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These Go to 11 - The Guitar Amp Thread


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JB is a great player but I find everything else about him off putting. The slicked back hair, the suit, the sunglasses, the way his concerts are promoted as “the guitar event of the year”, etc. imagine Gary Clark Jr doing that.

How bout you just let your music do the talking?

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I think it's cool the custom shop is putting out a 5f8a.  Other than the speakers, I'm not sure what is specific to JB.  I've got the 57 LPTT, and it's a great amp.  But a lot of it is the Weber designed Eminence made speakers.

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25 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

JB is a great player but I find everything else about him off putting. The slicked back hair, the suit, the sunglasses, the way his concerts are promoted as “the guitar event of the year”, etc. imagine Gary Clark Jr doing that.

How bout you just let your music do the talking?

He's a great player, but he's lacking that something that turns great players into something special. To me, he's like some sort of guitar version of a player piano. All the chops are there, but they are missing the soul. 

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He's a great player, but he's lacking that something that turns great players into something special. To me, he's like some sort of guitar version of a player piano. All the chops are there, but they are missing the soul. 

 

The player piano thing is spot on for me. He doesn't have the soul that I appreciate in most of the slingers I really get into, but I really dig his technicality and that's enough for me to enjoy the few jaunts I've taken into his studio albums. I don't find EJ soulful, but his precision captivates me. Petrucci too, only less so. Bonamassa is the type of gear nerd and historian that I hope gets enough support to keep the fire alive. It's a service to us all. He appears to get that support.

 

His live shows, however, look like guitar worship - I can get behind that.

 

 

 

 

 

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Guitar Center had a Bassbreaker 007 on sale for $249 in store today. I was kinda pissed off that I paid $200 more for mine a few months ago, but then a guy plugged in to it and it was dead.
Did you see the DSL40C Vintage there? I might pick that up tomorrow.
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Minority View:

I think Bonamassa has excellent touch and expressiveness. And I am not one so inclined to get all excited about the "next big thing." Whenever I hear about a new "virtuoso," especially if it's a blues player, I get skeptical AF and just roll my eyes. It's just going to be a really talented guy beating a dead horse, e.g., doing Jimi or SRV, and bringing nothing new to the table. But I was flipping channels one night and saw a special of Bonamassa's was on PBS or something and I stopped to check it out. I was ready to pick the fucker apart for being unoriginal or too mechanical but he won me over in one song. He was doing some unique shit and his energy was perfect. I never listen to him much, but I give him credit for making his own mark.

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Maybe it's just that he doesn't really write songs that are memorable to me. I've watched him play live once and too many times to count on TV and YouTube, but I couldn't name a single song of his. He has complete mastery of his instrument, no doubt, but he doesn't seem to have mastery of the hook. The hook goes a long way.

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2 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

JB is a great player but I find everything else about him off putting. The slicked back hair, the suit, the sunglasses, the way his concerts are promoted as “the guitar event of the year”, etc. imagine Gary Clark Jr doing that.

How bout you just let your music do the talking?

JB is the most self-promoting guitar player I know of. I remember back in my earliest internet days when I would scour for music I kept running into his web presence when he was still an unknown teenager. He was really aggressively pushing his image and announcing his pre-fame while comparing himself to legendary guitar players.

 

Edited by DougO
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JB is the most self-promoting guitar player I know of. I remember back in my earliest internet days when I would scour for music I kept running into his web presence when he was still an unknown teenager. He was really aggressively pushing his image and announcing his pre-fame while comparing himself to legendary guitar players.
 
TBH, I never heard of him until the last 5 or 6 years, suddenly he's everywhere. Ice never taken the time to listen to a single song, but I did wiki him one night a year or so ago. Child prodigy, etc, etc. Never cared to go any deeper. When my friends start saying, "you need to check this dude out", I'll check it out.

On the surface, the guy doesn't really appeal to me. There are a ton of great guitar players out there, some in your own backyard.
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I think about this whenever someone says that musician/band x sucks or isn't talented because they aren't proficient instrumentalists.  I don't care.  It's not unrelated, but my enjoyment of music isn't about how technically difficult it is to play, or how technically perfectly it was played.  It doesn't hurt to be able to do that but man that is so far down the list of what makes me perk up.  And as such, I can't bring myself to care enough about G3 guys or Bonamassa (probably?) to be able to name a song.

