Why Don't High-Dollar Tube Amps Impress???

There are certain things that cant be taught----and certain inherent God given talents that can be "trained out" ---- in a bad way.

Ive been told I have inherent good timing-- and I can fake my way through some stuff--Ive tried to "learn" but it gets in the way of my natural "vibe" and flow.....so....
I may never be accomplished........but I have fun
 
Reading through this thread, I can see where Rob is coming from. Myself, I'm in the same camp as Weas, and prefer non-master volume amps. I still have a couple of master volume amps, and sometimes use them.

If I was playing metal, or some of the session gigs that Rob does, I would probably rethink my equipment. I can see why he's looking for the next thing that's going to rock his socks off. Since I am playing in a hard rock/stoner band that bases it's sound more in the line of the Groundhogs, Pretty Things, and Iron Butterfly than most of the stoner bands who are more in the Sabbath camp, I am looking for a more open or clear sound, mixed with a more acid '60s vibe. That's why I prefer Hiwatt and Vox, but also like non-master Marshalls. I have to with the sounds created by the base player. I would never cut trough otherwise. Between him and the drummer, there is a heavy wall of sound I need to get through. My other band is an Alice Cooper cover band basing it's sound of the original '60s to early '70s line up. Again, very primitive and only needing one pedal. I know my place in the sonic landscape of that band, and what my role is.

Since I look for sounds that work for the whole picture, I am painting with a certain palette that others wouldn't. Just as Rob is hunting for something that he presumably wants to take him over the top. Tone is very subjective as mentioned before, and one person's needs are rarely the same as another's. I am painting for my own personal abilities, strengths, disadvantages, song writing, and overall sound of three people playing in unison.

That being said, I know that if I plug any of my guitars (Gibson, Rickenbacker, Fender, homemade) into any of my amps (DST, Fender, Hiwatt, Marshall) I am going to sound like me. If I spent the money on a Trainwreck or other high, high end amp, I would probably still have my own sound and wonder if it was really worth it. I've known a couple of good builders of Trainwreck clones, and I would really love an Express. I just don't know if it's really the right amp for me when I know what already works for me. And Trainwrecks do need to be played loud to work properly. Also, since I am not really a professional musician, I also need to know when to say "enough." Because I am running out of space in my house, I am just about at that point. I should be more concerned with playing than accumulating anyway.
 
syscokid said:
Very interesting insight on being a sound engineer and today's modern consoles. Very overwhelming for someone like me. So, is the point of your post saying that anything can be made to sound good? And, anything can sound like poop?
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My point is it takes more than a guitar and amp to sound good. Greg Price makes it sound easy every room is different just a few degrees of temperature
will change everything. And on the Avid console you can adjust 165 parameters on each channel. The Avid has firmware for many brands of microphones
One more point he has a backup board My digital board has crashed for no reason it only takes a few min. to load the firmware in the middle of a show
could be challenging.
 
ninjaking67 said:
Glad to hear (pun intended) that my American friends are digging a Canadian Made amp. Traynors are very good!
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Yes Traynor makes very good amps, Has stood the test of time, Quality is exceptional. I know friends that have them and won't part ways with them. To me they sound fantastic!!. But for now I will stick with my Orange 35RT SS made in China which I paid just over $300 for. Its my main amp and suits my needs. I have the Vox Rhythm 5 which I like to use for practicing on it has drum effects were you can control the speed for timing etc. Then I have the Blackstar Fly 3 with the cab I use for practice at my summer home. I really like my Fishman Loud box for doing my gigs.
 
So true SG John I sound like me no mater what amp I play that's a good thing the way I see it. To be honest I'm not sure how many amps or guitars I own.
And if it was not for Trainwreck I would have never built guitar amps Kenny said it could not be done Ken trained me and was not easy on me.
My first Express build took 164 12AX7 tubes to get the sound when I played my build over the phone to Ken he sent me a Airbrake and told me to send my favorite
overdrive peddle it was a TS9 at that time when I got it back it sounded like a early gold Klon. As far as helping Robert with his tone quest I would have to spend
time with him to design a amp for him. I was servicing amps for my favorite guitarist had a dead one I voltage charted the amp just a dead PI tube but I said that has the same voltages as my best amp how strange ??? I built two amps for him and it cost me $15K in parts plus my time. I did a trade with him. Then my Wife was
killed he called 3-4 times per week to see how I was doing then gave me so much work I didn't have time to think about it.
 
