Advice on thinning the herd

[norburybrook]

I've been trying to do the same recently. What I've found is most of the working pro guitarists I know are gradually moving to amp less rigs.

Fractal, Kemper and software seem to be the thing everyone are using now.


They'll probably have a one small combo for club gigs and that's it.



Marcus

[Phil_S]

This went in an unexpected direction. I get to have more fun ramping up my cab building skills. I'm hearing a pretty amp will sell better than a naked amp. Maybe I get to buy a few tools and make a few jigs along the way. That's not so bad!

Mostly, I'm running out of space. I was thinking I might build a bookcase like rack, but that's just a way to relocate several excellent dust collectors. Ah, the smell of dust burning off tubes that haven't been used in a while. A finished cab will hide that dust real well.

Maybe I'll do both!

[xtian]

I like your attitude.

[drew]

I've been trying to do the same recently. What I've found is most of the working pro guitarists I know are gradually moving to amp less rigs.

Fractal, Kemper and software seem to be the thing everyone are using now.

Slippery slope ... don't these guys realize that a couple of the engineers working on driverless cars at Google could probably whip up playerless guitars in a couple days on their lunch hour?

[katopan]

I've been trying to do the same recently. What I've found is most of the working pro guitarists I know are gradually moving to amp less rigs.

Fractal, Kemper and software seem to be the thing everyone are using now.

Slippery slope ... don't these guys realize that a couple of the engineers working on driverless cars at Google could probably whip up playerless guitars in a couple days on their lunch hour?

They already don't use real musicians for most pop music now. It's a less than part time gig to learn the charts that were programmed to accompany the 'star' on their tours. Soon guitarists won't get enough performance time to actually be able to do it.

[TUBEDUDE]

My fiance made the same request, as she would be clueless on what to do when I depart. I took images of my amps, guitars, test equipment, and parts boxes, and listed who they should go to. That helps quiet them down.

[Phil_S]

If I do that, she'll figure out exactly how much crap I have. I'm convinced it will not help in the here and now. It certainly works for the afterlife.

[stretch2011]

Phil I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum, and welcome the other end when I make it there! I'm 22, turning 23 in april, and I have built more cool stuff than I would've ever dreamed of a few years ago. The only problem now is I build way more stuff than I play!

Builds include a 2 's5e3, modified 5f6a head, 5f2a, 6g15. Then there are the loads on top of loads of cabinets and chassis.

Working on a 18 watt tmb, about to finish a rocket, and going to be starting a 6g15 soon.

He who lives with the most toys wins

I must agree, its what the outside looks like that matters to people, not the chassis. Start building you some pretty cabs

[norburybrook]

I've been trying to do the same recently. What I've found is most of the working pro guitarists I know are gradually moving to amp less rigs.

Fractal, Kemper and software seem to be the thing everyone are using now.

Slippery slope ... don't these guys realize that a couple of the engineers working on driverless cars at Google could probably whip up playerless guitars in a couple days on their lunch hour?

Well software amp sims have come a long way on the last few years, so in the end it's still about 'sound'. I remember having conversations like this 10 yeas ago about photography and the use of film. At the time film still had the edge over digital. Didn't take long though before that situation changed and look where we are now, digital is just as good if not better.

I love valve amps, the touch the smell etc but if you're recording then a Kemper will sound Exactly the same if you profile your amp. I guarantee you will not be able to tell the difference on playback between the real and profiled amp.

Live; well if you're on a reasonably large stage, no one hears the amp sound in the audience, they hear the sound through a microphone and then the PA, same as recording again so yet again a fractal/Kemper/laptop rig will sound just as goo to the audience.

A lot of players now use IEM's so you're getting the sound of your mic'd amp fed back through to you IEM's , again, using a the above scenario you're not going to notice a lot of difference.

With the new algorithms and DSP power available, analogue circuit modelling with their non linearity's , harmonics etc are being modelled vey accurately so when playing they respond like a real amp. Trust me, guitarists wouldn't be using this stuff if it didn't respond like a real amp.


Anyway we're in an amp building forum so perhaps this isn't a pertinent place to discuss this


I think I'm going to make a rack shelf for my amps and stack them high and proud.

Marcus

[rp]

I've been trying to do the same recently. What I've found is most of the working pro guitarists I know are gradually moving to amp less rigs.

The 20 somethings are even worse, unless they happen to be a Jack White type but those are very few these days. NYC had a surprising share of old cult gear kids (trust funds children?). Here in poor provinces most under 40 players I meet never even plugged into a tube amp, Valvestates don't count. From ss to ampless is a very easy step.

When I was in the States it was easy, I would have just left all the diy amps to player friends. Who cares what they do with it when I'm gone, hopefully have some loud fun somehow, somewhere. I don't like anyone here enough to even give an early '90s Chinese 12AX7 tube

My steamer trunk full of old tubes is a problem. Maybe I should will to TAG for all the knowledge I've gathered! Promise to be civil, divvy up nicely, no grabbing, shouting or bloodshed. And, must promise to build more 100Ws than damn 18Watters!

I got over acquisitiveness except for diy stuff - I think a hobby is a valid obsession, in fact it must be an obsession to get good at it. Thinking of comimg back to the States but how to get my amps, my trunk, my parts bins and my acoustics back? Pretty damn silly!!!

[stretch2011]

Rp you are right.

Out of all the musicians I know maybe 6 play tube amps. Most of which are circuit board amps. The most real of the bunch is a 1978 jmp 2204.

I'd happily sell them tube amps, but hearing the price before hearing it in person scares away 90% of them.

The exception is my buddy who about creamed after hearing my 5f6a through an et65 cranked up. He'd only ever owned line 6's.

Sorry Phil, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Depending where I was at at the time of liquidation I'd like to keep a few for my son. I'd try to sell them to musicians that would truly appreciate them for super reasonable prices (.5 on the dollar)

[sliberty]

This thread has gotten really depressing.

[galtjunk]

I'll be 61 soon (yes, my glass is half-full of optimism). My wife started, a year or two ago, getting on my case about eliminating my hoard. I've explained ad nauseum that "he who dies with the most toys, wins" ...... but she is not convinced. I get the guilt trip "You'll be leaving a nightmare for me and your children to deal with!" And naturally I don't understand that. Had my Dad left me a hoard of fine amps and instruments, it would hardly have been a "nightmare".

Oh well, it seems I've reached an impasse whilst riding on the horns of someones else dilemma. I suppose I should build another amp, and/or guitar, whilst I mull over the situation?

I keep telling my wife that stuff is junk that you keep
and junk is stuff that you throw away.

She just doesn't get the difference.

[67plexi]

I must really be sick I lost count. I repair guitar and bass amps for my local
music store and what's selling is cheap crap. The 98% are the stupid people
This last weekend I must of had 50 phone calls fix my amp over the phone
that's a new one sorry my crystal ball has been broken for years.

[Littlewyan]

I'm 25 and I've not met anyone else who uses the same type of amps as me. One friend comes close, he has a Blackstar all valve 100W amp and I will say it does sound nice. I'm the only one in my group of friends that is crazy enough to use a Non Master Volume Amp though......