 

This 

 

 

over this

 

(just the first thing that popped up, i have no idea if this is a song of particular note)

every single time

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I don't follow current players too much, so I don't really have an informed opinion.   What I do know is that I've watched a video or two of him playing and don't remember a thing about it.  I've also seen Gary Clark Jr. play on TV a time or two, having never heard of him before, and I can still remember those performances vividly. So... 

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1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

I think about this whenever someone says that musician/band x sucks or isn't talented because they aren't proficient instrumentalists.  I don't care.  It's not unrelated, but my enjoyment of music isn't about how technically difficult it is to play, or how technically perfectly it was played.  It doesn't hurt to be able to do that but man that is so far down the list of what makes me perk up.  And as such, I can't bring myself to care enough about G3 guys or Bonamassa (probably?) to be able to name a song.

 

This 

 

 

over this

 

(just the first thing that popped up, i have no idea if this is a song of particular note)

every single time

I agree. But I will say, at least Satriani broke a little ground with Surfing With the Alien. IMO Bonamassa, while he can certainly play his ass off, isn't breaking any ground at all. For what he does I'd take Gary Moore (RIP) over Bonamassa any day of the week.

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I’d rather listen to Mayer than JB. And I’m a Satch fan, some of his stuff has real groove and interesting hooks vs say Petrucci or Vai.

But to CM’s point, I’d rather watch a good local psychedelic rock band in a small venue than Satch on a big stage for 90 mins.

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This. Satch has actually written some groovy tunes. Satch Boogie and Summer Song come to mind.

I grew up on shredders but these days I'd probably rather watch someone like Jason Isbell or Mike Campbell play over anyone mentioned in this discussion.

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Before the conversation moves away from Bonamassa, the greatest living guitarist of this or any generation, check out this video of straight unadulterated pr0n:

 

 http://youtu.be/ctx86V-GI8A

 

 

Those tweeds tho.

 

Also, Tapa can kiss my ass.

 

 

 

 

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Satch has great tone. It's one of the things that really stands out when you seem live.

I'm not a huge fan, but I respect him a lot. I admire how he can shred any kind of speedy impressive technical licks you can think of, but he chooses to focus first on crafting a tune and a groove. He throws in the fancy stuff here and there as an accent.

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You want to see some close quarters.  This is how much clearance I had when I swapped out the Eminence ceramics that came with my Victoria Bassman with 20 watt Weber 10a125s.  You can get an index card in between the magnet and the cap can cover, but that's about it. 

A_r_T5rufa_Ja_Z6_JSv_Ggsa_J_QPhu_Kr_MBX3

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1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

Maybe Satch was a bad example (although goes to the point about how disinterested I am in dudes who are mostly just playing guitar for guitarists).  Sub Steve Vai.  Or can we agree on Yngwie Malmsteen?

Yngwie Malmsteen is definitely the droid you are looking for. 

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Bonamassa rounds the edges.  Listen to his rendition of “Just Got Paid.”  He hits all the right notes, but with a Valium-laced attack.  There’s no bite.  No edge.  

He’s the exception to the old adage that tone comes from your fingers.  In Bonamassa’s case, his tone is all gear.  His fingers only supply the notes.

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Bonamassa rounds the edges.  Listen to his rendition of “Just Got Paid.”  He hits all the right notes, but with a Valium-laced attack.  There’s no bite.  No edge.  
He’s the exception to the old adage that tone comes from your fingers.  In Bonamassa’s case, his tone is all gear.  His fingers only supply the notes.


Nailed it. Perfect example. Hell I like Mastodon’s version better than JB’s.
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5 hours ago, Deej said:

Video that sold me on my 68 Princeton "reissue". I can't say enough about how great that amp is.

 

Geez.  That intro tone is butter af.

Completely unrelated to butter, I brought that DSL40C Vintage home:

20180408_215036.jpg?dl=0

I've wanted to add a DSL40C to the family since playing with a friend's, but after getting the Katana the urgency to get a beater on this side of the tone spectrum wasn't all that high.  I stopped by the Guitar Center up north, as I am wont to do, and they had this dude hiding away from the used section under the Gibson display. The Vintage Limited Edition is pretty hard to come by, but despite being only an appearance difference, I'm a sucker for limited editions. My plan is to drop a Celestion Vintage 30 into it for a start.

Here's an updated shot of the boys:

20180408_215349.jpg?dl=0

Excelsior.

