Cork sniffer Guitar Players - A thing of the past
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Baxter and Jonathan talk about the rise in affordable great guitars and why the mindset of young buyers is changing. The era when you can only get good tone by spending lots of money is over. Though sometimes the money spent is worth the sound.
I'm returning to electric guitar after liquidating everything a few years ago. I love listening to you guys and other RUclips channels, but it's frustrating because I can't afford to dive into these great tube amps again. I bought a used Boss Katana MII 100w and love it. I can get some tones that I love, play it quiet enough not to anger the family. I guarantee I can gig with it in a smaller venue. I've played tube amps and love them, but right now, that Katana is KILLING it!
Katana is great amp, and it definitely gigs well!
Check out Rob Chapman’s video on the Katana. He has some really great tips for getting tube-like tones.
Used Peavey tube amps on the cheap! The Katana rocks or a Bandit. The Bugera tube amps are cheap and really good too. You definitely don’t need to spend much for sweet tone! I’ve never spent more than $350 for an amp. Classic 30, Classic 20, delta blues, blues Junior, pro Junior and on and on
Sweetwater just did a RR tribute episode with Paul Gilbert and Nick Bowcott. Great stuff and highly recommended. Nick loves his Katana Artist. Anyone that says you can't gig with a Katana is lost. 2× 212s with stereo patch cable is my current rig. Usually practice on .5 watt attenuator setting at half throttle on the master. When I was a kid we had nothing near this good for the price.
I own several tube amps. Gig a katana 50 every week.
You guys cheer me up so much! Everytime I need a boost for my day I click your videos and have a great time. I love the human mindset you bring to every topic, even when you go off the rails its all part of the ride. Cheers!
The cork sniffing part is the only part of guitar I'm good at!
You are guys are so fun to watch. I’m glad I sniffed the corks because it led me to buy a tone king imperial that I have not stopped playing for 4 years. I think the journey is worth it if you can be satisfied at some point.
There is a beauty to all kinds of rigs. If they produce good useable tones that you enjoy that’s all that really matters. Young people are really into DIY projects so they are doing creative things with minimalist gear. Tiktok has tons of really creative young people making amazing music with barebones set ups
I have too many amps (but probably way fewer than Baxter). I recently took a chance on a deal I found on a Blackstar Studio 10 because I love 6L6 amps but didn’t want something that was 50w. It came with a Celestion Seventy 80 which is maybe my least favorite guitar speaker. Swapped it out for an Eminence 1258 I got for $50 off CL, and voila! It’s my favorite amp now. I wish amp companies would stop killing otherwise great sounding amps by trying to save a buck on the speaker which is such a critical component of the amps sound. Pairing an amp and speaker should be an art and a science, not an afterthought.
It took me 40 years to realize I’m not a boutique, fender, or even vox guy. I’m all into EVH… rock on🎸🤘
I’m trying really hard to like solid state amps. They’re about 90% there but when you’re in a quiet room, or recording the amp with a mic, you can hear a little brittle harshness that tends to fatigue the ears. Once the band is playing it’s hard to tell
Lots of effects tends to cover up brittle harshness too
For me I like a lightweight solid state amp for gigging and rehearsal, but still need a smaller tube amp for recording and maybe practicing.
I’m not snobby with regards to brands and components, but I am discerning in that if I’m going to spend $$$ on a tube amp I want it to be something that was designed and built to last and to be serviceable. Seems like most modern tube amps are slapped together with cheap components and if you do manage to save money over a vintage or high end boutique amp you’re probably going to spend that savings on upgrades to get what you really want and repairs to keep it that way
My little Bugera V-22 all tube sounds great recorded. Used I picked one up for under $300 it was a keeper.
