Guitar Questions

[stuartj]

Regarding strings for acoustic- Elixir. They last for ever, like I mean years. They are worth the extra money. I use 12-56 (medium), so a 10 or 11 set would be the go.

Amps. Tube amps are very loud. I play in a loud band, I use a handwired PtP 50w 1x12 amp. Just last night, we (again) did a "sound tune" with a full PA in an effort to bring down the backline volumes. Its very difficult. I never turn on tube amps at home except for test, they are just too loud once you have them, even little ones, at a level where the power section is working correctly. The other guy I play with uses Bogners, Soldanos or a boutique handwired Marshall Plexi clone and quaddies. Its all massive overkill.

Suggest a look at the Line 6/Roland/Vox modelling stuff, or small Marshalls. All valve amps bring some overhead.

I recently borrowed an older Marshall TSL 40w combo- played with a band- it was great. I just turned it up full and sure enough it sounded like a marshall- but I think its got trick stuff to make it more useable down low. Cheap too.

[Rick Lee]

I just sold my second DeVille. I will probably have another one day, but between my Soldano and my tiny GK 250ML, that's all I need for this size house and practice room.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I have to get the "tiny head unit" thing out of my system first.

Then the question: sell the Bassman and get the Deville, or have them both?

[Cajundaddy]

Yep, finding just the right guitar and amp is a journey, and the journey never ends because our needs & wants change over time. There is no one perfect amp and a lot has to do with the music you play and the way amps are voiced. Modeling amps claim to cover all styles and needs. In my experience they do some things very well and others not so much.

A few very broad amp generalizations:
Blues, Rockabilly, Surf, Brit Invasion, Classic Rock---- Fender, Vox, Marshall, Mesa
Stadium Rock, 80s Hair, Metal---- Marshall, Mesa Rectifier, Orange
Punk, New Wave, Grunge---- Vox, Marshall, Mesa, Orange
Jazz, Funk, R&B, Country---- Fender, Dr Z, Music Man, Vox, Roland JC

Others will surely disagree and this is what makes the world go around.

[Rick Lee]

I know I'll be in the minority on this, but I think Fender has the most diverse product line. No one but no one beats the classic Fender clean sound, especially in a Twin Reverb. You can add crunch and overdrive from there. The DeVille and Bassman have the classic Fender clean sound. And here's one out of left field - the EVH 5150 III (made by Fender) has everything - the heaviest overdrive (sans noise), a nice crunch channel and still the classic Fender clean channel. I had occasion to gig with one about a month after I got my Soldano. Honestly, for the money it's one of the best amps out there. I could sell my Soldano, buy a new EVH and be $1000 ahead.

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I know I'll be in the minority on this, but I think Fender has the most diverse product line. No one but no one beats the classic Fender clean sound, especially in a Twin Reverb. You can add crunch and overdrive from there. The DeVille and Bassman have the classic Fender clean sound. And here's one out of left field - the EVH 5150 III (made by Fender) has everything - the heaviest overdrive (sans noise), a nice crunch channel and still the classic Fender clean channel. I had occasion to gig with one about a month after I got my Soldano. Honestly, for the money it's one of the best amps out there. I could sell my Soldano, buy a new EVH and be $1000 ahead.

Agree. Fenders 5150 III is great bit of gear for all those reasons and - will pretty much make the same sounds from 0 to stadium volume. And there nothing not to love about an old Twin (cept moving them).

But- ive never had any luck making those little Deville and Hotrods combos sound any good. User error prolly.

[Cajundaddy]

Fender clean is indeed the best. I have an old 64 Super Reverb that is as sweet and glassy as they get. I think 60s Blackface is the best clean followed closely by Fender Hot Rod clean. The Bassman is a little warmer and has more texture to it. Revelation: Mesa clean channels are essentially a 60s Blackface Princeton circuit so they do clean very well too. Vox AC 30 (The Beatles) clean tone is excellent but different than Fender clean.

So many amps, so little time.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

100w is way, way overkill for home playing. It's actually overkill until you get to mid-size theatres.

Thank you thank you thank you....

[IROC]

I have to apologize for not reading the whole thread, but agree with Stuart's comments regarding tube amps. I have 15 watt Univalve that relies totally on overdriving the power tube for distortion and it is simply too loud for "home use". I turned it all the way up with a 6V6 tube once (so the actual power output was quite a bit less than 15W) and it was stupid loud. I have to use pedals with it...

