Anybody else just not that into amps?

[Grandturk]

I love guitars. Love talking about guitars. Love seeing pics of guitars and builds, mods, restorations... etc.

But amps... eh - they're just amps, to me.

You go to some forums and people are talking about this tube or that tube, this schematic, PCB and handwired. And then there's the "gut shots." Chassis pictures of amps, close-ups of the wiring, hand build this, orange drop that. Zero interest for me. I see a pic of some electronics on a board with some wires running between them. Doesn't mean anything to me.

Now don't get me wrong - I know the difference between a good amp and a POS... but I've never felt the desire to tear apart my Boogie just to see its guts and oooh and aaahh over the size of its big blue capacitors.

Opinions?

[Frigo89]

I totally agree, there isn't the same magic to an amp as their is to a guitar.

You can get a good idea of a guitars abilities just by looking at it, the same cannot be said about an amp.

I never cared about hand-wired or any of that bullshit, aslong as it sounds good, it is good (and can hold up under gig-pressure)

[ulijdavid]

I agree. It's not because I am not interested in my tone. It's that I have very limited time and I just want to plug in and go. I would rather play for an hour than tweek. I also really only use an 80's distortion tone - very generic.

[Grandturk]

I would rather play for an hour than tweek.

Yeah - I get that. There's cats that build amps and build pedals and that takes a lot of time (I've actually built some crude boost pedals) - when do they have time to actually play? That's why I have extra guitars - so when I break a string I can just switch to another one and keep playing.

[DRM]

I love finding a good sounding tone from amps, but I agree with you Grandturk. I'm more interested in the physical instrument as opposed to the amplifier. I'm perfectly content sitting on my couch smoking Camel's and strumming on my acoustic.

[Grim]

I don't care for amp porn, unless it is ear-related.

However, I will crank my Invader all the way up and let her rip once in a while.

[lynchfan6]

Well,,,,I used to stare at my Soldano SLO100 whenever I wasn't playing it But I agree, and although I love my SLO for the way it looks and sounds and every single thing about
it , I just need a good clean and a good distorted sound and I'm ready to go. And this amp has it in spades. I'm constantly putting my guitars on stands around the house, just so I can
easily pick one up to play or simply look at them when I can't. I don't do it "as much" with my amp head anymore.

[Twitch]

I agree with the above posts to an extent, but when youve been through so many amps trying to find the sound that pleases you that you almost cant keep track of how many youve had, thats when the mods and home builds come into play. Some people are more concerned with finding that sound than they are with playing sometimes(guilty). Personally, Im not inspired if Im playing through an amp I dont like the sound of. The same chord can sound drastically different with a tweek of the EQ or a different amp all together. This is the same both guitar, amp and speakers/cab. There are many, many other variables to a tone other than just the guitar or just the amp etc.. Its just a matter of some people being more picky than others about the sound they want. No one is right, no one is wrong, just different.

Me personally, I believe in a 50 30 20 philosophy. Fifty percent of your tone comes from the amp, 30% your speakers, and 20% from your guitar and its physical make and components. The percentages can slide back and forth between the 3 a little bit, but for sake of a number 50 30 20. Once youve found a good setup, then let the inspiration begin and blow the windows out of the house!

Anyhow, not trying to argue and say you guys are full of shit, just wanting to shed some light on the tweekers point of view.

[Grim]

I agree with the above posts to an extent, but when youve been through so many amps trying to find the sound that pleases you that you almost cant keep track of how many youve had, thats when the mods and home builds come into play. Some people are more concerned with finding that sound than they are with playing sometimes(guilty). Personally, Im not inspired if Im playing through an amp I dont like the sound of. The same chord can sound drastically different with a tweek of the EQ or a different amp all together. This is the same both guitar, amp and speakers/cab. There are many, many other variables to a tone other than just the guitar or just the amp etc.. Its just a matter of some people being more picky than others about the sound they want. No one is right, no one is wrong, just different.

Me personally, I believe in a 50 30 20 philosophy. Fifty percent of your tone comes from the amp, 30% your speakers, and 20% from your guitar and its physical make and components. The percentages can slide back and forth between the 3 a little bit, but for sake of a number 50 30 20. Once youve found a good setup, then let the inspiration begin and blow the windows out of the house!

Anyhow, not trying to argue and say you guys are full of shit, just wanting to shed some light on the tweekers point of view.

