Am I missing out on anything with boutique amps?

[Kyrpajyra]

I have a jose style amp from a local builder that cost me a little over 2000€ and i've been more than happy with it. No need to go boutique if you're happy with your current one.

Now that you've passed the gas phase you can finally concentrate on honing your chops even more.

 

[lessarti]

I will chime in for whatever my 2 cents is worth with today's inflation... probably really 0.00002 LOL.. Anyways, I think boutique amps are worth it to the degree you will be inspired from the amp.

IF the amp inspires you to create better music, get better as a guitar player, or just plain inspires you to pick up the guitar and play for the passion, then it IS worth it. I've gone through a ton of amps, just like a big chunk of the crowd on this forum. I think it is fair to say, each to their own. Too many egos and lines in the sand as it is, noone is wrong or right. Just do what DOES IT for YOU. Simple.

Personally, amps that are above $3K new, I usually buy used because i cannot justify the TAXES on that amount, let alone that principal amount. To me SOME amps are worth it. I think Wizard is second to none, it is worth it USED. Is it worth it new? Hell no, NO amp is worth more than $5K in my opinion, that is getting into used car price territory.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I will chime in for whatever my 2 cents is worth with today's inflation... probably really 0.00002 LOL.. Anyways, I think boutique amps are worth it to the degree you will be inspired from the amp.

IF the amp inspires you to create better music, get better as a guitar player, or just plain inspires you to pick up the guitar and play for the passion, then it IS worth it. I've gone through a ton of amps, just like a big chunk of the crowd on this forum. I think it is fair to say, each to their own. Too many egos and lines in the sand as it is, noone is wrong or right. Just do what DOES IT for YOU. Simple.

Personally, amps that are above $3K new, I usually buy used because i cannot justify the TAXES on that amount, let alone that principal amount. To me SOME amps are worth it. I think Wizard is second to none, it is worth it USED. Is it worth it new? Hell no, NO amp is worth more than $5K in my opinion, that is getting into used car price territory.

Agree with every word.

 

[Racerxrated]

Remember too, that these new boutique amps will hold much of their value should you decide to sell. Unless they are beat down and worn looking....with the exception being a vintage amp.

 

[7 Stringer]

Had a Peters Body Hammer and it was a KILLER amp! James helped me trouble shoot it and sent me replacement parts even though I had bought it used.

Yup, that's James allright.

Dan Trudeau from Revv is also a really nice guy. He also helped me with an issue i had with my Generator that i bought used.

Dave Friedman also very helpful and cool guy.

Kyle Rhoads.

All these guys where very helpful to me at some point.

 

[JerEvil]

Man, honestly there are some classic “pedestrian” amps that are just tried and true.

The biggest thing in my opinion on what you may be missing out on is the “I’m in the club” experience, which is a real thing. There’s a social aspect to gear that can not be denied and it has an absolute influence.

Shit, when I go to shows, I always try and see what gear people are using. Look at this forum. One person mentions a Wizard, then everyone that’s owned or played one pops in. Now. Don’t get me wrong, Wizards sound amazing and as I understand the build quality is aces. But part of why you buy a Wizard is greatly due to how they are spoken about in groups. By and large, most average guys have no idea what a Wizard amp is.

Friedman is another story. Pre-BAD, Friedman’s were a grail amp only regularly attainable by rock stars or people that had a lot of discretionary income. I mean they still are to an extent but now you can get them with 48 month, 0% financing. The BE-100 was something I wanted for ages, and now I have one. I’ll never get rid of it. It gets all the tones I want. Like Wizard though, there’s also a communal part of owning a Friedman. Especially one of the “big boy” amps.

To put it in perspective, when you go see a band (in average situations) and see a 6505/5153, DSL, or say a Dual Rec, as a guitar player you’ll instantly recognize “cool rig…”

Then you go to a show and see a full set of Wizard, Friedman, Diezel it’s more “damn! Nice fucking rig!” I’d argue you’ll spend more time paying attention to the tone as well.

