Amp Alternatives

[Telerocker]

Well, I tried an AMP1 a while ago. Imo it can't hold up to my stageamps. Maybe it sounds nice at home at lower volumes, but for me it's not really a serious gigging amp. And yes, it sounds not really tuby in the drivesection. Maybe I'm picky, but I prefer any Tubemeister over this one. Just my 2 cents.

[Slartibartfarst42]

And that's absolutely fine if you don't like it because no amp suits everyone and I'm not suggesting this is the amp that will change that. I acknowledge that my Orange TH30 that I've just sold ultimately had a better tone and certainly got better the louder it went but the question is whether it's the best amp for what I currently need? Let's consider for a moment what I actually need from an amp at this time:

Any gigs I play are normally in pubs so they're not huge venues
When we do play live the amps aren't usually that loud anyway because we run the backline through the PA because it gives us a better overall sound
Most of your audience can't tell the difference anyway. Most non-musicians I know can't even hear the difference between a major and minor chord!!!
I'm probably moving to The Falklands so I need something that's light and easy to maintain and that's more likely to be the AMP1. Well, it IS the AMP1!
For £30 spent on a footswitch I can have all 4 channels available and be able to add boost to each one, giving me 8 distinct tones.
As I'll be playing mostly at home in The Falklands, the AMP1 is better than a valve amp
While the tone may not be as good as a full valve amp, it's still very good. My son actually seems to prefer it. He may not have the ear of players like us but he is representative of an audience.
Having sold my amp as well as the attenuator and Overdrive I no longer need, I now have all of the above plus £100 in my back pocket

So, it's not as good as a full valve rig and I will miss that but it's lighter, smaller, better in the home, has many more options available, costs less and still sounds distinctly valve-like with an excellent tone. I'll sacrifice a little tone that nobody but me will notice in exchange for all it gives me but that's just me and for somebody else with different tastes, perspectives and requirements, I am happy to accept that there will be better solutions out there. Thomas Blug himself says it can't match a quality valve rig but that doesn't mean it's bad.

[Telerocker]

And that's absolutely fine if you don't like it because no amp suits everyone and I'm not suggesting this is the amp that will change that. I acknowledge that my Orange TH30 that I've just sold ultimately had a better tone and certainly got better the louder it went but the question is whether it's the best amp for what I currently need? Let's consider for a moment what I actually need from an amp at this time:

Any gigs I play are normally in pubs so they're not huge venues
When we do play live the amps aren't usually that loud anyway because we run the backline through the PA because it gives us a better overall sound
Most of your audience can't tell the difference anyway. Most non-musicians I know can't even hear the difference between a major and minor chord!!!
I'm probably moving to The Falklands so I need something that's light and easy to maintain and that's more likely to be the AMP1. Well, it IS the AMP1!
For £30 spent on a footswitch I can have all 4 channels available and be able to add boost to each one, giving me 8 distinct tones.
As I'll be playing mostly at home in The Falklands, the AMP1 is better than a valve amp
While the tone may not be as good as a full valve amp, it's still very good. My son actually seems to prefer it. He may not have the ear of players like us but he is representative of an audience.
Having sold my amp as well as the attenuator and Overdrive I no longer need, I now have all of the above plus £100 in my back pocket

So, it's not as good as a full valve rig and I will miss that but it's lighter, smaller, better in the home, has many more options available, costs less and still sounds distinctly valve-like with an excellent tone. I'll sacrifice a little tone that nobody but me will notice in exchange for all it gives me but that's just me and for somebody else with different tastes, perspectives and requirements, I am happy to accept that there will be better solutions out there. Thomas Blug himself says it can't match a quality valve rig but that doesn't mean it's bad.

I tested it as an alternative for a tubehead/cab, not to lug so much with me to gigs. If it has to be floorunit, the Amplifire appeals more to me. Each to his own though. Hope you have big fun with it.

[richard]

Congratulations Slarti. Enjoy the amp for what it is and forget about the valve comparisons. It will do a lot of stuff your Orange didn't and will sound a LOT better at lower volumes. Have fun.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I had it at band practice last night and it didn't disappoint but I'm going to have to tinker with settings a bit more as I was surprised by a few things.

1) The effects seems to come through with a lot more power so I think I'm going to have to dial back the settings. I used to leave the Delay on all the time but on some songs last night I had to turn it off as it was so overpowering so the Reverb by itself was enough.
2) The Compressor is now working so effectively that I barely seem to need the Boost option for solos. I turned the boost on my Nova System down 3db and could possibly turn it down further as on some songs I didn't have to boost at all.
3) The levels on all of the channels needs to be tweaked as they're working differently at higher volumes. The Clean channel REALLY cuts through more on this amp so I have to drop the volume there and I need to tweak the settings on the Classic channel as that's not cutting through enough.

