I'm liking this topic a lot , its pulling in a lot of opinions on different angles ,without ending up in a divicive sh1.t slinging match.
For guitars its often awkward to crank your 50 or 100 watt output stage to into Angus Young levels of feedback/sustain on a small stage or domestic studio set up . I keep a range of amps available, single EL84( modded peavey nano valve) switchable between triode/pentode ,so 1.5 or 5 watt.Next step up is push pull EL84's (Marshall 20watt 1974 head) and also a 2xEL84 with baxandall tone section, split load phase inverter and fender deville o/p transformer , from there your up into 50 watt marshalls then a couple of Hiwatts ,DR103 and DR201. For me there's nothing like the interaction of player,guitar ,pickup, output stage and speaker regenerating into the positive feedback loop , pre amp distortion alone sounds fizzly and lacks dynamics in comparison. Im not a fan of op amp distortion stomp boxes either , so what I used do was set up the 20 watt marshall with a passive ( a box ,two jacks and a pot) footswitchable attenuator on the front end , you set the amp volume so all hell breaks loose then dial in your clean tone with the attenuator ,if needs be and your on a big stage you mic up the 20 watt with a hi-Z mic then plug that into a bigger tube amp with what ever power is required for the size of the venue your in ,then the guitarist has his tone no matter what the ocassion ,he only needs to adjust his stage volume through the final amp to suit the venue. I should add here that although I have a guitar for testing purposes Im not a musician and never played on stage in my life, did plenty of work on front of house though . Anyroad I hope theres some food for thought in that ,might not cut the mustard for speed or death metal heads ,but if its anything from clean with an edge to blues to rock to hard rock its just the ticket .
For guitars its often awkward to crank your 50 or 100 watt output stage to into Angus Young levels of feedback/sustain on a small stage or domestic studio set up . I keep a range of amps available, single EL84( modded peavey nano valve) switchable between triode/pentode ,so 1.5 or 5 watt.Next step up is push pull EL84's (Marshall 20watt 1974 head) and also a 2xEL84 with baxandall tone section, split load phase inverter and fender deville o/p transformer , from there your up into 50 watt marshalls then a couple of Hiwatts ,DR103 and DR201. For me there's nothing like the interaction of player,guitar ,pickup, output stage and speaker regenerating into the positive feedback loop , pre amp distortion alone sounds fizzly and lacks dynamics in comparison. Im not a fan of op amp distortion stomp boxes either , so what I used do was set up the 20 watt marshall with a passive ( a box ,two jacks and a pot) footswitchable attenuator on the front end , you set the amp volume so all hell breaks loose then dial in your clean tone with the attenuator ,if needs be and your on a big stage you mic up the 20 watt with a hi-Z mic then plug that into a bigger tube amp with what ever power is required for the size of the venue your in ,then the guitarist has his tone no matter what the ocassion ,he only needs to adjust his stage volume through the final amp to suit the venue. I should add here that although I have a guitar for testing purposes Im not a musician and never played on stage in my life, did plenty of work on front of house though . Anyroad I hope theres some food for thought in that ,might not cut the mustard for speed or death metal heads ,but if its anything from clean with an edge to blues to rock to hard rock its just the ticket .
