Stuff on amps no one wants

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  • AdeyAdey Frets: 2208
    Chrome knobs with a white dot for a pointer.

    How are you meant to see the position  of it on a stage? Especially a problem if backline is shared by groups.

    My Blackstar was a case in point. Laney IRT with black knobs and a white strip was great.
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  • JayGeeJayGee Frets: 1254
    Adey said:
    Chrome knobs with a white dot for a pointer.

    How are you meant to see the position  of it on a stage? Especially a problem if backline is shared by groups.

    My Blackstar was a case in point. Laney IRT with black knobs and a white strip was great.
    I’ll see your Chrome dots with a white dot and raise you chrome knobs with a little unpainted dimple (Blackstar again, on my Series One).
    Don't ask me, I just play the damned thing...
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  • robinbowesrobinbowes Frets: 3021
    dazzajl said:
    For me, everything after volume and tone. 
    Tone? There's fancy! :)
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  • ColsCols Frets: 6953
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
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  • dazzajldazzajl Frets: 5653
    dazzajl said:
    For me, everything after volume and tone. 
    Tone? There's fancy! :)
    I do have an amp with no tone control but then it does have volume and gain, so even more fancy in my book :3
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    Menus.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.

    In practice, any effects unit which also retains any dry signal - which is pretty much all of them, unless you're using a single unit with a kill-dry option - tends to cause trouble because if the signal is digitised it will introduce unavoidable latency, which when then combined with the original dry signal in the amp causes a comb-filtering effect and drastically *sucks* tone. Even analogue units aren't immune, since phase inconsistency will do the same thing. There are certainly *some* effects which avoid both problems, but it's not usually advertised or the first thing most buyers would have on their shopping list criteria.

    To make sure you avoid it, you need to set the parallel loop to 100% effect... which is the same as series. And some amps (Laney, Mesa, for example) can't actually be set to 100% because their loop mixer sections are rather crudely implemented.

    I assume you know this, but that should explain it to anyone who hasn't yet come across this problem!

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26453
    edited April 2021
    ICBM said:
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.
    That's not the only reason. Take my setup, for example - ADA MP-2, with a TC G-Major in the loop. The G-Major has delay/reverb trails, but it also has an irritating gap of silence between patches.

    Setting the loop to series results in my entire signal cutting out when I switch patches. Setting it to parallel only results in the delay/reverb cutting out briefly, which is far more acceptable in a live setting.
    <space for hire>
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  • 57Deluxe57Deluxe Frets: 7329
    any liquid vessel...

     
    <Vintage BOSS Upgrades>
    __________________________________
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  • HaychHaych Frets: 5595
    Don't know if it's been mentioned yet (had a quick scan, didn't jump out at me) but large heavy/valve combos and cabs with a single handle mounted on the top of the amp.  Serves no useful purpose at all.

    Swiss Army knife type amps that try to do everything in one box, from classic 50s type cleans to modern mega gain and everything in between, and end up with more options, switches, dials, knobs and other options and thus it takes a degree in engineering to dial in a good tone.  I am thinking of a certain famous Californian brand of maker and possibly a German amp builder who sometimes is guilty of this.  Seriously, most players will find two decent sounds and throw a couple of pedals at it to do the rest.

    Amps that have high and low inputs, I've never met anyone who has used the low input, ever, but is on just about every Peavey amp I have ever seen, and quite a few others.

    Amps that have all the dials at the rear of the top panel, a la Fender Hotrod, so you have to lean over them to adjust your sound - especially irritating if you have the amp tilted back or need to place other gear on top - just why?  

    There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife

    Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky

    Bit of trading feedback here.

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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26453
    Haych said:
    Don't know if it's been mentioned yet (had a quick scan, didn't jump out at me) but large heavy/valve combos and cabs with a single handle mounted on the top of the amp.  Serves no useful purpose at all.
    I still don't get why they don't make amps with a handle on the top and two on the sides, to give everybody the choice.

    If they're bothered about stacking amps on top of each other, then just recess the top handle.

    It's not a particularly difficult (or expensive) solution.
    <space for hire>
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    ICBM said:
    Crap speakers.

    Why? OK, I know, it's to save money. But why do so many companies cripple a perfectly decent amp for the sake of a few pounds more for something that doesn't sound weedy and flat - especially when it may be compared in a shop to other companies' amps which may well have a much better one, even if it's the overused and not always appropriate V30. Brand A's amp with a V30 will wipe the floor with Brand B's equivalent with a Seventy/80 or some OEM piece of junk, even if Brand B's amp actually sounds better when they're both put through the same cabinet.
    more complexity does more harm than good.

    Yep, totally agree on this and nearly included it on my list.

    One of the reasons I ruled out the DSL 20 was the 70/80 which meant the 40 with the decent V type worked out about the same price once you had factored in the speaker change required.
    I bought a DSL20C used, and changed the speaker for a Greenback. I'm really pleased with the result.

