Posts by Nikos

Quote from Wheresthedug

I was only having a laugh. I know there is way more to it than just single tube or diodes.

I remember using 100w JCM800s in rehearsal rooms back in the day and absolutely hating them. It turned out that the reason (at least in my case) was that I just never got them running hard enough for the power amps to really saturate and do their thing. With those amps, a large part of the magic was in the output section.

I still have a Rev G Rectifier that was my main amp from around 1996 until I got the Kemper and I love it but that amp and Soldanos etc rely on the pre-amp for the tone with a clean high headroom power amp to make it loud.

Two very different approaches but both wonderful when done well.

It is true however that a large number of very successful amps did, and still do, use diodes in the clipping section. Almost every Marshall since the JCM800, the JMP1 preamp, Blackstar etc and I believe even the Dumble FET mode is a solid state clipping circuit. Most people don't even know that these "all valve" amps that they love are actually getting their distortion from a build in overdrive pedal.

Display More

Even back then ..100w were "to much".

Most players I knew were hunting for 2204. I had (actually still have) a 1981 2204..

Had some "obscenely good offers" but kept it because I wanted it to modify and use it myself. It is still in original condition and I see now offers again in the 3000-4000€ on eBay.. hmm..

Quote from lbieber

I guess it depends on how you define the 'golden era'. Pedals were being used in the 60s and 70s A LOT. And I don't remember them being the enemy no1. Didn't happen IME. It seems you and I are from different generations with different memories or viewpoints. All good...

How many pedals do you know from the 60s and 70s?

I mean OD and Dist-pedals?

And in the '80s which pedal was the "choice of the guitar heroes"???

Don't like to argue with you. Just curious.

Quote from lbieber

There were lot's of 'traditional' amps modded with cascaded gain staging, diode clippers(silicon, germanium, LEDs), different types of master volume, PAB, biasing, etc... Most were looking for more, like goes to '11'. Also, music was changing and super high gain became a thing guitarists desired.

Boutique became a thing, but mods came first simply because so many amps already existed and it is easier to mod an existing amp rather than build a full amp from scratch.

Judging by the effect pedal market, it seems not that many ditched pedals for very long if at all. Guitarists seem to be on an endless, outward search for some 'magic'. IME, most never look inside of themselves.

Things developed rapidly in the '80. Ultra Fast. Mods,racks,"boutique"..Ofcourse for us europeans..whatever came from the USA..we copied it.

But pedals were never part of the hype in the "golden era". Not at all. Rather the "enemy no1".

I remember vividly when I noticed this "pedal-revival" at the beginning of the 2000s and young lads asked "what OD used Eddie on eruption" or Ingwie on far beyond the sun..

That was an interesting time.

The answer is ofcourse that all the tube amp technicians put an extra preamp tube (12ax7 I believe I don't remember anymore ) into the circuit. People wanted "tube gain" and were obsessed by it.

Btw we talk only about the single channel JCM800s.. 2204/50w..

Quote from Wheresthedug

Except most Marshalls and many other "tube amp" legends use Solid State Clipping Diodes in the pre-amps anyway. I'm not an amp tech but from what I hear the JCM 800 is pretty much a distortion pedal with a valve power section I think

So what went wrong and thousands and thousands of guitar players all over the world ditched their pedals and either went for "modifications" of their 800s or bought SLOs/5150s or Rectifiers??

Quote from V8guitar

My lesson on drives....stomps are not needed, find the right amp (and therefore) profile and they are not needed...but that's just me.

In the "old" days, drives were often needed because of the lack of a master volume or just not enough gain in an amp. Most people used cheap boss type solid state pedals, so I never understood why someone would have a glorious valve amp with a cheap ss pedal in front. However people got more creative in balancing their drives with the amp or just became used to a certain sound and hence drives became part of their sound. Pedals got more expensive and sophisticated as well and sometimes cost more than the amp!

