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Vintage vs. Modern, looks only

#21
heres my thing and maybe some of you have the same scenario . we all know it takes a lot more for us to produce tones we need vs guitar players having a 50 or less watt tube head screaming and deafining the first few rows of fans . with that said for the most part bassers are left with larger rigs ! mine stays in the band trailer and sees the abuse from the road as so does many others without road cases for the cabs . so for me the rat fur or tolex , and flimsy although attractive tweed grills , dont last long . so for me , steel grills and rhino liner stuff works great . so much so , i redone my old ampeg square 810 with rhino liner and a expanded metal grill ... it just lasts longer on the road for me . if i spent the money on road cases then i wouldnt mind going back to a tolex/tweed cabinet , but then you wouldnt be seeing the cab anyway ..... so its not really about modern or vintage to me as much as it is funtionality and sound ...
 
#22
I have to admit. I HATE that rat fur stuff. I don't care how much a cab costs, or how good it is, it just looks cheap and cheesy. Reminds me of indoor/outdoor carpeting. Yeah, I have 2 cabs covered with the stuff because Tolex wasn't an option. I don't personaly mind the steal grate grills. That doesn't bother me at all. Ultimately, I want what's going to work best, but would it kill the cab manufactures to make the stuff look a little less hokey/cheesey?

My no.1 and no.3 amp heads are coverd in some kind of tuff tolex (Sunn) , and has survived 38 years or so, and still looks pretty good. I've been gigging it for probaby 10 years myself, and it's still fine, and It's never had a road case , at least so long as I've owned it.


ADDED: And Tolex doesn't trap foul bar smells the way that carpet stuff does either. Beer on Rat Fuz is not a nice thing. It's a real mutha to clean that rat fuzz after it's had an encounter with something dirty, sticky or smelly.
 
#23
I hate modern looking amps that have styling like a high-tech gym shoe. I also hate amps where the logo is huge (it wasn't enough that I bought your amp, but now you want me to advertise your brand?)

Seems like those new Peavey tube heads will cover both issues... silly, gratuitous "high tech" styling, and a big logo front & center. Fugly!
 
#27
K2000 said:
I hate modern looking amps that have styling like a high-tech gym shoe. I also hate amps where the logo is huge (it wasn't enough that I bought your amp, but now you want me to advertise your brand?)

Seems like those new Peavey tube heads will cover both issues... silly, gratuitous "high tech" styling, and a big logo front & center. Fugly!
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I agree those Peavey logos are too much, and lets not forget about the big warwick 'W' logo.
 
#29
I'm not working a gig or in a scene that requires that my rig "look" like anything these days, so my view may be a bit off topic. But, I have to laugh a little at players that are as driven by a look as much as they are by the actual sound of their gear and effective chops. (of course I laughed my ass off during the hair band 80's too, so this is not new ;))

Who gives a rats (fur) a$$ what your rig looks like ?? :D Does it sound like it's supposed to sound ?, does the sound fit the band/gigs you're doing ? .. then your cool.

Personally, I favor Mesa gear, and I see that they are doing both what they have always done ... which is provide very solid, road ready stuff in cases as well as their Rhino Vinyl stuff (pretty tough stuff)... and all their heads are rackable if you so desire ... and they have started to cater to this "retro" trend by offering their standard Powerhouse gear in a "vintage" look, and offer vintage look head cases for most of their amps.

As I said, I don't get it, but I'm not a kid playing in a modern rock setting anymore where, apparently, you have to be able to play and have a certain look too (weell, considering punk, metal and hair/glam etc., I guess thats not "new" either).

heh, old guy! .. I guess there are some advantages :cool:
 
#31
well , the only time i really care about its looks over its funtionality is on the occasional young couple wedding reception ( about two a year ) that is booked by a regional agent . you dont want to show up to a high dollar reception hall where everything but YOUR RIG is looking its best . i have personally seen a band get dropped because their sound system looked ratty and got complained about to the same agent ... but other than that its all about the funtionality over appearance for me ....
 
#32
KJung said:
Since I am old enough to remember the bass amps back then, I think the answer is that guitar amps sounded great back then and bass amps did not. For the most part, they were underpowered, boomy, mushy, and pretty much awful. So, there really isn't a lot of 'yearning for the old days' among most players for 'vintage bass amps'.

So, for bass, 'new is better'. For guitarists, those old 'class A' type tube amps don't seem to have been improved on much over the years.

IMO!
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Yes, I think this is about the essence of it. As I've maintained for a long time, due to the challenging physics of bass amplification and the ever-evolving demands that modern music places upon the bass role, bassists have been compelled to innovate - merely in order to be clearly heard. Because those same challenges have not existed to nearly the same degree for guitarists, the old-school/retro status quo has long been a much more comfortable and rewarding place for them. Result: Not nearly the same impetus to innovate.