It's astonishing how big this little thing sounds!

[oldfoxy]

Interesting discussion over on the fretboard forum about the Amp1 

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/35334/has-the-bluguitar-amp-1-died-before-it-got-going-nah/p1

[Slartibartfarst42]

That's an interesting discussion and good to see so many people sharing positive experiences of the amp. I confess that I do sometimes miss the extra sizzle you get from a real valve amp. It's difficult to explain what the difference is but a proper valve amp is just a bit more 'alive'. It's also true to say that the more gain is involved in the channel, the less impressive it is so for me at least, the Modern channel is the one I'm least likely to use. I find the Classic channel much better, though I think there's still a little tweaking to be done there and the Vintage and Clean channels are both excellent. My natural home is the Classic channel but I find I'm using the Vintage channel, both with and without boost, far more than I expected.

The question is, do these factors ruin the amp for me? A couple of years ago I would probably have said 'yes' but I find I'm a bit less precious about it all now. I'm long enough in the tooth to realise that while these things may be seen as limitations, I can't ignore all of the benefits the AMP1 gives me. It's fantastic to be able to have it on my pedalboard with everything nicely self-contained. I connect a kettle lead to the amp, plug in the effects power supply, plug the guitar into the tuner and the amp into the speaker and all other cables are permanently connected on the board. My life is so much simpler! It hurts my back less, it takes up less space in the car, I save time setting up and clearing away and I have just as many options available to me, if not more.

The other key question is what's it like to play? I've read reports claiming it to be just like a valve amp and others comparing it to both solid state and modelling amps but in my experience it's not like any of them. I've already said it doesn't quite have the 'tone' of a true valve amp and yet it does feel remarkably like a valve amp to play. The tone itself sounds like a valve amp without a shadow of a doubt but somewhere in the magic it retains an element of a solid state too. I've never played anything quite like it before. Modelling units I've tried before just sounded like solid state amps trying to mimic valve amps but this doesn't as it's too authentically 'valve' for that despite the fact that you notice the solid state DNA. I've played hybrid amps before too but even those didn't seem to have enough valve magic whereas this really is a hybrid as it seems to occupy ground that definitely has a foot in both camps. You really do get a lot of the benefits of solid state while also getting a lot of the benefits of valve.

Acid test - do I regret selling my Orange? I miss it for sure as the ultimate tone was certainly better BUT I don't feel any undue desire to get rid of the AMP1 and return to the full valve setup. The small sacrifice I make in tone is more than compensated for by all of the AMP1's merits. If you want a great sounding amp that is equally at home either at home, in the studio or on stage and you can transport and set up easily, this is certainly worth a look. Thomas Blug uses one himself on tour, as does Jennifer Batten and Uli Jon Roth so it can't be that bad. I'm not blind to its limitations but as a complete package, I'm still more than happy with it.

[Telerocker]

When it works for you everything is ok, isn't it. I'm not that picky when I play at home. Sometimes I even use a Crush 20 DLX which I picked up for nearly no money  to play along with vids. Talking about compression and lack of dynamics in the overdrivechannel, the Crush delivers. 

[Slartibartfarst42]

I tested it as an alternative for a tubehead/cab, not to lug so much with me to gigs. If it has to be floorunit, the Amplifire appeals more to me. Each to his own though. Hope you have big fun with it.

Damn you for giving me an expensive idea 

Ever since I read your remark it's been playing on my mind. It strikes me that while the AMP1 is really good, the front end is essentially good quality models of real amps while the back end is a very clever 100w Class D valve powered amp so wouldn't it be awesome if I also bought an AmpliFIRE for the even better and more diverse modelling plus all of my effects on there and then plugged it into the effects return of the AMP1. For the size of two decent sized pedals I'd have all of my effects, plenty really high quality amp tones and a 100w valve driven power amp. I'd also have built-in backup as if the AMP1 failed I could run the AmpliFIRE into the PA and if the AmpliFIRE failed, I could use the AMP1 pretty much as I do now. If I was going to record I'd only need a basic interface and software as all of my tones would be coming from the AmpliFIRE.

I'm thinking about this and it seems like a really good idea so does anyone spot any flaws in the plan that I've missed because it sounds like the ultimate compact rig to me?

[Dave Sloven]

I like to FEEL what I am playing.

Hence I don't think I will ever give up on the big 120W tube + 412 rigs.  But each to their own.  Do what works for you.