Nor will you find the Reeves, HiWatt or anything else that you enjoy so much. Are you saying that (generally) better amps are more expensive?
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Old School vs. New School Amplification
- Thread starter jazztonebass
- Start date
Nor will you find the Reeves, HiWatt or anything else that you enjoy so much. Are you saying that (generally) better amps are more expensive?
I am still hoping that one of the fine folks that were with GB will start up a new company and continue the excellence that was Genz Benz. Are you out there listening? Come on, you know you want to!!!!
I am still hoping that one of the fine folks that were with GB will start up a new company and continue the excellence that was Genz Benz. Are you out there listening? Come on, you know you want to!!!!
Andy (Agedhorse) has been active in this thread, and is now a designer for Mesa Boogie. My guess (and hope) is that we might finally see a micro amp from Mesa down the road, or at least a higher powered Walkabout in the same box as the current model!
That's right, I don't have unrealistic expectations of what I can find at that level of quality without additional cost.
At least when I do invest my money, I know that what I buy not only sounds incredible, but it was also designed to last
many, many decades.
Bob Lee (QSC)
In case you missed it, I work for QSC Audio!
- Jul 3, 2001
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- Former Technical Communications Developer, QSC Audio
I don't know what engineers or what study you're talking about, but it's still not true.
I use a 1993 Ampeg V4B through a Palmer Speaker Simulator (to captue my power section and preamp section in my signal to FOH). The other rig that I have access to is from my guitar player's other band. It is an 800W GK Fusion (the one with tube preamp) throug Neo speaker cabinets. The GK sounds very good and as far as frequencies can hang with anything. It weighs like 9 pounds and is 800W which blows my mind. I don't mind playing it and it does sound very good. For me the all tube Ampeg just "sounds" better. It's not a frequency thing because the GK will throw out massive lows and low mids. It's more in thehigh mids the Ampeg just provides more tone??? For that reason I lug around an 80lb Ampeg with a cabinet. It's honestly all personal preferene. I would however put the GK Fusion on your short list of amps to audition....
It hadn't even dawned on me that Andy would have needed a new job, congrats AgedHorse and here's to that Micro Mesa!
I think the writer doesn't know much about music or engineering. Let's start with harmonics. The idea that odd harmonics are not musical is nonsense. The third harmonic of an E is a B. You can't get much more musical than that.
Bob Lee (QSC)
In case you missed it, I work for QSC Audio!
- Jul 3, 2001
- 12,668
- 2,036
- 67
- Disclosures
- Former Technical Communications Developer, QSC Audio
Reed instruments, like clarinet and oboe, have strong odd harmonic content and relatively little in even harmonics.
Fuzzboxes tend to generate odd harmonics, and depending on the design and settings, varying amounts of even ones—sometimes very little.
Hey Bob! Good to see you on the site! I learn a little bit more every time you post.
Something tells me that you want a gut shot and once seen you will not be impressed. But, I could be wrong. I have been interested in the TH500 but wonder the difference in tone I would get compared to my STL600.
We'll that's what I thought, too. I had remembered that music is founded on odd harmonics and that is what I had posted earlier. I got challenged for it, so I went to do some research and found that site. So, now I don't know and I really don't care. My ear says tubes sound better and all I care about is pleasing the ear.
I disagree we have seen a lot of these take a dive. One manufacturer (MarkBass) was fairly pricy on repairs after warranty, to the point of trashcanadium and still is. I never could get my head around the MarkBass warranty not being transferable but the extended warranty portion is transferable. GK had loads of failures but did work through it painfully. Ampeg had so many failures I lost count. Genz had way less and stood behind them all and still do. There are others too.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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Thanks Charlie.
The only thing that would concern me for my application would be the two cooling fans.
+1 in that 'built like a tank' to me is the sound and performance of the amp over time. Charlie just put up a website that has a gut shot (never saw one complete inside, only the cool clip of assembly in the little backroom production facility at Aguilar. Very few issues with these over the years they have been out. Very good reliability, like most heads out on the market today (after a bit of growing pains for a few). And, the 'growing pains' are not topology limited. For example, the 'heavy class G' GK heads had at least as much trouble right out of the gate (remember the 1001!) as their first MB amp (the 500). Markbass, Genz, current GK, Aguilar, Glock... solid as a rock.
Edit: Also, these sort of 'growing pains' issues (i.e., some amps having significant issues in their first production run) are as old as the hills and IMO and IME based at least in part on the philosophy of the company. Some companies (IMO, GK is notorious for this through the years) seems to use their early adopters as 'beta testers', with tons of issues right out of the gate, which are eventually fixed. I don't really like that philosophy at all, but that is yet another topic that separates one company from another.
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No one said that you would. At least not where tube amps are concerned.
Solid state amps don't have quite as many inherently expensive parts as tube amps, and so good ones can be found in that price range.
I prefer tube amps (specific ones, though) for the sounds I'm going for right now. There are lots of SS amps that I think are good and that I could see myself using, at some point, though.
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