I have quite a few pedestrian amps and I love them. I’d say each is equally as satisfying to play as my “high end” stuff. Had a Randall RD45H at the house for a few months and it was fucking dope. Played it more than anything else while I had it. Super fun amp.

Basically a long way to say, the EXPERIENCE around playing/owning boutique stuff is not just about the tones. Good tone can be had very cost effectively.

Also, buy used! You can find killer deals on really expensive stuff if you have cash in hand.

 

[Smashedguitaris⸸]

Man, honestly there are some classic “pedestrian” amps that are just tried and true.

The biggest thing in my opinion on what you may be missing out on is the “I’m in the club” experience, which is a real thing. There’s a social aspect to gear that can not be denied and it has an absolute influence.

Shit, when I go to shows, I always try and see what gear people are using. Look at this forum. One person mentions a Wizard, then everyone that’s owned or played one pops in. Now. Don’t get me wrong, Wizards sound amazing and as I understand the build quality is aces. But part of why you buy a Wizard is greatly due to how they are spoken about in groups. By and large, most average guys have no idea what a Wizard amp is.

Friedman is another story. Pre-BAD, Friedman’s were a grail amp only regularly attainable by rock stars or people that had a lot of discretionary income. I mean they still are to an extent but now you can get them with 48 month, 0% financing. The BE-100 was something I wanted for ages, and now I have one. I’ll never get rid of it. It gets all the tones I want. Like Wizard though, there’s also a communal part of owning a Friedman. Especially one of the “big boy” amps.

To put it in perspective, when you go see a band (in average situations) and see a 6505/5153, DSL, or say a Dual Rec, as a guitar player you’ll instantly recognize “cool rig…”

Then you go to a show and see a full set of Wizard, Friedman, Diezel it’s more “damn! Nice fucking rig!” I’d argue you’ll spend more time paying attention to the tone as well.

I have quite a few pedestrian amps and I love them. I’d say each is equally as satisfying to play as my “high end” stuff. Had a Randall RD45H at the house for a few months and it was fucking dope. Played it more than anything else while I had it. Super fun amp.

Basically a long way to say, the EXPERIENCE around playing/owning boutique stuff is not just about the tones. Good tone can be had very cost effectively.

Also, buy used! You can find killer deals on really expensive stuff if you have cash in hand.

I get what you are saying. I know you have played a lot of amps. But have you tried a Wizard? I am not saying its the best amp in the world. I think so, but tonal superiority is very personal. But the feel and power in the sound is very different from other things i have tried. I know that a lot of guys get one and flip it. It doesn't make you sound better than you can play, for sure. Also, it doesn't play nice with bad technique. It lets you know how much you suck at guitar, lol. But there is something going on. Maybe it is just the transformers. If you are ever in austin, give me a call and you can try it. You may hate it, but it is very worth trying.

 

[Smashedguitaris⸸]

Man, honestly there are some classic “pedestrian” amps that are just tried and true.

The biggest thing in my opinion on what you may be missing out on is the “I’m in the club” experience, which is a real thing. There’s a social aspect to gear that can not be denied and it has an absolute influence.

Shit, when I go to shows, I always try and see what gear people are using. Look at this forum. One person mentions a Wizard, then everyone that’s owned or played one pops in. Now. Don’t get me wrong, Wizards sound amazing and as I understand the build quality is aces. But part of why you buy a Wizard is greatly due to how they are spoken about in groups. By and large, most average guys have no idea what a Wizard amp is.

Friedman is another story. Pre-BAD, Friedman’s were a grail amp only regularly attainable by rock stars or people that had a lot of discretionary income. I mean they still are to an extent but now you can get them with 48 month, 0% financing. The BE-100 was something I wanted for ages, and now I have one. I’ll never get rid of it. It gets all the tones I want. Like Wizard though, there’s also a communal part of owning a Friedman. Especially one of the “big boy” amps.

