Got a newsletter from an amplifier manufacturer today... Clearly they haven't tried Cygnus! Lol!

lqdsnddist said:
I will say, that even though I know a virtual model can be every bit as good in terms of sound, and have been a FAS user for over a decade, I still do typically choose to use hardware analog synths instead of software or hardware modeling synths, basically “just because” lol

part of it is no doubt with synths, there isn’t the issues of needing to crank them up to loud levels, and, the hardware alternative costs similar to the software.

$250 for a behringer pro one analog clone, or $150 for something like Uhe’s cool Vst ? Sure, I’ll pay $100 more for real hardware.

with amp modeling it’s not like most of these amps have $300 hardware, it’s more like $3000, so the modeling makes way more fiscal sense

but; let’s just pretend someone started make dead on clones of lots of cool amps and effects for pennies on the dollar to what they normally cost? You bet I’d probably buy a few “just because”
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Isn't that kind of what leads people to amassing a bunch of pedals? Buying an amp that costs anything from a grand to several is a lot of money but buying a 100-300 dollar pedal is doable for most people who are not struggling to afford rent etc.

Plus you can already buy amp clones from China but they will be of relatively simple ones rather than your Friedman BEs and Mesa Marks etc. Then there's the used market where some amps that were very expensive 10 years ago are going for reasonable money if they are a bit less coveted stuff.
I'm kind of eyeing a Fryette Sig: X that has been on the used market for a while now but I'd have to get another cab to make the most of it so I haven't bothered pulling the trigger. Or I could just run the Fryette Deliverance model on my FM3 into my Fryette PS-100.

Fired up my tube amps today and had a lot of fun and that's always what makes me reconsider modelers because those couple of amps just do their thing so, so well. Sometimes one thing is better than something that does all the things.
 
Tube amps are fun until:
  • You get a dud amp that sounds nothing like you expected on Youtube.
  • You bought a vintage amp that needs to be re-caped and destroys the value.
  • Realize it doesn't make you a better player.
  • Realize you can't use it in your apartment.
  • Have to track down which tube is a dud.
  • Cognitive dissonance makes you vehemently deny that the modeler sounds as good because the amp cost you $3500.
 
thud_peterson said:
You bought a vintage amp that needs to be re-caped and destroys the value.
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I've never noticed that recapping an amp destroys its value. An amp that works and has a better chance of being reliable is worth more than one that is dead or that could die in a cloud of smoke. And, I'd rather buy one I know was maintained correctly over one that sat in a closet for 30 years, because I know my first stop would be at my amp-tech's shop to get it brought up to spec. so it wouldn't die.
 
boyce89976 said:
Hey, man, I'm just posting the email newsletter I received today from BadCat amplifiers... my opinion is in the thread title. ;)
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I actually know the owner of BadCat from a small music shop I help out at that’s a dealer for them. John and I have talked about some modeling stuff and he does like it, but he’s never tried the Axe before. We actually talked about how great the Boss Katana was because he picked one up used cheap. Him and I actually discussed once how he’d love to have BadCat stuff modeled on Fractal or Helix. His favorite BadCat is the Cub 40.
 
laxu said:
Isn't that kind of what leads people to amassing a bunch of pedals? Buying an amp that costs anything from a grand to several is a lot of money but buying a 100-300 dollar pedal is doable for most people who are not struggling to afford rent etc.

Plus you can already buy amp clones from China but they will be of relatively simple ones rather than your Friedman BEs and Mesa Marks etc. Then there's the used market where some amps that were very expensive 10 years ago are going for reasonable money if they are a bit less coveted stuff.
I'm kind of eyeing a Fryette Sig: X that has been on the used market for a while now but I'd have to get another cab to make the most of it so I haven't bothered pulling the trigger. Or I could just run the Fryette Deliverance model on my FM3 into my Fryette PS-100.

Fired up my tube amps today and had a lot of fun and that's always what makes me reconsider modelers because those couple of amps just do their thing so, so well. Sometimes one thing is better than something that does all the things.
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The Sig:X sounds quite different than the D60.

DE1F4EEB-93E4-4C39-B8D2-97F8A6D4869A.jpeg
 
I think the main point of interest with the original post is purely psychological; specifically, why some people feel the need to back up a valid opinion with complete bullshit.
 
My subjective preference is more objectively true than yours. Nah Nah Nah!! :p

;)

Aren't some of the comments in reply to this thread kind of doing exactly what the
the anonymous amp builder is accused of doing?

