you all werent in the room...you have no idea how good that sounded back in the 70s over AM radio and a single 6x9 dash speaker.....like when zepplin recorded and all 300 million of us were in the room so we knew it was the best album ever
As a guitar player, I love when I'm able to listen to something one time, pick out the amp in question, post time stamps on two YT accounts for double proof/chance of being seen (conveniently "wasnt" seen), then get told my ears suck and I don't know what I'm talking about by a producer who can barely play guitar... Point being; yeah, they all sound almost the same, and any one in a mix would do fine... but there's still a differences when placed side by side. Same with pickups (particularly in a live situation). And regardless of all that..... digital amp sims ARE the future, so this argument is irrelevant lol
@@AmericanNationalist852 I'm looking at your comment right now. This is copy and pasted so it's word for word what you said. themetalguy 6 days ago 7:46/47 is when the switch happens, solo is hard to tell because you didn't include any repeating lines. ss amps have gotten better, but digital sims are the future. All you did was timestamp where ONE of many changes that happened. As presented by this video the Orange came up more than once, even outside of the solo. All you did here was accurately timestamp one change and didn't specify which amp you thought it was. The challenge was to to spot where the orange was through the whole track. Not just one spot. Better luck next time.
@@DerSilvano this is true, but also wasn't the argument presented, either. It was just "guitar players are full of themselves and really can't hear a difference because they are usually hearing with their eyes". It's just like his argument on pickups; yeah in the final mix most will do perfectly fine, but in a live situation (ie while recording...) the minor nuances between p'ups will absolutely affect a player and their performance.
This is one of the most important videos on youtube for musicians. Not only did you make a solid technical point that could shift an entire industry, but you also deconstructed and explained profound psychological concepts in a simple way. Thank for you being relentless with the troglodytes. New York sends their love.
OK, this is interesting. When I listened to the clip with the transitions between the amps marked on the screen, I could clearly hear that they all sounded slightly different, especially the 5150, but then when I listened to the clip again with my eyes closed I couldn't hear the differences anymore no matter how hard I concentrated to spot them. Mind blown.
@@DjCzubaka I couldn't hear the differences in the original either. What totally amazed me is how I could hear the differences when I was looking at the visual cues, but mere seconds later I couldn't spot them anymore after I closed my eyes.
I think what Glenn is trying to say is that the world would be a better place if guitarists put as much energy, passion and creativity into writing songs as they do defending their toobz.
Or developing their playing skills.. but, I too fall easily into the "better gear" quicksand ie [tube amps]. When I could actually sound noticeably better if I practiced as much as I shop for gear.
I've owned close to 30 different tube amps since the late 90's. I bought a super crush 100 last July, and it was instantly my favorite amp ever. It has been my main ever since.
Bought a Orange Crush 60, Swapped the orginal speaker for a V30 and its been a fantatic amp. Really like the clean channel as it has a nice smooth break up that I never noticed with the orginal 'voice of the world speaker'.
I might have kept my used CR120 but it cut out at hlf volume. I have a Bass 100 Crush 1x15 and a Cr20RT and sound great. My Dark Terror I run dirty, but the RV100MKII is run clean with SS distortion and eq in Front
I got one last year as well, and agree its a great amp and was worth every penny. Could I get a better tone out of a tube amp? probably. Is the difference worth me spending 3 times as much? absolutely not.
Without doubt you have exposed the truth about how we hear or should I say perceive tone. Unconscious bias reigns supreme in the minds of many and by definition we are just unaware of it. Great video and commentary Glenn!
Listening on my solid state phone…. The tones all sounded solid state to me. Where can I buy a tube phone so I can appreciate the beauty of the tube amps in the mix? 😂
Chuck Schuldiner used a valvestate 8100 to record an play live and no one dares say he had a bad tone. Dime`s tone was built on a solid state amp. This discussion should have ended a long time ago.
Somewhat similar to this, for many years all of Opeth’s live distortion, time-based and modulation effects came from a Boss GT-3 being fed through Laneys. People will say “oh but they used tube amps”, but the bulk of their tone was from those Boss pedals.
Yup, Chuck used an amp and speaker setup that doesn't have a good reputation and yet Death's albums and live shows are something that nobody with a working pair of ears can say that sound bad.
I wonder if many true metal guys on here are the ones complaining about solid state amps? I can only think of one or two guys I've jammed with over the years that were tube snobs. Most metal guitarists just want a crushing tone.... the cheaper the better lol
@@zajefajnylogin A transistor behaves like a diode in this context. The existence of a patent on gear like the Boss SD-1 is proof that diodes, can produce both odd and even harmonics using a circuit.
The only amp that sounded better/noticeably different was the 5150(didn’t notice until they were labeled though)but i think thats just a matter of being a very well designed overdrive circuit and not necessarily a tube thing. Great video!
I closed my eyes during the test and watched it back, and yeah the 5150 sounded the most unique out of the bunch. More mids and a bit softer highs. Could be a million things affecting that difference though, all the tones sounded great.
Wow, guitarists actually having a friendly, sensible conversation where they admit that the great tone they hear might not be from the tubes? Wow, a one in a million occurance! ;)
the 5150 stood out to me too, but i didn't favor it among them all. the REVV tho.... that stood out to me as well, but as a preference. felt like it had all the range, and a more warm/natural sound. any would be fantastic, but revv would be my choice if i had one. :)
Dime- Randall RG-100 ES blew my mind when I found out way back in the 90's. Never underestimated solid state after that. Disgustingly bad ass bass sound by the way!
Started listening with my ears 8 years ago. Have been using the Orange Crush Pro amps exclusively since 2015. Added a Super Crush 100 this year. Both are just immense. Great video!
A few years ago I tried out my friend's Orange CR35 and was really impressed. I normally live on the edge of breakup sound but like to venture into a little more gain and that Orange amp sounded so good for that. Even though I do not need another amp I still want to get one of the Crush amps.
@@SpectreSoundStudios I love how they take down "Faith healers" and the like! Banicheck is another big one on that list of debunkers, he was a student of James Randi's. I cannot say this enough: Religion is the antithesis of Science, and of the two, only science actually works bitches!
Your videos have been an eye opener to me!!! I wish there was a channel that did the same thing for guitar tone for other genres of music. I am very aware that I listen with my eyes and feel with my ears, and your channel has changed my mind about guitar tone in metal. I wish somebody did the same for things you do for edge of breakup and clean tones!!! So I could just dial my tone knowing that I am changing things that actually matter. I play on a versatile band and I love making guitar purists angry when I get a better metal tone from my amp sims than their thousands of dollars back breaking tube amps played at low volumes!!!!
Glenn, here's an idea for a video: redo the same blind shootout between the amps but instead of recording one or two mics against the cab grille, record a few room mics and see how these "ya gotta be in da r00m" folks react.
There isn’t really any difference, because speakers. There are probably some minor differences to how they respond to guitar tricks/techniques, but not enough for it to matter either. As for the in the room sound, Austrian Audio should send Glenn their OC16, Henning stated that even close up it sounds like in the room. Would be interesting to hear what Glenn can archieve with such a mic.
I think for that, you'd need one of those stereo mics that pick up sound like human ears. Otherwise you'd get the same people saying that it's not done properly. I do think with some amps there is a difference in "feel", when comparing solid state, modelling and tube. I've played some solid state amps that were just horrendous and something just felt off. But I didn't get that with the Super Crush at all when I tried it. Amazing amp. Or the Fender Tonemaster amps, which are modelling amps with a class D power amp. And I'm sure that if more amp builders set their minds to it, they could exactly replicate their tube heads using solid state parts. I'm 99.99% sure that the real tone is all in the circuit, not the components.
