The Ten Things I've Learned About Amps.

[woodman]

24: if you get an amp that really sounds like you, hang onto it -- the grass may not get any greener on the other side of the fence! (this from a guy who sold a '62 blackface Super Reverb for $450 in 1989 to get a Seymour Duncan Convertible -- under pressure from the band to get a more "modern" sound.)

[Ed Bickert]

1. don't go poking around in a tube amp with a screw driver if you don't know what you're doing.

2. Solid State amps never need tubes replaced in the middle of a gig

3. Although it devalues the amp, amps make great drink coasters

4. Stacks look cool, but unless you're gigging they're not practical

5. You don't need a vintage amp to get a vintage sound

6. If you're not a good player, turn up the overdrive

7. There is such a thing as too many controls

8. Just because it goes to 10 doesn't mean it always needs to be there

9. The amps that your hero uses is proably way more amp than you need

10. No matter how good you are, someone is pissed at all the noise.

[Bandit]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Things I've learned about amps:

1. Life's too short to play through crap.

Nothing matters if the lead guitar doesn't know the song. Oh the things I've see as a roadie.

To quote Brad Paisley from a GuitarPlayer magazine article: "An amp is an instrument-it's actually more important than the guitar" Brad always uses his 68 Tele to test amps, and his starting point tone wise for building an amp is an old Vox of his. Brad also said something about

[TheJacket]

827.) I have yet to find the amp I consider to have a truly bright tone.

(Any replacement speaker suggestions?)

[Tele295]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Things I've learned about amps:

1. Life's too short to play through crap.
2. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
3. One man's meat is another man's pudding.
4. A great player sounds good through anything.
5. A mediocre player sounds mediocre through anything.
6. Tubes are good, but some are better than others.
7. Tone is in the hands. But a good amp sure helps.
8. It's all about the joy of playing. Find the joy, you'll find the tone.
9. Got a sound in your head? Play it with heart, and it'll come out of your hands. Hear it? Play it. The only thing stopping you is you.
10. It's all about the music. The rest is GAS.

Truer words have never been spoken, my friend

[freddie]

The amps that your hero uses is proably way more amp than you need

yep lol.. learned that one the hard way....


freddie

[stxrus]

possibly the BEST thread/set of posts EVER.

so much truth and so much humor. ROTFLMFAO!!!

thanks

steve

[TeeBird]

n | n < infinity) A good sounding guitar through a decent sounding amp will more than suffice.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by fezz parka

Things I've learned about amps:

1. Life's too short to play through crap.
2. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
3. One man's meat is another man's pudding.
4. A great player sounds good through anything.
5. A mediocre player sounds mediocre through anything.
6. Tubes are good, but some are better than others.
7. Tone is in the hands. But a good amp sure helps.
8. It's all about the joy of playing. Find the joy, you'll find the tone.
9. Got a sound in your head? Play it with heart, and it'll come out of your hands. Hear it? Play it. The only thing stopping you is you.
10. It's all about the music. The rest is GAS.

Yessir.

#1 (A)

An amp isn't worth beans unless it is turned on with a guitar plugged into it. And the guitar isn't worth beans unless it is plugged into the amp.

Combined they're still worthless unless you make the time to play them as best you can, undivided attention given. Turn off the phones, shut the doors and just play.

[Murphy Slaw]

If I may.....

Good old tubes last a lot longer than tube salesmen will admit, and sound a lot better than crappy new tubes.

Yep.

Murph.

[Brick]

The bigger the amp, the more you're gonna impress a six year old.

[Flat357]

Hmmmmmmm .... let me see

100... Other peoples amps sound great ?
101... I want what he's got ?
102... My amp will never break ?
103... My amp cost more , therefore it is better ?
104... Amps have no bearing on tone ... only fingers ?
105... That amp sounded great , untill he told me it was Solid State ?
106... Dust prevents my circuit board from rusting ?
107... What does this volume knob do ?
108... My control knobs look better if they all face the same direction ?
109... My drummer says my amp is heavy

[Whisperer]

#24 never pour liquids into the back of an amp .
#25 never put the volume on 10 then turn the amp on at 3 am.

[mikespe]

#26 Don't take your Fender amp to my local authorized Fender repair shop to be fixed. (Read this thread if you don't know what I am talking about!)

[hamish5178]

Originally Posted by PRNDL

Addendum - some amps (especially homemade ones) are like the Millenium Falcon ... they're nothing to look at, but they've got it where it counts.

I never got that, I though the Millenium Falcon was the coolest thing ever when I saw that movie!

Like in the show Firefly (they made a movie called Serenity) they fly around in a WAY-COOL space ship that everyone calls a piece of junk!

One thing I've learned about amps:

The nicer your amp, the less you want to use effects

[hal]

If you cannot get good tone out of a Deluxe, you should probably sell everything and take up the violin.

Fezz--build me an amp. If you impart all this wisdom into the circuit I'm sure it will sound incredible.

[Gilamnstr]

Originally Posted by teletone

22. No matter what you buy, everyone here will say "Awwww, you should have gotten a (insert something totally different here)."

Apparently not if it's a 5E3 variant of some sort.

[Bswailes]

Originally Posted by Durtdog

That's why I always buy the cheapest amp I can possibly find. I'm saving a bloody fortune, and no one can tell the difference.

I love self-effacing humor...

[bradpdx]

News from behind the chicken wire cage:

13.3 When someone spills their spit cup into the back of their Peavey, it eats right though the circuit board traces until blessed silence is achieved.

[markinlondon]

Originally Posted by Flat357

Hmmmmmmm .... let me see

105... That amp sounded great , untill he told me it was Solid State ?

Ah, so true

27. I f I buy a $400 Blues Junior and spend $600 replacing the speaker, tubes and cabinet and modding the circuit board, it will sound just like a $1000 amp.

[Dennis68]

Ain't all the truth! Thanks for the laugh! ;-)

[Wardpike]

24. But these ones go to 11
Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap

[Middleman]

#1000...Cats love to claw the material that covers the speakers, use your amp cover.

#1001... The same amp can sound fantastic some nights and like buffalo chips others.

#1002...Sometimes I have paid $200 for new tubes and the amp sounds exactly the same.

#1003...The size of the amp is inverse to your age.

#1004...Amps with effect loops double the distance your signal runs through noisy guitar cables.

#1005...Better to have wheels on your amp case than install wheels on the amp.

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by Middleman

#1003...The size of the amp is inverse to your maturity level.

Fixed it for ya. I've been enjoying a 10-watt amp for 8 years, and I'm 27 now.

- Scott

[Tim Bowen]

#5068: Don't put a can of Budweiser on top of an AC30 at a show.

#7163: If you play tubers, always bring two of them to jobs, in case one craps out. Changing tubes or breaking out a solder gun between tunes is a buzzkill.

#7466: Choose your tools based only upon your material, the act(s) you work with, the venues you play, and what you happen to dig. Read internet opinions about this and that, but be prepared to treat them with a grain of salt. Learn to trust your ears.

#8394: If you gotta boost your tone with pedals, take some time to screw around and experiment. A Tube Screamer is a cool and useful circuit, but it sucks eggs with some amps. Same for old school treble boosters and germanium fuzzes.

#1133: The most useful amp tone on the bandstand is the one that strikes a happy medium between headroom, compression, and light breakup, with any additional boosting compliments of outboard circuit(s) that can be bypassed, with shades of grey arrived at via the instrument's knob.

Refer to the most pertinently useful post on the thread, in my opinion:

Originally Posted by tjalla