I only play tube amps for Bass. My stable is a modern Fender Super Bassman (300W), Fender Bassman 100t, and an 83 Fender Bassman Ten (70w). Now to be fair, things like the ohm switching, balanced line out, and silent recording mode are incredible and handy features for both studio and live use. When I bought them new they cost 1700 and 1100 bucks respectively. My 83 Bassman Ten cost 400 bucks and I put 250 into it and it's as good as new, and honestly. When I drop a Shure Beta52a in front of that Bassman Ten it's my favorite of the 3! You can still get a quality silverface Fender for a decent price that with a little work will likely outlive you. On guitar I've got a Fender Excelsior. Weird little amp. I absolute love it. It was cheaper than the Bassman Ten used, and it works killer for me with both my Tele and Harps through a Shure 520DX. Not as good as the Fender classics, but it works for me and for a couple hundred bucks I have never regretted it.
I'm a solid state guy period! Richlite is killer, modelers and profilers are amazing! Guitar must move into the future because music itself is......the vintage and classic stuff is awesome don't get me wrong even though none of us can afford that stuff so why is it relevant? The Tech and cost reducing measures to keep guitar attainable is what is going to keep guitar alive all the way to the 22nd century and beyond.
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve a 25 year old MesaBoogie Mark I w/ a 1x 12 and a new Fender Blues Jr. The MesaBoogie is crazy good, but really impractical for home playing [which is what I mostly do these days]. The Blues Jr. fills a nice void in the MesaBoogie couldn’t. I got it on sale and it did not break the bank
Vinyl still sounds best especially though the18" subwoofer cab my dad built in the50's.
Ain’t nothin the matter with that
I play a lot of modulation pedals. A lot of chorus and I’ll tell you running in stereo with a stereo chorus, stereo delay, and stereo reverb going into 2 amps is glorious and all those years trying different amps all I was looking for was just running in stereo with 2 amps I already had.
As a gen z, I feel like the gen z players using budget stuff comes from them never actually playing though expensive stuff. I have been shifting through different used gear over the past three years and now gig with a 1977 Marshall jmp 100 watter with a 2011 evh wolfgang usa (both bought for $2000 each). It’s doable and there are still good deals out there. I feel like the “no brand loyalties” line is bs, most of gen z just hasn’t found their brand to be loyal too yet.
I find the best way to play is with two amplifiers. One amplifier is set up for clean with full volume so I can back off on my guitar volume knob. The other amplifier is set up for distortion at a lower level so I can have my guitar volume on full for the proper distortion sound.
I use 2 amps but quite differently....... I use a modeler with my presets set with Clean- Crunchy- Metal.... run that signal through effects loop in back in to my 100W combo with 2x12 set clean as possible. Then I put a 4x 10 cabinet on other side of stage.... NO PEDALS IS AWESOME !
I play with twelve amps
@@maspesasmasperras5554 12....? wow .... How do you hook them all together...?
I have a Fender Deco Tone amp (custom shop blues jr) and it's a great sounding amp. One of the complaints about Blues Jrs is they sound boxy. I put mine up on an amp stand, and it sounds great not boxy at all.
I also have, and enjoy, a Fender Vaporizer and Excelsior Pro - both in surf green. Great pedal platforms and loud enough for most of my situations. These were a steal when first introduced and on the used market, I wish I purchased another of each back then as the prices are higher now, and many show signs of abuse (not use, abuse, IMO).
I play in several bands and gig regularly for long time. No cork sniffing here.
SG special, Taylor 210, Mex strat and a really good tube head with a great 2x12 Marshall cab. Add pedals and it's all I need. 40 watts is more than enough. 99% of gigs are micd through a p.a..
My favorite amp is a cheap Peavey Valveking mini head, which I run through a cheap 1x12 cab. I own a couple Mesas (recto and mark five), which are objectively better amps, but after a couple weeks of playing them, I go back to the Valveking mini. It's not the tone, it's the feel and response. The mark five can have way better tone coming from the preamp, but it might take an hour or two to find that tone. I can plug into the Valveking and leave everything at noon and it does what I need it to do, which is perfectly fine for me jamming in my house. Play what you like, throw the corks away!