@@mrcoatsworth429 Yup, the tone is in the circuit and the feel can be compensated for by utilizing todays knowledge within electronics and programming. Even the power sag of a tube amp can be replicated. Not to forget that some old and especially newer high gain tube amps utilize additional clipping, it’s not preamp tubes only. There are ofc. some clipping and eq differences between the heads when the knobs are set towards max. but apart from Spinal Tab, who want’s to do that anyway? From my experience the Orange Solid State amps are great as pedal and modeller platforms too, altough there is no need to use a Crush head for that, the OPB will do the same job for less. And then there is the option to skip power amps and cabs all together, some bands on 20.000 tons of metal did that. Check Hennings review of the mic I mentioned, I would say that it probably does a better job than a stereo room mic when it comes to get the exact sound of what it sounds like in the room without adding unrelevant ambience. I got that particular mic on my to buy list.
But they're all watching it on RUclips, so it's all been digitized anyway. According to these people, you need a fully analog experience to hear the difference - either physically in the room hearing the tube piano lows, or hearing a recording made to tape, pressed to wax, and played on a turntable with a tube receiver. If there's any digital component anywhere in the chain, the sound is forever tainted by digital poison.
I agree Glenn, I have used Amplitube as my live amp for about 5 or 6 years now, and I use the Mesa Dual Rec emulation and I could not tell you how many amp snobs have walked up to me at a live show asking what I was using and when I would ask why before I told them. They would say things like, because it sounds big and fat or just plain good, then I show them a Macbook or an iPad pro and they look at me with disbelief. The reason it sounds good is because I take the time to get things right and once it is right I never have to touch it again and no changes in tone because of crappy old club/bar power issues or knobs getting knocked around from stomping on pedals or forgetting exactly how I had the amp eq'ed. It all recalls exactly the way I had it 100% of the time. I have a real Dual rectifier I played out for about 10 years prior to moving digital, my reason for going digital was simple. Why would I drag that $6000 amp and cab to a bar, in the bed of a truck, out in the weather, to make $150/200? That is why. I can now take my entire rig in a guitar case.
Please do a blind test for bass tone with different "tone woods". Since bass is played with lower distortion than guitar it would be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences.
I'll save Glenn the time and effort, even though his guitar "tone wood" tests answer this question already...the tone emerging from ANY electric instrument is produced by the actual electronic signal, not the slab of wood (or graphite, aluminum, lexan, Masonite, concrete, Legos, etc) that they're attached to. You can literally bolt a neck, bridge and pick-up to a chunk of crappy construction grade 2x6, and as long as you get the intonation right? It'll sound great...it just won't be as pretty (or expensive) as those exotic axes made from "select tone woods". In short? "Tone wood" makes zero difference with electric basses, doesn't matter whether you play them clean or go full Lemmy!
as someone much much wiser than i once said....'if it sounds good it is good" and it all sounds pretty durn good to these ears with 40 plus years of mixing all types of music under my belt 👺
They sound great, and the differences are so minutely small that it was difficult to pick out, even when being prompted by the visual cue you put in. A testament to how good solid state amps are today.
Glenn, I recently got back into playing guitar again after years, and your channel is awesome to see. As someone who wants to get the most utility out of playing guitar without wasting money, your channel rings true and helps me listen to the proverbial angel on my shoulder to make reasonable purchases instead of just throwing away money listening to the horned guy on the other shoulder who says that "what's another grand gonna hurt?". I'll still buy pay a little more for the guitar because it has both the neck that I want, and it looks cool to me (it's the part that I actually touch, so that matters), but I'll live with the stock pickups, and I'll play a really cool solid-state that allows me to mix it with some high-quality, reasonably priced pedals. After all, the goal is to create sounds that I want to hear by playing guitar, and not to spend so much money on gear that I'll have to work forever and never get to really play it.
Carefull, there are few knocking right behind at your door Distract them by saying tube amps and tonewood instruments are at next door It will buy extra 5 days to come up new plan
I just bought a Super Crush 100 a few weeks ago. First SS amp. Even through my PPC412, it needs a bass boosted EQ in the FX Loop to compare to high gain tube amps. But I actually love how much tighter the response is without tube sag. Can’t wait to gig this.
A much needed video. I've been very guilty of guitar snobbery in the past but there is no doubt (for me anyway) I'm a happier person when I get my ideas tracked quickly, conveniently with solid state, sims, digital amps, IR's and so forth. We all like to nerd out, but making music should always still come first.
I can't wait for a new release from Sin Waves and Sweeps tho, their album 494.5Hz really changed my life. I've also heard that they're gonna go to 25kHz next, which is something I've never heard before!
Awesome conclusion, thank you for that! I'm running a Quad Cortex with a power stage 170 and are completely satisfied with this setup, Live and at home.
I always look forwards to videos like this because I learn something new, about myself and about music and gear in general. I may not like what I see/hear or agree every time but the knowledge is always appreciated.
Has anyone seen the Devin Townsend rig rundown? He basically explains why tube amps are amazing and shit at the same time and, consequently, why he uses AxeFX. In summary, all that amazing goodness that guitar players love when playing alone in front of the cab (the old being in the room argument) had to be cut with filters and EQ out to open space for other instruments, and that is true for both recording and live music.
Yep! I play almost exclusively through my Fractals now. Can’t tell you the last time I turned on one of my tube amps. The fact that I can enjoy the same sound whether through headphones, studio monitors, FRFR, or full PA system is just glorious!
@@millman82 that has been my “mantra” for the last 10y maybe. Now with the QC, I sometimes use some pedals and tube preamps to get the sound in the studio but then just capture it in the QC and use it the rest of the time.
Wow. What a great experiment this was. I’m so glad that you showed that solid state can be just as good as(if not sometimes Better) than tube amps. I own an orange super crush 120 and it’s by far the best amp I own and believe me I own a lot of amps. Keep doing what your doing because your doing great and you’ve even opened this aging metal head’s eyes to some of the BS that is out there.
7:59 Haffus has a great point there, we have to be in the same room. That's great!! Now I only have to find a way to get from 2023 Canada to 1985 Denmark and enter sweet silence studio to be live in the room when James records the rhythm tracks on Master of puppets album! The recordings are great but imagine being live there in the same room!!! I understand why my videos don't get a lot of attention because they are recordings! I don't have to try and improve myself, I have the answer. Tnx Haffus!
Removing the visual cues in the original test was brilliant. I have owned several solid state and tube amps, and unlike the pickups test you did a while back I was pretty sure I would be able to pick it out (though I am a guitar player, I sadly do not possess the gift of super-hearing). But when the test started and I was met with a wall of sound and the vastness of space...... I couldn't tell shit apart. Amazing.
I think people get confused with the old solid states made in Indonesia that are really cheap and sound like shit or the small 20 watt amps they had as a kid. I've heard so many good solid states that didn't sound cheap or shit at all. Can't wait to buy that Crush 100, finally a good solid state from my favourite amp brand!
I just made a new combo cab out of 3/4” pine and upholstery vinyl to replace the 1/2” tone-particleboard thing enclosing my Marshall (Park) 10w pawnshop special. The tone improvement of getting the speaker away from thin particleboard was so profound my family could hear the difference even through my terrible playing. At one point during the project I put the speaker in the top of a 6” terracotta flowerpot. It sounded disturbingly good. I was actually afraid to put the speaker back in the new cab in case it was worse than the flowerpot. I told mrs j the flowerpot might be a permanent solution and she made faces. My point is that the circuit and speaker of a G10mk2 are not what sucks. The original engineering was good. With a proper cab behind it the Park 6” speaker actually sounds decent and exploring the absurdly narrow clean-dirty transition on the knobs is very educational for a new player.
@@jrrarglblarg9241 this is good to know - I have an MG10 sitting under my desk gathering dust, because it sounds like complete ass and I generally just play through my DAW whenever I'm playing at home. Might have to dig it out and make a new cab for it when I have a bit of spare time.
