Keep It Simple Stupid...

[GuitarGuyLP]

Why do you have to have a Splawn? I had a KILLER Marshall DSL50 last year that would have been GREAT for most rock gigs. What amps did I "downgrade" to the Marshall from? I'd been playing/gigging Bogner XTC Classic, Bogner EL34 Shiva, Lickliter Rage prototype, Engl Powerball II and VHT Ultra Lead heads into Bogner and Marshall 4X12s and 2X12s over the previous year. I'd also had a Aiken Sabre, Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet and Elmwood M60 in my possession. So I've had some "holy grail" boutique amps.

I only traded-off the DSL because I'd been in full acoustic mode over the past year. But I'm back in rock mode again and right now my simple, single-channel Marshall JCM800 2203X has me more inspired than I've felt in years. It has THAT sound. But guess what? That DSL50 on the green channel in crunch mode with the deep switch on had THAT sound as well. It was a GREAT amp and I remember thinking at the time that if it was good enough for the likes of Gary Moore and Iron Maiden, it was good enough for me.

I'm beyond tired of chasing tone with boutique gear. Like some others here, I grew-up, learned to play, and started gigging in the 80s. And before the whole rack craze had us all chasing blinged-out racks with blinky lights in the late 80s and early 90s... it was just a guitar, a TS9, and maybe another pedal or two into a Marshall. And it was AWESOME! Yes... import gear SUCKED in those days. But if you had an LP, Strat, Ibanez or Charvel/Jackson... running into a Marshall of some sort. You had THAT sound and you worked on your chops to say everything that you needed/wanted to say.

Anyways... I don't wanna rain on the boutique parade, but I wanted to say that if you get a decent set of tools, then your chops and experience are EVERYTHING and I wouldn't get too wrapped-up in chasing gear at this point. If I could go back almost 30 years and force myself to just stick with some good Marshalls (which will ALWAYS be the sound I hear in my head) and not get stuck on the merry-go-round of gear over the past three decades I'd have wasted a LOT less time and money than I have.

So there you have it... from this "old geezer (45)"... just find a few tools that speak to you and play your ass off. Doesn't matter whose logo is on the front of it.

Words of wisdom here. Although I started playing in about 1997, and didn't get my first electric until 1999 the 5150 series of amps seem to be my sound (so far). I have had a Diezel Einstein, Mako Mak 4, VHT 50CL, a Peters dual channel, a Randall RM50 with a boat load of modules, and many more. I prefer my 5150 III mini to all of them. It just sounds like how I think it should sound.

I think part of the draw to boutique is that for a lot of people they don't have near as much time to play as they would like, but they have plenty of time on line at work to read about these mystical amps, and think that if they had a better amp they would be able to spend more time playing it, and get more enjoyment out of them. For some the inspiration that comes from the high end amps works, and they play more, but for others it works for a few days/weeks/months, then it wears off, and the amp/guitar get blamed. So repeat. I used to work 60 hour weeks, and travel a lot so I could almost never play my guitars, and I was always board alone at a hotel, so I would spend many hours reading about amps, and buying, and selling hoping to start playing more, and it always worked for a week or two.

 

[Badronald]

Why do you have to have a Splawn? I had a KILLER Marshall DSL50 last year that would have been GREAT for most rock gigs. What amps did I "downgrade" to the Marshall from? I'd been playing/gigging Bogner XTC Classic, Bogner EL34 Shiva, Lickliter Rage prototype, Engl Powerball II and VHT Ultra Lead heads into Bogner and Marshall 4X12s and 2X12s over the previous year. I'd also had a Aiken Sabre, Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet and Elmwood M60 in my possession. So I've had some "holy grail" boutique amps.

I only traded-off the DSL because I'd been in full acoustic mode over the past year. But I'm back in rock mode again and right now my simple, single-channel Marshall JCM800 2203X has me more inspired than I've felt in years. It has THAT sound. But guess what? That DSL50 on the green channel in crunch mode with the deep switch on had THAT sound as well. It was a GREAT amp and I remember thinking at the time that if it was good enough for the likes of Gary Moore and Iron Maiden, it was good enough for me.

I'm beyond tired of chasing tone with boutique gear. Like some others here, I grew-up, learned to play, and started gigging in the 80s. And before the whole rack craze had us all chasing blinged-out racks with blinky lights in the late 80s and early 90s... it was just a guitar, a TS9, and maybe another pedal or two into a Marshall. And it was AWESOME! Yes... import gear SUCKED in those days. But if you had an LP, Strat, Ibanez or Charvel/Jackson... running into a Marshall of some sort. You had THAT sound and you worked on your chops to say everything that you needed/wanted to say.

