glpg80":24vat6m0 said:
I do not need specific cabinets for my 5150 or 94 Tremoverb. They have sounded great with any cabinet, but are speaker dependent and prefer V30's.
No amp sounds its best with every cabinet. Maybe your two amps have sounded good with the first few cabs you tried. If so, congrats - you have sidestepped a long process of cab matching that many guitarists have to go through. And when I say cab matching, I include speakers, too. If you were to try more cabs, you'd find they can have a big impact on how the speaker sounds in them.
glpg80":24vat6m0 said:
I agree with the OP and that is exactly my opinion on them as well. I have not needed to flip gear to find what i was looking for - these are the only amplifier heads i have ever purchased in my life and i did so playing, researching, and listening - not reading forums or testimonies. No EQ pedal is a magic box for everything. As a matter of fact i find that the more pedals and effects you have to add the more you take away from your core tone and do not allow the amp to breathe - the exception being front end boosts. What i love about either of amplifier is the ability to actually sound better at band volume than at bedroom volume, any cabinet, live or in the studio. They were made to be cranked and have no real weakness on their own.
I have owned more than 50 different amps and more than 20 cabs, and my experience is certainly different than yours. If you've found what you want in the two amps you have owned, that's great. You'll save a lot of money chasing amps and tone. But you should be careful making blanket statements about how EQ pedals impact amps, or how lots of pedals degrade an amps tone, when your experience level appears to be pretty narrow.
In fact, an EQ pedal in the loop can be essential if you play a lot of different rooms. The different sizes and shapes of the rooms you play on gigs have a very big impact on how your amp is heard. Pro sound guys have known this for years, and it's a common practice for them to set their PA's 31-band EQ differently for each room they play. This helps to smooth out the frequency extremes that can be emphasized or negated by the shape of the room, height of ceiling, reflective wall or floor surfaces, etc.
Your amp is affected in the same way. Whether you are miced FOH or just playing with stage volume, every room will make your amp sound different to the audience. For this reason, a decent 7 or 10 band EQ in the loop can REALLY help you maintain a consistent sound every night. Because you'll have to adjust it every time you play a new place.
And this isn't even taking into account tube variance. Even with tubes that are still full of life, there can be tonal variations from night to night. Add that to the changing room dimensions, and their impact on your tone, and you have a lot to take into account.
Many guitarists don't want to deal with this hassle. Some just try to compensate for room variations by just using their Bass, Mid, and Treble knobs on their amp. But the amp EQ is too limiting in its scope, and there is too much give and take with this method. Other players will just use the same settings regardless of where they play. They stand right in front of their amp and think "It sounds good to me," and they are done. But this is amateur behavior. IMO, if you are going to be particular about your tone, you should care what your amp sounds like when it actually reaches the listener. And this requires effort. An EQ pedal is a great way to take care of this. I call it a magic box because of how much impact it can have on anyone's tone. And that potential impact is HUGE.
EQ is largely what separates most amp tones. To ignore this, when it changes from room to room, is to basically ignore your tone.
glpg80":24vat6m0 said:
Engl's are great at what they do but get old. It is not all up to the user to determine what is right or wrong from a product - all of that is determined by the engineer building it - whether it fits your perspective of "the subjective tone in your head" is totally up to you. Engl or not is subjective. Not the cabinet, the pedals, or anything else. That just helps you get closer or farther - once again all subjective.
Yes, all tone is subjective. But if you really love an amp's tone at first, and then "it gets old", then maybe it's not the amp's fault. Putting aside issues of tubes wearing out, etc, it could be that they player is doing something different. It's silly to say that an amp sounds good at first, and then 'gets old.'
If somebody doesn't like Engls, that's just fine. There are many different amp makers because we all have different tastes and different tonal goals. But every time I hear someone complain about how an amp they used to love no longer sounds good, I find it's either because their tubes are worn out or because they won't make EQ adjustments.
