Long Haul journey to the ultimate home - gig - do it all amp as finally ended - thank goodness

scovell001

I thought I'd write this in an attempt to 'perhaps' save someone else the countless £££'s I've spent on gear - my journeys done, well nearly - here's the story:

Started with:

A squire strat & Fender Champion amp ( wouldn't stay in tune, amp sounded s**t)
Bought an Epiphone black beauty also sounded crap & wouldn't stay in tune

Sold all at a deep loss - yay

Bought a mexican strat (sounded ok wouldn't stay in tune)
bought a vox vt40 (sounded ok on dumble setting)
upgraded 12ax7 tube & put 10" alnico gold in Vox (sounded 'loads' better but still too boxy)

Sold Vox & alnico gold at a deep loss - yee hah
Strat went in loft

Got a Les Paul (loved guitar - it stayed in tune hated pickups)
Got a Vox AC4 HW - out an alnico blue in it (sounded awesome buzzed like nobody's business)

Sold alnico blue at deep loss
returned amp

Super heavily upgraded Les Paul (about 1.5 times what I paid for it)

Bought Yamaha Thr10C - loved it on the deluxe setting - hated everything else
Bought Amplitube and highend interface - nice on clean settings - unrealistic for everything else

Sold THR at deep loss
Sold interface at a deep loss
kept software
Sold strat in loft for peanuts - YES !

Spent some time with amps at my friends studio along the way - decided I liked the fender sound & liked alnico speakers - couldn't stand ceramics.

Finally - bought a boutique amp (Lazy J)  - with my Les Paul plugged in, it finally sounds like the guitar sound thats in my head.

Goodness knows how much I've spent to get to this point, but I feel its finally over (for now).

I know we're all on the same journey (just look at the classifieds) but if I had one piece of advice it would be, just spend the big bucks upfront or you'll be upgrading forever.

If there's one thing left to do, it would be to buy a higher end Les Paul & upgrade that, but I'm ok for now.

Love to hear anyone else's story to tonal nirvana

Alnico

You've barely started yet lad.

Welcome to hell.

mgaw

wisest post for a long time......which of course on here means nothing much

scovell001

mgaw said:

wisest post for a long time......which of course on here means nothing much

You said it !!!

capo4th

Your best investment is always a quality amp

Wazmeister

You know the next step dont ya ?

TWO boutique amps.... it never ends...

Teetonetal

Don't listen to them, they will lead you astray! Enjoy the rig.
See you in the classifieds...

Alnico

As we're talking boutique amps, here's a boutique song that's kind of appropriate...

FelineGuitars

I think that the worst bit can be that you hear or try the high end amp , guitar or both and it's a sound that gets into your soul.

You then spend ages buying lots of other cheaper stuff trying to recreate that sound or vibe, but keep losing money when you find it's not the one and flip it, and you do this over and over till eventually:

You by the expensive/posh guitar and or amp and suddenly it's what you needed all along (and maybe knew it).

But maybe you spent/lost more money on all the cheaper alternatives than it would have cost to buy the ideal kit to begin with.

timmysoft

I went up and then down, started on some pretty shitty solid state amps in the 90s, mid 2000's I was playing expensive top end stuff, now I play a Tiny Terror and £350 USA built PRS. 

Big bucks dont equate to good tone, it's all about knowing your style and what works for you. I tried a lazy J20 and thought it was very average, I tried a few tone kings and carrs and thought they were overpriced guff too. 

scovell001

Wise words gentlemen as always- I just turned the Yamaha thr on tonight & was surprised how good it sounds for the money - go figure!

Dominic

Always buy the very very best you possibly can .......
That way you only cry once ..........................................................as my grandfather used to say
It is true of so many things in life.

Lebarque

Congrats, @scovell001. I believe you have reached the summit with a Lazy J. You might eventually crave some variety (hence @wazmeister comment above!), but you won't find better IMO. My own amp search has stalled with a J20 for a good while now.

mgaw

timmysoft said:

I went up and then down, started on some pretty shitty solid state amps in the 90s, mid 2000's I was playing expensive top end stuff, now I play a Tiny Terror and £350 USA built PRS. 

Big bucks dont equate to good tone, it's all about knowing your style and what works for you. I tried a lazy J20 and thought it was very average, I tried a few tone kings and carrs and thought they were overpriced guff too. 




they all sound better if you switch them on first:)

shaunm

What pedals you got?

ThePrettyDamned

How do you spend 1.5x the value of a les paul on upgrades?!

Also, I don't know why so many of your guitars wouldn't stay in tune. Sounds like you need to visit a guitar tech and have the nut filed? That will need doing on occasion anyway.

I'm glad you're happy though. Just you wait until you're bored by the tweed deluxe trick and need something new...  

fretfinder

I might buy back the amp when you've had enough of it and decide to move into a different area of tonal nirvana! 

scovell001

fretfinder said:

I might buy back the amp when you've had enough of it and decide to move into a different area of tonal nirvana! 

No chance !!

I also forgot - from my original posting I had a Fender Bassbreaker in there too. That was 'really nice' but my love for alnico speakers and the fact you couldn't fit one in the chassis meant it had to go.

randella

timmysoft said:

Big bucks dont equate to good tone, it's all about knowing your style and what works for you. I tried a lazy J20 and thought it was very average, I tried a few tone kings and carrs and thought they were overpriced guff too. 

As cheesy as it sounds, I've come to realise after decades of playing that tone's in your fingers.

For years I played a Marshall because I love the sounds recorded down the years with those boxes.  Whilst it had the 'right' sound, it didn't really suit what I was doing.

Now I have a MESA Mini Rectifier - whilst derided by some, it suits me down to the ground.  Green channel in 'pushed' mode is nice and elastic.  It's not a Fender.  The red channel in 'vintage' mode is a lovely hot-rod 80's drive that isn't a Marshall.  Neither of the sounds are particularly 'Boogie' either.

I've come to realise that what I like about the amp is that I can make it sound more like me because it doesn't have the out-of-the-box classic amp tones.  Some people can make that work for them, and fair play to them - I find it a bit restrictive.

I had a couple of sounds in my head for a long time and now think I've found them.  Whether or not they're any good is another matter