Anyways... I don't wanna rain on the boutique parade, but I wanted to say that if you get a decent set of tools, then your chops and experience are EVERYTHING and I wouldn't get too wrapped-up in chasing gear at this point. If I could go back almost 30 years and force myself to just stick with some good Marshalls (which will ALWAYS be the sound I hear in my head) and not get stuck on the merry-go-round of gear over the past three decades I'd have wasted a LOT less time and money than I have.

So there you have it... from this "old geezer (45)"... just find a few tools that speak to you and play your ass off. Doesn't matter whose logo is on the front of it.

Same here. I'm 44. Used a couple pedals into old Marshalls and a Boogie for years. Went through a ton of gear and once again I'm using just a couple pedals an old Marshall an a Boogie. It was a fun run, but I'm at my best with a boost, wah and a delay pedal into a simple amp.

There's a guy local selling a JTM45 head for $800. Another with a 1959 and another with a 1987. Can't see why anyone would go out of their way to spend $4,000 on a boutique amp. Not anyone that was a gigging musician anyway. Doesn't matter really. Like I say, either you can play or you can't.

 

[311boogieman]

I'd hardly call Splawn boutique though. It is just a high quality made in the USA amp that is relatively affordable. You get what you pay for in this case. I'm not saying the DSL is cheaply made either. I quite like the DSL. It is not of the same quality as Splawn. You should see the transformers in this thing.

 

[barnesjd]

I think part of the draw to boutique is that for a lot of people they don't have near as much time to play as they would like, but they have plenty of time on line at work to read about these mystical amps, and think that if they had a better amp they would be able to spend more time playing it, and get more enjoyment out of them. For some the inspiration that comes from the high end amps works, and they play more, but for others it works for a few days/weeks/months, then it wears off, and the amp/guitar get blamed. So repeat. I used to work 60 hour weeks, and travel a lot so I could almost never play my guitars, and I was always board alone at a hotel, so I would spend many hours reading about amps, and buying, and selling hoping to start playing more, and it always worked for a week or two.

I have a full-time job plus three young kids with one on the way. Hence I spend far more time thinking about how I'd like to play my guitar than actually play it. I have Splawn, Bogner, Engl, etc on my short list of amps I wish I could own.

He's exactly right.

 

[Red_Label]

I think part of the draw to boutique is that for a lot of people they don't have near as much time to play as they would like, but they have plenty of time on line at work to read about these mystical amps, and think that if they had a better amp they would be able to spend more time playing it, and get more enjoyment out of them. For some the inspiration that comes from the high end amps works, and they play more, but for others it works for a few days/weeks/months, then it wears off, and the amp/guitar get blamed. So repeat. I used to work 60 hour weeks, and travel a lot so I could almost never play my guitars, and I was always board alone at a hotel, so I would spend many hours reading about amps, and buying, and selling hoping to start playing more, and it always worked for a week or two.

I have a full-time job plus three young kids with one on the way. Hence I spend far more time thinking about how I'd like to play my guitar than actually play it. I have Splawn, Bogner, Engl, etc on my short list of amps I wish I could own.

He's exactly right.

I totally agree with you guys. I've been a network admin for the past two decades. So I've had a LOT of time to sit here on my ass, stuck at work. With nary a guitar in sight. So it's why I got sucked into boutique gear tone-chasing. But once you've done that for a while... you realize that besides satisfying our curiosity, we're mostly just chasing our tails. Most modern boutique amps seeks to simulated hot-rodded/modded Marshall and/or Fender circuits. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's great! But at the end of the day, you realize that you can kick just as much musical ass with the original as you can something that cost more than most people's yearly salaries in 3rd world countries. I went through my PRS Custom phase in the 90s, and I've been through the boutique amp phase. And besides seeking great tone and curiosity if some new amp had some heretofore undiscovered tones in them... I know that part of my lust of expensive gear was driven by my ego and the desire for others to lust after my gear. I care less about that now and have come full circle to where I started -- the desire to impress with my playing and tone alone and not really caring about the price tag of the tools if they are up to the task.

