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Big Amps will come back one day!!!

#201
FullumMusic said:
They might come back just like Records "came back." But records didn't really make a comeback. They beat out CD sales and cassette sales in a race for last place. Streaming & Digital Downloads & Synch make up 89% of recorded music revenue in 2023. That leaves 11% for all other media. Vinyl still only represent a fraction of 11% of the total market. To say they "came back" is an overstatement.

Screenshot_2024_03_26_at_9.11.55_AM.png


So yeah, you might be right. Big amps might come back the way records did: they'll show an uptick in sales at some point, but will still only be a small fraction in a sea of lightweight amps, lightweight cabs, and ampless rigs.
The same reason we don't see CRT monitors and TVs making a comeback.
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Interesting chart and I agree with the premise that older technologies are often times less desirable.
But the idea of comparing a digital download and its sonic qualities, to a record or CD is not a great example.
I can not seriously listen to 95% of all digital downloads. The fidelity is just not there.
Based on this same thinking, the sonic difference between old bass amps and newer one are very close though.
 
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#202
agedhorse said:
The preamp is digitally based, the power amp is non-linear analog.



Actually, those trying to sell the OTHER opinion are the ones who are starving these days. I've been on both sides of this evolution.



Regarding your insulting number three: there are indeed people who can no longer lift a heavy amp or cabinet but are better bass players than you or most players here will ever be. There are also bass players who don't want to wear themselves out anymore than necessary.

I come from a 40+ year career in the touring pro audio industry. At every opportunity, we looked at every way possible to decrease the wear and tear on our bodies so that we weren't broken as we got older. Not wanting to hump 5 tons of gear every night didn't make any of us weak... smarter yes but weaker, no. Saving weight and size costs a lot more, but allowed us to work into our 60's without being as broken as some of our younger counterparts who were not as careful.
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AMEN!!!
 
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#203
LiptonJigglers said:
No body has stopped you making a comment.

Your point is that somehow I believe that I lose my low fi sound coming from "hifi" front of house.
Your assumption is not correct.

I simply responded I don't care about front of house, in relation to what equipment they're using. This is not a conversation "about amps"!
As it has no relationship to what sound is coming out of my speaker cab. That sound coming from my speaker cab is all I care about in relation to this topic.


You're free to manipulate the response in any way you like to satisfy, justify, whatever point it is you're attempting to prove.
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You are absolutely correct that FOH is only projecting what you are giving it so your sound before it is important. The best PA system will reproduce that sound accurately and uncolored.
 
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#204
jwilson67 said:
Here's the truth: Big or small, light or heavy amps - the only people this matters to is bass players. The audience doesn't really care if you're playing through two 810 cabs with 400 tube watts, a Class D amp on your pedal board into a 2x10 cab, or simply a modeler and no amp at all. If it sounds good into the FOH that is what matters.

Scalability is only in regard to the type of gig or size of venue you're playing in. When I saw Peter Gabriel last year Tony Levin is now using a Neural Quad Cortex and no amp. Good sound is all that matters in the end.
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ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!!
 
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#205
LiptonJigglers said:
No body has stopped you making a comment.

Your point is that somehow I believe that I lose my low fi sound coming from "hifi" front of house.
Your assumption is not correct.

I simply responded I don't care about front of house, in relation to what equipment they're using. This is not a conversation "about amps"!
As it has no relationship to what sound is coming out of my speaker cab. That sound coming from my speaker cab is all I care about in relation to this topic.


You're free to manipulate the response in any way you like to satisfy, justify, whatever point it is you're attempting to prove.
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I can't help but think you're looking for an argument for some reason.

And yes, this is literally a conversation "about amps." Maybe you're in the wrong section or you're confused with you disdain for technology :-) As I now have your "permission" to make comments, I'm going to assume that it's okay that I make comments outside your narrow view as to what you deem is acceptable.

I am curious as to if class D amps are inherently "too hi-fi," is there some sort of exception for FOH amops as opposed to bass amps? Do you have magic FOH amps that can get low fi? Or do you not care about such trivial matters as to how your band sounds to the audience?

So sorry to challenge your worldview with actual facts, and holy crap the projection is strong with you.
 
#207
David A. Davis said:
Yeah, I’m talking preamp section.
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Even a preamp is not technically digital. The signal processing that happens at the upstream end of it can be, but the preamplification stage itself is not. At some point the signal has to cross a DA converter to be amplified, even by the preamp, before it can do something meaningful in a way that can eventually come out of a speaker.
 
#208
jwilson67 said:
You are absolutely correct that FOH is only projecting what you are giving it so your sound before it is important. The best PA system will reproduce that sound accurately and uncolored.
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So what you are saying is that a Class D amp will accurately reproduce whatever is fed to it?

Edit: That's not meant to be a "gotcha" - it's one of the points I've been making :-)
 
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#209
Gluvhand said:
Absolutely true but it also ends about 99% of threads here before they even get started. In the real world, yes, the audience and what they like is all that matters. In here, TB, this is where we can be a little selfish and discuss what we like. Or not.
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No, this absolutely has everything to do with discussions here and the endless quest for great tone. Tone within a band context has a ton of different components, not just someone's big, heavy amp.
 
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#214
silky smoove said:
Even a preamp is not technically digital. The signal processing that happens at the upstream end of it can be, but the preamplification stage itself is not. At some point the signal has to cross a DA converter to be amplified, even by the preamp, before it can do something meaningful in a way that can eventually come out of a speaker.
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You’re splitting hairs now.
 
#216
moon-bass said:
I was at French Quarter Fest in New ORleans a few weekends ago - I think this year we had 30 stages. I didn;t see them all, but every stage that I saw had a pretty big rig for backline - mostly SVT/8x10's, but a few Mesa an others. Most likely the sound provider bought the SVTs as they are pretty common around here, especially for outdoor festivals.
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I witnessed the same last time I was there. Fridge sized bass cabs, big and heavy heads and as a bonus, a few Fender Rhodes keyboards !
And many Fender basses !
 
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