I’m just throwin this one out here for the fun of it. I’m 41 and I’m sure that I’m most likely the old buzzard around here so, maybe you young guys with a better set of ears can tell better than me, but anyway, here’s the topic:
I grew up playing all those old black face Fender amps, (my first good one was a Concert with four 10’s) and, there’s always been something about this whole distortion tone thing that’s peeked my curiosity. Back in the mid 70’s, manufacturers started coming out with amps that had overdrive knobs on them. This generally consisted of a single uxa7 tube. They claimed that the old amps had such good distortion characteristics because you were pushing them passed their specs into distortion. So, these overdrive circuits were supposed to do the same thing, only at a more humane level. Personally…I don’t get it. It always seemed to me that we got such a good sound out of those amps simply because speakers were so bad in those days. It didn’t take much at all to drive the speaker into distortion. Heck, all you had to do was turn the volume passed 3 and boom…blues city!
I think that’s very provable; just grab yourself any of those old amps and put them through a “modern” speaker cabinet with some “high” wattage quality speakers and, they won’t even begin to distort. If you want to hear a great example of “speaker” distortion, take a listen to that old tune by The Raspberries, “Baby Go All the Way”. It’s a totally beautiful tone! That’s the sound we all like so much, and to my ears anyway, it’s definitely the speaker that’s distorting there, just like in the old days.
So, here’s my question: do any of you guys think that tube distortion units sound anything like that distorting speaker, cause I sure don’t? Most of the guys my age who remember the old tones are using “analog” distortion units to get that sound. The Tube Screamer comes closest to my ears. I also don’t think there’s much to be said for tube amplifiers either. I’ll admit they can sound real nice but so can a solid-state amp. In fact, I think fenders solid-state line of amps sound even a little bit better on a Gibson type guitar but, will admit that tubes tend to sound better on a fender, (I don’t pretend to know why, I’m just going by my ears here). When Allan Holdsworth, Phil Keaggy, and Pat Metheny all went to solid-state years ago along with most all of the really good jazz/rock players (all of which had killer tones on their albums) I went out and tried a few. Ended up buying the first Fender solid-state model they ever made and never looked back. Today I play a 335 through a Fender Stage 160, and use it’s analog distortion circuit for my distorted tone. And, yep, it sure sounds just like my old Concert turned up to 10 as far as I’m concerned. Just wondered what ya’all thought?
I’m not much of a web-head so I won’t have time to answer all of your replies but I’ll be sure to read them all. Thanks!
I grew up playing all those old black face Fender amps, (my first good one was a Concert with four 10’s) and, there’s always been something about this whole distortion tone thing that’s peeked my curiosity. Back in the mid 70’s, manufacturers started coming out with amps that had overdrive knobs on them. This generally consisted of a single uxa7 tube. They claimed that the old amps had such good distortion characteristics because you were pushing them passed their specs into distortion. So, these overdrive circuits were supposed to do the same thing, only at a more humane level. Personally…I don’t get it. It always seemed to me that we got such a good sound out of those amps simply because speakers were so bad in those days. It didn’t take much at all to drive the speaker into distortion. Heck, all you had to do was turn the volume passed 3 and boom…blues city!
I think that’s very provable; just grab yourself any of those old amps and put them through a “modern” speaker cabinet with some “high” wattage quality speakers and, they won’t even begin to distort. If you want to hear a great example of “speaker” distortion, take a listen to that old tune by The Raspberries, “Baby Go All the Way”. It’s a totally beautiful tone! That’s the sound we all like so much, and to my ears anyway, it’s definitely the speaker that’s distorting there, just like in the old days.
So, here’s my question: do any of you guys think that tube distortion units sound anything like that distorting speaker, cause I sure don’t? Most of the guys my age who remember the old tones are using “analog” distortion units to get that sound. The Tube Screamer comes closest to my ears. I also don’t think there’s much to be said for tube amplifiers either. I’ll admit they can sound real nice but so can a solid-state amp. In fact, I think fenders solid-state line of amps sound even a little bit better on a Gibson type guitar but, will admit that tubes tend to sound better on a fender, (I don’t pretend to know why, I’m just going by my ears here). When Allan Holdsworth, Phil Keaggy, and Pat Metheny all went to solid-state years ago along with most all of the really good jazz/rock players (all of which had killer tones on their albums) I went out and tried a few. Ended up buying the first Fender solid-state model they ever made and never looked back. Today I play a 335 through a Fender Stage 160, and use it’s analog distortion circuit for my distorted tone. And, yep, it sure sounds just like my old Concert turned up to 10 as far as I’m concerned. Just wondered what ya’all thought?
I’m not much of a web-head so I won’t have time to answer all of your replies but I’ll be sure to read them all. Thanks!
