Amps that have No Soul !

[stratotone]

Blue Voodoo. Never was entirely happy with mine, and the more I learned/heard the more stale it felt.

+1 on this. I played thru one at a guitar competition I entered, and I have never played thru a stiffer tube amp.

Heard Marty Friedman at a guitar workshop play through a BORROWED stock Blue Voodoo head and matching cab. Not my cup of tea, but then I watched him from 10 feet away blast through tons of megadeth and other solos and it sounded great. Was dry because it was guitar > amp no effects, but I was amazed.

It's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

Pete

It's a poor carpenter who uses inferior tools because the toolmaker is paying him to.

The amp is bland. It sounds generic. That a virtuoso sounded good through it doesn't mean he wouldn't have sounded better through almost anything else.

here's another 'tone is in your hands' debate, but seriously, he probably would have smacked most of us here playing on our favorite booteek high dollar amps.

That a virtuoso sounded good through it proves my point. It's the player not the gear. He didn't sound 'inferior' when I heard him ripping through those solos.

Pete

 

[bonedarrell]

IMO..."Soul" refers to what a player feels from an amp. It has nothing to do with what a spectator "hears.". So all of this "He sounded great on any amp" is irrellevant to this thread......again, IMO.

 

[glassjaw7]

Well, only Bugera has "The Soul of Valves"!!!!! So I'm gonna go ahead and say everything else stinks.


Seriously, if I have to name an amp, I really don't like the Marshall TSL. I can honestly say that's the only amp I really, REALLY disliked. Not sure if it's "soul" that it lacks, but it definitely did not have a nice feel or tone. Very brittle, harsh, ice-picky, etc. To ME, that's lacking soul/feel/warmth. But to someone else, that may be the business. It's all preference. I agree with above, if you can play, then you can play no matter what you're plugged into. It just may not be the most inspiring instrument or amp/tool, whatever.

 

[Skrapmetal]

Blue Voodoo. Never was entirely happy with mine, and the more I learned/heard the more stale it felt.

+1 on this. I played thru one at a guitar competition I entered, and I have never played thru a stiffer tube amp.

Heard Marty Friedman at a guitar workshop play through a BORROWED stock Blue Voodoo head and matching cab. Not my cup of tea, but then I watched him from 10 feet away blast through tons of megadeth and other solos and it sounded great. Was dry because it was guitar > amp no effects, but I was amazed.

It's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

Pete

Yup, I have blamed amps before due to my inability and it was dumb.

Ability is not soul. Soul is not ability.

This isn't a discussion of whether or not a talented player can make a bad amp sound better than a bad player can make a good amp sound...

Have you guys never plugged into a new amp and started playing something completely new just because the tone/feel of the amp inspired it? That is an amp with soul, to me.

 

[stratotone]

Unfortunately out of the dozens of amps I've owned, none possessed 'soul'. Some were better for some things than others, but nothing was absolutely useless. Just because someone found an amp really hard to play says legions more about their technique and general abilities than the amp's suitability for the general market, or whether it has 'soul' or 'mojo' or 'feel' or whatever.

Pete

 

[Shark Diver]

If amps have souls then we can infer the possibility must exist that there could be an amp Heaven where all amps are NOS tubed, dimed and only players who have completed the Mel Bay instruction series play them.

 

[glpg80]

i didnt really gel with the SLO i played. much prefer 5150's.

mesa royal atlantic, i played a combo in SC guitar show last year at the ernie ball booth - wasnt really my thing either.

the dime 100 head was meh.

most if not all kranks that i have ever played - they make sound but that is all.

axe fx, i played a friends when they first came out and was not impressed at all. tweaker city though.

there are countless more but these are the ones that indefinitely come to mind.

 

[Tone Zone]

Carvin MTS for me. I had one for quite a while....but, in retrospect....it was pretty soulless.

 

[The Hoff]

I'd have to go with the Bogner twin jet. It was my buddies. We are pretty certain it may have had some functional issues so-might not be the amps fault. Nonetheless, that amp didn't have any "soul."