@@SultanOfSlam69 It’s like playing a different amp now. Totally different. The original design must have called for 3/4” inch material because with the internal dimensions unchanged the outside dimensions fall from a 6’ piece of 1x8 quite nicely. I suspect marketing nerfed the specs to lower the cost of production and Marshall execs were willing to make it sound like a dry angry fart in a cardboard box because anyone with ears would want a better amp after a while. All part of the Planned Obsolescence Conspiracy. 😒 I suspect all the 10w and 15w SS amps on the market suffer from this.
Great idea to DIY it. Bigger cab with more solid construction does make a big difference, the speaker still makes a bigger difference in my opinion but is a subjective difference. I think the better cab is an improvement that anyone can agree upon. The question to me is that does more speakers make much difference. To me a 4x12 sounds better than a 1x12 but the cabinet is way bigger to hold those 4 speakers and I've never heard a 4x12 sized cab with only 1 speaker in it.
@@jrrarglblarg9241 oh yeah, that too. Makes more sense! One time with my band we rehearsed in a studio where they had (if i remember correctly) a new Fender Champion 100 and i swear to god that the other guitarist didn't realize it was a solid state amp. I wonder what kind of cone that one has, but anyways. The guy from the studio told us that the old one wasn't as good as this new one to him. My guitarist instead changed his mind on solid state amps after that, we both played on solid state in that studio with the drummer punching those freaking drums and making noise, and we could still hear eachother, this to prove to the tube simps that solid states are good when you get a good one. I've also heard the Orange Crush 100 live in a band context and it was badass, i didn't realize it was solid state until i was told lol
“Don’t have anything to look at…” Reminds me of a friend’s gig MANY years ago. Shortly before they were to begin…his amp went toes up. Power light & nothing else. It had power but NOTHING was making its way through the thing. I called another friend and he brought over a POD. (Dude, really?) He brought it down and dialed up his fave Marshall tone. Plugged it in to the PA and let it rip. We left the real Marshall on, that little jewel shining bright. Over the course of the evening, several self-proclaimed guitarists commented on how great his tone was…and how great that Marshall “roared.” Yeah, that thing was DEAD. Some of us kept waiting for the darn thing to simply catc That night changed a lot of our views, including my own.
A lot of "World Class Chef's" will epically fail "blind taste tests" too. They also "eat with their eyes". That's why virtually all companies in all fields spend so much time and money on aesthetics and graphic design. Even people will spend more time and money on looking "healthy" than actually being healthy. Keep it up Glenn!
the dude with the digital recorder story is a typical proponent of the "audiophile" crowd who invest thousands into hifi mojo-grift equipment like speaker cables for 150 bucks. these people are on a whole other level than even boomer guitarists
That super crush is amazing. Also every guitar tone you've ever heard or loved was recorded and played back, even at most venues it's mic'd and sent through a PA. Lmao at "in the room".
I’ve got a 1994 Peavey Supreme 160. Does it Doom? Yes. Do I have to “warm it up?” No. Thing is built like a tank & loud/thick as hell. Cheap too. The 5150 stays in the closet.
I got out my favorite AKG K240 studio headphones for the last video to try to hear the differences. Listened through it a few times, hung my headphones up. Couldnt tell. Great videos as always.
This whole experiment was excellent, but these responses had me absolutely rolling! I’m not an huge metalhead anymore. (However, as an adolescent lad in the early-mid 90s, I played almost exclusively San Francisco-style thrash metal, and though overuse of LSD has altered the sorts of sounds that most appeal to me, I still play with a great deal of high-gain overdrive and distortion in my tone, so your channel is still nearly always relevant to me.) I always have a good time here, and I nearly always learn something.
Since I'm playing this on a set of whack computer speakers, I'd only hear any difference if the mashup was between a Stradivarius and a church-organ. Not your fault. Got myself a reasonable guitar (Ibanez RGA42FM) and a decent (beginner) amp (Fender Champion 20) and having a ton of fun learning my guitar first riffs. I'm 58 and love your channel.
I listened through a pair of basic monitors (Mackie CR3) and I couldn't tell the difference. I also listened through my gaming headset and a pair of Sennheiser headphones and still couldn't tell.
8:05 i think this is where most of the confusion comes from again, this is a "studio recording" channel and not a guitar center store, tube amps may feel better playing live through them but no one else will notice that once you actually record it
I fucking loved the tones from the Revv and the Orange! Bold mid-range and saturated as hell, without any loss in definition. I gotta say I thought the SLO and the 5150 sounded a little too scooped for my taste. What were the settings in the Revv, though? I was thinking about getting either a G3 or a G4, but I'm really struggling to make a decision. If this was recorded with the purple channel, I guess the indecision dies here!
@@kingfisher7960 No, I meant scooped (as in "scooped mids"). I would get both pedals if I could, but my budget barely allows for one. I live in Brazil and this stuff is really damn expensive here.
mixing is definitely a big factor. most people just record 1 mic in front of their cabinet and don’t do processing or mixing. and it sounds gritty. (i was one of them) but after learning how to record cabinets , mic placement , and post eq and processing on reaper… my overall recording tone has improved a lot. i learned it all from you glenn, i watched your videos and i learned a lot. i grew up with solid state amps since that’s all i could afford. Now i use a tube amp and it’s incredible how much better it sounds. but nowadays solid state is great, i’ve been considering getting a solid state amp (boss katana) just to carry around and practice.
The boss katana amp modeling software can pretty much mimic a tube head to the exact frequency, it’s also 5x cheaper and includes a ton built in effects that make it one of the best amps on the market. I’ve been using my katana head for a couple years and I’ve gotten great tones out of it, and once I got a decent speaker in my cab, it honestly sounded better to me than any tube head I’ve ever played on.
I love this so much! Listening with your eyes. Love it. I will say though I did like the sound of the Revv over the other tones but is that because now I know which ones were the expensive amps? The Orange 100% does the job. And I'm so guilty of spending ridiculous money on valve amps and top end guitars in the past only to realise that the most important thing is making great music that moves and brings people together. Trying to impress people (other musicians) with expensive equipment instead of focusing on actual music fans is fairly silly. My new motto is less cool more fun! Thanks again!
You did great with the mix in showing how the amps can all sound similar! That being said, I honestly have found myself liking the Orange sound in general. I can see myself getting a Super Crush one day. The mids just also blow my mind when they're at the forefront. I'm not a "tube snob" though, so I have a feeling this test wasn't for me unless if it's to confirm my own bias in liking the Super Crush .lol
@@tragicallymalicious1 I have a KB60, basically a keyboard combo amp with a 12 inch speaker and a tweeter. It's literally an oversized studio monitor and great for both bass and guitar. I can get whatever sound I want with it and a couple of pedals. But it depends on the speaker, Scorpions and Black Widows are good, the no name ones are not that great.
Mine had a black widow and there wasn't any way to get it to sound good, believe me I tried. A friend had a Renown 400 with black widows and it was just as bad, no matter what it always sounded muddy and overcompressed
lol. I have an old Peavey 158...it sounds like absolute garbage. SO.... I pulled the guts and put them in an old Peavey Hypervent bass cabinet. Now it sounds like an amp. I play it on the clean channel with a zoom 505 11 pedal, and it sounds like an angry amp should.
I've been a firm believer of the tube amp being superior to solid state for twenty years. That is until last year, I tried this particular Orange amp and I was blown away at how similar it sounded to that of a tube amp. It's a killer amp that I would recommend to any style guitar player.
You make some fine points Mr Fricker. In the original comparison I thought you were fucking with us again, I couldn't hear much if any difference at all. Then with the visual help all of a sudden I could hear the changes, and none of them were bad.
Yikes! Might want to try miking the amp up so the guitar pick doesn't come through the recording. Please see "How to Record Heavy Guitar" here... ruclips.net/video/jfEh79A0b0U/видео.html
According to Hartley Peavey, the clipping produced by tube and solid state circuits is pretty much identical, the real difference is the output transformer in tube amps functions as a variable bandpass filter that causes the "soft" clipping associated with tubes. A good test of this would be to run the preamp out of all the amps into the same IR loader and sims, and also compare the line out signals without any cab sim.