Amen brother
I just bought an old 8-watt Carr Mercury and it's one of the best amps I've ever had, but I also got an HX Stomp a couple months ago and haven't been so inspired to PLAY in a very long time. Rather than spending time choosing what pedals or gear I want to play and trying to get a wide range of sounds from a 1 or 2 amp setup, I can dial up any legendary tone I want and just PLAY and have fun. I'm not thinking about gear in that moment, I'm actually just playing the guitar for the enjoyment of it again, and I haven't felt that in a long time. And a lot of those legendary tones I love just can't be achieved in a real-world amp situation unless it is at ungodly prohibitive decibels, or has studio trickery behind it. HX Stomp solves those problems for me and I wish I hadn't waited so long to try it out.
Got the same 8-watt Carr Mercury about a year ago. 2nd best amp I've ever played through - 1st was a 1955 Fender Pro. The Mercury is just amazing and 100% through-hold hand wired.
I know what you mean about the stereo. My neighbor growing up had this 100W marantz with Cerwyn Vega 3 way speakers and everything he played though it sounded so good.
Good talk guys.
Practice is practice at the house, but even rehearsal needs to be full volume to work out the details. There's a place for both.
I just bought my first tube amp, a 2011 Marshall class 5 , 5 watt tube amp, but I'm loving it.
I have several big 100 watt rock and roll amps that I love!! However, I recently purchased a Fender Princeton with a 12” speaker and I have found that I absolutely LOVE that little guy!! I have always been a “bigger is better” type of player. I would have never guessed that a small 1X12 amp would wind up being my favorite.
Opposite. I've gigged 1x12" combos for decades.
I’m the exact same.
I’ve got original 5150’s, be 100 deluxes etc.
But I got a fender style 1x12 combo and I’m absolutely smitten with it, so damn fun to play
Ron...are you are becoming a "cork sniffer?" 😉
@smth 9021 ...ahh, finding the right band balance and keeping the peace with the drummer. I know it well. Sounds like you are doing it right my friend.
I have been mentally debating the princeton vs deluxe reverb for about a year now 😂
@@DavidHBurkart I hope not, but maybe.
I bought my first Music Man amp in early 1981. Just the head, 100RD. 6 months later I bought the little cabinet with an EV-12L speaker. Been using this amp (and 2 others) since. My other two are the combo version of this, the 112 RD one hundred. This amp can do ANYTHING! These are 2 channel amps, hybrid, transistor pre with two 6l6GC tubes for the power. Designed and built by Leo Fender. I just reverted back to the combo version. I installed a british made Celestion G12h-100 speaker in it to save weight...which is why I went to the combo version. I'm getting too old to pick up a 76 pound amp out of my trunk. 42 pounds is sooooo much easier. 100 watts into one speaker will cut through ANYTHING on stage!! I rarely turn it up past 2.
Absolutely can NOT go wrong with the blackstar ht club 40
My 1967 Supro Thunderbolt with 1 Volume & 1 Tone has some Extra Karma since it toured Vietnam as USO Amp and I would put it against any amp on the market with its 15" Speaker, I did have it recapped and upgraded to 3 Pronged grounded Plug, I use Boss RV500 Reverb and pretty happy camper
I just discovered the amazingness known as The Black Keys! Thank you!
I've never noticed a bigger change (better) in my electric sound than when I finally upgraded to higher priced/quality amps. Good topic, fun vids. Thanks guys
Wait until you discover speaker swaps...
I’m a 20yo. I started with a blues junior but now my only amp is a handwired EC twinolux. I prefer handwired simply because the typically are better built and are serviced easily. Most PCB tube amps are built poorly and the PCB tends to fail and burn. I know there are good quality PCBs just like what magnatone uses and mesa. Many of the fender reissues etc are PCB if they aren’t the custom shop amps
There are so many amp clone kits out there, I have no idea why someone would pay $2800 or $2300 for a new BF Princeton RI or a new Tweed Deluxe RI that are "mostly" hand-wired when you could pay 2-3x LESS for an amp you can build yourself. Get a Tweed Deluxe or Champ kit, get your feet wet in the waters of DIY amps, learn how and why it works. You have incredibly knowledgeable people here on YT to learn from: Uncle Doug, D-Lab, Psionic, Fazio, Mr. Carlson' lab, etc as well as all types of forums on amp building, repair, or upgrading. Pretty soon, you've got a kit amp that you built, then modified to your specs, that sounds as good or better than what you could have paid way too much for. If you are someone who can learn new skills, follow directions and instructions, is detail-oriented, and patient, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. You'll also soon find that the majority of the boutique cork-sniff amps are themselves just modified Fender or Marshall circuits.