To put it in perspective, when you go see a band (in average situations) and see a 6505/5153, DSL, or say a Dual Rec, as a guitar player you’ll instantly recognize “cool rig…”

Then you go to a show and see a full set of Wizard, Friedman, Diezel it’s more “damn! Nice fucking rig!” I’d argue you’ll spend more time paying attention to the tone as well.

I have quite a few pedestrian amps and I love them. I’d say each is equally as satisfying to play as my “high end” stuff. Had a Randall RD45H at the house for a few months and it was fucking dope. Played it more than anything else while I had it. Super fun amp.

Basically a long way to say, the EXPERIENCE around playing/owning boutique stuff is not just about the tones. Good tone can be had very cost effectively.

Also, buy used! You can find killer deals on really expensive stuff if you have cash in hand.

As far as the other stuff you say. Some of the most fun amps are very versatile and maybe not quite the greatest tone in the world. My randall rg150 sounds pretty fucking metal. I love it for death metal. But i can also play it silent into my interface and therefore play it 24 hours. It is very fun to play and I could live the rest of my life never playing a different amp than it. But when i get to play loud(about 90% of my playing, there is no goddamned contest.

 

[braintheory]

Man, honestly there are some classic “pedestrian” amps that are just tried and true.

The biggest thing in my opinion on what you may be missing out on is the “I’m in the club” experience, which is a real thing. There’s a social aspect to gear that can not be denied and it has an absolute influence.

Shit, when I go to shows, I always try and see what gear people are using. Look at this forum. One person mentions a Wizard, then everyone that’s owned or played one pops in. Now. Don’t get me wrong, Wizards sound amazing and as I understand the build quality is aces. But part of why you buy a Wizard is greatly due to how they are spoken about in groups. By and large, most average guys have no idea what a Wizard amp is.

Friedman is another story. Pre-BAD, Friedman’s were a grail amp only regularly attainable by rock stars or people that had a lot of discretionary income. I mean they still are to an extent but now you can get them with 48 month, 0% financing. The BE-100 was something I wanted for ages, and now I have one. I’ll never get rid of it. It gets all the tones I want. Like Wizard though, there’s also a communal part of owning a Friedman. Especially one of the “big boy” amps.

To put it in perspective, when you go see a band (in average situations) and see a 6505/5153, DSL, or say a Dual Rec, as a guitar player you’ll instantly recognize “cool rig…”

Then you go to a show and see a full set of Wizard, Friedman, Diezel it’s more “damn! Nice fucking rig!” I’d argue you’ll spend more time paying attention to the tone as well.

I have quite a few pedestrian amps and I love them. I’d say each is equally as satisfying to play as my “high end” stuff. Had a Randall RD45H at the house for a few months and it was fucking dope. Played it more than anything else while I had it. Super fun amp.

Basically a long way to say, the EXPERIENCE around playing/owning boutique stuff is not just about the tones. Good tone can be had very cost effectively.

Also, buy used! You can find killer deals on really expensive stuff if you have cash in hand.

Disagree. I think most of us hear just want as good of a tone as we can get and has nothing to do with social factor or impressing others. I’ve got some exceptional gear that guys on here wouldn’t know about or get impressed by, but I still bring it up just to share the information even if I get no responses. For example my Schroeder’s. I don’t care that no one will be impressed at me for having it, but if they get to try it in person they wouldn’t forget about it

Again, I agree if you want good tone, it can be had without breaking the bank, but I think most of us on here want a tone that’s better than just good. Getting a truly great or jaw dropping tone requires a lot of work to get even with top notch gear. I mean I can’t even think of any YouTube links I can send with tone that is really great. Sure it exists, I’d just have to really search through my liked video history on YouTube lol. There really aren’t many. Good tone, yes easy to find. Amazing tone, very rare. I feel that’s more what we’re chasing and not easy. Where’s the fun in getting tone that is just good. You can say focus more on the playing, blah blah, blah, but they’re 2 independent things that don’t need to interfere with each other. If anything they should be positively correlated with each other

 

[lessarti]

