Singin' the No-Amp Blues

[HapiCmpur]

For the past 20 years I've been playing through a Peavey PA head (XR-400) and two Crate speakers. Reading these boards has me thinking about buying an amp, but is there really a difference between my current setup and a bone-fide guitar amp? I added a Line 6 POD to my setup about a year ago, so it seems to me that my PA system plus the POD is probably pretty equivalent to a guitar amp with effects. Would I gain much by getting an amp if all I do these days is record my own music as a hobby?

In case you're curious about how I ended up ampless, I bought the PA setup back when I was playing with some wedding bands in the early '80s. (I used it to power a Fender Rhodes and a couple of other keyboards.) When I quit gigging and went off to college, I sold my guitar amp. Since then I've just been plugging all my instruments into the PA system.

 

[Track Rat]

I have quite a few amps, solid state, tube and modelers. There is indeed a BIG difference between all of them and the way they behave with a particular guitar. For simplicity, I gigged for years with a Rockman right into the PA with no stage amp and that was OK. I have a POD and a Line6 AX2 and they have there place. I have a J Station, same with it. All that being said, a decent tube amp in my humble opinion blows them all away when it comes down to it. And there are major differences between those as well. I have a Rivera Pubster (25 watts, 6V6's, all tube into a 10") that does everything from clean to shread. It's basicly a Super Champ on steroids. And I LOVE the amp in my old Leslie 147. It's 40 watts, 6550's. The way it breaks up is like no other amp I've ever played through. What I guess I'm trying to say is, the amp modelers, while not bad in their own right, do not behave like the tube amps they're trying to model. The way an amp behaves when you make volume adjustments (at the guitar) is just different vs a modeler. They're all just tools but when it comes down to it, there ain't nothing like a good tube amp.

 

[Imaduck]

I agree that nothing beats a sweet tube amp, and even with your current rig you're not going to fully emulate a normal solid state amp, however, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your setup. If it sounds great, go with it. If it's a choice between what you have and buying a cheap crap amp, I'd stick with what you have. If you're looking for a specific amp with good character, then no emulator will make up for it and you should probably buy it, but if you think you need another amp just because it's not normal, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Go play around at a music store, and if you find something that sounds way better than what you're doing now, go for it. If not, then you're doing just fine.

 

[HapiCmpur]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Track Rat, you are truly a total gear slut, and my hat is off to you. Dare I ask where you keep it all?

Imaduck, I think you're on to something in your suggestion that my problem may just be that I feel a little abnormal playing through a PA instead of an amp. My current setup doesn't sound all that great, but the problem is more likely to be me than my gear. Perhaps my money would be better spent on lessons than on a new amp.

Let me ask just one more question, though: From a purely technical standpoint, is there a difference between a small PA head and the head on an average guitar amp? Isn't a guitar amp what you get when you combine any given head with any given speaker(s)? Or are heads made for PA systems by definition different from those made for guitar amps?