Yeah...it's a fashion lead market after all and there's a lot of clutter. Haven't really seen anything with a killa feature in the valve amp world for awhile...channel switching, cascading gain, fx loops, power scaling, power valve swapping, bla...it's been more about refining well established tone recipes for a bit.
Fancy digital offerings seem to be puttering along...still spendy for the ones that ape the valve tones the bestest. Would be interesting if these platforms found a unique voice of their own, like SS amps have since become regarded as good for or not so good for
Sims and IRs further confuse the consumer toolkit choice...maybe
Can only speak from my experience, but the amps I wanted were sourced offshore as they are not available locally.
This was when our dollar was a lot more favorable too.
More of a hoarder than a flipper.
As others have mention, belt tightening/cost of living issues etc.
However the price of gear on TM has jumped astronomically.
A JCM800 on there atm at start price of $3500…….insanity.
Last edited by higainer on Sun Nov 19, 2023 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
clubhouse wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 5:33 pm
Yeah...it's a fashion lead market after all and there's a lot of clutter. Haven't really seen anything with a killa feature in the valve amp world for awhile...channel switching, cascading gain, fx loops, power scaling, power valve swapping, bla...it's been more about refining well established tone recipes for a bit.
Yes, it's tone, and tone only that we want. Switching and pre/post/compressor/expander, removable preamp modules, pentode switching, etc etc...nah, make it sound great and job done.
"Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping." - Hubert Reeves
Perhaps also, the phase of the 'pedal platform' amp that has some market share at the mo has had an affect. When you're deriving most ,if not all, your tones and grrrrrr and wobbles and boing from a stack of pedals, you don't really need a fancy pants, feature laden or tone soaked state of the electronic art going round. A good PCB, clean speaking, wide frequency (boring?), loud box is all you need.
No doubt the consumer analysis department at Fender Corp are all across it. There was a big blip in sales in the US during the Covid lockdown period. Perhaps Fender are investing in Wuhan Labs...
I've gone through the cycle, having had both digital and valve and might have finally come to a conclusion. I have been content with having one digital modeller that I'm happy with (over a year now haven't changed) and one (or 2) valve amps that I am really happy with and try not to buy and sell again! looking at TM is the worse part, stop looking at TM for a few months and I haven't had GAS for any new amps/guitars/effects pedals but the moment I look and see something...
sizzlingbadger wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:03 pm
I do wonder if people are also starting to realise that some of these expensive amps really aren't "all that" anyway, you can build (or have built locally) just as good, if not better for way less.
This is the thing. You just don't need a boutique super expensive thing when the off the shelf stuff is so good. I went to music planet last week looking for a shimmer reverb and ended up playing a stock Vox AC15 which just sounded unbelievably fantastic. $1500, brand new, and it really was just ridiculously good.
sizzlingbadger wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 4:03 pm
I do wonder if people are also starting to realise that some of these expensive amps really aren't "all that" anyway, you can build (or have built locally) just as good, if not better for way less.
This is the thing. You just don't need a boutique super expensive thing when the off the shelf stuff is so good. I went to music planet last week looking for a shimmer reverb and ended up playing a stock Vox AC15 which just sounded unbelievably fantastic. $1500, brand new, and it really was just ridiculously good.
AC15 is a bargain, its built well and sounds great. You get much more for your money over an AC10 for instance. The only upgrade I like is to change out the reverb tank for a MoD, it just sounds better to me. There are a couple of small/cheap changes you can make for reliability too, but they seem to go on for years stock without issues.
I keep thinking of getting another one as second, smaller amp.
I'd put the Laney Lionhearts in that category too.
I like making the Top Boost more old school (47pf treble cap, grounded bass pot) and getting rid of the many random caps they’ve dotted around. Normal channel with jumpered 330k resistor is tops, and 100k -> 220k plate resistors make a big difference.
Reverb is *quite* shit on them - need to get me a MOD tank
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
To be honest I don’t understand reverb on a Vox amp at all - the original amp didn’t have reverb, so I kind of feel like if you are going for classic Vox tone, you don’t need a spring reverb in the amp
rickenbackerkid wrote: ↑Mon Nov 20, 2023 11:42 am
To be honest I don’t understand reverb on a Vox amp at all - the original amp didn’t have reverb, so I kind of feel like if you are going for classic Vox tone, you don’t need a spring reverb in the amp
I'd much rather not have reverb on my AC10, its digital anyway and I much prefer pedals for reverb...
Slowy wrote:
That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.
Into our Kempers I think. At least, that’s where mine went
looking at TM is the worse part, stop looking at TM for a few months and I haven't had GAS for any new amps/guitars/effects pedals but the moment I look and see something...