There’s a difference between an amp that will sound good in the living room or studio, and an amp that will get over the drums and cut through the mix on stage. The best 2 I’ve ever had for this were a Fuchs Baseman ODS50 mod and a Holland Gibb Droll. Warren Haynes played through my Holland once and I swear it’s the best tone I’ve ever heard him play with. Les Paul, Holland dimmed, no pedals!
My cork sniffer friend and I have decided on the lowly Peavey Bandit solo 65 to be the amp of choice for gigs. Built like a tank in the states with plenty of volume with sweet crunch tones and spring verb.
The Bandit is a really great amp. It sounds kinda not that great in the living room, but it is so nice in a live environment where bodies are soaking up a lot of the sound. And it takes pedals really well.
I’m a new guitar player, just learning, I’ve used so many cheap amps, and a few higher end ones.. my favourite so far has been a behringer ac108 vintager.. Ive been looking for a cheap tube amp ever since I traded that one
At the moment I have 4 amps, 1) Blackstar FLY 3 ( for travel, just drop it in the luggage), 2) Roland 15W CUBE FROM 2009(memories, my first amp ,will never sell it) , 3) Marshall DSL-40CR, 4) Tone King Imperial Mk2.
I love all of them in general, but to be honest FLY3 will be replaced by this mini positive grid thing which will come out soon 🤨
I am not a pro to use them on 100%, but to my ears, if you want a good sounding tube amp the Marshall is the way to go ( and other amps from this price range +-) . Imperial is more ,,alive,, I would say, for me it was worth it, I am a geek in a way, really wanted a one of the top pre-top amps, do I really needed it? No, I just play it in my mancave, but the blues sounds really cool on this amp, sometimes I am really amazed by the tone. But do you need to spend that much on an amp? No ! A small tube amp or a solid state will be just fine, I live in a house, so if I close the windows I can allow myself to increase the volume to LOUD ( when my wife is at work,lol) and jump barefooted all around like a kid. But if you live in an appartment or just have a family who just want to rest after work , get your self a katana or something like that, with an option to plug your headphones if needed, and rock out ! 😀
Your videos are always like a good hang with fun-loving people who know what they're talking about. I purchased an Egnater and I am extremely happy with it. Really like the fact that it has a standby switch and an effects send for my pedalboard. Would be nice if it had some Reverb though
I recently began working at McIntosh Labs. I got to hear the flagship amps. The sound quality was truly awesome. It sounded like we were in the room with Van Halen while they were recording. No remnants of the analog tracks. Definitely cork sniffing level.
Best 80s movie musical montage, "Lunatic Fringe" from the Matthew Modine movie "Vision Quest." Man I'm old.
with Crazy for You by Madonna-love that movie
I love a good affordable solid state amp, biggest Roland Acoustic Chorus you can get feeding into a subwoofer to get the lows, that's some good stuff. The Sunn Lead amps are some other amazing (formerly affordable) solid state machines too that have a tone that's somehow sludgey and creamy at the same time, just so DooMy. think it's great and it's my tone, but if you give me a chance to plug into a good Rockerverb I'm jumping on it.
I think you were talking about Jack Pearson being the “Blues Jr guy”. Rhett Shull has just done a great vid on him and it seems he just uses run of the mill squire strats and makes them sound incredible too! 👍🤘🎸
The best investment you can make into improving your tone is to practice more. Countless players were cured of cork sniffing when they tried EVH’s rig and sounded nothing like him.
Love my 60W SuperSonic. Yes, it's incredibly loud but I have it in an Iso-cab and run it around 3-4 when playing live, which is still loud. It takes pedals great at that volume. I have a Blues Jr. as backup, which is serviceable for sure. For my office practice, I have a 5W Footnote pedalboard with a 5in speaker built in. It's perfect for house practice.
Frontman 10 could deff be a secret weapon amp just absolutely crank it and drop the bass mush the mids sorta like Josh Homme school of tone. I played one at guitar center that wasn’t “good” but it was fun, same with my orange Mini Crush. Makes me play better because it doesn’t automatically sound good.
vox AC10 for me has been a huge suprise. I found one for cheap, so I decided yes, lets give it a go. You can play it quietly and it still sounds great, but the magic really happens with volume on full and paired in stereo with a fender twin tonemaster also on max volume but attenuated down, so volumes comparable. Wowee, that is a sound! Add a natural boost....Holy moly!
I love my Blues JR!
The comparison of stereo systems was a great analogy. I will use that.
I'll admit it. I'm forever stuck in the 80's and still like the hair metal from back then. The glory days of guitar prowess. I have 2 main amps. The king of them all, the Mezzabarba M-Zero Overdrive and the new EVH 5150 Iconic. Hand-built Italian hot-rod vs affordable Chinese made. I prefer the Mezzabarba for sure, nothing compares. But the Iconic is also good sounding and a nice change of pace. I think we all need multiple amps. It can be inspiring just to plug into something different.
Welcome to the Establishment! We are the Old Folks!!
Coke with Grenadine?? Sounds amazing. Doesn't that qualify as a Dirty Shirley??
As long as their are guitar players who like wine, cork sniffers will live on 😂. As for me, I guess I am a "twist-topper", sporting my '09 Studio LP and my pre-China Peavey Classic 30... Meanwhile, the hair is a great length and look for you Baxter. You should keep it 👍
LOL... ah yes the "cork sniffers"... I run into them all the time when I go to jams and open mic nights in NYC and NJ. These guys show up with their vintage $2000+ guitars to a "hole in the wall" dive bar....LMAO. I have never met one that can actually play, but they have extensive knowledge about gear. My 13 year old niece would run circles around them on her $150 Amazon guitar
My tone king imperial is my favorite amp. They will have to pry it away from me when I'm dead.
Haircut and a suit? How did the job interview go? 😄👍
My reissue Princeton sounds just like my 1969 Princeton Reverb with one big exception: the reverb on the old one is a lot better. My guess is that I could mess with the reissue's reverb circuit, pan, whatever, and get them exactly the same. The tone with just a touch of reverb is the same. They both react the same to single coils, humbuckers, P90s, pedals, boosts, etc. The '69 is easy to work on. I have to send the reissue out for repair.
Fridays Should be your Siskel and Ebert Movie Review day, everyone loves it, it makes Baxter Happy and Johnathan enjoys hearing about Current Movies and Classics of the Past, but being the 45th Anniversary of Star Wars, he should have hit on that Today
I had a late 90’s Frontman 15R, and I don’t remember getting a good sound out of it at the time. Of course I couldn’t play well enough to get a good sound out of ANY amp.
I do like to think I “could” now squeeze a fairly decent sound out of it, now that I have more experience and knowledge about gain staging and such.
As far as hand wired vs PCBs, the most important difference is that hand wired amps are far more easy to repair. I like well built things that aren’t meant to be expendable. I also like the way tubes respond and sound, but I can still play my $80 Bandit, and be fine with it.
My main problem with digital modeling is that I get option overload and I also get lost in nested menus. I have used digital modeling, and it was nice to be able to try out effects, and see what I like and being able to use any amp and cab sim was cool, but the option overload was my main issue with it. I also don’t need to emulate any amp ever, and don’t need unlimited effects. I have a few effects I like and use, but often just play straight into an amp.
I have a two watt tube amp that is what I practice on usually. If I were in a professional event or wedding band, then I would definitely run a modeler directly into the PA and learn to love in ear monitors.
Feeling the feedback loop between a guitar and a cranked tube amp is wonderful, but lost on the audience unless it inspires one to play better.
Sorry, I’m rambling. I try not to be a snob. The amp and the hands and the knowledge are where the good stuff comes from.
I have a Vox AC30 CC2X. Sounds great, close enough to the ones I had in the so-called good old days.
I have one too.. It's a great amp and I've had lots of old AC30s. Rock on brother...
I bought one of the Martin Jimmy Buffett signature models a couple of years ago - I play the same stuff as I do on my D-18 or J-45, but the clarity and tone of the signature model is stunning. I was primarily buying it because I loved the look, and figured it was going to be good. But it knocks me out. It's next level stuff. That's the difference.
I love digital amps. There, I said it. Its so nice just being able to plug into my computer and select my presets and get great sound. Its not a tube amp, but its the way of the future. Im okay with it.
I sold my hand wired Friedman PT20 & bought a Marshall 2061X hand wired head because I wanted something simple and reliable with a vintage tone it has been worth every penny, I also have a newer Vibro Champ that I bought before the latest price increases and it is the best little in the home amp for me.🤘😎🎸
I’ve had like three different amps the last thirty years. A Marshall transistor combo for 15 years, then a VHT/Fryette Sig:X for the next ten, and the last four years I’ve owned a Blackstar Artisan 30. Happy with that one.
and yes, Hotel California is an extremely well recorded song. That's been my favorite song for many years, and whenever I audition stereo systems, that's my go-to song. Hearing Hotel California on a competent, full range system is an amazing experience.
I do the same!!
I personally go for Seven Bridges Road... the recording quality on that is off the charts.
YT has a video, "Best Cover of Hotel California" of a bunch of guys slamming this song with acoustic instruments while sitting in a swamp in a boat. Amazing experience.
My audition disc is "Back In Black" by AC/DC.
😂
Six thousand subs until that PRS giveaway!
I still love my peavey 1970s soldstate amp head...same one randy rhoads used to play love it..
It's true.
Most people couldn't use an F1 car, ride Kelly Slater's board or play with Federer's racquet.
So a monster Hi Watt in your bedroom does not a Gilmore make.
Anything you need to play at a volume beyond where you'd prefer to listen, is a serious design flaw, regardless of history or price. For me, a silent play option is mostly a must and should be included in all amps. BTW... a Coke with Grenadine is a Shirley Temple.
It’s a Roy Roger. 7up with grenadine is a Shirley Temple.
@@BarronVonSchnoot
Oh man... you're right!
I just got a 68 vibro champ and I love that amp! 5 watts of yess!
Tomo made a video with a Frontman 10 and he made it sound good.
That kinda happens if your listening to a great 2 channel speaker system hooked up to a great record player..Or bluray music discs with a Dolby Atmos mix then played on a multi channel system..There are lots of great recordings out there just have to take the time to find it and listen to it..Prime example is The Eagles Hell Freezes Over in 5.1 DTS disc..its amazing gives you the feeling of being there when it was recorded live...
i get it,can hear when someone has a fake or real amp.not saying they can't sound okay...but it changes things...as always a great informative entertaining show..thanks fellows.
I use a hybrid approach. I plug my tube amps into a load box IR cab. From there, it goes into a mixer where I can send the signal out to monitors, headphones or a PC for recording.
I just picked up a blues Jr and I have never been happier with an amp. Creamy, great cleans...holy moley I'm a happy camper
It’s a matter of money, not age. If the young betas had money, they’d buy all the cork sniffer products too.
I don’t know. Young kids are odd. My wife still drives her old 1992 Volvo 240 and all the young people seem obsessed with it. I think all of the recycle reuse rhetoric that failed on late 80’s-90’s kids trickled down and stuck with the zoomers or whatever silly name they have. These are kids whose parents want to buy them stuff and they would rather get something from a flea market.
Not taking sides but it's interesting that JHS helped usher in the cork sniffer generation & made a lot of money on it. As they've grown they've been forced to do "big box" manufacturing techniques to keep up with demand.
I never agreed with the haters that gave JHS a hard time for not using "original circuits". Few manufactures use original circuits. Rather than pointing the finger JHS leaned into the challenge of originality and builds my favorite effects. JHS is such huge fan boys that they take unplayable/unattainable gear and make it accessible, they have their own spins on things and they make original minded gear. I think it's awesome that they're using their platform and RD now to break the stigma about gear and push people to enjoy just playing awesome sounding music. It's nice that in present times people don't put their nose up at patch cables...
