Teach me about valve amp types!

[cerpintaxt]

Woah! That's a comprehensive response; seriously, thanks for taking time out to do that! I'll certainly get on Youtube and listen to your list.

I've actually now got an amp which I'm very pleased with - the Blackheart Little Giant combo (got it for £100, is kind of Marshall voiced - definitely my thing now I'm over playing funk! But since I've got a bit more into the gear side of things I'll be on the hunt for various different things so it's great to have a rough guide.

[HTH AMPS]

Woah! That's a comprehensive response; seriously, thanks for taking time out to do that! I'll certainly get on Youtube and listen to your list.

I've actually now got an amp which I'm very pleased with - the Blackheart Little Giant combo (got it for £100, is kind of Marshall voiced - definitely my thing now I'm over playing funk! But since I've got a bit more into the gear side of things I'll be on the hunt for various different things so it's great to have a rough guide.

nice score.

btw, if you want another amp, just post on the forum saying "I want an amp that sounds like [enter song name]" and you won't go far wrong.

[dave_mc]

agreed with tom and dave (twinfan)... you can go into it in an awful lot more detail than that (which would be over my head, too), but those are probably the basics, but if you understand those, you're well on your way to sounding like you know what you're talking about.

[Matt77]

Just to add.
The volume you play them at makes a massive difference too.
This thread is the start of something that could cost you a lot of money one day

[hermetico]

Just to add.
The volume you play them at makes a massive difference too.
This thread is the start of something that could cost you a lot of money one day

Anything cheap in music?
Damn!

[AndyR]

Very interesting thread :D

I'd also say "get your hands on a modellor".

I'd always assumed (at least 20 odd years) that I'd like "classic" Fenders and Marshall Plexi types.

For the last 5 years or so I've used a succession of modellors (POD 2.0, POD XT, and now Vox Tonelab) - it really opens up your ears to roughly what these amps could do for you, and also what effect speakers might have (stick an AC30's cab on a Blackface, for example).

They are only models, and don't behave like the real amps, but you can get a really good idea and imitate so-and-so's tone off such-and-such record...

Anyway, what it's done to me is this: it turns out I'm not really that fond of Fender amps... I don't really like the Plexi types (and most scary, I don't really like the Marshall master volume beast that all my heroes were using late 70s early 80s, if you gave me one, I wouldn't say no, but I would no longer go out of my way looking for one...).

But I do seem to rather like Marshall JTM types, and Vox amps, once I'd figured out how to use them for what I want to do. I've even ended up buying one of the AC4TV combos on the strength of it...

And the funny thing is, with a single channel, one volume, one tone (and no pedals!), I can get that AC4TV thing to do everything I want, and I can imitate tones that I thought I needed Fenders and Marshalls for :roll:

If you're really interested in finding out, go the youtube route, etc, but also get a modellor. Hours of fun, without breaking the bank or killing the neighbours :D

[cerpintaxt]

Yes, this thread is getting very expensive for me/others in the future!! As for the amp modelling thing, I understand the logic behind that but I don't think I'd ever buy one . I've played around with a Line6 thingy before and I have to say I wasn't that impressed, although it was a fair while ago and things have probably got much better.

I found a great set of demos on Youtube by "Proguitarshop.com" which i've been looking through and there's some really useful stuff on there.

So far, I'm definitely more into Orange, old Marshalls and Vox than I am Fender and Mesa (Never been a fan of the super-high gain thing)

[Prawnik]

Don't underestimate also the impact of speakers and cabs - they are as important as amps.

At least. To my feline ears, Celestion V30 turn any amp into "instant ice-pick."

And indvidual taste matters. Apparently there are some people who actually enjoy having their eardrums penetrated by sharp objects, to judge from the sales of V30s.

[cerpintaxt]

Is it possible the V30's were designed with a dark/muddy amp voice in mind and they were looking to add a load of top-end?

Oh, I found this article: http://www.marshallamps.com/resources/secret_life_of_valves/secret_life_valves.asp

Quite a good "idiots guide" to valves (esp Marshalls)

[jpfamps]

And no-one has yet mentioned the Fender Brown Tolex era amps!

The Brown Tolex Deluxe and Concert are killer amps.

[jpfamps]

Is it possible the V30's were designed with a dark/muddy amp voice in mind and they were looking to add a load of top-end?

When the V30 first appeared they where marketed as having the sound of the old Alnico Blue (Celstion weren't making blues at this point), but using a ceramic magnet.

[dheim]

i'm with andy...
get a digital modeler. and learn to use it...
it's not like the "real" thing, but it teaches you a lot of things that you'll later use with proper amps.
if you didn't like Line6 models there are chances you won't like a tube amp on your first experiences... you can't plug in a POD, browse through factory presets and find YOUR tone. and if you use an amp model (rectifiers usually are the trickiests) your first reaction could be "this doesn't sound at all like a real recto!", assuming that the real thing is what you hear on a lot of metal CDs. just to discover that the real amp sounds even worse if you aren't able to find the right overdrive, compressor, cab, eq settings etc...
so andy's advice is the best i could give you myself...

[hermetico]

To me, the best current tool to learn about all this is just IKMultimedia Amplitube 3 software.
Not all the iconic amps are included but, there are a bunch.
Not all the iconic effect pedals are included but, there are a bunch.
Not all the iconic rack effects are included but, there are a bunch.

This plugin or standalone program, allows you to:

• Test entire rigs, to tame the sound of certain song or artist
• Tweak the amp models, changing the pre-amp, tone stack and power amp sections
• Pair it with alternative cabs/speakers
• Use different well known virtual studio mikes, placing them anywhere in the space
• Arrange the pedalboard in different ways, so it's easy to see how the combination of certain pedals affect the sound, way more easy that do it physically
• Probably you will find more uses

All this let you better obtain a "record-hit" sound.
The real thing is that the most of hits you heard, aren't just pure amp/effects. They are really processed and, at the beginning of the chain, there are the mikes. So, this program let's you also learn about how the placement of mikes affect to the sound also.

[Fourth Feline]

To me, the best current tool to learn about all this is just IKMultimedia Amplitube 3 software.

Nice one Hermetico. That would have been my suggestion, along with some of the better / more representative 'You Tube' demos.

I  had 'borrowed' the full GR3 demo,  and based on that experience , have now purchased ( but as yet had not  installed)  the 'mobile' version. The fact that I went for GR3, was initially a very firm recommendation from a chap I know, who was working in a recording studio - with need of 'Tone cloning'.  He's a fussy chap, so there must be some value beyond the recreational with this stuff.  :)

[phlip]

I must admit I haven't tried Amplitube, I've Guitar Rig Mobile and POD Farm and have demoed Peavey Re-Valver
Guitar Rig sounds the most real to me with POD Farm coming second, I think the big difference isn't the amp modelling, but the difference between impulses (GR) and Line 6's AIR for Cab/speaker modelling.

Peaver Re-Valver I really tried to like this, it is dynamic but it's really, really, harsh and Very noisy indeed. Of course it may be really accurate and Peavey's higher gain amps are like that. The Classic 30 model was very pleasant though.