Now its a whole cottage industry full of myths as well as magic...the TS has become the go to drive, used by so many famous people, but I've never liked them. The Klon has reached "legend" status amongst pedal nuts, commanding stupid money. I have even seen the increase in price of the old Marshall Gov'nor pedals which IMO they were awful.

The point is, its so subjective that there is no right or wrong answer, but I do think much of it is psychological and law of diminishing returns - Nuno recently said he has a ProCo Rat plugged in but with no drive engaged which just adds something...but few people who try his rig can hear the difference..

Personally, start with decent amps and see if anything is missing. I recently added the Klon 4 from the presets in the KPA on a couple of profiles, but I really can't hear much difference, just another tone shaper/add's slight compression etc...

Display More

The whole SLO-/5150-/Rectifier-/Bogner etc hype grew out of the hate and the desperation for the boss and ibanez OD/DIST-pedals..

I don't remember a single '80 shredder who did not ran with his jcm800 to a local tube amp guru for "some modification "..

This is ofcourse something that nobody wants to hear about today.

Quote from Roeffel

Think Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains ...

Raf

Maiden is marshall tones. I really would try to find a nice beefy,chunky aggressive marshall profile (think JCM800 or JVM/DSL kinda thing..not plexi..) with not to much gain.

I know in the past maiden used mxr drives/booster for their lead sounds. There are really enough profiles to go for this. My recommendation would be steavens poundcake profiles.

Alice in chains...dual rectifier revision G. This was the sound back then.

Pearl Jam.. yes definitely TS. they used a lot of tweed amps.

In general I use pedals only for "certain special tasks" like 60s psychedelic sounds (jimi!!...fuzz!) or a nice throaty fusion sound with a TS into a '65 champ..

Other than that.. I am no "cheap-transistor-boost my tube boutique amp" kind of guy..🙃😉

Question is (as always) for what kind of sound?

Let's start from there..

talking about vibrato and master class ..

RIP Bernie Mardsen.

Honey and gold for the ears no more..

Exactly. I don't know her songs. Also Taylor swift..not my thing..

But if something is not good..it is not good!

I don't like this "yea but she has a million fans and 10 Grammys and you are only jealous"-kind of thing. This is not valid. Or any porn actress with their "million clicks & fans" is a better actor than any nameless but talented actors in the small little but precious theaters I know.

Enough with this BS. This goes to long.

As I said.. I don't know HER and I don't care about Taylor Swift. They may deserve everything they have... just leave this "they are famous and everything they do is class"-thing out of this.

That vibrato on purple rain just made my cat bleeding out of her ears..Seriously..

btw.. the unpowered head is now 1499€ at thomann.

If I am not wrong this is a huge price drop. Whatever the reasons..

Didn't try it yet myself.

In any case from what I hear some studio guys use the summer break to grasp all the stuff you can do now..And from what I understand LP will have huge implications.

And guitar players will need new sounds. This is out of question. As much as we love our cliches.

Music instruments always develop so will the electric guitar.

Vibe and functionality.

Think about it and you will realize that the profiler is the perfect mix of both.

And I dont mean just the sounds when I say "vibe".

I mean the whole thing as a concept. The optics,the attitude of @CK (I dont care about what anyone else is doing I do what I think is best for guitar players) and all that. The refusal to follow any stupid trend and all that. Kemper folks know what they'll get.

It is very simple in the end.

matchless DC30

Fender champ 1964

My guess is that the definition function and the drives/fuzz machines show us what to expect.

And again most folks will love it. Some will not. It was never easy to be an "adult guitar player" anyway.

Obviously there is almost nothing we know.

We have to wait until the first beta or at least some more announcements from kemper.

What we do now is wild speculations.

Just watched the video again.

Anyone noticed CKs innocent face when he says "maybe we do keyboards again";;;

Hmm..he did not say that without a reason me thinks. At least I hope so.

On topic..

I would like to have a beta of liquid profiling before summer. I guess this one will need months to get it right.