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I'm also going to go out on a limb and agree with myself. I've done some more scientific research with my amp sims, looking for patterns or correlations or what not, to little avail. Guitars and amps ratch have their own inherent sounds, and some work better together then others. That's all I got.
For example: I'm all about the Marshall bluesbreaker these days. Les Paul loves it, Sheraton and byrdland love it, gretsch g6118... Doesn't really work through it. But the gretsch and the byrdland sound awesome through the bassman, whereas the other two don't. They all sound pretty good through the vox, but the Sheraton and gretsch work even better. have to try them through the jc120 as a sort of control, but most everything sounds pretty bad through a plain old PA.
Amps and guitars and speakers and pickups matter. Sometimes you hit upon something really special. Sometimes you don't.
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09-08-2020 09:41 PM
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Lawson,
FWIW, the entire rig is a signal chain...everything makes a difference. Still, I do notice that some amps are big contributors. The mid-60s Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb are probably the biggest. They bring specific sonic signatures to the equation.
Well, so does the beamy as heck Marshall 50, but it doesn't sound jazzy at all.Last edited by Greentone; 09-10-2020 at 09:32 AM.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
And TBF, most jazz venues I've played just don't have room for a half-stack, so the DRRI gets the nod. And sometimes I'm sitting on that.
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this whole question for me started when I installed a Seymour Duncan Phatcat (humbucker sized P90) on my Epiphone Zephyr Regent Re-Issue (ES175 one-pickup clone) and when I played it through my Polytone, wow, it was different from my ES175 with humbuckers. Then I thought I'd play it through the Princeton Reverb and... the two guitars sounded very similar. I know the PRRI is famous/infamous for its distinctive tone, and I was struck at how almost every guitar I play through that amp sounds more similar than different. Through the Twin, the differences are there, as with the Polytone. But the Princeton really seems to "impose" a tonal signature on any guitar I plug into it. Of course, I can play with the knobs and get different sounds, but I'm really impressed at how this amp dominates whatever guitar I play through it. I happen to LIKE the PRRI tone very much, so it's cool. But I was struck at how much it shapes the tone. I guess I'm the last one on my block to discover this... which is what folks I guess either love or hate about the Princeton.
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Could be either and then again both. Every link in the chain has some effect. Currently for guitar I use either a Guild Artist Award or a 1957 Guild M - 75 (hollow) through a Fuchs amp...... only effect I use is a rack mount Kemper Profiler. On the steel guitar I use an Old Marlen 4+5 with a Little Walter Amp and the same Kemper (switched with and AB pedal. Best set up I have ever had. (Over 50+ years I have had a bunch!) All cables are Mogami. i do have a 50's Tele that I bring out on occasion..... but I feel better playing a hollow armpit guitar. Always have. Love the tone and willing to deal with the feedback issues at concert level.
I also tend tend to think that the player has a HUGE input in what the audience is hearing as to guitar sound. I saw Joe Pass live years ago at Pauls' Mall or the Jazz Workshop in Boston Mass (same building, same club owner can't remember which)....... his Polytone crapped out. He plugged into a direct box and played on through the house system. After a few minutes of sound system adjustment..... well Joe was Joe. He was amazing!! He was using an ES 175 with one pickup (neck) that I had never seen before. (Or since.)
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Friends I do actually know that everything in the signal chain affects the guitar's tone, and that the player's touch and technique also have an impact. I'm just asking specifically about amps and their effect, and whether my own observation of some amps tending to make guitars sound similar versus others that bring out differences is born out in the experience of others. I totally get that the whole signal chain is involved and touch/hands matter enormously. But still, the amp has a role and I'm curious whether you've found some amps that make different guitars sound similar vs. others that highlight the distinctive features of different instruments, all other factors being equal.
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Lawson,
You are right. Some amps really do put their imprint on the signal. The PR does, for sure. The Vox AC30, too.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
Admittedly this is not the most important thing in playing jazz! But we are all to some extent tone-chasing, and it's good to know that some amps will suppress differences, others will accentuate them.
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Isn't it the case that SS-amps are more honest in reproducing the guitar? Especially amps like dv mark, JC's and polytone's?
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Lawson,
Excellent points. It's probably a good case for making jazz guitar comparisons using a comparatively sensitive and neutral amp bed--e.g., AI with a RE cabinet, or a Polytone MB II, or a Henriksen Blu.
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Originally Posted by Marcel_A
If you want a "neutral" sound, use a DI to plug straight into a flat-EQed mixing board. Then you will hear exactly (and only) what comes out of the guitar itself. But it probably won't sound "good".
+1 on the multiple posts that stating that the entire signal chain (and more) contributes to the sound. As @wzpgsr has pointed out in far more detail, everything from player to pick to strings to PUPs to amp to speaker to room acoustics to whatever else is in the mix. @stringswinger's point that tone is in the hands cannot be understated.
There's even the shape of each listener's ear and the particular characteristics of their own hearing's frequency response to consider. In other words, no two people hear the same sound exactly alike. You can find out more about head-related transfer function, or HRTF, at 42:04 in the following clip:
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The only thing I've noticed is that adding distortion with an amp or FX device minimizes the difference between one guitar and another.
Amps certainly shape the sound, but I've never noticed that Amp A (played clean) makes all guitars sound alike and Amp B doesn't do that.
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Originally Posted by starjasmine
The mixing board is a solid state amp. Exactly my point.
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I have noticed that the ES-175 sounds very good DI into the recording console.
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Originally Posted by Greentone
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Originally Posted by Marcel_A
Originally Posted by Marcel_A
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Originally Posted by Greentone
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Originally Posted by lawson-stone
I'll see myself out.
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I have a silly mono PA with built in speaker, just put a Jensen in. Then I put an OD pedal in front of it. The dynamics shocked me, notes flew out of it and I had to completely change my focus on how I was playing. Dynamic differences between amps are enormous, and I have difficulty finding much dynamic differences in pickups or guitars.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Originally Posted by citizenk74
Anyway ... I'm not sure I agree the Princeton Reverb is the most scooped of the bunch. For sure, mine is less scooped and more midrangey than many other *.Reverb Fenders I've played, at least when I have the treble knob turned down and the volume up a bit.
John
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Originally Posted by Eck
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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My last guitar purchase was 5 years ago. Same for my amp, tube with a 15” speaker. If you only own 1 of each you don’t face this issue. But nothing wrong with owning 20 of each!
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So, I have been experimenting for almost a year to get the most natural sound I can get from my ES125 when amplified. I love its sound unamplified: clear, clean, and resonant. And, I am trying to get as close as possible to that sound when amplified but it has been, at present, seemingly impossible. Another problem, I believe, is that my ears have been attuned to Artist Series Classical guitars for the last 30 plus years which are inherently richer, deeper, and more resonant than acoustic EG's played without amplification. So, I sometimes wonder if I'm looking for the Holy Grail or that, perhaps, there is a sound that I hear in my head somewhere in reality. I have been tweaking EQ/Guitar controls in every imaginable manner, but the sound remains illusive. I do realize the profound differences between a AG and a EG but that is not the problem. Have others here had similar experiences looking for their sound? Play live . . . Marinero
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Originally Posted by Marinero
John
Has anyone played or had a Supro Amulet ?
Today, 04:44 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos