What Makes An Amp “Easy To Play” Or “Unforgiving?”

ruso

ruso

Fractal Fanatic
Occasionally I run across reviews or descriptions of amplifiers that range from “easy to play,” or “unforgiving.” For example, many claim that the Mesa Boogie Mark IV is a very unforgiving amplifier, exposing mistakes and requiring accuracy when playing. I owned a Mark IV head a little over ten years ago and can attest to this claim.

On the other hand, some amplifiers are said to be “easy to play,” giving players a little more room for mistakes. I’ve been spending a lot of time playing through the Diezel Herbert model and it seems to fit this description well.

From @yek’s write up on the Herbie model:

“Simply put, the amp is a player's amp, forgiving and ready for whatever one's soul and mood desires.”​

My question is, what characteristics make an amplifier “easy to play,” or “unforgiving?” Is this a case of an amp having more or little sag?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this.
 
Depending on the topology of the schematic, there are several factors that give certain characteristic to each design. Bandwith, linearity, harmonic distortion, negative feedback, compression... These objective characteristics can be measured. "easiness to play" or "forgiveness" cannot be measured.

https://circuitdigest.com/tutorial/classes-of-power-amplifier-explained

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/amplifier-classes

Some thoughts:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...lifier-speed-and-resolution-be-measured.5906/
 
Piing said:
Depending on the topology of the schematic, there are several factors that give certain characteristic to each design. Bandwith, linearity, harmonic distortion, negative feedback, compression... These objective characteristics can be measured. "easiness to play" or "forgiveness" cannot be measured.

https://circuitdigest.com/tutorial/classes-of-power-amplifier-explained

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/amplifier-classes

Some thoughts:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...lifier-speed-and-resolution-be-measured.5906/
Click to expand...

I understand the difference between the different classes of amplifiers. I guess I'm just trying to understand what could make a guitar amplifier expose or help hide a player's mistakes. I've heard so much of this over the many years as a player. I'd just like to figure out what characteristics of these amplifiers contribute to this phenomenon. I know from experience that something overly-compressed "feels" easier to play than something that is less compressed and has more dynamic range.
 
Yes, that is a good question. Compression and the type of harmonics probably have influence on how the nuances are exposed with more or less transparency. I would love to hear the thoughts of Cliff on this.
 
lyricbread said:
I understand the difference between the different classes of amplifiers. I guess I'm just trying to understand what could make a guitar amplifier expose or help hide a player's mistakes. I've heard so much of this over the many years as a player. I'd just like to figure out what characteristics of these amplifiers contribute to this phenomenon. I know from experience that something overly-compressed "feels" easier to play than something that is less compressed and has more dynamic range.
Click to expand...

For me, in layman's terms: It's responsiveness, compression and the amp/cab's resonance frequencies. An amp that feels too immediate, will be more difficult for me in that I have to be precise. The opposite and the amp will feel so spongy that the clarity is lost and there aren't any satisfying dynamics to express myself as I'd like to. I realize this probably doesn't add to what you're asking from Cliff. It's just my perspective.
 
IMO Gain - primarily.
Gain / compression, has a tendency to even things out. A mistake can easily sound like a slur rather than a screwed up note.
Try playing a difficult piece with a clean amp: much harder to keep everything clean and articulate.
The mid-gain amps like Dumble are very responsive to dynamic playing. They sound incredible without much gain at all but they are harder to control than a higher-gain amp like those amps that sound like 80's guitar gods where you can barely tell the difference between legato and picked playing.
That's my personal opinion on the matter.
 
Bman said:
An amp that feels too immediate, will be more difficult for me in that I have to be precise.
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Makes me think of when I'm too loud in the mix, I'll feel myself holding back on my playing instead of just letting it rip. An amp that's too immediate (which seems to partly be a sag thing, but it's not that straightforward) is harder for me to play too. Back when I first got my AFX2 I found some of the Fenders etc to be too stiff so I'd play w/ Transformer Match (I think) to get them to soften a bit.
Patzag said:
IMO Gain - primarily.
Gain / compression, has a tendency to even things out. A mistake can easily sound like a slur rather than a screwed up note.
Click to expand...
Also this. Way back in the day when I was a beginner, my buddy and I could barely play... then we'd crank the gain and voila! Everything sounded much better because we couldn't hear all our mistakes.

In addition, it seems like the IR choice will make a big difference - some feel more immediate or present, whereas others are more diffuse.
 
Bman said:
An amp that feels too immediate, will be more difficult for me in that I have to be precise.
Click to expand...
This. With Mezzabarba each stroke has to be precise and controlled, uneven pressure or pick attack angle will be heard. When you play "forgiving" amps, you feel most of the subtilities of your playing lost compared to the other amps. Sometimes it helps, sometimes is a pain in the ass...
 
jefferski said:
Makes me think of when I'm too loud in the mix, I'll feel myself holding back on my playing instead of just letting it rip. An amp that's too immediate (which seems to partly be a sag thing, but it's not that straightforward) is harder for me to play too. Back when I first got my AFX2 I found some of the Fenders etc to be too stiff so I'd play w/ Transformer Match (I think) to get them to soften a bit.

Also this. Way back in the day when I was a beginner, my buddy and I could barely play... then we'd crank the gain and voila! Everything sounded much better because we couldn't hear all our mistakes.