 

[TIBrent]

Krank,
Bad Cat Hot Cat (with fx loop, without was killer),
Crate Blue Voodoo,
Line 6 (several but not all),
Diamond Amps (1 trick ponies),
Mesa Rectumfryers,
Marshall JCM900s
(just my take)
-Brent

 

[spirit7]

Rectos. I absolutely cannot stand them and they don't do anything for my soul either!

-C

 

[glpg80]

This thread is already ridiculous and headed for pure internet awesomeness. Awaiting more comedy as it goes on!

its a gas killer if there ever was one

 

[the rossness]

All of my MTS amps. The modified preamps are a thing a beauty, but how much soul can a power amp with module bays have?

Traynor YCS50
Bogner/ Line 6 Spider Valve MKii
Diezel Herbert
Roland JC
Peavey JSX

I don't get why people rag on Krank so much. If you know how to dial one in, a Krankenstein+ can sound awesome.

 

[just42dave]

its the player who has no soul, don't blame the amps

If it's only the player that determines "soul", then we would all have saved tons of dough and a few marriages by sticking to our peavey bandits. It's ok to feel some amps have it and some don't.....what's the big deal?

Peavey bandits are gay.
and yes I had a couple peaveys in my time

 

[just42dave]

Rectos. I absolutely cannot stand them and they don't do anything for my soul either!

-C

 

[spirit7]

All of my MTS amps. The modified preamps are a thing a beauty, but how much soul can a power amp with module bays have?

Traynor YCS50
Bogner/ Line 6 Spider Valve MKii
Diezel Herbert
Roland JC
Peavey JSX

I don't get why people rag on Krank so much. If you know how to dial one in, a Krankenstein+ can sound awesome.

Love for Kranks but not for Herberts?!

Each to their own, for sure!

-C

 

[5150clone]

Blackstar ht-100 line 6 vetta I for me

 

[Digital Jams]

Blue Voodoo. Never was entirely happy with mine, and the more I learned/heard the more stale it felt.

+1 on this. I played thru one at a guitar competition I entered, and I have never played thru a stiffer tube amp.

Heard Marty Friedman at a guitar workshop play through a BORROWED stock Blue Voodoo head and matching cab. Not my cup of tea, but then I watched him from 10 feet away blast through tons of megadeth and other solos and it sounded great. Was dry because it was guitar > amp no effects, but I was amazed.

It's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

Pete

Yup, I have blamed amps before due to my inability and it was dumb.

Ability is not soul. Soul is not ability.

This isn't a discussion of whether or not a talented player can make a bad amp sound better than a bad player can make a good amp sound...

Have you guys never plugged into a new amp and started playing something completely new just because the tone/feel of the amp inspired it? That is an amp with soul, to me.

Lke many other men here you seem to read too much romance novels and pine for your tolex covered warrior.

Amp has soul.................yeah ok.

If you get your ass beat by Marty Friedman playing a blue voodoo well then you take your beating.

 

[loudgtr]

Soul is in the sauce

A little sauce and...Boom! Hello there good friend.

 

[Skrapmetal]

Blue Voodoo. Never was entirely happy with mine, and the more I learned/heard the more stale it felt.

+1 on this. I played thru one at a guitar competition I entered, and I have never played thru a stiffer tube amp.

Heard Marty Friedman at a guitar workshop play through a BORROWED stock Blue Voodoo head and matching cab. Not my cup of tea, but then I watched him from 10 feet away blast through tons of megadeth and other solos and it sounded great. Was dry because it was guitar > amp no effects, but I was amazed.

It's a poor carpenter that blames his tools.

Pete

Yup, I have blamed amps before due to my inability and it was dumb.

Ability is not soul. Soul is not ability.

This isn't a discussion of whether or not a talented player can make a bad amp sound better than a bad player can make a good amp sound...

Have you guys never plugged into a new amp and started playing something completely new just because the tone/feel of the amp inspired it? That is an amp with soul, to me.

Lke many other men here you seem to read too much romance novels and pine for your tolex covered warrior.

Amp has soul.................yeah ok.

If you get your ass beat by Marty Friedman playing a blue voodoo well then you take your beating.

Yeah, this is clearly a measure of masculinity.

Your insecurity is showing, puddin'.

Do you really think that we believe there is some mystical force inside of these amps? Or could it be that it's just another discussion of what amps we don't like.