Can we discuss boxers or briefs next??? :D
 
My couple of old retained amps are a bit like additional children .... there comes a point where they perhaps should be moving on but they need absolutely no excuse to be allowed to stay. (However ..... unlike my children during their early and mid teens , I could usually make an amp do what I want!)
Admin M@ said:
There are also a lot of places you can visit to re-enact the American Revolution, which ended hundreds of years ago.
Does that make you old school? Not necessarily.
Does it mean the world is going back to muzzle loaders? Different question altogether...
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But those old muskets had real balls
 
maxdown said:
My couple of old retained amps are a bit like additional children .... there comes a point where they perhaps should be moving on but they need absolutely no excuse to be allowed to stay. (However ..... unlike my children during their early and mid teens , I could usually make an amp do what I want!)

But those old muskets had real balls
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They aren't eating anything either
 
boyce89976 said:
This is an email newsletter I got today from an amplifier manufacturer. I'm 100% in the Axe III camp!

Does Liking Tubes Make Me Old School?


It’s not just that I’m “old school,” but I prefer tube amps. Sure, many of the new digital amps offer scads of features that are admittedly fun and cool. But, when it comes to the pure player-guitar-amplifier connection, there is nothing like the warmth and tone that tube amplifiers produce.

Vacuum tubes are timeworn technology. Digital amps can almost mimic the sound of a great tube amp … but not quite. The physical transfer of electrons within the tubes, initiated by the electro-magnetic charge transmitted from the guitar pickup can be imitated, but not perfectly digitally reproduced. When the combination of preamp and power tubes shapes the tone you produce over the entire spectrum of volume and distortion, the complex composite of even and odd order harmonics as signal amplitude changes simply cannot be recreated in a digital amp.

This creates the most pleasant overdrive, or distortion, because the predominately even order harmonics reproduced best by tube amps in the richness of their timbre above the note being played, are ideally suited to the human ear. Not to get all “sciency” here, but our tympanic membranes are best able to respond to vibrational frequencies at multiples of a primary tone. So, tube amplifiers at modest overdrive, or distortion (by creating by predominantly even, but also a fraction of odd order harmonics) offer a pleasing experience to the listener because the multiple vibrational frequencies are congruent. One day it may be possible for digital amplifiers to recreate the complex inner workings of vacuum tubes and reproduce a more natural overdrive, or distortion, sound. But, it hasn’t happened yet. The harmonics created with the attack and decay of a note played through a tube amplifier offer a staggering complexity for digital amplifier manufacturers to copy. Because that is what they are doing – taking the recorded sound of a tube amplifier and working to recreate that sound from attack through decay, at a variety of volume levels and tone settings. They have done a fantastic job at getting it close. But, as yet, no cigar.

Indeed, the better your speaker(s) and cabinet, the more you will appreciate the subtle advantages of a tube amplifier. This holds equally true whether you are listening to a live performance, or a recorded performance through speakers or headphones.

Tubes are here to stay. Not because I’m “old school.” Because they sound better.

-Ted
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That's a whole lotta subjectivity and opinion, and that's fine.

Me, I'm just happier playing my Axe-III through a pair of Friedman ASC's. It's more controllable, better sounding to me at sane volumes and just more enjoyable than my old tube beasts.

I spent a couple of weekends arranging my tube amps and rack effects for better connectivity and convenience recently. It still didn't make me play them any more than I have been... mostly now they just take up less floor space as they slumber away...
 
Jvstrat said:
I actually know the owner of BadCat from a small music shop I help out at that’s a dealer for them. John and I have talked about some modeling stuff and he does like it, but he’s never tried the Axe before. We actually talked about how great the Boss Katana was because he picked one up used cheap. Him and I actually discussed once how he’d love to have BadCat stuff modeled on Fractal or Helix. His favorite BadCat is the Cub 40.
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John is a great guy! I've talked to John several times at length throughout my ownership of several BadCat's. I love the Black Cat 30... it's roughly a Matchless DC30, but responds differently. Had a Luca at one point too and the chime was insane. Cool amps, but having had a DC30 for 8 years (and it being my #1 for 6.5 of those until I got the Axe III) the Axe III captures the DC30 so well, that I'd never be able to tell which was my amp and which was the Axe.
 
lauke-lux said:
Thequadraverb directly to a Fender Champ amp I owned was great; nothing to say here
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That's part of why I still have the Quadraverb and the mid-'60s Deluxe Reverb my parents bought for me used in about 1968 when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Haven't fired either of them up in years, but I don't think I'll be selling either of them anytime soon. (Especially the Deluxe...I'll have that one until I die.)
 
laxu said:
Please elaborate!
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The Deliverance amps are Fryette’s take on a Marshall type amp with one versatile channel. The Sig:X has more gain and can get a lot more compressed. The Sig:X is less dark sounding than the D60 and is more modern sounding overall. Both are great.
 
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