 

 

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I'll get into it this week and see. There is a common reversible mod on the red channel (clipping off the c19 cap) that opens it up a fair bit.  Played with the clean channel a bit this morning and it has that Marshall DNA but still very much a DSL (low volume isn't going to knock your socks off and the bass could use some punch). Driven at volume it comes alive and is a very usable foundation for the pedals I want to pump through it. I think the speaker swap will get me 90% of the way there. We'll see.

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On 4/4/2018 at 9:30 PM, Superhero said:

My Fender Blues Jr finally blew a fuse. For the life of me, I cannot find any EXACT info on the type of fuse I'm supposed to use. Still missing a bit of information... I figured it's:

  1. 2A
  2. 250V
  3. 6mm x 30mm
  4. ...

Thought I read somewhere it's a MDL-2. Should I get a slow-blow or quick-blow.

Fuses (slo-blow) came in yesterday and I installed it. I turned on the amp and heard a LOUD HUM. Looking at the back of the amp, the left power tube was glowing REALLY BRIGHT like a light bulb, so I quickly shut it down.

I read online that it might be 1) the power tubes may have gone bad  (it HAS been almost 20 years); 2) the amp is out of bias; 3) the socket is bad and something may be burned out inside the amp.

I will switch the tubes (left to right, right to left) to see if the same tube glows bright. In that case, it's supposed to be a simple EL84 tube replacement. If I get a matched set, do I need to get my amp re-biased?

If it's a socket issue, how much should I plan on spending to get it fixed?

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5 minutes ago, Superhero said:

Fuses (slo-blow) came in yesterday and I installed it. I turned on the amp and heard a LOUD HUM. Looking at the back of the amp, the left power tube was glowing REALLY BRIGHT like a light bulb, so I quickly shut it down.

I read online that it might be 1) the power tubes may have gone bad  (it HAS been almost 20 years); 2) the amp is out of bias; 3) the socket is bad and something may be burned out inside the amp.

I will switch the tubes (left to right, right to left) to see if the same tube glows bright. In that case, it's supposed to be a simple EL84 tube replacement. If I get a matched set, do I need to get my amp re-biased?

If it's a socket issue, how much should I plan on spending to get it fixed?

I'd bet a dollar that it's the tube.

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On 4/9/2018 at 12:41 AM, BoomMF said:

Geez.  That intro tone is butter af.

Completely unrelated to butter, I brought that DSL40C Vintage home:

20180408_215036.jpg?dl=0

I've wanted to add a DSL40C to the family since playing with a friend's, but after getting the Katana the urgency to get a beater on this side of the tone spectrum wasn't all that high.  I stopped by the Guitar Center up north, as I am wont to do, and they had this dude hiding away from the used section under the Gibson display. The Vintage Limited Edition is pretty hard to come by, but despite being only an appearance difference, I'm a sucker for limited editions. My plan is to drop a Celestion Vintage 30 into it for a start.

Here's an updated shot of the boys:

20180408_215349.jpg?dl=0

Excelsior.

 

 

The center piece Marshal....sound as good as it looks? I'm smitten...

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I think they hand select those TADs from other makers tubes and rebrand them. I find as far as new production stuff goes, probably one of your best bets as far as quality.

I really like the Tung Sol 6v6s. Sound as good as my NOS Tung Sols, but I'm sure they don't last as long. But for 20 bucks apiece, not complaining.

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On 4/12/2018 at 10:17 AM, Equinox said:

I'd bet a dollar that it's the tube.

Yup, it was the tubes.

 

On 4/12/2018 at 11:44 AM, AnotherUTFan said:

Ya, those power tube are matched, if one's glowing and not the other it mat well be a tube. If you swap them and the glowing follows the tube, order a new matched pair. The bias really should be adjusted after new power tube are installed, so I would take it in.

The bright glow followed the tube, so I put in new power tubes, and voila, good as new.

Overall, I'm surprised that the preamp tubes, fuse and power tubes all crapped out within a 6 month period. I suppose I'm lucky that they lasted almost 20 years, but a coincidence? Hmmm.

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It's really good for what it is. Get the extra speaker for stereo sound. Sounds even better. Mine doubles as my music speakers out on the patio. Nice to have out there when I just want to plug in and play a bit while enjoying this nice weather. The delay is nice, too.

Edited by Deej
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