What is a candidate for the "future" of guitar amps?

[pold]

Think about modeling a violin or a human voice, you can get close but it will never be the same. And the same thing is for tube amps, that will be impossible. So the future of amps is here, is the present, is the power scaling in a good tube amp! The future of violin is the present violin trying to be as good as a Stradivari built 200 years ago. There are things you can't improve such as violins, Steinway Pianos, and yes,Tube amps.

[Rena Rune]

And the same thing is for tube amps, that will be impossible.

Um, no. Axe FX has defeated so many people in blind tests and there's no reason to believe it won't get better.

And technology to emulate the human voice is also getting much better. And a good enough synth violin can do un-noticed buried in a mix. Again this will only get better with more research, new technologies, and new processing power.

[KGWagner]

...it will never be the same.

Having spent the majority of my life in the technology field, particularly electronics and computers, I learned a long time ago to never say "never". Besides, sometimes "the same" isn't where you want/need to be. I suspect if Jimi Hendrix were alive today he would be simultaneously pissed and flattered to hear what SRV did with "Little Wing".

[fyrwyr]

My vote for the amp of the future goes to the new Zagray from Tube Wonder, I never heard an amp that versatile and good in my life and so unique! Alex is a true Mad Scientist!

[pgissi]

Your points are well-taken. But, I think you'll agree the term "troll" has been homogenized and generalized over time on the 'net to simply mean "disruptive person". This is much like the term "pirate" has come to mean "anybody who trades/shares files on the internet", at least in some organization's minds. Certainly untrue and a misapplication more often than not, but there it is.

It's often humorous to watch these people defend themselves. It's like trying to find somebody in a supermax prison who'll admit they're guilty. At best, they'll offer some bizarre justification for their behavior, as if that somehow makes them innocent. Yet, somehow trouble develops everywhere they go when they're allowed to run free. I guess fate has somehow singled them out for punishment <grin>



Its even funnier to watch you present your logic when the thread proves otherwise, your posts, being that they are veiled insults hurled at me are absent of logic.

Disruptive, that was Sethian and now you, throw in dishonest, pathetic and ignorant too as the thread bears witness to watching you defend urself and him.

"Trouble develops wherever they do and fate singled them out", really, you believe that. :rotflmao:rotflmao:rotflmao

Been to Oz lately, or maybe you just climbed off of the balloon.

The only trouble is in your brain, you dont have a grasp on reality.

I dont need justification, I was not the uncivil one
I am not being punished, trouble does not follow me nor is fate punishing me.

Your just trying your hand at spin and failing at that so by all means continue, the "irrelevant to the thread" award will surely look good on your mantle.

[ekp]

Think about modeling a violin or a human voice, you can get close but it will never be the same. And the same thing is for tube amps, that will be impossible. So the future of amps is here, is the present, is the power scaling in a good tube amp! The future of violin is the present violin trying to be as good as a Stradivari built 200 years ago. There are things you can't improve such as violins, Steinway Pianos, and yes,Tube amps.

When I started on my 22 year venture into translating the tube tone to solid state, I wanted to recreate the classic amplifiers in a lighter, more reliable way and called the endeavor Deja Vu Audio. However, the method of postulating effects, designing the circuitry to exaggerate the effects, testing, and trimming the effects back produced a unique amp. Does this make my amps necessarily better? NO, because there are conflicting demands made upon amps. For example, some jazz players do not care for as much embellishment of the guitar signal as rock players appreciate. (However, I can change the level of embellishment.)

Perhaps too, I should define embellishment. It is all the extra stuff that is not proportional to the input signal. It is the spice of guitar tone. And like spice, too much can be as bad as not enough. It is all in our sonic taste buds.

Have a great day, Eric

[The Rossness]

Dar

[Crate love]

Modeling amps are the FUTURE of amps.
I say FUTURE because they certainly aren't the best thing tone wise yet.
The modeling stuff is very flexible, light weight and cheep to boot.
But until they get the harshness and lack of detail out of em, I'll pass.

Equate it to digital photography.
It was around for a good wile before it finally replaced film.

Interesting - some photographers still use film so the analogy would be while everyone is modeling those with the real stuff will RULE!!!!:hide2

Long live the Valve AMP!!!!

