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Pingu, perhaps a Quilter SuperBlock US on top of your Metro will make you younger. It has the most controllable gain of all the 30+ amps I've used.
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03-06-2022 03:27 PM
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noted .... thanks
Originally Posted by Gitterbug
are you saying
it does the touch sensitivity thing i want ?
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Better than most.
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Well, most of the recent conversation on this thread "hovers above my dandruff".
I have three SS amps that I use on gigs and one tube amp that I keep out of nostalgia at this point. It is a 1964 Fender No-verb Princeton that has a late 60's JBL D-110F installed. I use it at home and take it to gigs once in a blue moon. It weighs 30 pounds with the JBL and that is as heavy an amp as I want to carry. I have it loaded with JJ Tubes (IMO, the best made today) and have a collection of vintage tubes that will last me the rest of my days. If tube production stops, I will still be able to enjoy the Princeton.
I tried one of those super thick power cables and could not hear a difference. I have a bass player friend who uses them and swears he can hear a difference. Perhaps on the bass frequencies, there is a difference. I sold my cable to him BTW.
I believe that guitarists tend to be very averse to change in gear and so guys will be playing Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, 175's and L-5's through Fender, Mesa, Vox and Marshall tube amps long past my time on the planet. And why not? That stuff all sounds great to me.
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Touch sensitivity is more than just a characteristic of your amplifier. It depends on everything from how and how hard you pick to the design and wiring of your pickup(s). The voltage of your guitar’s output signal drives the first preamp stage, and the waveform generated by plucking a string has an initial attack, a rate of rise, a period of sustain, a point of “release” of that plateau, and a period of decay. Each of these affects how the amp behaves and sounds as a note is struck, held, and released. Originally Posted by pingu
Everything from the initial voltage rise to the height and duration of the peak and sustain levels affects how the amp responds to your picking. Every pickup has a dynamic range, starting at the threshold of voltage it will generate with very light picking and extending up to the highest voltage it will generate no matter how hard you pluck - and this is not a perfectly linear function. Using the guitar’s volume pot to match the guitar’s output voltage range to the amplifier’s input sensitivity range probably yields the most touch sensitivity.
And no amp has a perfectly linear relationship between input voltage and output power or total harmonic distortion. How quickly THD rises as input voltage rises determines onset and duration of breakup. So you have to fit the pickup’s dynamic range to the input and amplification characteristics of the amp to fit the sweet spot you want into your amp’s behavior. And your picking style, along with your pick, strings, etc, results in your unique guitar signal - so you need to mate your playing, your guitar, and your amp to get the response you want.
Not all equipment will work together to do this for any given player. And not all players have a wide enough and well controlled enough range of touch to make it happen. Brian May has amazing “pick” control (he uses a coin), and his guitars are designed and built for his playing. Few of us have this luxury, and most of us are stuck with trial and error to find what we want. My little Quilter is very touch sensitive for me, but it may not be for you. I’m afraid you just have to find what works for you, and it may not be what works for me or your favorite players.Last edited by nevershouldhavesoldit; 03-06-2022 at 06:45 PM.
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Good point... Originally Posted by pingu
I have a 2x12 100w SS-combo on casters and a 2x12 50w tube-combo on a trolley. The cab and speakers make the bulk of the weight. Amps like these seldom leave the studio because hauling is a hustle. For the same reason on-line sales is affected as amps like these come with hefty shipping costs. There aren't that many local guitar stores left, as more and more business takes place on-line and this also affect the demand of big, heavy amps.
Then I have a couple of 1x12 15-25w tube combos with light weight vintage alnico speakers. Open back cabs made of pine are my favorites, because they sound great and are easy to carry.
Fun fact: A 335 in its hard case weighs more and occupies more real estate than a Tweed Deluxe amp.
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I tried the Quilter Superblock and my Toob 10" pointing upwards on the first gig yesterday. Feedback was generally positive.
I did find it more like having the speaker pointing at my ear, which it was. I had the amp set up right next to me. This can be disconcertingly 'brittle and detailed' as any guitarist knows; but it would be the same deal with a Fender amp. Luckily I'm such a goddam pro I was fine (jk)
To me it sounded and felt like a Fender Hot Rod, not as 'mushy' as my PRRI. Which you'd expect I think?
If I can get used the upward shooting speaker thing I think it would be a better option for everyone. I wouldn't mind moving the speaker a little way away where possible to get a bit more of the ole ambience (it was a big band gig so no chance yesterday)
I felt like I had some headroom; but I was running a little high (gain at noon, master full up) and controlling volume from the guitar (a new way of doing things for me but I like it.) Really glad I took the bigger speaker.
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Why the hell are people talking about Brian May on a thread about jazz guitar amps lol?
Tube amps are on their way out for professionals.
Jazzers have always been early adopters of SS amps. We've never had roadies, and we've always liked headroom. If we want to schlep a Fender Deluxe because that special amp mojo that's our choice, but many choose not to and have done since the 70s. (OTOH some jazz venues and festivals have house amps and they are usually Fender.) In a city, where the jazz tends to be, it makes sense to use public transport as much as possible so SS amps have long held that appeal and are only getting smaller and lighter.
OTOH rockers don't have road crew so much anymore as budgets get gouged (due to lack of recording royalties) and have to deal with sound engineers so increasingly, modellers (Fractal, Kemper etc ) are becoming the industry standard. The patches apparently may even be controlled front of house, not by the guitarists themselves for the big pop shows etc.
Brian can do what he likes anyway, he's a legend.
The blues lawyers and bedroom doodlers will continue to buy tube amps, and they will always have a cache in the studio, but I think for live use they are being phased out naturally. Sourcing tubes is going to be increasingly difficult of course, given the current situation.