Disagree. I think most of us hear just want as good of a tone as we can get and has nothing to do with social factor or impressing others. I’ve got some exceptional gear that guys on here wouldn’t know about or get impressed by, but I still bring it up just to share the information even if I get no responses. For example my Schroeder’s. I don’t care that no one will be impressed at me for having it, but if they get to try it in person they wouldn’t forget about it

Again, I agree if you want good tone, it can be had without breaking the bank, but I think most of us on here want a tone that’s better than just good. Getting a truly great or jaw dropping tone requires a lot of work to get even with top notch gear. I mean I can’t even think of any YouTube links I can send with tone that is really great. Sure it exists, I’d just have to really search through my liked video history on YouTube lol. There really aren’t many. Good tone, yes easy to find. Amazing tone, very rare. I feel that’s more what we’re chasing and not easy. Where’s the fun in getting tone that is just good. You can say focus more on the playing, blah blah, blah, but they’re 2 independent things that don’t need to interfere with each other. If anything they should be positively correlated with each other

Exactly, and to clarify, I bought a Wizard because I first played one at someones house that owned it, and i was FLOORED by how good it sounded. I had NO idea how much they cost at that time, but knew I wanted one someday...

 

[JerEvil]

I get what you are saying. I know you have played a lot of amps. But have you tried a Wizard? I am not saying its the best amp in the world. I think so, but tonal superiority is very personal. But the feel and power in the sound is very different from other things i have tried. I know that a lot of guys get one and flip it. It doesn't make you sound better than you can play, for sure. Also, it doesn't play nice with bad technique. It lets you know how much you suck at guitar, lol. But there is something going on. Maybe it is just the transformers. If you are ever in austin, give me a call and you can try it. You may hate it, but it is very worth trying.

Nope not yet. Soon enough though. I’m heading out to “he who shall not be named” in a few weeks to check out his Wizard and that Bogner modded SLO! Lol.

Anyway, Wizard is high on my GAS list and I’ll definitely hit you up should I be out your way.

 

[bikerdude2]

I forgot to add, when i went thru my gas phase, all the handmade stuff I bought was used. That helped me try stuff without loosing my shirt when I was ready to try something new.

 

[JerEvil]

Disagree. I think most of us hear just want as good of a tone as we can get and has nothing to do with social factor or impressing others. I’ve got some exceptional gear that guys on here wouldn’t know about or get impressed by, but I still bring it up just to share the information even if I get no responses. For example my Schroeder’s. I don’t care that no one will be impressed at me for having it, but if they get to try it in person they wouldn’t forget about it

Again, I agree if you want good tone, it can be had without breaking the bank, but I think most of us on here want a tone that’s better than just good. Getting a truly great or jaw dropping tone requires a lot of work to get even with top notch gear. I mean I can’t even think of any YouTube links I can send with tone that is really great. Sure it exists, I’d just have to really search through my liked video history on YouTube lol. There really aren’t many. Good tone, yes easy to find. Amazing tone, very rare. I feel that’s more what we’re chasing and not easy. Where’s the fun in getting tone that is just good. You can say focus more on the playing, blah blah, blah, but they’re 2 independent things that don’t need to interfere with each other. If anything they should be positively correlated with each other

Not sure where I mentioned trying to impress anyone??? FFS! Lol.

Look at life outside this forum or any forum for that matter. Dedicated FB/Social Media groups are FULL of people sharing their love for a brand. That was my point. There is a “tribal” aspect to owning a particular amp/piece of gear.

And to your point about getting the best tone…. That’s all subjective. To MANY an Ampeg VH140 is the greatest tone in the world. Shit some people think Dime had good tone.

My point was boutique amps can be a “I finally got one”. Never said it was to impress anyone.

 

[JerEvil]

I forgot to add, when i went thru my gas phase, all the handmade stuff I bought was used. That helped me try stuff without loosing my shirt when I was ready to try something new.

Yep. Used is usually the way I’ve gotten my hands on gear without breaking the bank. On the rare occasion I buy new, it’s generally well discounted.

