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You dont like a sound? Fine. Don’t buy the amp.
There are plenty of players who actually seek out amps with a lack of treble - for example Nels Cline, he rolls all the treble off his amp and then uses a bright guitar.
Its personal preference. And opinion.
I would also suggest trying out a couple of the very latest Blackstar amps - such as a Studio 10 (EL34 version). You’ll be very surprised - shocked, even - by it. It’s a genuinely great sounding amp - and not middly at all.
I understand that entirely. Rolling off the treble is fine if you want that sort of sound, and has been possible with amps since the invention of tone controls. What I don't understand is designers making that compulsory...
So I'm no nearer to getting an answer really, other than "you're old, get over it" .
"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
I think the idea is to try and not allow the amp to sound "bad" no matter what you do, which is seen as an evolution or improvement over previous generation of amps, but in practice it just gives less options to the user and brings everything towards a boring middle ground.
That's how I do it.
I generally end up rolling back the mids.
Love a bit of sparkle and thump without the nasal honk.
It depends entirely on pot taper, a lot of my amps (from totally different manufacturers) have their most sensitive spot on their EQ knobs at around ten o'clock. Noon would be way too bright on those amps.
As long as their is enough range to have not enough or too much it doesn't have to sound good exactly halfway up.
(edit) hang on, I think I read your post backwards. Or possibly my ears are on backwards. Or I can’t tell the time.
Do modern amps have more "refined" highs? Well yes.... but that also is a problem for a lot of modern overdrive pedals too.
I prefer a Super Reverb to a Two Rock and a Plexi to a Bogner but I do think ICBM has went a little deaf
Dave.
Another problem with it is that it's very interactive, which is one reason the Princeton thatguyoverthere mentioned can't have the bass turned right off - like all the BF/SF Fenders with 'no mid control', it does actually have one - fixed internally, and at a fairly high value. The whole thing is actually very crude and was evolved by Fender from several earlier designs, apparently largely by trial and error.
And yet when 'proper' tone stacks like the Baxandall or the simpler 'James' version of it are used in guitar amps, they just don't sound quite right to a lot of players...
"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
This was evidenced when we unboxed and tested the very first shipment of the A100 heads. They all worked and made a fantastic row into a 240W 4X12 but Ian said there was something wrong, a "fizz" or "glizz" on certain high notes. IIRC none of the 3 rest of us could hear it, pretty audibly battered anyway but, sho'nuff, there was a cap connected to the wrong tapping on the OPT secondary. The moral is, amps are perhaps better voiced by a committee?
Dave (and YCPAOTPAOTT)
This does confirm something I’ve said all along - the Blackstar voicing I (and as it appears, many other people) dislike so much is deliberate and what the designers are aiming for. It’s just the ‘why’ I don’t get.
I played an ID Core again the other day - I had to, it’s going out on sale in the shop... just awful. Not a single bit of sparkle or clarity to be had anywhere in it, not even on the Bright Clean setting.
"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
No idea what the “emulation” is though..