They key is buy big. Life is too short to play through shitty amps. You can buy fringe equipment all you want, but let's just say there's a reason that people drop $2-3k on amps. I've been through a lot of amps but I never felt that I needed a custom amp or a modded amp to get the tone I was chasing. For speakers I use V30s in a mesa 2x12 rectifier cab. Even my 4x12 has V30s.

When I got my Krank home, I was totally uninspired by how it sounded. It was fizzy and harsh and I didn't like it. I wondered what the difference was between the store and my place, and I figured out it was just the different cabs. It sounded totally different with the V30s (Can't recall exactly what cab I played it through in the store, but I imagine it was a relatively cheap cab). I tweaked the EQ a bit, rolled the presence back, attenuated the amp and it sounded really good. Then I threw a TS-9 in front of it and it sounded ace for leads. Really fluid, Michael Amott sorta tone.

When I got my Powerball, I really loved it, but when I played it with my band it didn't cut. Which inspired me to get the Invader, which I love. For some reason ENGL's 6L6 amps seem to get lost in the mix somewhat, but I still love the Powerball, and I don't think I'll sell it - reason being that the lack of cut lead me to change my EQ so that it had a little cut, and it gave me a wholly different sound, one that I find more suited to a raw old-school 80s metal/thrash tone. It can get pretty close to the VH tone too, with a bit of a tweak on the gain knob. It's a totally different gain than the Invader's - I think the Invader is akin to a Savage and the Powerball is like the Fireball - Invader is a little more saturated, more of a Dual rectifier feel, I find. The Fireball is more like a 6505 - drier, in your face raw power. Both of those amps are incredible, and worth every dollar. I suppose a lot of people get intimidated regarding price of amps, but I don't regret dropping $3000 on my Invader - I will never sell it unless I have a financial need to.

Has anyone here put EL34s in an ENGL Fireball 100? I am dying to try that out.

In short, I really love playing different amps. Each is so inspiring when you get them dialed in. every time I plug into my Mark V, or my Powerball, or my Invader, or my Revolution it's an inspiration from the straight sound of the amp. I don't think you need to go custom to get the tone you want.

[Twitch]

I agree, at this point in the game Ive figured out which amps sound the best to me and even own a couple of them, but theres been a couple that through modifying, have been great amps too. You dont have to spend thousands to get the tone you want, unless the tone you want costs thousands. Sure, if you want an ENGL, than buy an ENGL because nothing will sound like an ENGL, but if the tone you want isnt based on numbers, then experiment.

My apologies to the OP, I did not intend for my initial post to turn into a debate off topic. Just because you didnt spend $3000 on an amp doesnt make it "shitty".

[Trussrod]

To me the guitar was always the prize and an amp--any amp--was incidental. Over the years my thinking has changed, but so have the available amps. I like my JCM 2000, but only because it sounds great with compression and EQ--otherwise I would definitely want something better. I've come to the conclusion that there's no way to know what a guitar sounds like unless it's played through a good amp. As for looking inside them I have very little interest. I repaired a VCR years ago and know how to test various electrical components, but I would rather not build or mod an amp.

[Cygnus X1]

Ah...well, I was about to say...well, nevermind.

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[zeegler]

I used to think that way. I mean, I was of course interested in getting the best tone I could, but I was so obsessed with guitars, I didn't spend much time thinking about amps. I think I swung the other way for a while. I kinda burned myself out on guitars, and got myself all obsessed with amps for a while.

Now I'd say I have a good healthy obsession with both. In a way, I'm lucky I have limited resources, because I would have a ludicrous number of amps AND guitars if I had the money. As it is, I have cut back my current collection to around a dozen guitars, and 4 amps, and my wife still thinks I'm insane.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I just need one amp that makes the sounds I want. I am not really into having a whole bunch of amps or a whole bunch of tones, just "my sound" and that's pretty much it.

[Nightbat]

I can admire amps and the work that has been put into it coming from a technical background myself
Seeing quality work and components gives you an indication of how much thought and effort the designer put into his product
it also giving a sense of getting value for money spent

If an amp looks nice and well built, but sounds like shit it will be:
"Yeah, that amp looks nice and well built, but sounds like shit!"

Since when it comes to my technical admiration, it still has to serve it's purpose, and the better it looks, the more I expect from it