I called my wife in from the other room to come see Baxter’s haircut. Well done sir!
There are fewer "cork sniffers" because you can get usable tones from pretty much everything to suit your taste. Back in the day people were trying to get death metal tone from a Digitech pedal and a hand me down Peavey Mace. There weren't RUclips tutorials so you threw EVERYTHING at the wall and hope it stuck. I'm talking about a JB wired straight to the jack with an overdrive to pummel the gain stage. Playing with reverb and dimed EQs to get rid of that Digitech fizz. Eventually you learn what does what and why but it's hours of trial and error. Once you play something that is built to do what you want it's an almost religious experience.
I wanted a Les Paul for years. A standard, custom, deluxe, didn't matter. I looked at it as a huge dream to make true. Then I read Bill Kellihers scathing tell all. Then I read about the shit show of the Norlin era. Then I remembered the salesman slamming the voodoo series because of their poor quality. Then the Mark Agnesi villain arc with the weird creepy bullying. Issues with Murphy Lab guitars. The absurd asking prices and raising prices. The fed raids.
I have two Les Pauls. Neither are AuThEnTiC Gibson. One is a 2010 Epiphone Zakk Wylde custom. I love it. Exceptionally well made. True specs. 81/85 emg set. The maple neck. The weight lol.
The other is a Lawsuit Burny FLG-70 Les Paul standard copy. No flashy top. Just plain maple. It plays like a dream. It feels, plays, and sounds like a real vintage Les Paul. 60s slim taper neck and all. I got it for a fraction of a new Standard.
I look for quality on a budget. I know there's amazing stuff out there to be had without taking out a mortgage for a guitar or amp. Tone is subjective. Price point isn't a gold standard for quality.
Well said...don't lineup with the cork sniffers, so impressed with the label: vinegar aint worth the tastin'.
I like fine wines and gut-rot liquor. For tone I have an old Kustom Tuck n Roll half stack that has the most beautiful cleans and the reverb is ridiculous. But my most played are a Panama Shaman (import marshal clone) and a Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit. Panama for tube goodness and H&K for ease of use, portability, and unlike my Kustom, it doesn't hiss like a pissed off cat.
Everclear's "Father of Mine" and Jane's Addiction's "Had A Dad" are both Dad Rock songs.
Woah woah woah! Chris Robinson from THE BLACK KEYS?!?! For this grievous sin, you shall be shamed by all the youtubes of the interwebs!
Love you guys! Keep the good content comin!
Been down the digital multi-simulation amp path in the past and so disappointed. All that trouble to find the combination you like and it still doesn't move me. Real valves are great and I have a 30-watt all valve beast but a bit uncontrollable for a small flat. I've chosen the Victory V4 route now, hopefully the best of both worlds and Victory do know how to make a good sounding amp.
Roland Cube, 5 watt. I dig it. Mic it if it needs a bigger presence.
I have a kemper that I think sounds unbelievable and I do use it to gig at times. HOWEVER! I do have a few tube amp heads that I’m in love with and I listen to both side by side going through the same cabs, same cab sims, all sorts of trials comparing the two and I always come down to the same point. Tube amps do have a “feel” and “mojo” about them that just can’t be beat. Even when I put both through a two notes torpedo captor x I can tell a difference and I always prefer the real amps. The kemper is great for certain situations (mine being that my entire pedal board was stolen and so having all the effects with the kemper helps me out) but if I had a choice to where hauling gear wasn’t as much as an issue I would go real tube amps all day long
I have a Hotrod Deluxe I found for 3 hundred bucks. It has some Sovtek Tubes in it. Sounds amazing, I don’t even have an urge to get another amp. Guitars on the other hand…
I love my Marshall JCM2000 DSL100. A local musician decided country was his thing, so he got a different amp and left the Marshall head at the music store with my name on it. I played in a band and plugged my ADA MP1 and Quadraverb rack in the fx loop of the Marshall.
This was 2017 and I finally had the sound and gear I had always wanted and it sounded great. MP1 was $250. Sold it not long ago for $650.