I didn't send a comment last week: but i surprised myself by properly guessing the Soldano and the Orange. You got more out of the Orange than I expected ----- WELL DONE! Great mix and tones.
I Used to be a professional sound engineer. I have state of the art monitoring system here and honestly I couldn't tell the difference. Let alone tell that there are more than 2 amps. BUT... Listening thru youtube after the video was double compressed(once in rendering other in youtube processing), then playing really low tuned sound Is not a good comparison. Most of the amps will sound the same in low chugs. It would be great if you repeat the blind test with standard tuning and crunch/clean/high gain sounds and put a link to the PCM wave files. Also, psss don't tell anyone, in a recording studio environment you can make practically any guitar amplifier sound great. I once took a fender frontman 65r fx send out to a jcm 800 and made one of the best freaking distortion sounds I heard. Keep up the good work Glenn I really enjoy watching your videos👏
I played an Orange Crush 120 for a while and switched back to tubes a few years ago. Someone asked me after a gig if the Orange head was tube. So there’s that 🤷🏻♂️🤣. I dig them both. Great video Glenn!
I really enjoy your videos , and they have helped my feeble attempts to record , what I hear in the room or what I like to hear in a room is 100% different that what sounds good in a recording and or what fits in a mix. its way easier to get good recorded tones going direct for me, I love my tube amps but recording them is tough
Love your videos. I couldn’t tell the difference of the sounds between tube or solid state. I think you nailed it when you said it’s about people bragging about what they have so they can crap on others.
I'm a vintage tube amp tech and I know that the Super Crush absolutely kills so much that I want one. It's just that modern solid state amps with PCB boards will all end up in a landfill. Replacement boards are impossible to get and it's usually cost prohibitive to repair most solid state amps. Some manufacturers like Line6 do not provide schematics for amp repairs so in reality Fenders from the 60's and 70's will still playing for decades and are always repairable while solid state amps will eventually die and be put in a dusty corner for years before they're thrown out. I've also been a Bassist for the last 30 years and we all know that tubes dont matter, most killer Bass amps are solid state or tube/ss hybrids.
When it comes to recording and mixing electric guitars with a real amp, the final tone in a mix is determined mainly by the following factors: - The cabinet speakers - The microphone's placements - Blending of mics, if several - Blending of amps, if several - Blending of overdubs, if any - EQing and panning to make the guitars work with the rest of the instruments in the mix Of course there are other things in the signal path and mixing process that are also alter the frequencies, but they do not have such a big impact as the things above do.
Glenn, having years of experience as a metal guitarist and drummer. Completely agree, some people have to be too big of an ego to actually listen and not look at them selves and their gear. Keep up the great content. De&th to all but Metal. ✌️🤘🏴☠️🇦🇺
I used to hot rod and build tube amps, but got a bit fed up when an output transformer vlew up on a gig. I started using the ART PowerPlant and loved the tone. Who cares if it was SS? Now I'm playing a Super Crush and my wallet is happy, my ears are happy, and the folks that show up at our gigs don't care as long as we can play decently.
LOVE this vid! Hey Glen I'm sure you know by now that Jim Lill has another video out regarding guitar tone. He specifically talks about that "you gotta be in the room" bs that dummy guitarists like to say.
The thing I love about tube amps is honestly just the smell and the physical aesthetic of looking at them light up tone is and always will be subjective to the listener and a speaker makes all the difference. Most people get a cheap solid state with cheap speakers and compare it to an over the top tube amp with high end expensive speakers it's a wonder people get bias if they get better speakers they'd never be able to tell
Brilliant video... I've got various tube amps and an orange super crush 100 head it's a bloody awesome amp...and won't cost me hundreds of pounds changing fragile tubes when they die !
I laughed so hard on these comments even before I watched the video, after watching the video where you called out these tube only idiots is when I subscribed to your channel . Keep up the good work
That "moving goalposts" sound effect had really rich highs and lucious piano lows that literally gave me chills.
that's because they were tube goalposts not nasty solid state goalposts.
probably this effect was recorded on tape through a tube amp and was then played on vinyl record. :D
you all werent in the room...you have no idea how good that sounded back in the 70s over AM radio and a single 6x9 dash speaker.....like when zepplin recorded and all 300 million of us were in the room so we knew it was the best album ever
lol
@@kazzxtrismus hahaha !! You win best sarcasm of the day. lmfao !!!
As a guitar player, I love when guitar players are put in their place lol
"Their" ;)
@@CyberChrist goddamn it lol
As a guitar player, I love when I'm able to listen to something one time, pick out the amp in question, post time stamps on two YT accounts for double proof/chance of being seen (conveniently "wasnt" seen), then get told my ears suck and I don't know what I'm talking about by a producer who can barely play guitar...
Point being; yeah, they all sound almost the same, and any one in a mix would do fine... but there's still a differences when placed side by side. Same with pickups (particularly in a live situation).
And regardless of all that..... digital amp sims ARE the future, so this argument is irrelevant lol
@@AmericanNationalist852 I'm looking at your comment right now. This is copy and pasted so it's word for word what you said.
themetalguy
6 days ago
7:46/47 is when the switch happens, solo is hard to tell because you didn't include any repeating lines.
ss amps have gotten better, but digital sims are the future.
All you did was timestamp where ONE of many changes that happened. As presented by this video the Orange came up more than once, even outside of the solo. All you did here was accurately timestamp one change and didn't specify which amp you thought it was.
The challenge was to to spot where the orange was through the whole track. Not just one spot. Better luck next time.
@@DerSilvano this is true, but also wasn't the argument presented, either. It was just "guitar players are full of themselves and really can't hear a difference because they are usually hearing with their eyes".
It's just like his argument on pickups; yeah in the final mix most will do perfectly fine, but in a live situation (ie while recording...) the minor nuances between p'ups will absolutely affect a player and their performance.
Now that they are labeled I can tell that they are indeed guitar amps.
This is one of the most important videos on youtube for musicians. Not only did you make a solid technical point that could shift an entire industry, but you also deconstructed and explained profound psychological concepts in a simple way. Thank for you being relentless with the troglodytes. New York sends their love.
OK, this is interesting. When I listened to the clip with the transitions between the amps marked on the screen, I could clearly hear that they all sounded slightly different, especially the 5150, but then when I listened to the clip again with my eyes closed I couldn't hear the differences anymore no matter how hard I concentrated to spot them. Mind blown.
same here, i couldnt hear any differences in the original test aswell, but when the text appeared suddenly my hearing was 100x better!
@@DjCzubaka I couldn't hear the differences in the original either. What totally amazed me is how I could hear the differences when I was looking at the visual cues, but mere seconds later I couldn't spot them anymore after I closed my eyes.
What is your monitoring setup?
@@sparella A pair of 50W 4-way speakers connected to my PC. Nothing super fancy but pretty decent.
@@nation5478 Did you?
I think what Glenn is trying to say is that the world would be a better place if guitarists put as much energy, passion and creativity into writing songs as they do defending their toobz.
We did that in the 90s, but, then the internet happened
Blame the Internet where anyone's unoriginal, daft opinions find an audience. But! It's an opportunity for the rest of us :)
Or developing their playing skills.. but, I too fall easily into the "better gear" quicksand ie [tube amps]. When I could actually sound noticeably better if I practiced as much as I shop for gear.
I've owned close to 30 different tube amps since the late 90's. I bought a super crush 100 last July, and it was instantly my favorite amp ever. It has been my main ever since.
Bought a Orange Crush 60, Swapped the orginal speaker for a V30 and its been a fantatic amp. Really like the clean channel as it has a nice smooth break up that I never noticed with the orginal 'voice of the world speaker'.
