Debunking Tube-Amp Tone Myths

Charlie4

Tone: Beautiful when found yet can sometimes be like a dog chasing its tail.
I've found this to be a short yet enlightening read. 8)

https://reverb.com/blog/daves-corner-debunking-tube-amp-tone-myths

"It's the sum of ALL the parts that makes a magical instrument." - Paul Reed Smith (more or less) ?

ChrisDanger

I'm not saying that quote isn't true, but remember Paul Reed Smith is a salesman.

Neil-Nitro

Quite an interesting read. "The imperfections add the coloration to the tone". An interesting statement.

Attila

Nice read. Tone IS a very personal thing.

IceCreamMan

Great read and true.....

we keep chasing our own tails, this is fuelled by the manufacturers to liberate us from our hard earned coin.... a good guitarist will sound good on my equipment even though I don't...its not about the kit , its about the human. in todays times we expect instant gratification and expect that money can buy us talent...so we spend....

tone is subjective, there is no tone that we will all agree is awesome...there will be detractors for almost any tone imagineable .....except Eddie's ..

Charlie4

Neil Nitro wrote: Quite an interesting read. "The imperfections add the coloration to the tone". An interesting statement.

An-harmonic frequencies sound horrendous on their own, scratching on a black board etc., but in a group they can sound amazing. Tone is after all the combination of harmonic overtones as well as an-harmonic overtones, ringing over a fundamental note. The problem with a thing like tone is that it is terribly subjective, to an insane degree imho.
Ex. some guys actually think Dimebag had great tone - HIGH GAIN solid state amps with numerous noise gates. To each their own.

It took me years to find the sounds that I prefer and that came not trough buying numerous pieces of gear, cause I'm way too poor for that. :roflmao:
YouTube on the other hand can be an invaluable resource, only in HD though when listening with a critical ear. The journey has been fun and at times so damn tiresome. I just need to keep reminding myself that without the music, tone means nothing.

Rabbit

Neil Nitro wrote: Quite an interesting read. "The imperfections add the coloration to the tone". An interesting statement.

Guitar amps are all about being imperfect. The simplest example is distortion: All other amps try to minimise it, but guitar amps are defined by how they distort. Another example would be the lack of a flat frequency response. One of the reasons 12" speakers are liked in guitar amps is that they have a relatively low cutoff frequency which removes (or at least controls) the higher harmonics thereby making distortion sound better.

So the article makes perfect sense. I am sure that the best components do make things better, but perfection is just not what guitar amps are about.