In addition, it seems like the IR choice will make a big difference - some feel more immediate or present, whereas others are more diffuse.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of the Rig Rundown with the guy from Intervals. He said he purposely leaves his mix down in his in-ears because it forces him to 'go for it' or play harder, if that makes sense. I feel the same way about my vocals in the mix. I can't stand to hear but just a little to make sure I'm on pitch.
 
I was wondering this as well. I found that the USA Clean model in the Axe-FX III feels way easier to play than the Axe-FX II version. Like there's more compression or something.
 
I'd say the more compression the amp has the easier it is to play, since it squishes the dynamics and therefore requires less effort to maintain steady dynamics. For the lack of a better description everything is just more "even" and "dressed up". Mark IV gets more forgiving if you crank it, but by then you'll have to re-paint the walls since paint will be peeling off if you aren't using an attenuator. This is pretty obvious if you listen to Paul Gilbert nowadays. His tone is much lower gain now, so all the mistakes are clearly audible. If it was 90's style "can of bees" high gain stuff, nobody would hear a thing, and it'd all sound flawless.
 
plexi59 said:
I'd say the more compression the amp has the easier it is to play, since it squishes the dynamics and therefore requires less effort to maintain steady dynamics. For the lack of a better description everything is just more "even" and "dressed up". Mark IV gets more forgiving if you crank it, but by then you'll have to re-paint the walls since paint will be peeling off if you aren't using an attenuator. This is pretty obvious if you listen to Paul Gilbert nowadays. His tone is much lower gain now, so all the mistakes are clearly audible. If it was 90's style "can of bees" high gain stuff, nobody would hear a thing, and it'd all sound flawless.
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I think Paul Gilbert being "sloppier" or at least sounding that way nowadays, is due to several things. His thinner picks doesn't help, for starters.

His tone is also as you say, lower gain than previously. He also uses a lot less highs going into his gain, which is detrimental to smoothness and brings out any "choppiness" is his playing. It's the same thing with EJ nowadays. The darker the tone from the guitar before hitting the gain, the more gain you need to compensate.

An easy experiment is to just turn down the tone on your guitar when using distortion. Even if you compensate for the lower level, the tone will not "glue" the same way from one not to another, or sustain as well. The "woman tone" is not suitable for shredding.
 
Yeah I'd say gain and compression are the big factors. Some amps squish and smear things together more when the gain is cranked. Others stay very articulate and tight even with lots of gain. The more clear and articulate the sound, the more the technique flubs come through. To me a good comparison would be a Boogie Mark IV vs a Dual Rectifier. Kind of like a Formula 1 car vs a dump truck. Both have lots of horsepower, but applied in very different ways.

For clean tones, I think it's mostly compression. Compression adds sustain and a liquidity to notes. Makes things like hammer on's and pull-offs feel easier since the level is kept more consistent. They seem to take less effort to get the same result.
 
I hear folks say that compression evens everything out, making you sound like a more skilled player. I agree that compression makes playing more enjoyable, but I think it's not evenness exactly, it's that the little details pop out more. I love that stuff, the little inflections, human details.

Trick (for me) is to get all that good stuff without hearing artificial-sounding compression, or being more distorted than I like.
 
In my opinion (and as others have stated), compression is what makes an amp easy to play vs unforgiving. The compression smoothes out dynamics, so it feels good under the fingers and makes guitar faces easier to achieve. Amps with less compression feel more immediate under the fingers and bring out more character in your playing, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the kind of player you are.

I have a DSL 50 that compresses like a mother even with low gain or clean settings...probably why it’s one of Marshall’s best selling amps. It’s really easy to play and makes you more confident in your abilities. I have a friend coming to my studio tomorrow with his SLO 100 which is apparently a really unforgiving amp. I’m excited to try it and compare it to the Axe!
 
Whatever the difference is between the Mesa Triaxis Lead 1 and Lead 2 modes is what makes the difference between easy to play and unforgiving.
 
York Audio said:
In my opinion (and as others have stated), compression is what makes an amp easy to play vs unforgiving. The compression smoothes out dynamics, so it feels good under the fingers and makes guitar faces easier to achieve. Amps with less compression feel more immediate under the fingers and bring out more character in your playing, which can be a good or bad thing depending on the kind of player you are.

I have a DSL 50 that compresses like a mother even with low gain or clean settings...probably why it’s one of Marshall’s best selling amps. It’s really easy to play and makes you more confident in your abilities. I have a friend coming to my studio tomorrow with his SLO 100 which is apparently a really unforgiving amp. I’m excited to try it and compare it to the Axe!
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The SLO100 is definitely one of the more forgiving amps on the lead channel. It has a "sustain network" at the input. Basically a little circuit that compresses the signal so it sustains more evenly over the gain range.
 
Depends on the amp. Some of those newer Marshall's are 'easy to play', but sloppy as hell.

It's gain with a dollop of compression.

It REALLY depends on the amp. The more I play, the less gain I use (or more I able to pull more gain by playing style as needed.)

Try the 'Wreck' models. They are a prime examples of an amp that can go from unforgiving and precise at volume knob 3, to 'I'm going to make you sound great no matter what' at vol knob 10.

Edit: Using guitar knob...not amp.
 
When you talk about compression as a forgiving factor, would the result be the same with a compressor pedal after/before the amp or is it the intrinsic compression of the amplifier?
 
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