 

[Red_Label]

I'd hardly call Splawn boutique though. It is just a high quality made in the USA amp that is relatively affordable. You get what you pay for in this case. I'm not saying the DSL is cheaply made either. I quite like the DSL. It is not of the same quality as Splawn. You should see the transformers in this thing.

I agree with this too. My friend has a 2012 Quickrod that he LOVES and it's what broke his decade+ love affair with his Bogner XTC 101b (which is sitting at my house at the moment and will soon be sold to a mutual friend). Actually... his dream rig has been dubbed the the Splawn-Lick and consists of his Splawn and my old Lickliter Rage prototype (which he fell in love with and "begged" off of me... LOL).

So I have NOTHING but the highest praise for Splawn and many of the other higher-end, less common brand names. It's all good stuff. My point was really that for many of us... we went through the cycle of trying all of the expensive stuff and have found ourselves [happily] back where we started.

 

[Red_Label]

Same here. I'm 44. Used a couple pedals into old Marshalls and a Boogie for years. Went through a ton of gear and once again I'm using just a couple pedals an old Marshall an a Boogie. It was a fun run, but I'm at my best with a boost, wah and a delay pedal into a simple amp.

There's a guy local selling a JTM45 head for $800. Another with a 1959 and another with a 1987. Can't see why anyone would go out of their way to spend $4,000 on a boutique amp. Not anyone that was a gigging musician anyway. Doesn't matter really. Like I say, either you can play or you can't.

Yup. When I recently was going through YouTube clips, looking for good demos of the 2203X, I was pretty appalled at the guys with basements full of guitars and amps who were so willing to post a video of themselves SUCKING for millions to see. And I could do nothing but ASSume that they were OK posting those vids because they ASSume that the watcher will be SO impressed by their sweet gear, that their ears will stop working and they won't realize that the player is incompetent. That's all I could come up with. Well, that and the fact that the player doesn't know they suck! I've been playing, gigging, recording, and teaching for decades and I'm still afraid to post most of my stuff up for all to see. I can't imagine being so detached from REALITY that you happily post-up a video of yourself massacring some simple old classic rock tune for all to behold.

Anyways... I've never personally singled any of these guys out and called them on it. I don't believe in that. But they'd probably be better-off if SOMEONE would tactfully suggest they spend less money and more time woodshedding. I guess we have Curt Cobain to thank for all of this virtuosity being displayed on the web?

 

[rlord1974]

First of all, let me just say that I am disguested with you guys. DISGUSTED!!!!

J/K

Yup. When I recently was going through YouTube clips.....I was pretty appalled at the guys with basements full of guitars and amps who were so willing to post a video of themselves SUCKING for millions to see [as well as] the fact that the player doesn't know they suck! I can't imagine being so detached from REALITY that you happily post-up a video of yourself massacring some simple old classic rock tune for all to behold.

Have you ever watched the early auditions for American Idol / X-Factor / America's Got Talent? A lot of people must be so tone deaf as to not have a clue how TERRIBLE they are.

 

[Red_Label]

Have you ever watched the early auditions for American Idol / X-Factor / America's Got Talent? A lot of people must be so tone deaf as to not have a clue how TERRIBLE they are.

I think that many of them are indeed tone deaf. And some of them must have their mommies who will always be there to wipe their asses/noses and tell them that they crap gold bullion. And the vast majority I think are just SO hungry for attention, that they'd do ANYTHING to be on TV. I guess we have Paris Hilton to thank for that. It used to be that you worked your ass off to get great at something and MAYBE you'd get rich and famous as a result. Now... kids just want to be dubbed famous for doing nothing [great] and then gather the riches for it.

We've become a nation of "farmers" who want to harvest a bumper crop in the fall after having planted NO seeds in the spring and watered NO crops in the summer. It's just pathetic. Anyone who can't see the desolation that this road leads to is blind or one of the participants in this great folly.

 

[311boogieman]

I agree with this too. My friend has a 2012 Quickrod that he LOVES and it's what broke his decade+ love affair with his Bogner XTC 101b (which is sitting at my house at the moment and will soon be sold to a mutual friend). Actually... his dream rig has been dubbed the the Splawn-Lick and consists of his Splawn and my old Lickliter Rage prototype (which he fell in love with and "begged" off of me... LOL).

So I have NOTHING but the highest praise for Splawn and many of the other higher-end, less common brand names. It's all good stuff. My point was really that for many of us... we went through the cycle of trying all of the expensive stuff and have found ourselves [happily] back where we started.