I wish they make a 50W version of that. A slightly smaller head too.
I might have kept my used CR120 but it cut out at hlf volume. I have a Bass 100 Crush 1x15 and a Cr20RT and sound great. My Dark Terror I run dirty, but the RV100MKII is run clean with SS distortion and eq in Front
I bought the combo, and it's easily my favourite amp.
I got one last year as well, and agree its a great amp and was worth every penny. Could I get a better tone out of a tube amp? probably. Is the difference worth me spending 3 times as much? absolutely not.
Without doubt you have exposed the truth about how we hear or should I say perceive tone. Unconscious bias reigns supreme in the minds of many and by definition we are just unaware of it. Great video and commentary Glenn!
Listening on my solid state phone…. The tones all sounded solid state to me. Where can I buy a tube phone so I can appreciate the beauty of the tube amps in the mix? 😂
Your solid state phone is digital. The Orange is solid state analog.
Chuck Schuldiner used a valvestate 8100 to record an play live and no one dares say he had a bad tone. Dime`s tone was built on a solid state amp. This discussion should have ended a long time ago.
Rather not, since that would drive the price up on certain SS amps. 😄
Pretty sure Chuck was also playing though the g12-t75s that everyone hates so much (I think they sound awesome blended with the g12-EVHs)
Somewhat similar to this, for many years all of Opeth’s live distortion, time-based and modulation effects came from a Boss GT-3 being fed through Laneys. People will say “oh but they used tube amps”, but the bulk of their tone was from those Boss pedals.
Yup, Chuck used an amp and speaker setup that doesn't have a good reputation and yet Death's albums and live shows are something that nobody with a working pair of ears can say that sound bad.
I wonder if many true metal guys on here are the ones complaining about solid state amps? I can only think of one or two guys I've jammed with over the years that were tube snobs. Most metal guitarists just want a crushing tone.... the cheaper the better lol
I'm an electrical engineer (8 years) and guitar player (20 years). I promise I can make solid state designs do anything that any tube circuit can do.
Tubes generate even order harmonics, transistors generate odd order harmonics.
@@zajefajnylogin A transistor behaves like a diode in this context. The existence of a patent on gear like the Boss SD-1 is proof that diodes, can produce both odd and even harmonics using a circuit.
This is a believable statement.
Also... anytime someone throws in a pedal or a preamp, etc., in there, the whole tone is "compromised" anyway, lol
@@ChuggOfCthulhu Thanks :)
@@zajefajnylogin You're an odd order harmonic
The only amp that sounded better/noticeably different was the 5150(didn’t notice until they were labeled though)but i think thats just a matter of being a very well designed overdrive circuit and not necessarily a tube thing. Great video!
I closed my eyes during the test and watched it back, and yeah the 5150 sounded the most unique out of the bunch. More mids and a bit softer highs. Could be a million things affecting that difference though, all the tones sounded great.
Exactly the same experience here. It wasn't even different in a good way - just different. Not better. All great tones.
Wow, guitarists actually having a friendly, sensible conversation where they admit that the great tone they hear might not be from the tubes? Wow, a one in a million occurance! ;)
the 5150 stood out to me too, but i didn't favor it among them all. the REVV tho.... that stood out to me as well, but as a preference. felt like it had all the range, and a more warm/natural sound. any would be fantastic, but revv would be my choice if i had one. :)
That mostly sounded different because the bass line changed at that point I believe.
Josh (JHS): Proofs that the digitech Bad Monkey sounds the same as the Klon Centaur.
Guitarist: yeah, but the Klon is expensive 😎👌
Dime- Randall RG-100 ES blew my mind when I found out way back in the 90's. Never underestimated solid state after that. Disgustingly bad ass bass sound by the way!
More blind tests! I love this. Actual real data that doesn't rely on "feel". More power to your elbow sir! Do more!
Started listening with my ears 8 years ago. Have been using the Orange Crush Pro amps exclusively since 2015. Added a Super Crush 100 this year. Both are just immense. Great video!
A few years ago I tried out my friend's Orange CR35 and was really impressed. I normally live on the edge of breakup sound but like to venture into a little more gain and that Orange amp sounded so good for that. Even though I do not need another amp I still want to get one of the Crush amps.
Thanks for this, Glenn. I've stood by solid states for as long as I've been a guitar player. They deserve to be in the room at this point.
Solid state since '98! High five.
Solid-state since 1975, and my Peavey never had a loose tube fizzing at the wrong time.
You deserve to be in the room! 😂
You've become "the amazing James Randi" of metal production. Good work Glenn!
I’m a huge fan of James Randi. Penn & Teller Bull! Was also one of my favorite shows.
LMAO , perfect comment !
@@SpectreSoundStudios Long hair & loud as fuck... Could be Penn's stunt double.
@@SpectreSoundStudios I love how they take down "Faith healers" and the like! Banicheck is another big one on that list of debunkers, he was a student of James Randi's.
I cannot say this enough: Religion is the antithesis of Science, and of the two, only science actually works bitches!
Id say its for all music that has electric guitar. Even clean tones can be perfectly mimicked by digital nowadays.
"their super human listening skills evaporate once they don't have anything to look at" says it all
I have a couple solid state amps and a couple tube amps, the thing they have in common is I like the way they sound.
Never mind that it only applies to some, not all.
Your videos have been an eye opener to me!!! I wish there was a channel that did the same thing for guitar tone for other genres of music. I am very aware that I listen with my eyes and feel with my ears, and your channel has changed my mind about guitar tone in metal. I wish somebody did the same for things you do for edge of breakup and clean tones!!! So I could just dial my tone knowing that I am changing things that actually matter. I play on a versatile band and I love making guitar purists angry when I get a better metal tone from my amp sims than their thousands of dollars back breaking tube amps played at low volumes!!!!
Glenn, here's an idea for a video: redo the same blind shootout between the amps but instead of recording one or two mics against the cab grille, record a few room mics and see how these "ya gotta be in da r00m" folks react.
Hmm. Not a bad idea
There isn’t really any difference, because speakers.
There are probably some minor differences to how they respond to guitar tricks/techniques, but not enough for it to matter either.
As for the in the room sound, Austrian Audio should send Glenn their OC16, Henning stated that even close up it sounds like in the room.
Would be interesting to hear what Glenn can archieve with such a mic.
I think for that, you'd need one of those stereo mics that pick up sound like human ears. Otherwise you'd get the same people saying that it's not done properly.
I do think with some amps there is a difference in "feel", when comparing solid state, modelling and tube. I've played some solid state amps that were just horrendous and something just felt off. But I didn't get that with the Super Crush at all when I tried it. Amazing amp. Or the Fender Tonemaster amps, which are modelling amps with a class D power amp. And I'm sure that if more amp builders set their minds to it, they could exactly replicate their tube heads using solid state parts. I'm 99.99% sure that the real tone is all in the circuit, not the components.
@@mrcoatsworth429 Yup, the tone is in the circuit and the feel can be compensated for by utilizing todays knowledge within electronics and programming.
Even the power sag of a tube amp can be replicated.
Not to forget that some old and especially newer high gain tube amps utilize additional clipping, it’s not preamp tubes only.
There are ofc. some clipping and eq differences between the heads when the knobs are set towards max. but apart from Spinal Tab, who want’s to do that anyway?
From my experience the Orange Solid State amps are great as pedal and modeller platforms too, altough there is no need to use a Crush head for that, the OPB will do the same job for less.
And then there is the option to skip power amps and cabs all together, some bands on 20.000 tons of metal did that.
Check Hennings review of the mic I mentioned, I would say that it probably does a better job than a stereo room mic when it comes to get the exact sound of what it sounds like in the room without adding unrelevant ambience.
I got that particular mic on my to buy list.
But they're all watching it on RUclips, so it's all been digitized anyway. According to these people, you need a fully analog experience to hear the difference - either physically in the room hearing the tube piano lows, or hearing a recording made to tape, pressed to wax, and played on a turntable with a tube receiver. If there's any digital component anywhere in the chain, the sound is forever tainted by digital poison.
