Do amps ever come back in style?

[InhumanResource]

Yes if anything there appear to be FAR more choices than there were say 25 years ago.

The companies being referenced as going out of business didn't go out of business because of going ampless or even issues with the products. They were bought out by corporate entities without their best interests in mind and put out of business as part of that process.

Now I'm not one to suggest that 35 pound bass heads and 100 pound 4 x 10" cabs are going to make a comeback into the mainstream, but from a tone perspective they are hardly lacking.

The phrase I hear time and time again here (I think the average age here must be north of a Corvette forum LOL) is "I'm old and don't want to lift that kinda weight anymore"

That's fair and a pretty good reason but reality is a LOT of people still own and use amps, the IEM thing is particularly popular in churches because that way the backline doesn't upset the old ladies in the front row at the service.

Also that type of situation lends itself to a no amp/IEM situation because you are usually in the same place with an installed sound system, usually run by the same people, and you are not breaking down and setting up the system.

I hear the guys down at the church of Satan though, those guys are still using SVT's LOL

Analogeezer

I’m not corvette old but I definitely fit into the category of “old and not lifting this stuff anymore.”

Regarding those folks still willing to wield the old iron, hail satan I guess!

 

[el murdoque]

I see, you avoid that needless complexity of using a bass amp on stage by micing the drums, or hearing a muffled version of them

With that same stone, you also kill the guitar player pointing his amp straight down the middle and creating a corridor where eardrums get shredded when he hits the boost for the solo.
You also eliminate the problem that you brought a capable amp and carry the venue, but since the stage is tiny, you stand about a foot away from that amp and while your pants are flapping, your ears actually live off the backwash of the rear wall like a bottom feeder.
You eliminate loudness wars.
Everybody has their volume set the way they like, and the levels accordingly.
You can actually hear the singer, because there's no feedback induced by the amps pointing at the mic and the monitor wedges and you can turn up the vocals as much as you like.


I've played more dive bar gigs than I dare to estimate and I've played my fair share of festival stages.
The thing is, the better the venue, the bigger the stage, the less it matters what you bring.
Come with a P-Bass and a cable. There is a professional on the FOH desk who will make you sound glorious through the enormous rig. There is another professional who will bathe you in that glory with the numerous stage monitors.
Stand in the corner of a dive bar, wedged between your amp, the guitar amp and the hi hat, with the crash cymbal ruining your right ear and the Marshall halfstack taking care of the left every time the guitar solo launches after second chorus and you wish you had IEMs.
It's a bit like a dish washing machine or electric car windows. You don't need them to survive. But once you got used to the luxury, you don't want to be without.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Fender 100T and Ampeg B15

These are both reissues and/or reimagination of iconic designs. They aren’t exact reproductions because they comply with today’s safety standards at the very least.

Sometimes, designers have the opportunity to reinvent their own designs with the benefit of hindsight, history, and parts/components that we could only dream of.

For example, insulating materials used in modern output transformers have improved the reliability by a factor of 10 compared with the good ‘ol days.

Yup, I remember reading that Jess Oliver, the designer of the B15 said there were changes he would have made, I think some of those changes were made in the reissues

 

[DJ Bebop]

The appearance of the Tyler Fliptop amp and Broughton Fliptop pedal makes me want to say, "yes" but did the Fliptop ever go out of style. Seems like more of a mainstay. A classic never dies right? Just people want one and can't find one anymore?

I have one!

A B15.
It sits unused
I fire it up once a year to see if it still works. Should do something with it...

 

[Slidlow]

I have the bass version of this Vox 125 that I bought new in 1982 and at least for me it has never gone out of style.

 

[Keger Jupti]

How old is old? I just picked up a hand-built Eden from the mid-90s. As long as you don’t tweak the “enhance” knob, the amp has tone in spades. Chock full of features, too. Honestly I think the amp was ahead of its time.

Same here, about a year ago, a WT400 in PERFECT condition...$350.00!!! 2 weeks ago, a Demeter VTBP-201! The tone is all I care about. Different strokes for different folks, but these both sound amazing to my ears.

 

[Topkat13]

I didn’t know they were out of style. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Fretless55]

I thought that was succinct and a well written overview.

Nicely done.

 

[MegaSwing]

I own at least two amps that many here wouldn't be caught dead with, but they work really well for me, and you can come by them cheap when they come by. As far as I can tell, that's either 1) doing my homework or 2) trusting my ears. You can't be too caught up in what is popular. I've made some of the dumbest decisions of my life doing that. However, it is wise to understand why stuff is popular, whether deservedly so or not. The stuff that is popular because 'XYZ and the ABC' use it should really be teaching you to seek your own bliss, not to cop theirs.

 

[g-dude]

Vox is pretty popular among guitarists I know.

Good catch.

It’s funny, but the only Marshall sounds I dig are 80s and earlier. The more modern ultra gain stuff isn’t appealing.

 

[JMarkD]

Don't know that they ever actually went out of style. Some have come and gone for many reasons but the allure of an amp still guides many of us, young and old alike. Although I am at the end of my ride, I still am gigging and insisting on an amp even though I often don't need one.

I have used many, many amps over the decades and for the most part have been able to get a sound I like out of all of them. Even some that are wildly different in architecture and sound. There are very few that I would refuse to use for any other reason but that I can't lift them anymore.

The old stuff is (was) great and the new stuff is, well to me, wondrous. Whether they go out of style or not, I want one squatting there behind me.

