$90 amps that prove my life is a lie

I own a Vox Pathfinder. It's a perfectly fine amp. I also think 95% of peoplecan't tell good tone from great tone and those that can have earplugs in to preserve their ears at a gig and can't tell anyway.

 

Most guitarists listen with their eyes and not their ears.

 

I saw this a few weeks ago when my nephew expressed interest in learning guitar.

I think the Marshall sounds best in most of the categories that were tested.

 

First, Youtube's heavily-compressed digital audio may not be giving an authentic sense of what the amps sound like in person.

But that said . . .

For playing clean at low volume, transistors are every bit as good as tubes. I have a $50 Rogue amp that sounds fine clean; its OD channel sounds like someone vomiting bees into a metal trash can. Some SS amps also do pretty good distortion if you're willing to settle for 95 percent (I am; others may not be). In my experience, they often work better with their own inherent overdrive circuits rather than pedals. Unlike tube amps, SS amps don't appreciate having their preamps overdriven hard by a pedal. If you're going to use pedal distortion, you need to dial it in differently from how you'd set that pedal for a tube amp - i.e., turn the pedal's distortion up and turn its output down.

 

15 years ago $90 WAS a budget tube amp.

 

I have a $70 Cube 01 amp. It has a clean sound second to no amp I have ever heard or played. Since I play clean at home it is fine and dandy.

 

The Bugera V5 is a cute little tube combo that does a good job too. Picked mine up used for £80 a few years back. Just 5W, no frills.

 

The Pathfinder 10 is awesome, for what it is (in terms of space it will fill). Love mine.

 

I have the Crush12. Great amp, 99 beans.

 

Well, the video reminded me that I don’t care for the sound of Orange amps.

No big surprises — For me, the Fender has the best cleans, Marshall has the best everything else and honorable mention to Vox for sounding like a Vox. Anyone looking for a brand’s sound will find it in these 4 amps, so I guess they did a good job for beginners’ amps.

 

I think they listen more with their memories than with any of their senses.

 

I want that Marshall!

I own a Frontman 25R and Pathfinder 15R ( which are both larger than the FM and PF featured here) that sound very good clean.
But that Marshall's crunch/power chord tone blows away the others!

 

Hearing the difference between a S.S. amp and a tube amp perhaps is not very different, but playing through both types of amps ... the tubes are far more inspiring and fun IMO.

That said, I just bought my first S.S. amp in 15 years, but ... for a very unique purpose.

 

I dunno about some of those power chord clips.... Marshall sounded pretty good, at least.

Honestly, if all you're doing is recording, quite a few folks would say you don't need an amp at all anymore.

 

I like SS better. I have some little 1 watt Blackstar tube amps and some Joyo Bantamps with tube preamps still, but that's mostly because selling right now is a PITA, and the money I'd make is not really worth the hassle at this time.

But yeah, I like SS better.

 

Speaking about the difference in feel...

 

Totally agree. I would love a direct in solution that sounds good but everything I've tried so far has too much harshness in the treble. They will get me by for doing quick guide tracks but I usually want to replace them later.

There's something about a speaker moving air to a mic that seems to tame the harshness.

I'm sure there are direct solutions without this problem. I look at something like a Strymon Iridium and think that's the ticket but, at close to $400, it's easier to just mic the amp I have now.