I agree Glenn, I have used Amplitube as my live amp for about 5 or 6 years now, and I use the Mesa Dual Rec emulation and I could not tell you how many amp snobs have walked up to me at a live show asking what I was using and when I would ask why before I told them. They would say things like, because it sounds big and fat or just plain good, then I show them a Macbook or an iPad pro and they look at me with disbelief. The reason it sounds good is because I take the time to get things right and once it is right I never have to touch it again and no changes in tone because of crappy old club/bar power issues or knobs getting knocked around from stomping on pedals or forgetting exactly how I had the amp eq'ed. It all recalls exactly the way I had it 100% of the time. I have a real Dual rectifier I played out for about 10 years prior to moving digital, my reason for going digital was simple. Why would I drag that $6000 amp and cab to a bar, in the bed of a truck, out in the weather, to make $150/200? That is why. I can now take my entire rig in a guitar case.
Please do a blind test for bass tone with different "tone woods". Since bass is played with lower distortion than guitar it would be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences.
I'll save Glenn the time and effort, even though his guitar "tone wood" tests answer this question already...the tone emerging from ANY electric instrument is produced by the actual electronic signal, not the slab of wood (or graphite, aluminum, lexan, Masonite, concrete, Legos, etc) that they're attached to. You can literally bolt a neck, bridge and pick-up to a chunk of crappy construction grade 2x6, and as long as you get the intonation right? It'll sound great...it just won't be as pretty (or expensive) as those exotic axes made from "select tone woods". In short? "Tone wood" makes zero difference with electric basses, doesn't matter whether you play them clean or go full Lemmy!
as someone much much wiser than i once said....'if it sounds good it is good" and it all sounds pretty durn good to these ears
with 40 plus years of mixing all types of music under my belt 👺
They sound great, and the differences are so minutely small that it was difficult to pick out, even when being prompted by the visual cue you put in. A testament to how good solid state amps are today.
Stop it, Glenn!! I can’t handle the truth.. AGGHHHHHH🤯
Glenn, I recently got back into playing guitar again after years, and your channel is awesome to see. As someone who wants to get the most utility out of playing guitar without wasting money, your channel rings true and helps me listen to the proverbial angel on my shoulder to make reasonable purchases instead of just throwing away money listening to the horned guy on the other shoulder who says that "what's another grand gonna hurt?". I'll still buy pay a little more for the guitar because it has both the neck that I want, and it looks cool to me (it's the part that I actually touch, so that matters), but I'll live with the stock pickups, and I'll play a really cool solid-state that allows me to mix it with some high-quality, reasonably priced pedals. After all, the goal is to create sounds that I want to hear by playing guitar, and not to spend so much money on gear that I'll have to work forever and never get to really play it.
Holy $hit! I laughed so hard when you kept speeding up to read the "wind bag's" long statement. You are hilarious sometimes, Glenn
Triggered knuckleheads incoming in 3..2..1..
Gold comment. I can start my day. Thanks dude ✌️🎸✌️
@@johnstitt2615 🤟🏻🤟🏻
Carefull, there are few knocking right behind at your door
Distract them by saying tube amps and tonewood instruments are at next door
It will buy extra 5 days to come up new plan
BOOOOOM!!!!
Love it. The amount of coping these tone snobs exhibited is extremely satisfying.
You definitely got me! Well done. I wasn’t a tube snob before the test but I do feel much more educated now regardless
I just bought a Super Crush 100 a few weeks ago. First SS amp. Even through my PPC412, it needs a bass boosted EQ in the FX Loop to compare to high gain tube amps. But I actually love how much tighter the response is without tube sag. Can’t wait to gig this.
A much needed video. I've been very guilty of guitar snobbery in the past but there is no doubt (for me anyway) I'm a happier person when I get my ideas tracked quickly, conveniently with solid state, sims, digital amps, IR's and so forth. We all like to nerd out, but making music should always still come first.
I can't wait for a new release from Sin Waves and Sweeps tho, their album 494.5Hz really changed my life. I've also heard that they're gonna go to 25kHz next, which is something I've never heard before!
*Sine Waves of Exquisite Pleasure has entered the chat
Oceans Ate Alaska have a song named fourthirtytwo, which is a banger. No wine waves though, it refers to the tuning frequency they used.
Meh, their last album was inconsistent. There were too many ups and downs.
@@clugokillscluco needed way more compression.
Awesome conclusion, thank you for that! I'm running a Quad Cortex with a power stage 170 and are completely satisfied with this setup, Live and at home.
At 09:09 I literally spit my coffee out while laughing. That made my day. Thanks, Glenn.
It was a diet coke, but I spit mine out too.
Same. And I wasn't even drinking anything!
I always look forwards to videos like this because I learn something new, about myself and about music and gear in general. I may not like what I see/hear or agree every time but the knowledge is always appreciated.
Has anyone seen the Devin Townsend rig rundown? He basically explains why tube amps are amazing and shit at the same time and, consequently, why he uses AxeFX. In summary, all that amazing goodness that guitar players love when playing alone in front of the cab (the old being in the room argument) had to be cut with filters and EQ out to open space for other instruments, and that is true for both recording and live music.
Yep! I play almost exclusively through my Fractals now. Can’t tell you the last time I turned on one of my tube amps. The fact that I can enjoy the same sound whether through headphones, studio monitors, FRFR, or full PA system is just glorious!
@@millman82 that has been my “mantra” for the last 10y maybe.
Now with the QC, I sometimes use some pedals and tube preamps to get the sound in the studio but then just capture it in the QC and use it the rest of the time.
Wow. What a great experiment this was. I’m so glad that you showed that solid state can be just as good as(if not sometimes Better) than tube amps. I own an orange super crush 120 and it’s by far the best amp I own and believe me I own a lot of amps. Keep doing what your doing because your doing great and you’ve even opened this aging metal head’s eyes to some of the BS that is out there.
Enjoyed the little Douglas Adams reference at the end there. Very true, and that Orange sounds amazing.
7:59 Haffus has a great point there, we have to be in the same room. That's great!! Now I only have to find a way to get from 2023 Canada to 1985 Denmark and enter sweet silence studio to be live in the room when James records the rhythm tracks on Master of puppets album! The recordings are great but imagine being live there in the same room!!! I understand why my videos don't get a lot of attention because they are recordings! I don't have to try and improve myself, I have the answer. Tnx Haffus!
Removing the visual cues in the original test was brilliant. I have owned several solid state and tube amps, and unlike the pickups test you did a while back I was pretty sure I would be able to pick it out (though I am a guitar player, I sadly do not possess the gift of super-hearing). But when the test started and I was met with a wall of sound and the vastness of space...... I couldn't tell shit apart. Amazing.
Man, this was so eye opening.. Awesome video!!
Glenns a riot I love this channel. I dont mean that sarcasticly. Its enlightening and entertaining. kudos to you Mr Glenn.
Do tube snobs use ampsims I wonder?
I think people get confused with the old solid states made in Indonesia that are really cheap and sound like shit or the small 20 watt amps they had as a kid.
I've heard so many good solid states that didn't sound cheap or shit at all.
Can't wait to buy that Crush 100, finally a good solid state from my favourite amp brand!
I just made a new combo cab out of 3/4” pine and upholstery vinyl to replace the 1/2” tone-particleboard thing enclosing my Marshall (Park) 10w pawnshop special. The tone improvement of getting the speaker away from thin particleboard was so profound my family could hear the difference even through my terrible playing.
At one point during the project I put the speaker in the top of a 6” terracotta flowerpot. It sounded disturbingly good. I was actually afraid to put the speaker back in the new cab in case it was worse than the flowerpot. I told mrs j the flowerpot might be a permanent solution and she made faces.
