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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Amps vs Digital Effects
Amps vs Digital Effects
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toddlgreene
2515 posts
Jan 14, 2011
12:52 PM
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Define who falls into this 'Old School' category, please. At what age does one cross the threshhold into Old School?
Your topic is a 'different strokes for different folks' one-there are certainly some cool effects pedals out there that will come close(some better than others)to emulating the sound you might get from an amp. Close, mind you. It's really a matter of taste. There are some amps who will make a tone that just can't be replaced by any pedal. But, we all have different ideas of satisfaction with the whole amplified tone. If there was a be all, end all pedal that could replace the sound and feel of a good harp amp, it would have already. Plus, sometimes there IS no PA availability, and you have to have an amp of some kind to be heard.
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Todd L. Greene, Professor of Meaningless Trivia
Last Edited by on Jan 14, 2011 12:54 PM
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7LimitJI
307 posts
Jan 14, 2011
12:56 PM
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"I can go out and get effects alot easier and cheaper than I can get some vintage hyped up tube amps."
If you're happy with an effects unit instead of a tube amp. Thats great, go for it.
ALL the pro, semi-pro and amateur players I admire play through tube amps.
This is not because of hype. It is because they sound better.
If there was a small digital box, or lightweight solid state amp, that sounds as good as my Bassman, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
But it does not exist yet.Probably never will.
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The Pentatonics Myspace
Youtube
Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out.
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eharp
1096 posts
Jan 14, 2011
1:18 PM
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i'm thinking the cut-off age is about 22.
but i think he's talking more about style than chronology.
"ALL", 7j?
i know there has been posts about who plays thru a PA and i seem to remember cotton's name always comes up. but you may not be an admirer.
richard hunter has done some great things with the digitech. from hearing some of his stuff on various links, i think he does a fantastic job of duplicating the tube sound.
todd, have you ever read on hunter's site about using the digitech with a keyboard amp?
http://www.hunterharp.com/whats-the-best-choice-for-your-first-amp/
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kudzurunner
2242 posts
Jan 14, 2011
1:20 PM
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7Limit: I don't know whether you admire Billy Branch or not, but I'm pretty sure that he used a solid state amp for a while--although perhaps not these days. When I saw him at B.L.U.E.S. in 1989, he was using a solid-state Peavey.
I used a pair of Mouses on the street, and they were pretty good. But I agree with you: I find tube amps easier to work with and less edgy, by and large. The even-harmonics vs odd-harmonics thing.
I had a Premier reverb tank some years back, one that had a small tube in its preamp stage, and I could get a hellacious sound by cranking up the gain and feeding it into my Mouse. Hybrid sound. Whew.
Here's a question for all amp geeks: Has anybody here played a solid state head into an old Bassman cabinet with four vintage Jensens? I've never seen that done, but I suspect you could get a pretty good sound that way.
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toddlgreene
2518 posts
Jan 14, 2011
1:26 PM
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eharp, yes, I have, and I've done it. I own an old RP200. I have some of Rh's older patches and several of my own in it. It's passable for playing fusion/jazz/progressive stuff, but for blues tone, it's anything but 'organic' sounding. Mine stays in the box. Now, for far-out effects, they're fun and useful.
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Todd L. Greene, Professor of Meaningless Trivia
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hvyj
1084 posts
Jan 14, 2011
1:37 PM
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You know, I use a solid state acoustic bass amp for certain gigs and I have a couple of tube amps i use for other gigs. And I'm okay if I have to play through the PA when i sit in. I use different pedals with the tube amps than i use with the solid state amp.
Which amp I use depends on how i want to sound for the particular gig, taking into account the type of music I'm playing and what rig the guitar player will be using that night.
My bass amp has a tube preamp in it (solid state power stage). I'm not into crunch and distortion like some harp players are, but tubes do produce a certain texture and warmth that's hard to duplicate with digital electronics. I particularly like the depth and dimension of tone you get from a tube amp that has an on board reverb tank. But it all depends on how you WANT to sound. My bass amp gives me a sound closest to the sound I hear in my head, but my tube amps sound better for certain applications.
In general i think multi effects units sound better into a PA board and effects pedals are better through amps.
Last Edited by on Jan 14, 2011 5:10 PM
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7LimitJI
308 posts
Jan 14, 2011
2:24 PM
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"ALL", 7j?
Notice above I'm using the present tense of "play".
I was talking about current players.
Players in the past would play through whatever was available, which often was only the PA.
But that PA would probably have been a relatively low power tube one and not solid state.
Now a days players, epecially Pro ones can play through whichever rig they choose.
The vast majority use tube amps.
My first gigging amp was a solid state Roland Jazz chorus 4 x 10, 120watt.
I got a good sound out of it,not great,just good.
I'm not saying solid state is bad.Just if you are chasing the ultimate,a tube amp is better.
@Kudzu
Branch doesn't really float my boat.
I had a Mouse, I used at parties. Sold it to a bass player.
Really wish I had kept it.Battery powered,play anywhere,sounded nasty with a bullet mic!!
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The Pentatonics Myspace
Youtube
Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out.
Last Edited by on Jan 14, 2011 2:25 PM
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