside my HDRX. I know it's not hand wired.

 

[László]

There are still lots of hand wired amps being made; I've had a bunch since the '90s, and many are still in production.

In addition to the HXDA and DG30, I've had hand wired Two Rocks, Bad Cat, and played happily through lots of friends' Divided by Thirteens, Victorias, Komets, Magnatones, hand-wired Fender and Vox reissues, Matchlesses and many others.

I think these hand wired pieces sound better for some unfathomable reason (at least to me). There's a transparency that shines through more than with circuit board amps (of which I have a couple and have had many more).

Could it be confirmation bias on my part? Well, I suppose so. If that's what it is I'm down with it!

But I think there's a difference anyway.

If you want a hand wired amp for whatever reasons you might have, they're out there to buy, and not only will your great-grandkids be able to have them repaired by the local artificial intelligence robot, they might even be able to find tubes made on the Future-Do-Everything 3D printer/replicator!

 

[watelessness]

hmmm. i've had my C since the initial limited run, and even gigged it for a while. i got my dallas when it first came out. both were shipped to me as i didnt live near the sellers. i've even done a long-distance move. to date, all wires still attached.

 

[Greywolf]

I've had my Boogie for 35 years, and my sovtek for 25 both bulletproof . I think my PRS DG30 and Blue Sierra will be around just as long .

 

[tbp0701]

My inexpensive solid state Vox Pathfinder 15R is going strong at 12 years old. But it would likely be difficult or costly to get it repaired once it starts to have issues.

But my first decent amp, a solid state Tech 21 Trademark 10, has had intermittent cut-off issues since I got it, and I don't know if it's worth fixing. It was pretty beat-up when I bought it, however. It's been in the basement for a while. My modelers haven't fared well, either. A Korg Pandora no longer turns on. My Line 6 Sonic Port still works, but the app doesn't play well with newer iOS versions. I use it with my old iPad.

On the tube side, I had a Fender Pro Jr. that had a lot of hiss but was otherwise fine for 16 years. Sold it last month.

But the best sounding and one I think will last as long as solder and tubes still exist is a hand-wired 5F1 / tweed Champ. It even has some vintage tubes. It also has the most attractive interior:

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I read the title and thought you were selling up!

 

[RickP]

Today's well built amps will last, but most stuff is built/priced/intended to be a "use it 'til it breaks, then trash and replace" proposition. The inside of the PRS CAD amps were stellar, easily the match of of any older hand-wired amps I have.

 

[László]

Today's well built amps will last, but most stuff is built/priced/intended to be a "use it 'til it breaks, then trash and replace" proposition. The inside of the PRS CAD amps were stellar, easily the match of of any older hand-wired amps I have.

They're even better, since the tag boards exceed military spec, and the older amps didn't have anything like that.

 

[Frank McNerney]

Timely post for me I have a Roland blues cube that I love Or DId love until yesterday when the crunch channel quit

After about 4 hours online and phone calls to everyone I know it seems I’m screwed
To get it repaired would cost much more than it’s worth
Never had a problem with a tube amp besides tube replacement

 

[László]

Timely post for me I have a Roland blues cube that I love Or DId love until yesterday when the crunch channel quit

After about 4 hours online and phone calls to everyone I know it seems I’m screwed
To get it repaired would cost much more than it’s worth
Never had a problem with a tube amp besides tube replacement

Aw, man, that well and truly sucks, especially if you dug the amp.

 

[Lewguitar]

Timely post for me I have a Roland blues cube that I love Or DId love until yesterday when the crunch channel quit

After about 4 hours online and phone calls to everyone I know it seems I’m screwed
To get it repaired would cost much more than it’s worth
Never had a problem with a tube amp besides tube replacement

That's a drag but that the crux of the situation. These cheap new amps are expensive to work on. Especially when they get old. The world is changing so fast the parts become unavailable.

 

[Rod/]

That's a drag but that the crux of the situation. These cheap new amps are expensive to work on. Especially when they get old. The world is changing so fast the parts become unavailable.

And companies like Roland and others build amps solely from a price point. It’ll be interesting to see how many Katanas bite the dust in the next 5 to 10 years

 

[László]

Yikes! It occurs to me that the operative question isn't how long my amps will last.

It's how long I'll last!!

Après nous, le déluge!

 

[andy474x]

PCB seems to be the way amp manufacturers of any significant volume are going - Mesa, Friedman, Fender, Marshall, even the new USA HDRX amps. I’m just hoping higher quality of boards and design on will allow easier maintenance on the more premium brands.