My point is that the circuit and speaker of a G10mk2 are not what sucks. The original engineering was good. With a proper cab behind it the Park 6” speaker actually sounds decent and exploring the absurdly narrow clean-dirty transition on the knobs is very educational for a new player.
@@jrrarglblarg9241 this is good to know - I have an MG10 sitting under my desk gathering dust, because it sounds like complete ass and I generally just play through my DAW whenever I'm playing at home. Might have to dig it out and make a new cab for it when I have a bit of spare time.
@@SultanOfSlam69 It’s like playing a different amp now. Totally different.
The original design must have called for 3/4” inch material because with the internal dimensions unchanged the outside dimensions fall from a 6’ piece of 1x8 quite nicely. I suspect marketing nerfed the specs to lower the cost of production and Marshall execs were willing to make it sound like a dry angry fart in a cardboard box because anyone with ears would want a better amp after a while. All part of the Planned Obsolescence Conspiracy. 😒
I suspect all the 10w and 15w SS amps on the market suffer from this.
Great idea to DIY it. Bigger cab with more solid construction does make a big difference, the speaker still makes a bigger difference in my opinion but is a subjective difference. I think the better cab is an improvement that anyone can agree upon. The question to me is that does more speakers make much difference. To me a 4x12 sounds better than a 1x12 but the cabinet is way bigger to hold those 4 speakers and I've never heard a 4x12 sized cab with only 1 speaker in it.
@@jrrarglblarg9241 oh yeah, that too. Makes more sense!
One time with my band we rehearsed in a studio where they had (if i remember correctly) a new Fender Champion 100 and i swear to god that the other guitarist didn't realize it was a solid state amp. I wonder what kind of cone that one has, but anyways. The guy from the studio told us that the old one wasn't as good as this new one to him. My guitarist instead changed his mind on solid state amps after that, we both played on solid state in that studio with the drummer punching those freaking drums and making noise, and we could still hear eachother, this to prove to the tube simps that solid states are good when you get a good one.
I've also heard the Orange Crush 100 live in a band context and it was badass, i didn't realize it was solid state until i was told lol
“Don’t have anything to look at…” Reminds me of a friend’s gig MANY years ago. Shortly before they were to begin…his amp went toes up. Power light & nothing else. It had power but NOTHING was making its way through the thing. I called another friend and he brought over a POD. (Dude, really?) He brought it down and dialed up his fave Marshall tone. Plugged it in to the PA and let it rip. We left the real Marshall on, that little jewel shining bright.
Over the course of the evening, several self-proclaimed guitarists commented on how great his tone was…and how great that Marshall “roared.” Yeah, that thing was DEAD. Some of us kept waiting for the darn thing to simply catc
That night changed a lot of our views, including my own.
I love this channel. Might have to find an Orange Super 100 to check out.
A lot of "World Class Chef's" will epically fail "blind taste tests" too. They also "eat with their eyes". That's why virtually all companies in all fields spend so much time and money on aesthetics and graphic design. Even people will spend more time and money on looking "healthy" than actually being healthy. Keep it up Glenn!
the dude with the digital recorder story is a typical proponent of the "audiophile" crowd who invest thousands into hifi mojo-grift equipment like speaker cables for 150 bucks. these people are on a whole other level than even boomer guitarists
Dude, no wonder you make a VC video every week! These guys do all the work for you!! 🤣 Keep it up brother 🤘
That super crush is amazing. Also every guitar tone you've ever heard or loved was recorded and played back, even at most venues it's mic'd and sent through a PA. Lmao at "in the room".
I’ve got a 1994 Peavey Supreme 160. Does it Doom? Yes. Do I have to “warm it up?” No. Thing is built like a tank & loud/thick as hell. Cheap too. The 5150 stays in the closet.
what happened the last few days involving JHS pedal is pretty funny.
I got out my favorite AKG K240 studio headphones for the last video to try to hear the differences. Listened through it a few times, hung my headphones up. Couldnt tell. Great videos as always.
Guitarist are supersticious knucleheads. In other obvious news: water is wet, fire burns.
Piano lows, 3D tube sound and feel, man, those guys are crazy romantic poets, LOL
musicians could've used that imagination for their songwriting instead smh
And you dare saying bassplayers are dumb 🤣🤣🤣
The first 3 seconds of the video is pure gold xD I’m a guitar player and I’ve learned this by first hand experiences and couldn’t agree more.
This whole experiment was excellent, but these responses had me absolutely rolling! I’m not an huge metalhead anymore. (However, as an adolescent lad in the early-mid 90s, I played almost exclusively San Francisco-style thrash metal, and though overuse of LSD has altered the sorts of sounds that most appeal to me, I still play with a great deal of high-gain overdrive and distortion in my tone, so your channel is still nearly always relevant to me.) I always have a good time here, and I nearly always learn something.
Since I'm playing this on a set of whack computer speakers, I'd only hear any difference if the mashup was between a Stradivarius and a church-organ. Not your fault. Got myself a reasonable guitar (Ibanez RGA42FM) and a decent (beginner) amp (Fender Champion 20) and having a ton of fun learning my guitar first riffs. I'm 58 and love your channel.
Having a ton of fun, that’s what it’s about!
I listened through a pair of basic monitors (Mackie CR3) and I couldn't tell the difference. I also listened through my gaming headset and a pair of Sennheiser headphones and still couldn't tell.
@@Plexyglazz So I'm told. Perhaps it's not, but this is more fun.
8:05 i think this is where most of the confusion comes from again, this is a "studio recording" channel and not a guitar center store, tube amps may feel better playing live through them but no one else will notice that once you actually record it
So thankful the RUclips algorithms threw your video on my homepage. Subscribed immediately. Stay honest and edgy while keeping it real!!!
I love your channel more and more with each video. Debunking bullshit is so satisfying, and I’m as giddy about it as you are. Thank you!
I fucking loved the tones from the Revv and the Orange! Bold mid-range and saturated as hell, without any loss in definition. I gotta say I thought the SLO and the 5150 sounded a little too scooped for my taste. What were the settings in the Revv, though? I was thinking about getting either a G3 or a G4, but I'm really struggling to make a decision. If this was recorded with the purple channel, I guess the indecision dies here!
You were supposed to say compressed. Just get red and purple and say you bought a revv amp....🎉
@@kingfisher7960 No, I meant scooped (as in "scooped mids").
I would get both pedals if I could, but my budget barely allows for one. I live in Brazil and this stuff is really damn expensive here.
mixing is definitely a big factor. most people just record 1 mic in front of their cabinet and don’t do processing or mixing. and it sounds gritty. (i was one of them) but after learning how to record cabinets , mic placement , and post eq and processing on reaper… my overall recording tone has improved a lot. i learned it all from you glenn, i watched your videos and i learned a lot. i grew up with solid state amps since that’s all i could afford. Now i use a tube amp and it’s incredible how much better it sounds. but nowadays solid state is great, i’ve been considering getting a solid state amp (boss katana) just to carry around and practice.
The boss katana amp modeling software can pretty much mimic a tube head to the exact frequency, it’s also 5x cheaper and includes a ton built in effects that make it one of the best amps on the market. I’ve been using my katana head for a couple years and I’ve gotten great tones out of it, and once I got a decent speaker in my cab, it honestly sounded better to me than any tube head I’ve ever played on.
I love this so much! Listening with your eyes. Love it. I will say though I did like the sound of the Revv over the other tones but is that because now I know which ones were the expensive amps? The Orange 100% does the job. And I'm so guilty of spending ridiculous money on valve amps and top end guitars in the past only to realise that the most important thing is making great music that moves and brings people together. Trying to impress people (other musicians) with expensive equipment instead of focusing on actual music fans is fairly silly. My new motto is less cool more fun! Thanks again!
You did great with the mix in showing how the amps can all sound similar!
