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You don't often see a tall, well built and handsome chap with a short ,fat ,ugly wife
Aha ; but you do see short ,fat ,bald and ugly men ( with huge bank accounts ) and stunning wife combinations
So maybe that wasn't a good analogy !
When im playing, I listen and respond to the amp rather than the guitar. If that makes sense.
I rarely think, this guitar sounds ace.
I often think, this amp sounds so good.
For me, it's largely about the amp. But then I have owned more amps than guitars. I don't tend to switch the guitars out very often. Once I've got one that play and sounds how I like, I usually hang on to it for a long time.
If a cheap guitar sounds better through an expensive amp than an expensive guitar through a cheap amp - which may be true - remember that the speaker is even more important, and almost all amps use roughly the same cheap speakers. Even the price difference between (say) a Celestion 70/80 and an Alnico Gold is small compared to that between a Jet City and a Two Rock.
So why spend so much on the amp when you’re just going to stick it through a £100 Greenback?
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Whilst I'm not in a financial position to even consider 2-3k on guitar/amp..
last year I financed a £1200 guitar I didn't need, but wanted. no regrets, I love it.
This year I'm maybe going to finance a Friedman JJ20 (likely around£1200) - but am having serious up and down thoughts about it .
how weird is that? hadn't thunked about the comparison till I read this thread.
I first had the chance to notice this when I used a Kemper. Lock a cab and stick some amps through the cab/speaker and the differences shrunk between 'amps'. To prove the theory I sold the Kemper, bought loads of amps, cabs, speaker etc. and low and behold the same thing happens in the real world. Expensive but enlightening and great fun!
Si
I was just having a bit of fun earlier, but with a serious point - it is interesting that with a few exceptions (alnicos, mostly) speakers don't really get a lot more expensive than about £100, and yet everyone is happy to put £2K+ amps through them just the same.
Personally, I tend to value amps based on build quality and functionality more than 'tone', which I do honestly largely find a bit of a muchness once you get to a certain minimum quality, which really isn't very high. I picked the Jet City and Two Rock examples on purpose .
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Not talking about the difference between something like a Fender Blackface and a Marshall, they're totally different circuits and do really sound different regardless of the speaker... more about the difference between a cheap version and an expensive version of similar amps.
You can spend £300 or £3000 on essentially the same guitar, £300 or £3000 on essentially the same amp, so why are there no £1000 speakers, and why is everyone happy with the £100 ones when they have as at least as much tonal effect as the difference between the cheap and the expensive guitars and amps?
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If you compare a Jet City JCA100 with a Soldano SLO (which are essentially the same circuit, but the price difference is literally ten times), and a Behringer and a Mesa 4x12", which do you think would make the bigger difference? I think the cabs would.
Totally different amp circuits do sound very different, yes - but I really don't think there is as much difference in tone due to amp "quality" - ie price - as most people think.
The point I'm making is exactly about *perceived* value. Do speakers not count because they can't easily be seen?
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
You don't have to like it, but there's a lot of man-hours in a high end hardwired amp. You have to pay someone skilled for that time as well the cost of parts, R&D, overheads, taxes etc.
I think they key is knowing what the weakest part of your chain is when considering an upgrade....but....in general I would say that upgrading the amp would get better results than upgrading the speakers for most people and once you get to a certain standard (say 500-600) upgrading the amp is also better value than upgrading the guitar too.
A Behringer 4x12 will get trounced in every possible way by the Boogie. The cabinet is a massive part of the sound. You only have to flick through impulse response libraries to appreciate that.
Case in point my Bogner OS212 is largely very similar to a Marshall 1936V. In fact I had a custom Marshall one with the same speakers in it, and it had the blue hued tolex, chequerboard grille etc.
The dimensions and specs were largely the same. The Bogner weighs a lot more, though. But side by side there was very little in it.
Guess which one sounds better... Yep. Correct. (It's not a trick question, btw)
Yes its twice the price, but does it sound twice as good?? To my ear, probably. Yeah.
And that's even before we start talking about the environments that people listen to anything in.
Ive been in many a room where even an Ecstasy, Brown Eye, SLO, Plexi, Twin, Bassman, etc would sound like complete fucking rubbish. It ain't always only about the gear.