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v useful Christian ..... thanks
(i only mentioned Brian’s rig because
he has EXTREME touch sensitivity going
on)
I don’t need as much as that obviously !
i’m just doing jazz and a bit of r&b
something with a bit more touch sens
than my HB american sound
Thanks GB i must try a Quilter SB
at some point ....
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v useful Christian ..... thanks
(i only mentioned Brian’s rig because
he has EXTREME touch sensitivity going
on)
I don’t need as much as that obviously !
i’m just doing jazz and a bit of r&b
something with a bit more touch sens
than my HB american sound
Thanks GB i must try a Quilter SB
at some point ....
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How does headroom on the Superblock compare to the Princeton Reverb? Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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Many of the shops that are left have their storage space filled with huge guitar and bass cabs accepted as trade-ins. The real estate they occupy could be in X times more productive use. Probably many more of these monsters remain in rehearsal rooms or their maturing owners' basements. This evokes an interesting question: how to dispose of/recycle a speaker cab at the end of its life cycle? Tolex-clad/painted plywood/chipboard, wiring, other hardware (handles, grills/grill cloth, feet/wheels), exhausted vintage speakers. Most can be incinerated (wait a minute, is Tolex really PVC?) but only after salvaging the hardware, which is a lot of work for nothing. Any recent experience out there? I have no clue regarding the pair of 1X12" cabs (large, heavy) my friend and I built in 1966. Originally Posted by JCat
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I would say it’s roughly comparable? Mine has a more sensitive speaker than the stock one. Originally Posted by John A.
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Oh one more thing - I REALLY like the DI on the quilter. I can’t wait to try it on an ampless gig. The only thing is it’s not very well set up to do both amp and preamp at the same time; I wish they’d designed it so the master volume didn’t effect the DI level. I suppose they have to have that or guitarists wouldn’t be able to have their precious break up (Use a pedal you plonkers.)
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what speaker are you using ? Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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One of the 10” ones Originally Posted by pingu
fnar
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I’m a lifelong repurposer. Those cabinets would make great freestanding recording studio consoles for modern electronics. A twin cabinet fitted with a full width shelf would hold a pair of small rack or half-rack mount rails in which you could mount DAIs, digital mixers, recorders, effects, blade computers, patchbays, a headphone amp with enough outputs and individual channels for a small band, etc. Put a good regulated, protected power strip in the bottom and it’s a portable, self contained system for on site and studio recording. Originally Posted by Gitterbug
Add video. Add a cooling fan. You could use it to record gigs while providing sound reinforcement. You could set it up as a front-of-house console if you do your own sound. With today’s electronics, you’d have a pro quality setup in an easy to carry and ready to use case.
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Hmm, I guess that takes the Superblock out of the running for me then. Smaller + lighter + equivalent sound + headroom that can be scaled higher than PR = Look out, you might be losing your happy home. Only 3 out of 4 = PR, you're safe (for now). I tried a 101 Reverb through the Blockdock 10" cab (which on paper is a total PR-killer), but didn't think it sounded that great. Next up, Aviator Cub, I guess, but I can't tell from ads and reviews whether it's the same thing as the Superblock built into a cab or whether it has more power. Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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o you’re one of those funny guys .... Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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Rabbit hutch? Chicken coop? It would be the urban farmers version of making fish tanks out of old Apple Macintosh PCs. A fish tank from a vertical 8x10 would be pretty cool… Originally Posted by Gitterbug
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All you need is a cheapo flat screen... Originally Posted by EastwoodMike
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Before long I'll be the only one left on earth that still lugs a Twin to gigs, if I'm not already.
But that sound.......
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These days a lot of performers wears earplugs at shows, if they’re not using IEMs. This seems to me to be relatively new, as we’ve learned more about hearing loss.
Speaking for myself I’m completely deaf on one side and somewhat limited on the other. Loud volumes no longer give me any joy at all - not because of any angst about the loss of hearing, but simply because I can’t tell what’s going on around me at high volumes - it all blurs together into a painful mush. Tinnitus is a constant companion.
For this same reason, IEMs are an absolute must for me to play with other musicians, otherwise I can’t tell what my band mates are playing.
Think of all the performers dealing with this. Pete Townsend immediately comes to mind and there are many like him in rock and pop music, but my sister (who plays in orchestras) says that most violas players over a certain age all have significant loss (because the viola section sits in front of the trombones).
I think our appreciation for large amps moving lots of air will soon become stigmatized, the same way tobacco products did over the last few decades. When you too begin to have significant hearing loss, you’ll understand why.
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I’ve long looked for sound that fills the room but doesn’t stuff my ears. I considered Bose L1 when they first can out. It is possible to have good filling sound that is not a nuisance to either front row or musicians. But it’s hard. I’ve had Sure SE215 IEM for 7 years but I don’t find them satisfactory.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I live in a capital city in the free world. There used to be music stores in every corner, storage space filled with guitars and amps. Those were the days! The few remaining physical stores rely on e-commerce and this is reflected also in the physical offering (they mostly carry the same commodities that can be bought anywhere on-line; i.e small lightweight consumables e.g picks, strings, plugs, straps etc). Originally Posted by Gitterbug
Let's not confuse e-commerce with environmentally friendly manufacturing. It's not like a pack of guitar strings become non-polluting just because the sh*t is produced someplace where labor is cheap and brought to your doorstep by UPS.
However, and this is important; this development is in no way unique to the music instrument industry. E-commerce is driving demand of things we used to have but no longer can take for granted, like vintage tone. The old school experience is genuine, for the audience and for the player. My tube amps revive good old days. (I'm a conservative nostalgic that loves jazz
)
PS: The tube amp is not responsible for anyone's hearing loss. Loud is loud regardless of amplification device. Ear protection is highly recommended for regular orchestra performances.
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