Crazy amp comments I encounter in my hunt for a new amp

[Tiltsta]

Thought it would be fun to post some of the strange comments and suggestions I have heard online and in stores in my hunt for a new amp. There seems to be some real comedy gold out there. Feel free to add your own stuff.

Here we go...

1. The Mesa roadster is an ok amp, but it can't cut through the mix on the highest gain settings.

2. The JVM red mode on channel 4 (the highest gain setting) needs more gain. It really needs a boost or overdrive in front of it to be useable.

3. The 5150 doesn't have enough gain.

4. Marshalls are known to not record very well.

 

[Guitar Heel]

"Doesn't take pedals well"

 

[Mark Wein]

Wow. Its like Helen Keller wrote an amp review.

 

[jaxn slim]

4. Marshalls are known to not record very well.

I, for one, would never listen to an album if it had Marshalls on it. They simply don't record well.

 

[Lerxst]

"Guitar amps are designed to sound best with all the knobs set at 120. If it doesn't sound awesome like that, don't buy it"

 

[Tiltsta]

Another odd one...

I was looking at these amps, but have not had a chance to play through one or hear it in the flesh. Just checking out You Tube vids. Most of the videos I have watched seem to have a real digital harshness in the sound of these things.

I wonder if that has something to do with hearing them through a set of computer speakers in a compressed video format.

 

[Tiltsta]

I love the amp except for the digital reverb. I hate digital reverb. I turn off the amp reverb and use a boss reverb pedal.

 

[smurfco]

That one sounds better because it has a bird on it.

 

[Mark Wein]

I love the amp except for the digital reverb. I hate digital reverb. I turn off the amp reverb and use a boss reverb pedal.

:hd:

 

[Tiltsta]

Guy one: I think it sounds even better with KT 77 tubes.

Guy two: or better yet, KT88's. Sounds better as they move more air.

 

[Mark Wein]

Where are you finding this stuff? Youtube?

 

[Tiltsta]

Pretty much all over the place. Just google a popular high end mass market amp (like a Marshall jvm410 or Mesa Roadster) and read the popular forum pages. So much hilarity.

 

[Mark Wein]

Pretty much all over the place. Just google a popular high end mass market amp (like a Marshall jvm410 or Mesa Roadster) and read the popular forum pages. So much hilarity.

It makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

 

[Tiltsta]

Also, the number of people buying high end amps them immediately modding them seems odd. Why buy a 2k amp if you don't like it?

 

[Lerxst]

I actually heard the 120 thing by an employee at a highly respected local shop several years ago. The funny thing was it was his explanation why he couldn't dial a decent tone in on a Dual Rec; poor design not operator error.

Also, the number of people buying high end amps them immediately modding them seems odd. Why buy a 2k amp if you don't like it?

Because the internet tells me it can be better!

I've seen plenty of posts where guys will order all the mod supplies at the same time as ordering the amp, sight un-played, because it seems like everyone else is doing it. When I got my AC15 there were threads everywhere about the must-do mods...heck, typing ac15 into google will auto-suggest "ac15 mods" "ac15c1 mods" etc.

 

[Knox in Box]

Also, the number of people buying high end amps them immediately modding them seems odd. Why buy a 2k amp if you don't like it?

Because of Rip Glitter?

 

[Tiltsta]

I actually heard the 120 thing by an employee at a highly respected local shop several years ago. The funny thing was it was his explanation why he couldn't dial a decent tone in on a Dual Rec; poor design not operator error.




Because the internet tells me it can be better!

I've seen plenty of posts where guys will order all the mod supplies at the same time as ordering the amp, sight un-played, because it seems like everyone else is doing it. When I got my AC15 there were threads everywhere about the must-do mods...heck, typing ac15 into google will auto-suggest "ac15 mods" "ac15c1 mods" etc.

Yeah, that seems to be the same in the marhsall JVM crowd. I know I'm in a hurry to buy a 2,500 dollar amp head designed by engineers at marshall (who probably know a thing or two about what a marshall should sound like and have a reference library of original marhsalls) and remove some resistors and add a new choke and transformer because some guy on the internet (who isn't an engineer at marshall) says it sounds better (at least in his basement).

 

[Deep Eddy]

Also, the number of people buying high end amps them immediately modding them seems odd. Why buy a 2k amp if you don't like it?

The same is true for guitars.

 

[mongooz]

yea, you've got some doozys right there.

having been a guitar tech in (at the time) the biggest music store in the area, i can affirm that there are some truly CRAZY notions out there. blah0

and not just from the buyers. the manufacturers have some pretty crazy ideas as well.

we had a spate of warping necks on high end Taylor acousitcs (circa 1988-1992) and after we sent several back they told us we were not keeping the humidity at the right level in the store and that's what was causing the necks to warp.
we're like...."no.....you are not drying your wood sufficiently before you build the guitar".
so, it's not just the tin foil hat people that are full of shit.

 

[Tiltsta]

There's higher voltages running around a tube amp, the paper thin traces on a pcb can't properly transmit these signals without adding unpleasant distortion, that's why pcb amps sound thin and harsh.