S
stevieb
Just another guy, really.
... and am throwing this out for comment. I owned an ART Attack Module 28 (12ax7 pre, SS power amp, lots of on-board effects and light/portable fiberglass-reinforced plastic case, 2 8" speakers, combo.) I did like the amp, but when I cleaned the cheap pots, it developed a squeel that was hard to avoid. As my ear developed, I found the tube pre hybrid to not sound like it was really doing too much to improve the tone- and I bought a DigiTech RP-7 Valve, so I figured I could do the same thing the ART AT-28 could with any SS amp and the RP-7. In one of my R-GAS (Reverse Gear Aquisistion Syndrome) purges, the ART was sold. I have played the occasional tube-pre hybrid before and since, but not owned any others.
I do occasionally miss it- not so much for it's tone, as for it's power (50 watts per channel X 2-stereo, altho that was into 4 ohms and was probably a bit optimistic) and it's portability- on-board chorus, reverb, clean and od channels, etc., plus it's neat, light cab and stereo line out meant I could go from car/van to stage in one easy trip.
Since then, I have found tubes. My GOD, have I found tubes, as in "found God." Peavel Classic 30 then DB-210, Fender Twin then Deluxe then Pro, and I just LOVE the tone I am getting. Any time I give even half a rat's ass about my tone, I lug one heavy tube amp or another along.
And I am thinking of snagging a Fender Super Champ XD. Auditioned it, liked it lots, etc. Thing is, I recently learned that it is not the kind of "all tube" amp I thought it was- pre amp is SS, whereas I thought the 12AX7 was pre amp, but it does other things. And a while back, I auditioned Vox's whole line of smaller hybrids- noticed two things about the lot: 1. Pretty good tone, at least at first blush, and 2. Too many variables- I want to have my own "signature" sound, not reproduce every famous guitar player's tone in the course of one set, so there is about, I dunno, 20 times the effects/levels I need there.
Just brushing against my hypothysis that 90% of all guitarist can not really hear most of the differences we laud so much in one amp over another, I do wonder, how much of my predjudices are in my head, and how many are in my ear, I wonder?
In a related item, I tried, once, to divorce my predjudices from my ear by recording the same riff, played on the same guitar, recorded thru the same mic and HD recorder, but thru different amps. The results yielded no suprises- I liked the same amps, recorded, that I did, live. Of course, there was no "blind" testing- I knew exactly what amp was where in the order played, so my prejudices stayed intact. A double blind test- where one guitarist plays thru several amps, but does not know which is which by name, and another guitarist listens to the recording and picks out his/her favs- only the recorder knowing the whole score- would be much more scientific and helpful, but who's got the time to do that? I mean, I would take the time, but only if I could get a research grant...
I do occasionally miss it- not so much for it's tone, as for it's power (50 watts per channel X 2-stereo, altho that was into 4 ohms and was probably a bit optimistic) and it's portability- on-board chorus, reverb, clean and od channels, etc., plus it's neat, light cab and stereo line out meant I could go from car/van to stage in one easy trip.
Since then, I have found tubes. My GOD, have I found tubes, as in "found God." Peavel Classic 30 then DB-210, Fender Twin then Deluxe then Pro, and I just LOVE the tone I am getting. Any time I give even half a rat's ass about my tone, I lug one heavy tube amp or another along.
And I am thinking of snagging a Fender Super Champ XD. Auditioned it, liked it lots, etc. Thing is, I recently learned that it is not the kind of "all tube" amp I thought it was- pre amp is SS, whereas I thought the 12AX7 was pre amp, but it does other things. And a while back, I auditioned Vox's whole line of smaller hybrids- noticed two things about the lot: 1. Pretty good tone, at least at first blush, and 2. Too many variables- I want to have my own "signature" sound, not reproduce every famous guitar player's tone in the course of one set, so there is about, I dunno, 20 times the effects/levels I need there.
Just brushing against my hypothysis that 90% of all guitarist can not really hear most of the differences we laud so much in one amp over another, I do wonder, how much of my predjudices are in my head, and how many are in my ear, I wonder?
In a related item, I tried, once, to divorce my predjudices from my ear by recording the same riff, played on the same guitar, recorded thru the same mic and HD recorder, but thru different amps. The results yielded no suprises- I liked the same amps, recorded, that I did, live. Of course, there was no "blind" testing- I knew exactly what amp was where in the order played, so my prejudices stayed intact. A double blind test- where one guitarist plays thru several amps, but does not know which is which by name, and another guitarist listens to the recording and picks out his/her favs- only the recorder knowing the whole score- would be much more scientific and helpful, but who's got the time to do that? I mean, I would take the time, but only if I could get a research grant...