[lutelover]

I read only to page 3 of this thread, then thought I had .02 to put in and jumped to the end. Pardon me if this is repeating someone's idea already.

Looking to the past, the evolutions and revolutions of music technology was also, to varying degrees, determined by the music composers created and the performing spaces they created their music for.

The mechanism that put in place the foundation for the modern piano forte, for example, came about as composers envisioned increased dynamic range in their music.

The modern concert hall came about in the nineteenth century in order to accommodate the increasingly numbers of middle class people who wanted to experience live music, and to provide suitable homes for ensembles that included more instruments and more volume from those instruments.

Even the electric guitar can be seen as an evolution that came about to meet the need for increased volume to larger audiences that enjoyed popular music in the 1940s and 1950s.

If history is a guide, future music technology will to some degree be determined by factors beyond mere sound -- though I think it is safe to say that, given the nearly limitless potential of synthetic sound creation, sound itself is becoming an increasing factor, too.

dt

[nerdbot]

Another +1 to digital modeling. My first guitar purchases after getting a cheap SS practice amp were modelers, and eventually, I grew dissatisfied with their sound, and now I'm in the market for a real tube amp. However, I know technology is only going to get better at a very quick pace, and I think it's just a matter of time before the sound and even the feel of modelers and tube amps with be indistinguishable. However, the amount of time this could take is anyone's guess.

The largest gap I see between tube amps and digital, is that digital only exists to emulate tubes. All progress is still happening on the analog level, and digital just exists to emulate it. Once digital starts doing things ahead of analog, then the passing of the torch will be eminent.

[Tonefreak1527]

yes, digital is the future, but i'll use tubes until they model MY amp

[LVC]

the "future" is going to bring great modeling amps, starships and holodecks ...

The future looks great
Gotta wear shades...

while I continue to play my tube amps :cool:

[pendejo]

If the future of guitar amps is all digital modeling then a similar transformation should also be expected for the guitar - forget about tone woods, pickups etc., they can all be modeled. Perhaps your amp of the future will also correct your playing, like vocals today are auto-tuned. Change isn't always progress.

Meanwhile, expect more Marshall Class 5 for the retirement home geezers. That'll be the big market, due to the demographic implosion in the west.

[rockon1]

Modelers are for some but I still say tube amps are going to be around far longer then some think.

Yep. Back in the day SS was going to be the next big thing! There are more tubes amps to choose from(inexpensive ones at that) than ever before. Its like the golden age of tube amps right now! Bob

[dspellman]

Interesting - some photographers still use film so the analogy would be while everyone is modeling those with the real stuff will RULE!!!!:hide2

Long live the Valve AMP!!!!

There will always be a few photographers who still use film. Probably a few out there who still use glass plates. They don't rule anything.

There are a few stereo enthusiasts who use tube amps. They don't rule anything, either.

A few accountants who use an abacus. Hard to find them work.

Jay Leno likes old steam cars. Interesting and great for their day. Just a curiousity now.

[ChorusCrackpot]

Research and effort should be put into developing amp valves that can be made safely, efficiently, and cheaply. Then they won't disappear so fast.

[Jimmy P]

If government starts regulating amp wattage and volume, I'll be like the Tony Montana of illicit tube power.

:rotflmaoYeah I'll be in trouble also. Not so much in the multiple amp dept, but more in the hoard/stock pile of tubes dept.

[digiTED]

Equate it to digital photography.
It was around for a good wile before it finally replaced film.

Great analogy. As a pro architectural photographer, I saw my breed as one of the last to fully embrace digital for a variety of practical and aesthetic reasons. Just like with guitar amps, there is a balance between ultimate quality, the level of quality that is good enough for the individual's purposes, and convenience (this includes price, availability, reliability, variety of features). Digital imaging was adopted at different rates by different user groups. Hell, this rate-of-adoption phenomenon happened with auto-focus, too.