 

[Analogeezer]

One thing I do find interesting is the crowd that says amps are obsolete, or older amps are obsolete yet they play slabs of wood for which the design has not effectively changed in 60 years LOL.

Remember when the Spector came out and "the future was going to be all active pickups". Yeah Pepperidge Farm remembers

Analogeezer

 

[higain617]

I have an Ampeg V6-B. It has yet to come back into style.

 

[MegaSwing]

I have an Ampeg V6-B. It has yet to come back into style.

Therefore, you are a trendsetter. Someday.

 

[higain617]

Therefore, you are a trendsetter. Someday.

I don't think there are enough functional ones in existence for any trend to start.

 

[Analogeezer]

With that same stone, you also kill the guitar player pointing his amp straight down the middle and creating a corridor where eardrums get shredded when he hits the boost for the solo.
You also eliminate the problem that you brought a capable amp and carry the venue, but since the stage is tiny, you stand about a foot away from that amp and while your pants are flapping, your ears actually live off the backwash of the rear wall like a bottom feeder.
You eliminate loudness wars.
Everybody has their volume set the way they like, and the levels accordingly.
You can actually hear the singer, because there's no feedback induced by the amps pointing at the mic and the monitor wedges and you can turn up the vocals as much as you like.


I've played more dive bar gigs than I dare to estimate and I've played my fair share of festival stages.
The thing is, the better the venue, the bigger the stage, the less it matters what you bring.
Come with a P-Bass and a cable. There is a professional on the FOH desk who will make you sound glorious through the enormous rig. There is another professional who will bathe you in that glory with the numerous stage monitors.
Stand in the corner of a dive bar, wedged between your amp, the guitar amp and the hi hat, with the crash cymbal ruining your right ear and the Marshall halfstack taking care of the left every time the guitar solo launches after second chorus and you wish you had IEMs.
It's a bit like a dish washing machine or electric car windows. You don't need them to survive. But once you got used to the luxury, you don't want to be without.

Maybe you encounter more "professionals" than I do but short of top drawer touring sound (and those guys started making live sound suck ballz ever since they got lots of power to turn up the bass) my experiences with said "professionals" have been mediocre to horrible.

Last festival gig I did (was a wine festival) and for some damn reason the guy decided our setup (drummer, two guitar players, an acoustic guitar feed, an electronic drum pad feed, and my bass DI) was too complex or something and starting pulling out all the mic cables out of the stage box and rearranging them.

Two weeks before the gig I had sent the guy a stage plot, with the inputs needed, how many drums in the drumkit, etc. with additional information, set lists, etc.

He had things so screwed up I had to go to the mixing station during the break from our first set and straighten his **** out.

Not as bad but similar experiences with a large venue (1,000 seats) opening up for a national (well one was international, albeit with only two of the original members). Two separate gigs, about three years apart, two different bands I was in.

Sure you get the short shrift as the opening act but you also get the house guys who should know their system and their ****.

So maybe your experiences in Germany have been more professional or you are dealing with a higher quality of venue.

I can't imagine depending only on IEM's in many of the situations I have encountered.

Analogeezer

 

[agedhorse]

Yup, I remember reading that Jess Oliver, the designer of the B15 said there were changes he would have made, I think some of those changes were made in the reissues

Bill Hughes said the same thing about the SVT... and the change to 6550's was one of them!

Maybe you encounter more "professionals" than I do but short of top drawer touring sound (and those guys started making live sound suck ballz ever since they got lots of power to turn up the bass) my experiences with said "professionals" have been mediocre to horrible.

Last festival gig I did (was a wine festival) and for some damn reason the guy decided our setup (drummer, two guitar players, an acoustic guitar feed, an electronic drum pad feed, and my bass DI) was too complex or something and starting pulling out all the mic cables out of the stage box and rearranging them.

Two weeks before the gig I had sent the guy a stage plot, with the inputs needed, how many drums in the drumkit, etc. with additional information, set lists, etc.

He had things so screwed up I had to go to the mixing station during the break from our first set and straighten his **** out.

Not as bad but similar experiences with a large venue (1,000 seats) opening up for a national (well one was international, albeit with only two of the original members). Two separate gigs, about three years apart, two different bands I was in.

Sure you get the short shrift as the opening act but you also get the house guys who should know their system and their ****.

So maybe your experiences in Germany have been more professional or you are dealing with a higher quality of venue.

I can't imagine depending only on IEM's in many of the situations I have encountered.

Analogeezer

My experience is quite different actually, and I spent 40 years at FOH and as a TD/PM. In fact, I would say that at my level at least, the quality of sound guys is MUCH better than in the good 'ol days.

 

[packhowitzer]

It seems like Orange Amps were fairly common sights in footage from the late 60s and early 70s of various bands - Black Sabbath for example. I came up in the 80s and 90s and never saw anyone playing Orange Amps until the early 00s when they were suddenly (at least to my anecdotal experience) en vogue. I certainly don't remember seeing Orange amps in Musicians Friend or at music stores until the early 00s anyway. I'm sure some of you are going to be able to cite numerous examples of 80s and 90s players using Orange, but I'm only saying in my experience, it seemed like there was a 20-something year gap its visibility.

 

[Doug P]

View attachment 4436414

Yea, I had one of these in my youth. Only had two cabs.

 

[Reedeaux]

Evidence indicates that Trace is still very popular, in that there are none to be found.
Especially the UK made models...