Is a quiet amp more important to you than ballsy tone?

[strat0124]

Some folks like dead quiet amps.....and of course, if you've listened to me at all, I don't care that much. Long as its not too intrusive. I'll take ballsy tone anyday. Is it the era I grew up in? Or just an appreciation of tube amps and that loveable hiss?

[Caevan O’Shite]

Well, so long as it isn't so noisy as to get in the way of that "ballsy" tone!

 

If the heater-filiments in the tubes are run on DC instead of AC, some of that noise can be reduced. And sometimes the selection of the tubes themselves can make a difference.

 

If it gets too bad, often due to the ridiculously poorly done "what-were-they-thinking" types of AC circuits often found in clubs, bars, and restaurants- usually exacerbated by dimmer-switches, various lights, fridges, sump-pumps, and the like being on the same outlet circuit- some type of noise-gate/downward-expander can work wonders. A little time spent fine-tuning its controls can really pay off.

 

But, after all, a tube amp's gonna be a tube amp. I love how a little hum m m m m m m through amp tremolo comes through in the beginning of a song (I can't remember wich one) on Los Lobos' Kiko album. I could almost smell the hot, dusty tubes when I first heard that, and it sure made me smile!

[strat0124]

Originally posted by Dances With Werewolves:

I love how a little hum m m m m m m through amp tremolo comes through in the beginning of a song (I can't remember wich one) on Los Lobos' Kiko album. I could almost smell the hot, dusty tubes when I first heard that, and it sure made me smile!

Preach it brother! That is a great album. Los Lobos is one of my all time favorites. I can't remember which album, but one of them was scratch tracked with an eight track cassette machine.

[Dave da Dude]

I guess I'm in trouble. I want both.

 

Actually, it's okay if I can pull it down for a quiet ballad. Or, I could just switch over with that A/B/Y box (if I ever get it) to a nice quiet solid state.

 

That's probably the best way.

 

BTW, I tried out a Les Paul Double Cut Classic yesterday that is on consignment one mile from my house. Awesome! But actually the point was that the pups were a lot quieter than the Fender M-70 lp clone I A/B'd it with. It has Duncan Designed pups. So, maybe, quiet, ballsy pups (if there is such a thing) will help to offset the amp?

 

I always want everything! But, I'll have to listen to that Los Lobos album and see how much I like it. Anybody remember the name of it?

 

If not, ballsy is better than not-so-ballsy.

 

Dave

[strat0124]

Dave! Yeah I've often wanted to have that deep and loud clean tone and swap to the grind. Few amps have both. Though my Hot Rod Deville does that pretty good. The clean tone is really cool on this amp. I like a good romping ballsy tone though, just fits the style I play I guess.

[doc taz]

Right now, I can get both good, quiet clean tones, really ballsy, distorted ones, and everything in between on my ZOOM GFX-5 + Deluxe 85 combo amp.

 

For the high gain ones, I set up the noise reduction so that there's still room for me to play with my guitar's volume knob. It's actually not a noise gate, so there's still some hum and hiss leaking in, but not at annoying levels. (Sometimes I turn it off, though, so I can get some harmonic feedback.)

 

Of course, for the really extreme death tones, the noise reduction only serves its purpose when the I put that knob at 0.

[aeon]

A well-designed amp wont be that noisy regardless of how ballsy its tone is.

 

But then again, it had better be fairly quiet, since I like the sound of P-90s.

[DC]

Hey I used to just play Strats! I got good at rolling the volume off every time there was silence a long time ago!

 

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by Dave th Dude:

Actually, it's okay if I can pull it down for a quiet ballad. Or, I could just switch over with that A/B/Y box (if I ever get it) to a nice quiet solid state.

Any of you guys ever notice that high gain amps always seem to stay fairly quiet up to a point and then all the hiss comes in when the knob is turned up past that point? And tubes seem quieter in high gain situations that solid state. Of course, the solid state always has more gain. A 12AX7 can't attain a higher gain than about 100 times the input, where transistors have gains in the 300's, and opamps have gain up into the thousands!

Originally posted by Dave th Dude:

BTW, I tried out a Les Paul Double Cut Classic yesterday that is on consignment one mile from my house. Awesome! But actually the point was that the pups were a lot quieter than the Fender M-70 lp clone I A/B'd it with.

The M-70 probably has un-balanced windings on the coils on the pickups. The Invader I put in the bridge position of my Del Rey is dead quiet, and according to SD's website it's got almost perfectly balanced coils. I really like that pickup, it matches nicely with the stock OBL blade pickup in the neck position.