 

[braintheory]

Exactly, and to clarify, I bought a Wizard because I first played one at someones house that owned it, and i was FLOORED by how good it sounded. I had NO idea how much they cost at that time, but knew I wanted one someday...

That’s literally the 100% same exact story as why my friend bought his Wizard and Cameron’s after trying them at my house. He was always saying I’m done looking for new gear, but then he came over and now he doesn’t wanna keep coming over to try my stuff anymore lol

 

[Smashedguitaris⸸]

Nope not yet. Soon enough though. I’m heading out to “he who shall not be named” in a few weeks to check out his Wizard and that Bogner modded SLO! Lol.

Anyway, Wizard is high on my GAS list and I’ll definitely hit you up should I be out your way.

I think you will like it. But I want to know if you hate it also. Hopefully you get to make a video either way. It was soo different from anything I had played, that even though it wasn't in the direction of what i was looking for, it changed my mind about what i should be looking for, lol.

 

[braintheory]

Not sure where I mentioned trying to impress anyone??? FFS! Lol.

Look at life outside this forum or any forum for that matter. Dedicated FB/Social Media groups are FULL of people sharing their love for a brand. That was my point. There is a “tribal” aspect to owning a particular amp/piece of gear.

And to your point about getting the best tone…. That’s all subjective. To MANY an Ampeg VH140 is the greatest tone in the world. Shit some people think Dime had good tone.

My point was boutique amps can be a “I finally got one”. Never said it was to impress anyone.

The social factor part implied to me looking for approval or praise from others, but maybe I misunderstood. Yes, I’m aware of those Facebook groups. I’m technically a member of a whole bunch, but don’t really participate in them for that reason. That tribal thing is beyond idiotic to me and I guess I would be considered very unfaithful there to the tribes lol

I’m well aware for those Ampeg VH140’s. In my experience trying them in person and hearing them in their recordings, they can be cool at first, but I got over them pretty fast, especially with the mark iii that was in the room, but whatever subjective like you said. I would bet money that to most who really liked those Ampegs, if we were in the same room with one and some of my other amps, very few, if any, guys would still care at all about that amp. I know it’s subjective, but I just think the amp’s tonal shortcomings would be too blatantly exposed in that context. YMMV. I am huge fan though of the HM-2. Have an original one. It’s to me one of those things that sounds so bad that it’s amazing haha

 

[Smashedguitaris⸸]

Not sure where I mentioned trying to impress anyone??? FFS! Lol.

Look at life outside this forum or any forum for that matter. Dedicated FB/Social Media groups are FULL of people sharing their love for a brand. That was my point. There is a “tribal” aspect to owning a particular amp/piece of gear.

And to your point about getting the best tone…. That’s all subjective. To MANY an Ampeg VH140 is the greatest tone in the world. Shit some people think Dime had good tone.

My point was boutique amps can be a “I finally got one”. Never said it was to impress anyone.

Hey. I love Dime's tone...lol

 

[Metalhex]

I get the point that everyone says, if you love it, then just stick with it. But I wonder if it's one of things where you love something because you don't "know" what better is because you haven't tried it yet....kinda like only playing on a stock Squier strat for 2 years and thinking it's great because you've gotten used to it, then someone hands you an American strat and it may be like, whoa this is what a strat should feel and sound like! Where have you been all my life?

Or, getting only decent/less than stellar BJ's from your woman for 5 years, then you meet a new woman who literally blows you away with amazing technique that you didn't know existed and it's a night and day difference. Then it's very possible that you may say, I should have made the switch sooner!

But it seems the majority on here say that yeah, a boutique amp will be better, but maybe only 20% or so better. That's what I'm getting from this thread. That coupled with the fact that it's an expensive hobby to be throwing money around with diminishing returns.

 

[JerEvil]

I think you will like it. But I want to know if you hate it also. Hopefully you get to make a video either way. It was soo different from anything I had played, that even though it wasn't in the direction of what i was looking for, it changed my mind about what i should be looking for, lol.

Oh I’m sure I’ll dig it.