I see the same thing happening in guitar amps in the coming couple of decades. Modelers will keep getting better, different pros will use and/or popularize different technologies and their fans will follow them, the companies will skew the debate through marketing, and the grouchy die-hards (like me :D) will never accept modeling and solid-state amp topologies are better than tubes (even if they become so). Fortunately, none of this really matters as I believe there will remain sufficient demand for tubes to keep them around for most of our life times. And if not, I think the successive technology really will be better. I don't think the boutique 'simpler is better' ethos was a fluke fueled only by the real estate boom's cash dump on the middle class; there is a real aesthetic resonance there that connects with people in a similar place as where their musical inspirations come from. That's never going to go out of style. :dude

[Jimmy P]

There will always be a few photographers who still use film. Probably a few out there who still use glass plates. They don't rule anything.

There are a few stereo enthusiasts who use tube amps. They don't rule anything, either.

A few accountants who use an abacus. Hard to find them work.

Jay Leno likes old steam cars. Interesting and great for their day. Just a curiousity now.

Tube amp and an abacus is not a good compairison sir. More like being in a relationship with a model vs. being in a relationship with a sex doll. (both have the curves, both have the goods I guess, but 1 is empty and fake.) ;)

[macmax77]

i don't know or care, all i know is this is my present and future in amps

RedPlate Magic Dust

[dw1003]

Digital Amps are the future, the same way as plugins and DAWs were the future of recording 10 years ago. Now ProTools HD is the standard and plugins populate every recording you hear now. In the future I can see most recorded guitar sounds being modeled.

Live shows are gonna be tricky, because a POD will work in an arena with an amazing PA... a POD won't work in a small club with a shitty PA... so I imagine guitar players will start accumulating a wide variety of gear for different applications...

bedroom players... who cares! try playing a gig and then lecture us about gear.

I actually think the stomp box industry is in much more trouble than tube amps.
modeling is already stealing business from stomp boxes.

[realityczech]

Dumble will sign a deal with Apple and Microsoft will try to clone it.

Or vis versa.

[dmgcaster]

A very lively thread to be sure!

Portions of it reminded me of a skit on Mr. Show where Dave Cross is a Luddite expaining his views to a friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA9sJ3LBwg

I love when he pulls out the Edison mini-Victrolla! "Just listen to it! It's so pure it hurts!"

[nullin]

A very lively thread to be sure!

Portions of it reminded me of a skit on Mr. Show where Dave Cross is a Luddite expaining his views to a friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fA9sJ3LBwg

I love when he pulls out the Edison mini-Victrolla! "Just listen to it! It's so pure it hurts!"

LOL, nice!

[alberob]

My 2 cents.Dumbles and Trainwrecks are two of the most revered amps from the last century.In my opinion Zagray!'s and Red Iron Amps are the future contenders for this century.

[XISTH]

Modelers are the future, I'm afraid. Tubes aren't going to be around forever. Enjoy it while you still can!

True, but no reason why they shouldn't be around for another hundred years or more.

[Proco]

As far as i'm concerned, tubes are not gonna be there forever... don't know exactly why, but it seems to be the general consensus, so i take it for granted... anyway, if tubes won'tt be available in, say, 50 years... then what? solid state? digital? both? i guess digital is the best answer of the remaining techonologies.
SS has always sounded flat to me whereas digital seems to replicate the tube punchiness better. Its' like the character series from Tech21... yeah they're nice, but not enough, you can't compare any of their pedals against a tube amp emulation with its full cabinet, mic, etc... not ony because of the versatility but the sound itself. IMO and YMMV.

[gstan]

Send your tubes and tube amps to me while there is still time. You don't want to be stuck with all that worthless primitive junk. I have a special offer, in exchange for any really old crap like Fender Tweed & Blackface amps, or Vox and Marshall amps of the same era, or any handwired beauxteek amp, I will give you a brand spanking new Pocket Pod! Imagine that! You can leave all that obsolete baggage behind and embrace the future!! Act now!

If you have one of those Dumble or Trainwreck amps to get rid of I will up the offer to two, count'em, two pocket pods and an A/B switch so that you can have a dual rig! This is your lucky day!

[zenitB]

The invention of the automobile didn't cause horses to become extinct.
Now we have both; except now only the richer folks can afford horses!

[ES330]

At one venue I use the Sansamp Blonde to go direct
I always get complimented on my tone...