The guy that gave me the Marshall head ended up in jail for a while for selling Cocaine. Then, I began to realize that my Marshall was the result of an underfunded party in a coke deal.
They wanted the drugs more than the amp and they never came back with money to get it back.
Hotel California reached the summit of great music
Been drooling over getting a tweed amp. Looking at reverb, reading, listening to demos. Gremlin, Fender reissue 57 deluxe, Mesa Cal tweed. Bought a Catlinbread 55 to use on my Marshal dsl5c. Haven't really gotten a good long session with it yet. Love the 57 sound, but afraid it will be too loud for home. The others have attenuators. Izzy was great. Many great players.
Greenhaze is the best mashup of all time!!
Buy a Second Chance Desktop Princeton. Price of a pedal. Absolutely delicious. I feel weird even mentioning these but I got mine and…well, it just feels like withholding
I love my lil 68 champ with alnico Weber speaker, just a great sounding lil amp!
Ive had a fender 4×10 Seville for over two decades now. I'm sure there are better amps out there but I paid 875 new and ive never looked back.
Most players will never need more than a hot rod deville. You can get truly inspiring tones from that amp with the right speakers, especially if a good tech tweaks it just a little bit.
My giging amp right now
Baxter saying Roll Tide made my week!
Hey fellas, I can maybe shed some light on the cork-sniffer thing. I'm a blue collar guy from Carrboro, but I have worked at the higher-level of fine dining, as a chef, manager, sommelier, bartender, etc. When you present a bottle of wine tableside, you present the cork. The idea is that the customer can inspect the cork for mold, or being shot through with wine (which is a sure sign that the wine was stored at too high a temperature), or other obvious signs of bad storage or taint. There is no reason, apart from curiosity, so sniff the cork. You won't learn much from sniffing the cork.
So in the real world of restaurants, a cork-sniffer is someone who doesn't REALLY know anything, but is doing their level best to look like they do. It's not just snobbery, it's the confluence of snobbery and ignorance. Now, I know that combo would never rear it's head in the world of guitars, but maybe, just maybe...
I trhink the ultimate goal is to get gear that helps you get out the music that is in your head. So, if you can get that for less, then that's great! I haven't ever gotten to a place where I can justify a super expensive amp. I have a Fender Mustang and several Neural DSP plugins and the sounds I hear are amazing. But, I don't play live gigs, so I don't need big amps.
I'm a cork sniffer but I only siff the kind that gets pulled out of a bottle of fine wine! 😘
12:33 Dan Auerbach is my favorite Black Crow
You mentioned the Fender Frontman. Crappy little 8 inch speaker. My son had one and I plugged it into a 4 x 10 speaker cabinet and - wow better.! So I had a broken Behringer amp with a 10 inch Jensen speaker and I Frankensteined the two together. Makes a really decent little grab and go amp. Not great but it's amazing how crippled the Frontman was by the crap speaker.
If you guys aren't planning on any world tour soon those much maligned dyna touch fender amps will put a smile on your face.
i guess if you're just an amateur/hobby guitarplayer ( who has an normal day job with a normal pay , so no doctor or laywer income type off thing ) who just play's at home or might be in a coverband doing the odd pubgig once in a while ( here in holland it's pretty hard tp get a gig , you almost have to beg or even pay to play anywhere instead off getting paid : ) it's just not worth it to pay top dollar for an expensive guitar /pedalboard /amp . The amps and guitars in the midrange pricepoint ( let's say 500 -1000 euro/dollar ) also sound good and will give you a good tone . But that is a choice each person has to make for himself , i am just saying that you don't have to spend a shitload off money to enjoy you're hobby , and sure , an fender/gibson cs guitar , with a topnotch pedalboard and an two rock / magnatone amp will sound amazing , but man i can do so many way more important things in live then just my hobby with that kind off money .
I bought a Kemper. It cured me of the amp buying habit. I got a Kemper three years ago and never looked back. I quit playing tube amps altogether. Sold six amps that summer. Still have my old Soldano Hot Rod 50 half stack because it looks so cool but I never play it. Kemper all the way, baby. Now I just need to quit buying guitars.