That being said, I honestly have found myself liking the Orange sound in general. I can see myself getting a Super Crush one day. The mids just also blow my mind when they're at the forefront. I'm not a "tube snob" though, so I have a feeling this test wasn't for me unless if it's to confirm my own bias in liking the Super Crush .lol
You should try 80s Peavey Bandit or Renown, just to show that even back in the day, solid state amps weren't bad.
I had a bandit 65 for 2years and its the main reason I hate solid state amps. That amp sounded like crap, but it was probably the speaker anyway
@@tragicallymalicious1 I have a KB60, basically a keyboard combo amp with a 12 inch speaker and a tweeter. It's literally an oversized studio monitor and great for both bass and guitar. I can get whatever sound I want with it and a couple of pedals. But it depends on the speaker, Scorpions and Black Widows are good, the no name ones are not that great.
Mine had a black widow and there wasn't any way to get it to sound good, believe me I tried. A friend had a Renown 400 with black widows and it was just as bad, no matter what it always sounded muddy and overcompressed
lol. I have an old Peavey 158...it sounds like absolute garbage. SO.... I pulled the guts and put them in an old Peavey Hypervent bass cabinet. Now it sounds like an amp. I play it on the clean channel with a zoom 505 11 pedal, and it sounds like an angry amp should.
@@tragicallymalicious1 Mostly speaker....but yeah...not the greatest crunch. I put the guts in a bass cab....way way better sound.
I've been a firm believer of the tube amp being superior to solid state for twenty years. That is until last year, I tried this particular Orange amp and I was blown away at how similar it sounded to that of a tube amp. It's a killer amp that I would recommend to any style guitar player.
Love my Super Crush head, haul it around, no maintenance so far!! Just joy!!
You make some fine points Mr Fricker.
In the original comparison I thought you were fucking with us again, I couldn't hear much if any difference at all.
Then with the visual help all of a sudden I could hear the changes, and none of them were bad.
Glen, you are the James Randi of the guitar world! Keep on debunking!
Here is Mr. "Piano Lows" version of clearly "superior" tube tone: ruclips.net/video/9P5PZFGvJj0/видео.html
Yikes! Might want to try miking the amp up so the guitar pick doesn't come through the recording. Please see "How to Record Heavy Guitar" here...
ruclips.net/video/jfEh79A0b0U/видео.html
@@SpectreSoundStudios That sounds like effort. It seems like tube snobs are scared of that, along with recording knowledge.
@@BlueBarrier782 the second one was meh after he stepped on a pedal or turned off something by doing it so (ruclips.net/video/9P5PZFGvJj0/видео.html)
It hurt to listen to…
@@ErnestStreetMafia yeah, phone camera mic… still, the difference is audible but also he might have changed his playing, so the test is inconclusive!
According to Hartley Peavey, the clipping produced by tube and solid state circuits is pretty much identical, the real difference is the output transformer in tube amps functions as a variable bandpass filter that causes the "soft" clipping associated with tubes. A good test of this would be to run the preamp out of all the amps into the same IR loader and sims, and also compare the line out signals without any cab sim.
I didn't send a comment last week: but i surprised myself by properly guessing the Soldano and the Orange. You got more out of the Orange than I expected ----- WELL DONE! Great mix and tones.
Great video Glen....there is always one word that comes to mind when i watch your videos INTEGRITY!!!
Please let us hear more solid state amps in the mix context. It's actually a very interesting topic in my opinion.
I Used to be a professional sound engineer.
I have state of the art monitoring system here and honestly I couldn't tell the difference.
Let alone tell that there are more than 2 amps.
BUT...
Listening thru youtube after the video was double compressed(once in rendering other in youtube processing), then playing really low tuned sound
Is not a good comparison.
Most of the amps will sound the same in low chugs.
It would be great if you repeat the blind test with standard tuning and crunch/clean/high gain sounds and put a link to the PCM wave files.
Also, psss don't tell anyone, in a recording studio environment you can make practically any guitar amplifier sound great.
I once took a fender frontman 65r fx send out to a jcm 800 and made one of the best freaking distortion sounds I heard.
Keep up the good work Glenn I really enjoy watching your videos👏
I played an Orange Crush 120 for a while and switched back to tubes a few years ago. Someone asked me after a gig if the Orange head was tube. So there’s that 🤷🏻♂️🤣. I dig them both. Great video Glenn!
I really enjoy your videos , and they have helped my feeble attempts to record , what I hear in the room or what I like to hear in a room is 100% different that what sounds good in a recording and or what fits in a mix. its way easier to get good recorded tones going direct for me, I love my tube amps but recording them is tough
thanks a F'n lot for the clarification video glen! keep it up. cheers from austria
Glad youre doing this glenn and others chasing this stuff. Alot of people will have their tonebase dropped off from them.
Love your videos. I couldn’t tell the difference of the sounds between tube or solid state. I think you nailed it when you said it’s about people bragging about what they have so they can crap on others.
I'm a vintage tube amp tech and I know that the Super Crush absolutely kills so much that I want one. It's just that modern solid state amps with PCB boards will all end up in a landfill. Replacement boards are impossible to get and it's usually cost prohibitive to repair most solid state amps. Some manufacturers like Line6 do not provide schematics for amp repairs so in reality Fenders from the 60's and 70's will still playing for decades and are always repairable while solid state amps will eventually die and be put in a dusty corner for years before they're thrown out. I've also been a Bassist for the last 30 years and we all know that tubes dont matter, most killer Bass amps are solid state or tube/ss hybrids.
""Moving the goalposts..." Excellent explanation. This shit needs to be called out when it happens. Thank you Glenn.
I was wondering when the guitar pedal will appear to ... change the conversations dynamic. Love this entire episode.
When it comes to recording and mixing electric guitars with a real amp, the final tone in a mix is determined mainly by the following factors:
- The cabinet speakers
- The microphone's placements
- Blending of mics, if several
- Blending of amps, if several
- Blending of overdubs, if any
- EQing and panning to make the guitars work with the rest of the instruments in the mix
Of course there are other things in the signal path and mixing process that are also alter the frequencies, but they do not have such a big impact as the things above do.
Glenn, having years of experience as a metal guitarist and drummer. Completely agree, some people have to be too big of an ego to actually listen and not look at them selves and their gear. Keep up the great content. De&th to all but Metal. ✌️🤘🏴☠️🇦🇺
This was great. I played both in my time of play. I love them both, and I can't tell the difference it was a nice mix. Great job.
I used to hot rod and build tube amps, but got a bit fed up when an output transformer vlew up on a gig. I started using the ART PowerPlant and loved the tone. Who cares if it was SS? Now I'm playing a Super Crush and my wallet is happy, my ears are happy, and the folks that show up at our gigs don't care as long as we can play decently.
"We play mental guitars on a mental channel!" LMFAO @5:13 OMFG, my ribs!!!!
LOVE this vid! Hey Glen I'm sure you know by now that Jim Lill has another video out regarding guitar tone. He specifically talks about that "you gotta be in the room" bs that dummy guitarists like to say.
The thing I love about tube amps is honestly just the smell and the physical aesthetic of looking at them light up tone is and always will be subjective to the listener and a speaker makes all the difference. Most people get a cheap solid state with cheap speakers and compare it to an over the top tube amp with high end expensive speakers it's a wonder people get bias if they get better speakers they'd never be able to tell
Love it, love it, love it! Thank you!
I knocked out some songs at a party last week. Used the orange crush that was there. About 4 beers in, the amp started feeling really good!
Brilliant video... I've got various tube amps and an orange super crush 100 head it's a bloody awesome amp...and won't cost me hundreds of pounds changing fragile tubes when they die !
Between this and the Bad Monkey video lots of people had their worlds rocked this week.
I laughed so hard on these comments even before I watched the video, after watching the video where you called out these tube only idiots is when I subscribed to your channel . Keep up the good work
Holy shit Glenn, the moving goalposts were brutal in surround sound