[Lee Flier]

Quiet? What's that?

[Dave da Dude]

Geenard,

Few amps have both. Though my Hot Rod Deville does that pretty good. The clean tone is really cool on this amp. I like a good romping ballsy tone though, just fits the style I play I guess.

I don't have an amp that does both, but I have one amp that does each well; '93 Randall Pro Tube II and Jazz Chorus 55. All I have to do is buy the A/B/Y, just haven't felt the overwhelming need yet.

 

Dave

[Darklava]

Originally posted by Lee Flier:

Quiet? What's that?

Cool web's Didn't know they had real rock stars

on this forum.Who were some of the stars you met?

I love female rocker's,need somebody to lug

your stuff around keep your guitars tuned?

[Gabriel E.]

Amp noise never bothered me. I'm ok with single-coil pickups too.

 

In my experience, the only time it's noticable at a gig is between songs.

[evets]

My tinnitus makes sure nothing's ever really quiet!

[The Bear Jew]

My Marshall is hot-rodded out the wazoo for extra gain. I run through power and pre-amp tubes pretty often because they draw so much juice and are used so frequently. It sounds amazing. I get compliments on my tone all the time.

 

On the flip side, however, the amp can be noisy... you don't get all that fire without some smoke, ya know? But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll always accept a little noise for that sound. I try to help things out a little by keeping my signal chain simple (guitar, monster cable, tuner pedal, monster cable, amp) and using good cables.

 

It'd be nice to have a really clean, high-gain tone with no amp noise, but I doubt it would be possible to do this without some fairly serious processing... so fuck it. I'll deal with some noise for my tone.

[stanner]

my go to amp is a 'sal trentino' hot-modded 100watt and the on stage hum is louder than most bands when they're playin...gotta have my pant legs flappin in the wind...

anybody remember that poster from the 70s-80s...i think it was 'pioneer'

sound system er somethin and the guys sittin in the chair gettin physically blowed away by the sound?

its like that y'all .

[Dave da Dude]

Lee Flier,

Quiet? What's that?

Lee, we're talkin' 'bout the noise in-between the songs!

 

DARKLAVA,

Cool web's Didn't know they had real rock stars

Lee's also the moderator of this forum.

 

DC,

Hey I used to just play Strats! I got good at rolling the volume off every time there was silence a long time ago!

That's cool

 

Gabriel,

In my experience, the only time it's noticable at a gig is between songs.

Yeah, see DC

 

CMDN,

On the flip side, however, the amp can be noisy... you don't get all that fire without some smoke, ya know? But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'll always accept a little noise for that sound.

Neil,

I love how a little hum m m m m m m through amp tremolo comes through in the beginning of a song (I can't remember wich one) on Los Lobos' Kiko album.

I'm goin' have to check out that album, as soon as I get the *^*&*& sound card workin' on this computer.

 

stanner,

anybody remember that poster from the 70s-80s...i think it was 'pioneer' sound system er somethin and the guys sittin in the chair gettin physically blowed away by the sound? its like that y'all .

My memory (a long shot at best) is that the ORIGINAL ad was Maxell Cassette Tapes (late ' 60's to early ' 70's), then somebody (I think Pioneer is right) picked up on it later.

 

Oh yeah, and there was some guy Monday at Woodstock, named Jimie or somthin' like that, who cranked up his Marshalls and did the "Star Spangle Banner". There was a whole lot of noise, hum, feedback, falling bodies, in the beginning of that.

 

Dave

[doc taz]

Originally posted by CMDN:

My Marshall is hot-rodded out the wazoo for extra gain.

 

>

 

It'd be nice to have a really clean, high-gain tone with no amp noise, but I doubt it would be possible to do this without some fairly serious processing... so fuck it. I'll deal with some noise for my tone.

Hey, which Marshall became the guinea pig? I bet it's the Olde English 800. At least that's my guess... curious.

[Blue Strat]

Aeon,

 

Is that guy in your avatar pulling that guitar out of his ass or what??

[The Bear Jew]

Hey, which Marshall became the guinea pig? I bet it's the Olde English 800. At least that's my guess... curious.

Hahah... it's the only Marshall I own... a JCM 900 that isn't really a Marshall at all anymore. The only stock parts on it anymore are the knobs. The whole rig likes to sit on the head's roadcase in order to save space and look more Eeeevil.

 

Here's the beast:

http://www.digitalpose.com/mbr/1/27310/p/557226_4480481986428564587_vl.jpg