Goldmember said:
Fellow shwingers,

Let's not let semantics derail what was an opinion thread by Sir Robert. I'm
sure we can all agree that "me" was implied. I didn't take it as a negative
topic. In fact, it actually sparked my interest in giving SS amps another try.

How 'bout a group hug?
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I’m cool with it...like I said in my post...”just sayin’”...
Semantics seem to happen with Robert.
 
Is the Mesa F30 a "High dollar tube" ?? Just asking as I am not "in the know"
I like my 1992 Marshall Valvestate 20 P.O.S. Solid state for 45.00 damn near as much so I dont think Im in the snobbery cork sniffery level as yet---perhapos Earnest & Julio Gallo cap sniffery?
 
Thatbastarddon said:
So, title of thread should, maybe, read,
“Why Don’t High-Dollar Tube Amps Impress Me???”
Just my opinion.
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Very good point, Don! I actually felt that premise was implied, as none of us could ever agree, individually or collectively, on the usefulness of a piece of boutique equipment.
 
Not sure if they are considered hi or low priced, but I like my USA Peavey Delta Blues and 1965 Gibson GA15RVT. I like my 5f2'ish too, but it's presently on the craigslist chopping block...
 
Thatbastarddon said:
I’m cool with it...like I said in my post...”just sayin’”...
Semantics seem to happen with Robert.
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eSGEe said:
Is the Mesa F30 a "High dollar tube" ?? Just asking as I am not "in the know"
I like my 1992 Marshall Valvestate 20 P.O.S. Solid state for 45.00 damn near as much so I dont think Im in the snobbery cork sniffery level as yet---perhapos Earnest & Julio Gallo cap sniffery?
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Guess I need to name-names for clarification.

Recently, a musical colleague called me to announce he had purchased a "Santa Cruz" era, Dumble modded 1960's Fender for around $15,000 and he was excited for me to come check it out. I really was surprised that, even with him playing through it, (a full-time session guitarist) I didn't hear anything dramatic in comparison to his twin reverb, except that the Dumble-modded variant was much more noisy.

I recently sat in with another music chum and played through his Muscle Shoals E53 and Mesa Lonestar 30 watt. He claimed to have paid about $3,000 for each amp and both were quieter than the $15,000 modded Dumble and sounded just as good to me, under a variety of settings..but, didn't do any more or sound any better than a nearly new Fender Blackface that we played ou

So, for the purposes of clarification, I would say that my opening statement refers to the boutique amps - in the $8,000 and up range. Some recent acquisitions by colleagues have gone as high as a claimed $30,000 for a single amp.

At the lower end of the spectrum, however, I can say that my owned-since-new Marshall JVM 410C doesn't blow me away either, despite it's lower $2,500.00 (current new) price tag.
 
Drumoid said:
Not sure if they are considered hi or low priced, but I like my USA Peavey Delta Blues and 1965 Gibson GA15RVT. I like my 5f2'ish too, but it's presently on the craigslist chopping block...
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I had a Peavey Delta Blues I actually got for free and yet still got rid of it. My Red knob Twin, Fender Princeton Chorus and Marshall JMP all suited me better.
 
Robert Herndon said:
statement refers to the boutique amps - in the $8,000 and up range. Some recent acquisitions by colleagues have gone as high as a claimed $30,000 for a single amp.
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I will never be in this neighborhood--- so I am well South of Snoberery I assume (whew) I dont pay that much for CARS and Trucks--- and I only paid a little more than the 30K tag for my first HOUSE!

yeah-- nope --- MR Dumble is well safe of my untalented paws ever disgracing one of his amps with rubbing my junk on thats for damn sure ----- 30k for an amp---- worlds gone to shite! -- now all you damn kids get off my lawn!
 
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