The thought of building some kit amps has crossed my mind from time to time. Just to have an easy to maintain amp around, in light of the fact that I suspect lack of qualified technicians might become the limiting factor.

 

[John F]

I avoid digital amps because the software and cabling depends on the phone apps to communicate with them.

My analog amps don’t need either a special cable or software and can be repaired as long as parts exist. When the software provider abandons a smart amp what you have is all that you may be stuck with.

My first computer was a Commodore 16, none of that software or hardware works on my current PC unless emulators can be found. Same with my Commodore 64, Amiga 1000, 2000 and 4000. My first IBM PC was a clone I built, followed by several laptops. Try to find a computer today with 8 inch floppies, 5 1/4”, 3.5”, CD drives, DVD drives. Run software from DOS, Windows first version through present. Find much backwards compatibility there? Nope.

60 years or more on an analog amp is expected.

Just know this… the large electrolytic capacitors in electronics gear need to be turned on to “reform” them and extend life expectancy. At least once a year, turn them on for an hour or so to keep them happy. Failure to do so will cause the power inside to get noisy and destroy the electrolytic caps and possibly ruin other components.

 

[alantig]

My first computer was a Commodore 16, none of that software or hardware works on my current PC unless emulators can be found. Same with my Commodore 64, Amiga 1000, 2000 and 4000. My first IBM PC was a clone I built, followed by several laptops. Try to find a computer today with 8 inch floppies, 5 1/4”, 3.5”, CD drives, DVD drives. Run software from DOS, Windows first version through present. Find much backwards compatibility there? Nope.

Not exactly nope. A computer with floppy drives? No. Floppy drives that work with your computer? Absolutely. I have one (3.5", if you care). I still have a couple Windows machines w/5 1/4" drives if I need those. A lot of laptops still have the CD/DVD drives. As long as people make the external drives with connectors that work, that won't be the issue.

The issue is the software. Yes, you can still run DOS programs on a modern Windows computer (or a Mac, I suppose), but you need other software (like DOSBOX) to do it. I have a hockey game that I used to play that way. Mac software is trickier. I have a Korg Karma. I got a copy of the software to make new Karma stuff before I had a Mac. By the time I got a Mac, the OS would no longer run the software. The librarian for my G-System won't run on my current Mac.

But analog is not free of these issues. That phrase "as long as parts exist" does a lot of heavy lifting. It wasn't that long ago that tube prices shot up because of a fire. It's not hard to imagine a day when tubes are unobtanium. It's not imminent, but when you consider how niche vacuum tubes are, and then how much nicher guitar amp tubes are, it's quite possible that either they will no longer be made or will be so expensive that your average player can't afford them.

 

[John F]

I see your point and agree that old drives and computers can still be used. But, I have more faith in analog amps working long term than I do in old computers working, or newer computers running old software. Old floppies have a short lifespan, like audio tape or data tape it decomposes over time. Even CDs and DVDs don’t last forever. Plus the drives are mechanical which have their own failure modes.

New Tube technology was created and proved possible, with enough funding and effort designs to reverse engineer specific tubes could be developed also. Vacuum tube amps for audiophiles are making a comeback. The tube is not dead yet.

Here is an article about a vacuum tube plant in Georgia:

One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube

The prized retro audio components are mostly manufactured in Russia and China. Now, a small Georgia company is rebooting US production.

www.wired.com

I worry less about finding vacuum tubes than I do about finding replacement transformers. Lots of cost there, and no standards for them to provide 1 for 1 replacements like the standards for tubes. Part of the work to create the HDRX amps was to reverse engineer Jimmie’s transformers. Paul says they found a company who made a replacement since the original manufacturer was out of business.

My digital Fender portable amp and Boss Wazacraft digital headphones are probably throw-aways once dead and not worth finding schematics and parts to troubleshoot them since they are so inexpensive to replace. Reprogramming them without the application software and factory files would be hard to get past. My HXDA, Custom 20, Magnatone Panoramic Stereo, and Marshall Slash Amp are all worth repairing. Schematics would be helpful, but discreet analog components are not hard to troubleshoot assuming the tubes and transformers are still good. Quality replacement parts shouldn’t change the sound too much either. Someone in 60 years should enjoy the same sound I do now. Could the same be said about a Kemper? Check back in 60 years. ;^)