I definitely see what you are saying. I have not been through that cycle yet because I'm still relatively new to all of this. I personally wanted a high quality amp that would last 'forever' and make me a better player. This is a guy who was coming off a Peavey Valveking for crying out loud. So, as you probably know, Splawns show all of your mistakes. That statement is very true. I'm just defending my amp recommendation of a Splawn over something less for what the TS is looking for. Besides, the Gears are fun

 

[Red_Label]

Totally hear ya on that! You made a BIG upgrade from the Peavey to the Splawn. And yeah... that amp is plenty great to be anyone's lifetime amp (at least any rocker who digs hot-rodded Marshall type tones)!

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Why do you have to have a Splawn? I had a KILLER Marshall DSL50 last year that would have been GREAT for most rock gigs. What amps did I "downgrade" to the Marshall from? I'd been playing/gigging Bogner XTC Classic, Bogner EL34 Shiva, Lickliter Rage prototype, Engl Powerball II and VHT Ultra Lead heads into Bogner and Marshall 4X12s and 2X12s over the previous year. I'd also had a Aiken Sabre, Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet and Elmwood M60 in my possession. So I've had some "holy grail" boutique amps.

I only traded-off the DSL because I'd been in full acoustic mode over the past year. But I'm back in rock mode again and right now my simple, single-channel Marshall JCM800 2203X has me more inspired than I've felt in years. It has THAT sound. But guess what? That DSL50 on the green channel in crunch mode with the deep switch on had THAT sound as well. It was a GREAT amp and I remember thinking at the time that if it was good enough for the likes of Gary Moore and Iron Maiden, it was good enough for me.

I'm beyond tired of chasing tone with boutique gear. Like some others here, I grew-up, learned to play, and started gigging in the 80s. And before the whole rack craze had us all chasing blinged-out racks with blinky lights in the late 80s and early 90s... it was just a guitar, a TS9, and maybe another pedal or two into a Marshall. And it was AWESOME! Yes... import gear SUCKED in those days. But if you had an LP, Strat, Ibanez or Charvel/Jackson... running into a Marshall of some sort. You had THAT sound and you worked on your chops to say everything that you needed/wanted to say.

Anyways... I don't wanna rain on the boutique parade, but I wanted to say that if you get a decent set of tools, then your chops and experience are EVERYTHING and I wouldn't get too wrapped-up in chasing gear at this point. If I could go back almost 30 years and force myself to just stick with some good Marshalls (which will ALWAYS be the sound I hear in my head) and not get stuck on the merry-go-round of gear over the past three decades I'd have wasted a LOT less time and money than I have.

So there you have it... from this "old geezer (45)"... just find a few tools that speak to you and play your ass off. Doesn't matter whose logo is on the front of it.

Words of wisdom here. Although I started playing in about 1997, and didn't get my first electric until 1999 the 5150 series of amps seem to be my sound (so far). I have had a Diezel Einstein, Mako Mak 4, VHT 50CL, a Peters dual channel, a Randall RM50 with a boat load of modules, and many more. I prefer my 5150 III mini to all of them. It just sounds like how I think it should sound.

I think part of the draw to boutique is that for a lot of people they don't have near as much time to play as they would like, but they have plenty of time on line at work to read about these mystical amps, and think that if they had a better amp they would be able to spend more time playing it, and get more enjoyment out of them. For some the inspiration that comes from the high end amps works, and they play more, but for others it works for a few days/weeks/months, then it wears off, and the amp/guitar get blamed. So repeat. I used to work 60 hour weeks, and travel a lot so I could almost never play my guitars, and I was always board alone at a hotel, so I would spend many hours reading about amps, and buying, and selling hoping to start playing more, and it always worked for a week or two.

Agree with much of this and can definitely relate. Miss my younger days when all we cared about was playing and that the amp was loud enough to mix with drums at band level lol. I used an old 70's silverface Super Reverb 4x10 combo with a distortion pedal for heavier stuff back then.

Went through quite a few boutiques for the entire decade of the 00's. Since then I've pulled back and use easily available mainstream stuff mixed with various pedals.

Still have the itch to try a few boutiques just don't have the scratch right now.

To the OP, enjoy playing. There's plenty of time when you're older and may find yourself reading more about gear online than playing for any myriad of reasons.

But if you have the means I encourage everyone to get it out of their system and after enough rides on the gear-go-round you'll realize how circular it all is in the end.

People have to find out for themselves and satisfy that curiosity.