And if it is true that "form follows function", then it was just about inevitable that bass amplification would begin to develop its own unique aesthetic. Personally, I like the modern thing. A lot. It's one of the cooler things about playing bass guitar. I think I'd opt toward the modern approach - even if I were a guitarist. But that's just me...

MM
 
#33
im split half and half on this, I have a 18, which in its self is hardcore vintage, but its rat furred and steel grilled, then a 4x10 ampeg with a very retro look to it, then a modern vintage looking swr 2x15, tolex, steel but in the classic box shape opposed to the stack shape, then i got the most modern tube bass amp in existence, the fender bassman, with its compressors, and overall newish look........and I play mostly epiphones, with a brand new fender s1 jazz, modern as hell there,and I have a 73 hollow body, with an aray of effects...so i guess I use what ever in the hell I like and be damned what it looks like.........but i think the reason bass players do this is mostly to develope our own style, cuz most vintage bass amps were just loud powerful guitar amps that didnt sound all that great back in the day(cept ampeg, theys the sh*t) so bass players wanted to distance themselves from that, but also it could be cuz if you notice bass amps are starting to look more and more like drum sets, which makes sense, the bass's biggest job is to bridge the melody and the beat......guitar and drums....but this just my insane ramblings... and as to Munjibunga's statements



Munjibunga said:
I think it's because bass players are less susceptible to the snooty wankiness so characteristic of those prima donna pantywaists called guitar players. We're just smarter. We realize that the old gear is exactly that: old gear built with substandard, outdated components. The stuff sounds like crap, generally, and the guitar players don't even realize it. We, on the other hand, seek out the best equipment available that we can afford to provide the best sound possible in support of the band. Guitar players just don't care. They get this cruddy, fuzzy, screechy sound and call it "my tone," and there's no amount of pleading or cajoling that will get them off it. You know, love it or leave it. They have this fantasy that they become their favorite one of the iconic guitar players of a glorious past if they play the same lousy equipment. How dumb is that?
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honestly your a fool, first bass players do the exact same sh*t, and secondly, we are bass players, im a damn good one but i have no delusions of grandeur, if it came down to me or him, the band will choose the guitar player every time, cuz it makes sense, we aint smarter, and actually as people go as a whole ive met way more stupid bass players than smart ones. and in the last ten years bass players spouting stuff like this seem to be bigger prima donnas than a guy that can solo for 15 mins and keep you entertained, i doubt any bass player in this forum could do that, i doubt any bass player in the world could do that cuz its not our job....but anyway I dont mean to insult its just I heard alot of this recently, with the latest trends leaning on the 80s as their main influence....its kinda creepy.....the only light at the end of the tunnel is if this is the 80s the in a few years well be back in the 90s which in my opinion, was almost as cool as the 70s.....so just hang on every body we will get thru this "emo"tionally lame trend...idk maybe im just an a$$hole.....rock on tb
 
#34
My theory is that the older guitar amps are actually better than newer amps, whereas bass amplification needed longer to catch up. From my understanding, most old bas amps were just slightly modified gutiar amps. The result is that we're currently IN the "golden days" of bass amps; since no one wants old amps, there's no incentive to market amps as old.

The actual instruments are the same way, if not quite as extreme. Think about it, how many boutique bass builders can you name that started in the last 15 years? Compare that to how many boutique GUITAR builders you can think of. Guitar players, for the most part, want old Gibsons and Fenders, so companies keep copying that design. Bass guitar building technology improves yearly, and so we like to stay on the cutting edge.

Edit: I neglected the title of the thread. I like the modern thing, any day.
 
#36
pfschim said:
Who gives a rats (fur) a$$ what your rig looks like ?? :D Does it sound like it's supposed to sound ?, does the sound fit the band/gigs you're doing ? .. then your cool.
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First of all, if I'm paying hundreds (or thousands) dollars for amplification, then it's not unreasonable to ask that it's not an "eyesore". Some of these amps are eyesores.

2nd, if you are a musician there's a chance that you are interested in visually pleasing aesthetics, and not just musically pleasing aesthetics. Some of these amps look like they were designed by twelve year old boys.

3rd, you could extend that line of thinking to all other areas of your life (but I bet you don't). When your car needs to be painted, do you do it with a roller and a can of paint? As long as the car gets you from point A to point B, who cares what it looks like? The idea that "nobody ought to care" sounds good on paper but it's not very realistic. If that's how you feel, good for you. But you shouldn't imply that it's shallow if other people care... it's not.

Speaking of hair metal, you can get some good deals on flourescent pink basses (pointy ones like BC Rich) now that Glam is out of style. Those basses sound good, and they're not expensive... maybe you should buy one? After all, "who cares what they look like, it's all about the sound". ;)
 

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