I bought a mesa/boogie f-series amp, which has two tubes. I got a tube amp because I heard that the sound quality was unmatched. But it sounds sorta 70s when I play it. Then a tried out a crate digital amp, it was a much more new sound, but less quality. I can tell tube has better quality, but it wasn't all of the sound that I was looking for. Maybe i'm just out of the loop, do the major bands use all tube, or all digital, or mixed? Are tubes really the right choice?
There is no such thing as 'tube' sound. Mesa alone makes very varied tube amps, from bluesy till heavy rectifier sounds. I myself don't like the F-series at all, but others do, really a matter of taste. What bands use? In the past all tubes. These days mixed. An increasingly popular way to record in the metal scene is by recording the dry signal and running that into modeling and effects processors afterwards. Ampfarm and such things spring to mind.
Some major bands like Muse change regularly, sometimes all tube marshall sometimes purely digital Line6 amps. And you have bands like Our Lady peace who use both simultanously to create new sounds. And you still have thousands of bands using nothing but all tube gear.
Suggestion: forget about terminologie. Go try a bunch of amps, and get the one you like most. Who cares what is inside the amp, it's whats coming outside that matters.
With the right amount of tweaking you should be able to get anything you wanted from that amp. That amp will go from clean to overdrive and then some. Now days it just easier to use Modeling amps because some don't know how to achieve the sound their searching for. Then you guitarist that use combinations of many different types of amps to make up their own original sound and tone.
Joe
You know, I think guys like myself and Joe (Forrok Star) may confuse people sometimes by pushing the tube amps. And I still think that is the way to go, and I know Joe does. If you have ever read Joe's posts, he goes to great lengths to get great tone. And that is what groups you hear on the radio do too. They all have professional techs who are very knowledgeable who tweak and modify these amps to get the great tones you hear.
I think a lot of people buy an amp and plug their guitar in and expect to have this fabulous tone that their favorite guitar player has that uses the same amp. It just doesn't happen like that. You have to remember that the manufacturer is making this amp to suit a variety of styles and equipment. A Les Paul with humbuckers is going to sound much different than a Stratocaster with single coils. And the manufacturers have to make the amp so it sounds good with both. This means it will probably not sound GREAT with either. That is where you, the owner has to step in.
You have to sit down and experiment and tweak the amp to work with the guitars and pedals you own. It takes a lot of time.
Crazy Coyote hit it right on the head when he said the amp sounded 70's. This is the way most tube amps sound on the overdrive channel. There are not too many tube amps that the overdrive channel sounds like modern distortion. One exception might be the Peavey 5150 with 5 gain stages. This is probably the most high gain amp of all time. You probably wouldn't need any distortion pedals with this.
But tube amps still sound better IMHO. They are warmer and fuller. Solid state amps sound harsh to me, but they are getting much better today.
To really get the sound you are after, you would probably want to go with the clean channel of your tube amp. You would want to crank it up to where you get saturation. This is when the amp will really sound hot. However, your amp will be very LOUD at these settings. So you would want to use an attenuator to bring the volume down while maintaining the cranked sound. Then after all this you want to use a good pedal to get high gain distortions.
Now believe me, if you do this you will get totally modern sounds. You will get unbelieveable smooth, warm, distortion and sustain like you've never heard. It is quite an experience. You will also get all the touch and nuances that only a tube amp can give you.
And like Joe says, it is a never ending quest. People substitute speakers and tubes, and modify the innards of their amps, try all sorts of gear.
But Crazy Coyote, try an attenuator and your favorite distortion pedal. Crank the amp up. I think you'll be very happy with the sound you get.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
That was really helpful. :D
I called a guy from Mesa/Boogie, and he said that a pedal wouldn't make much of a difference. Is that really true? Also, what kind of pedal is best recommended for the "newer" sound I am looking for?
Thanks!
Dan
I finished reading the manual for that amp. You'll need Adobe Acrobat. It has an excellent section about 3/4 the way down about different ways of connecting speakers. It shows different Ohm combinations that are safe to run. Since I have a habit of running different Ohms into different cabinets I found it most interesting and will recommend others take a look at it, if anything for the information thats offered.
OK, back to your amp. Whats needed is you to spend some quality time following the examples from the manual and adjusting from there to see if you can find something that just jumps out at you and says wow thats the sound and tone I was thinking about. I'll bet you'll find it. And thats not even including the switch for recording. I could get pretty creative with that. Being the signal is line level and stereo you can send it to the two channels on the mixer or into a stereo power amp. My thoughts would be to Use the recording out into an equalizer then into a power amp->speakers.
Joe