 

[Red_Label]

Agree with much of this and can definitely relate. Miss my younger days when all we cared about was playing and that the amp was loud enough to mix with drums at band level lol. I used an old 70's silverface Super Reverb 4x10 combo with a distortion pedal for heavier stuff back then.

Went through quite a few boutiques for the entire decade of the 00's. Since then I've pulled back and use easily available mainstream stuff mixed with various pedals.

Still have the itch to try a few boutiques just don't have the scratch right now.

To the OP, enjoy playing. There's plenty of time when you're older and may find yourself reading more about gear online than playing for any myriad of reasons.

But if you have the means I encourage everyone to get it out of their system and after enough rides on the gear-go-round you'll realize how circular it all is in the end.

People have to find out for themselves and satisfy that curiosity.

WERD!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I find I dial everything in the same way anyway so i usually let my gas sit for a bit and i don't end up buying another amp.. All my randall modules, 2204, and 2204 clone are all dialed in the same. No point in getting another amp to dial in the exact same way!

 

[Red_Label]

I find I dial everything in the same way anyway so i usually let my gas sit for a bit and i don't end up buying another amp.. All my randall modules, 2204, and 2204 clone are all dialed in the same. No point in getting another amp to dial in the exact same way!

Exactly what I realized after years of chasing my tail. I'm always seeking the Marshall roar no matter what I'm plugged into. Silly to be losing money selling/trading multi-channel boutique amps when all I'm looking for is more kerrang in my cereal. So I bought a 2203 and plan to [mostly] call it good. Maybe add a plexi eventually.

 

[bulletproof_funk]

What they said! ^^

Like the OP I'm fairly new to the gear-go-round since joining the forums last year. I admit to scratching the itches several times, sometimes impulsively, but I did end up with gear I'm much happier with than I started. It's a steep learning curve having not played the boutique stuff before. Having said that I wish I took my time with some of my gear purchases and found out about RT first, would've started off with the right amp sooner. I've liked every guitar I've bought though (well except for one). So there's some good advice on this board, learn from the experience of others.

BTW what do the Quickrod gears do, let you choose the amount of compression? Can the top gear do take you to liquid lead territory without a boost?

 

[legend71]

I just bought a 5150 block letter head for $500. Cheaper than a Splawn and will do waht you need it too gainw ise for hair metal. Lot of other amps just as cheap or cheaper will get you there too.

 

[barnesjd]

I totally agree with you guys. I've been a network admin for the past two decades. (...)

Very cool. I'm a software developer myself, creating problems for network admins like you.

 

[Ventura]

Agree with much of this and can definitely relate. Miss my younger days when all we cared about was playing and that the amp was loud enough to mix with drums at band level lol. I used an old 70's silverface Super Reverb 4x10 combo with a distortion pedal for heavier stuff back then.

Went through quite a few boutiques for the entire decade of the 00's. Since then I've pulled back and use easily available mainstream stuff mixed with various pedals.

Still have the itch to try a few boutiques just don't have the scratch right now.

To the OP, enjoy playing. There's plenty of time when you're older and may find yourself reading more about gear online than playing for any myriad of reasons.

But if you have the means I encourage everyone to get it out of their system and after enough rides on the gear-go-round you'll realize how circular it all is in the end.

People have to find out for themselves and satisfy that curiosity.

WERD!

Which reminds me of this song...

Gotta agree - I'd be better off with 1 amp, 1 or 2 guitars, and commitment and time to dedicate to that 1 amp and 1 guitar, rather than hedging my potential growth as a musician and player with a stockpile of gear which somehow promises the concept of dedication and commitment in the craft of playing guitar. But as we sadly come to realize, it doesn't. The KISS rule may very well be the best medicine for some of us - me included - keep it simple stupid, get an amp, a guitar, and STFU and play.

 

['63-Strat]

I use a head and a rack with a power conditioner, the "brain" for my g system and my in ear monitor transmitter for my in ear monitors in it. All i have to do is plug in the rack, the cat 5 cable to my g system board, the heads power cable to the rack and the speaker cable. I'm setup faster than anyone I've played with honestly and faster than when I use my pedal board for backline amps too typically. So I think if it's taking too long to setup a rack setup it's user error, honestly. I *hate* dealing with people that can't setup quickly though, very unprofessional imo.

That said I agree 100% with the fact that all things considered chasing gear will never make up for amount of hours in woodshed/gigging.