    Most of your list looks like it could be aimed directly at the DSL tbh!
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  • TheBigDipperTheBigDipper Frets: 4722
    ICBM said:
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.
    That's not the only reason. Take my setup, for example - ADA MP-2, with a TC G-Major in the loop. The G-Major has delay/reverb trails, but it also has an irritating gap of silence between patches.

    Setting the loop to series results in my entire signal cutting out when I switch patches. Setting it to parallel only results in the delay/reverb cutting out briefly, which is far more acceptable in a live setting.
    Slight hijack in an attempt to be helpful...  I owned a TC Nova System for a while. I'm fairly sure the switch didn't take effect on press, but only when released. Is it possible the G System is the same? 
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  • CoffeeAndTVCoffeeAndTV Frets: 433
    Cooling fans that can be heard.

    Seriously annoying in [burp] a home and studio environment. At least make the damn things controllable so that at TV levels it's not on at all, or just ticking so it can't be heard.

    If the amp gets too hot even at TV levels then redesign it, you wankers.
    I read this in my mind in Rick Sanchez’s voice 
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26453
    ICBM said:
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.
    That's not the only reason. Take my setup, for example - ADA MP-2, with a TC G-Major in the loop. The G-Major has delay/reverb trails, but it also has an irritating gap of silence between patches.

    Setting the loop to series results in my entire signal cutting out when I switch patches. Setting it to parallel only results in the delay/reverb cutting out briefly, which is far more acceptable in a live setting.
    Slight hijack in an attempt to be helpful...  I owned a TC Nova System for a while. I'm fairly sure the switch didn't take effect on press, but only when released. Is it possible the G System is the same? 
    Appreciate the help, but...the G-Major is all MIDI-based, so that'd be a function of the controller. Doesn't matter how I send the PC message, it always ends up with a patch gap.

    I'm cool with it being in a parallel loop, though, and it works well enough that nobody will notice because I don't run wet/dry or any of that nonsense ;)
    <space for hire>
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  • ColsCols Frets: 6953
    ICBM said:
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.
    That's not the only reason. Take my setup, for example - ADA MP-2, with a TC G-Major in the loop. The G-Major has delay/reverb trails, but it also has an irritating gap of silence between patches.

    Setting the loop to series results in my entire signal cutting out when I switch patches. Setting it to parallel only results in the delay/reverb cutting out briefly, which is far more acceptable in a live setting.
    I can’t help but think that in this case the parallel FX loop is just mitigating a fundamental flaw in the G-Major rather then adding anything.  Effectively, it’s limiting the G-Major to parallel FX loop usage only, and can’t be used in any kind of series setup - either preamp>G-Major>power amp or sitting in the loop of an amp.  At least not without a signal cut while switching patches.

    My Laney had a parallel FX loop with a fixed 50:50 mix, effectively making it useless for anything other than delay and reverb.  It wasn’t difficult or expensive to convert it to series, but I could’ve spent that money on a bottle of nice whiskey, goddammit.


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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26453
    Cols said:
    ICBM said:
    Cols said:
    Parallel FX loops.  Why?
    Because some people believe that it maintains the "pure" tone of the dry signal better.
    That's not the only reason. Take my setup, for example - ADA MP-2, with a TC G-Major in the loop. The G-Major has delay/reverb trails, but it also has an irritating gap of silence between patches.

    Setting the loop to series results in my entire signal cutting out when I switch patches. Setting it to parallel only results in the delay/reverb cutting out briefly, which is far more acceptable in a live setting.
    I can’t help but think that in this case the parallel FX loop is just mitigating a fundamental flaw in the G-Major rather then adding anything.  Effectively, it’s limiting the G-Major to parallel FX loop usage only, and can’t be used in any kind of series setup - either preamp>G-Major>power amp or sitting in the loop of an amp.  At least not without a signal cut while switching patches.

    Yes, that's absolutely true. The fact that the MP-2 has series/parallel functionality means that I don't have to spend more money and compromise on the gear that I want in there, because it gets around the flaw in the G-Major. Which is a good thing on the part of the unit that has the loop in it :)
    <space for hire>
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  • AdeyAdey Frets: 2208
    57Deluxe said:
    any liquid vessel...

     

    If that is a rehearsal studio, I think the beer on the amp is compulsory.
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  • AlexCAlexC Frets: 2396
    That knob that has ‘Bass’. It’s a guitar amp ffs. I’m not using a Bass. Really stupid!
    (I don’t know what kind of an instrument a ‘middle’ is either, but it sounds a bit Hipster to me.)
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  • HaychHaych Frets: 5595
    AlexC said:
    That knob that has ‘Bass’. It’s a guitar amp ffs. I’m not using a Bass. Really stupid!
    (I don’t know what kind of an instrument a ‘middle’ is either, but it sounds a bit Hipster to me.)
    People like you are just looking for treble!

    There is no 'H' in Aych, you know that don't you? ~ Wife

    Turns out there is an H in Haych! ~ Sporky

    Bit of trading feedback here.

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