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Why are amps still dinosaurs?
- Thread starter kcducttaper
- Start date
I was searching for decades and now can't be happier than my Mesa WD800 has made me. I have an Arkham Oracle in front of it and can achieve anything I need using many types of basses both active and passive. Mesa D800+ is my backup. Speakers are Subway 115 112 and 210 bringing whatever combination I need per gig. If only one cab is needed on smaller gigs I mostly use the 115. Always a Gramma iso underneath. I'm happy.
I had a similar but alternative idea some time back, embed a Raspberry PI into a bass that allows you to upload whatever software patches you want (infinite preamp options with built in effects right there on the bass). I have since realized that computer hardware is obsolete before the first units are even shipped because that is the sales model hardware companies bank on - upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. If a company was in the business of creating the software patches, and just so happen to provide the (best) hardware in a highly standardized form from the get-go, the situation would be better, but not entirely resolved. The only true solution would be to create your own boards, software, and hardware that you can completely control (be it creating your own amps, pedals, or on-board electronics in the bass). Once that happens you may decide to start a company and sell the hardware to like-minded folks. At that point you realize that in order to keep making money once your solutions have saturated the market is to “bake in” the need for consumers to upgrade to a newer version. Back to square one.
Subscription was for Protools which was bundled with the Eleven Rack.
The other free software is the Eleven Rack editor (still free, still running), but I don't use it except to backup my patches.
Using the front panel is (almost) identical as using the hardware, ie. you press the "chorus button" and you turn the knobs (reflected on the front screen). Very neat way to implement software in an hardware device IMO.
I found a floppy disk awhile back. The small one, which replaced the larger one.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,018
- 5
- 220,876
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
I thought that to use the pre-defined models and expansion packs, the Pro Tools subscription was needed???
I see that it's now discontinued and selling for $250 used all day long. That's surprising (maybe shocking) to me because there's a lot of powerful and well executed hardware and software inside a nicely designed package. It's still supported as well, might be an amazing deal for somebody who wants to get into a piece of this caliber.
The larger one you mention (5.25”) actually replaced an even larger one (8”).
Which was that big because that was the size of Hard Disk platters of the time as well, which were replacing drums much like the way LPs replaced wax cylinders.
The fact that spinning magnetic media is still a thing boggles the mind.
Do they make one like this in a class D chassis under 4 lbs?a truly modern amp would already know your preferences and take care of all your tonal decisions, and call an Uber for you after the gig.
1.
I want a sound that works for me.
This is done when you can hear the bass through the mix and when you can see me grinning.
Easily done.
My most simple amp has three buttons (boosts for lo/mid/hi) and one volume and one tone knob.
I don't need a full parametric six band on top of that. My bass must sound nice to my ear out of my cab and it must be able to come through the mix. That's it.
2.
The super complex stuff is really FOH's job. We hire a pro to do the FOH mix. I provide the raw bass signal, that's my job, and the FOH person makes sure my bass sounds good through the big speakers that's their job.
My bass amp is for me on stage, and in 90% of my gigs, completely obsolete.
I want a sound that works for me.
This is done when you can hear the bass through the mix and when you can see me grinning.
Easily done.
My most simple amp has three buttons (boosts for lo/mid/hi) and one volume and one tone knob.
I don't need a full parametric six band on top of that. My bass must sound nice to my ear out of my cab and it must be able to come through the mix. That's it.
2.
The super complex stuff is really FOH's job. We hire a pro to do the FOH mix. I provide the raw bass signal, that's my job, and the FOH person makes sure my bass sounds good through the big speakers that's their job.
My bass amp is for me on stage, and in 90% of my gigs, completely obsolete.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,018
- 5
- 220,876
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
It's quite reliable, robust and has an amazingly high data density. I had a college friend who ultimately headed one of IBM's magnetic storage research divisions. Wicked smart guy, that was his ENTIRE career from the time he graduated until he retired a few years back.
Magnetic core memory is more mind boggling IMO.
At some point soon “they” will be able to store data using quantum spin states in subatomic particles. At that point, storage will be as dense as current physics allows and no further progress will be made until new physics theories emerge (or perhaps access is gained to use some of the M-Theory extra dimensions?).
I have many opinions on the OP subject of the thread, I keep writing books here but I'll go small with this one:
- Product development lifecycles are way longer than tech development lifecycles. If you get too fancy your magic box is obsolete before it hits the showroom floor. Even if you don't, your more complex machine will break sooner and fall out of support faster and be more expensive.
- People want an amp that sounds good and is easy to make sound good. That's why the best sellers are amps that have a 'classic sound' and the ones that everyone complains about being 'hard to dial in' have the most versatility.
- A lot of people don't want to screw around with technology when they want to make the thump-thump (or weedly-weedly for guitar bros).
That's because the guys with Pro Tools rigs were recording guitar players who showed up with their own amps and gear which they preferred because they were what they used to get their sound.
Some years back I bought a Boss GT-Pro, a two space rackmount digital modeling preamp. I run it through a Peavey 50/50 tube amp. It sounds great, can do a lot and the editor for it works great. Fortunately I bought it used because they are not worth much these days.
Every time I had a guitar player over, I had them check it out and they would be like "yeah that sounds great, but I'm just gonna use my amp". LOL
RE: digital deprecation take the Sony DMR-100, a $20,000 plus digital recording console that is now worth what my analog Allen and Heath from 1988 is; and the A&H was about $4,000 in it's day.
Mackie sold a lot of D8B's only to just abandon it completely, at least Yamaha still sorta supports the O2R.
I briefly considered buying an older digital console before I refurbed my System 8, but soon realized why they were so cheap.
Nobody wanted them anymore, parts and support were a problem and they often did not support the newer protocols. Don't get me started on the plug-in hardware boards these things had, another big money pit on the used market, except for some very specific interface modules.
Digital can be your friend if you want something to use today and move on to something else in a few years, but the OP stated he wanted a "keeper" amp and digital gear is not "keeper" gear.
Analogeezer
Four pounds is a fat pig of an amp, I want mine to weigh under 2 pounds, preferably under a pound. Who has the back to haul some four pound thing around LOL.
Analogeezer
Exactly!!! And, if the OP actually adjusted tone from one extreme to another, recorded in an outdoor venue, the differences become almost meaningless. I'm with you-- the fewer the gadgets and tweeks (unless you're recording in studio) the better. Its more important that your amp doesn't limit or blow while gigging in mid-day sun at some festival
I mean, why do you need a bass player at all? Just program it all digitally.