I recently bought a Marshall DSL 15C and I have admit that I love this thing. Extremely versatile and it produces some of the best tone at "bedroom" levels I have ever heard. It uses 6V6 tubes, but those are always my favorites, so maybe that is part of it. It also has speaker outs, but I have yet to plug it into my 2x12 Avatar cab (Vintage 30 and G12H30) to see how it sounds, but it has a lot of "punch" with it's own 12" speaker...

[Rick Lee]

I have a 100w head only because they don't make the exact same one in 50w. And 50w would be overkill too. But I need a head that will never be too small for any situation. Hey, if Alex Lifeson gets sick before a Rush concert and they need me to fill in for him, I can do it. Really.

I do like to play loud at home and bought a 300w stereo so I could play along with my songs at a volume I can hear on the stereo competing with my amp. I went to jam with a band two weeks ago, had the same settings on my amp as when I had left the house (the settings I normally practice at) and the drummer asked me to turn it down. I went to two Rush concerts last weekend and didn't find them to be loud at all, that's how bad my hearing has gotten.

[911dean]

I'm just a beginner guitar player and find my '68 Fender Champ is perfect for home use. My next amp will be a Victoria 5112. It's just a tweed champ circuit in 1 x 12 cabinet.

Dean

[FrankyV]

I have found that Martin strings will transform even a beat up $100 Yamaha

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by 911dean

I'm just a beginner guitar player and find my '68 Fender Champ is perfect for home use. My next amp will be a Victoria 5112. It's just a tweed champ circuit in 1 x 12 cabinet.

Dean

The reality is this is probably all the amp any of us really need. 5 watts of great guitar tone at 106db. If we play Madison Square Garden or Angel Stadium it doesn't matter what amp we bring. They are going to mic it and run it through the house system anyways.

[VaSteve]

Buncha old guys talking about how its too loud. LOL

My evening project is fixing the jacks on my Princeton Chorus. 20 years old, made in USA, parts are available and it can be fixed? Nice.

Do amp wattages correspond in any way to car speakers? I recall buying 50w speakers in the day for my car and "high power" head units but never really understood it all. How's it relate?

[Les Paul]

40 watts of tube is like 100 watts solid state. Or so it seemed to me.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

Buncha old guys talking about how its too loud. LOL

Guys who understand tone and listen to the rest of the band get gigs. Guys who live to crank it usually do so in their mom's basement

[Rick Lee]

Some tube amps truly sound great only when cranked up. I've been toying with getting some kind of attenuator, so I can crank up the power, but keep it at a livable volume. They seem to run between $15 - $500, so I need to really research.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Some tube amps truly sound great only when cranked up. I've been toying with getting some kind of attenuator, so I can crank up the power, but keep it at a livable volume. They seem to run between $15 - $500, so I need to really research.

I have one that I use with the Super Reverb. "Altair Power Attenuator" from the 70s. It sounds pretty good when you knock the volume down 4-8db. Once you get into -16db territory the great Fender tone is lost. Minus 8db is usually enough to gig with though... or I could just bring a smaller 1x12 amp.


Nostatic knows of what he speaks. I like your Steely Dan cover band vid.

[futuresoptions]

Did a little searching around last night and found what I think would be a middle ground amp. Not a tube amp and not quite a digital modeling amp. This one is a analog modeling amp. Made in the USA. Color me stupid, but I had never heard of Tech 21 before. Sounds pretty damn good and looks beautiful in a retro kind of way...

[IROC]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

Do amp wattages correspond in any way to car speakers? I recall buying 50w speakers in the day for my car and "high power" head units but never really understood it all. How's it relate?

IIRC, a decibel is defined as the sound level produced by 1 watt of power at 1 meter. Most guitar amp speakers have a "sensitivity" of around 96 to 100 dB, so that means that they produce 96 to 100 decibels of sound per watt of input power.

So...it becomes obvious really quickly that it doesn't take a lot of power input to create a lot of decibel output. Many people are concerned with keeping the guitar sound clean at higher volumes, so that requires a decent amount of wattage. Basically, though, 10 watts can be really, really loud. Also, it takes 10 times the power input to double the volume output, so a 100 watt amp isn't 10 times louder than a 10 watt amp - it's only twice as loud.

Car speakers are generally rated as "power handling capability", which has nothing to do with how loud they are.

All the above is from memory which is probably wrong/urban legends, so feel to correct any errors.