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I'll bet you're like me and no matter what amp you have you always dial in "that sound" you love and are familiar with.
 
Guilty here too. :yes:

What I reckon we effectively end up doing is to dial out the aspects of tone we don't like. We either achieve this through dialling out the bad stuff or chasing the good stuff / sweet spots.
 
Michael Landau: “People go insane comparing different amps… The cabinet and speakers make far more difference”
 
Luca79":3obv12e1 said:
Michael Landau: “People go insane comparing different amps… The cabinet and speakers make far more difference”
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I easily have space for 3 amps, but not for 3 4x12"s :LOL: :LOL:
 
Every once in awhile I've come across an amp that when I'm playing it, "feels" and sounds different than what I'm used to.

I remember the first time I played a Fryette and felt that. There was something beyond what I was used to hearing, etc.
 
Yeah it’s more about feel than tone. My 6505+ for example just doesn’t respond to my playing style very well for whatever reason, I don’t feel “connected” to the thing and feel like I’m fighting with the amp if that makes any sense, yet recorded it sounds fine.
 
Testing something A-B greatly exaggerates what little difference there actually is between fairly similar amps, your ear really tunes into the mids content. On a track or used on their own they often do about the same thing and sound great, but back to back they can seem way more different and sort of make each other sound worse too. What seems perfect one day can sound honky if you´ve started the day with something less peaky, and so on. I sold a lot of perfectly nice amps for very little reason before I caught on to this.
 
RaceU4her":w2wkjeao said:
Yeah it’s more about feel than tone. My 6505+ for example just doesn’t respond to my playing style very well for whatever reason, I don’t feel “connected” to the thing and feel like I’m fighting with the amp if that makes any sense, yet recorded it sounds fine.
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This as well. My Marshalls all feel a bit different and my C+ is on a whole other planet. Also, as previously mentioned cabs can take a single amp and turn it into a different beast altogether. I have 7 and counting lol
 
Fordman65":fd2dgcb5 said:
Racerxrated":fd2dgcb5 said:
RaceU4her":fd2dgcb5 said:
Yeah it’s more about feel than tone. My 6505+ for example just doesn’t respond to my playing style very well for whatever reason, I don’t feel “connected” to the thing and feel like I’m fighting with the amp if that makes any sense, yet recorded it sounds fine.
Click to expand...
This as well. My Marshalls all feel a bit different and my C+ is on a whole other planet. Also, as previously mentioned cabs can take a single amp and turn it into a different beast altogether. I have 7 and counting lol
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I'm in the midst of doing an about-face on my 4x12 stance. For the past number of years, I was content using a 2x12, while my 4x12 collected dust. The thing I never factored into the equation is I thought they had the same speakers, when in fact they didn't. The 2x12 had Mesa Vintage 30s while my Diezel had some other variation that I didn't like as much. I bought a mesa trad 4x12 and love it. Both the 2x12 and Diezel 4x12 are gone. Now I'm on the lookout for another 4x12 or 2, with different speakers.

Not sure what brands yet. Thinking some sort of Marshall and not sure about the third. Likely going to replace the speakers with some vintage greenbacks. I'd also like to try some Scumbacks in the other 4x12. I don't play out and hardly ever move my gear, so why not, right?
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I have two Emperor 4x12’s upstairs in my jam room. I don’t ever see them coming downstairs unless I sell them. I have two old Peavey cabs out in the garage if I ever need to bring cabs somewhere. I have no desire to play through anything less than two 4x12’s. It just sounds and feels right.
 
Racerxrated":2b83pa2s said:
RaceU4her":2b83pa2s said:
Yeah it’s more about feel than tone. My 6505+ for example just doesn’t respond to my playing style very well for whatever reason, I don’t feel “connected” to the thing and feel like I’m fighting with the amp if that makes any sense, yet recorded it sounds fine.
Click to expand...
This as well. My Marshalls all feel a bit different and my C+ is on a whole other planet. Also, as previously mentioned cabs can take a single amp and turn it into a different beast altogether. I have 7 and counting lol
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yeah im at 7 as well i believe and agree the cab makes a bigger difference but its hit or miss. i dont like my DSL all that much with the regular 1960a but through my ibanez with v30s it totally rips, my Laney gh100s though loves that marshall cab but dosent really do it for me through others. i do like endlessly trying different combos though, it keeps me playing
 
You know you will undoubtedly get ear fatigue when you have both a Wizard and recto to go crazy on...

And I totally agree on the cabs making a huge difference. Unfortunately my space and volume constraints relegate me into having to use load boxes into IRs and FRFR or headphones (or an Axe Fx). But I still manage to have enough fun to get ear fatigue quickly.
 
A lot of amps won't show their differences as much until you get some volume behind them too. When I had a Budda Superdrive 30 and a Bogner 20th Shiva at the same time they were almost identical at bedroom volumes. Get them on stage and the differences were very obvious.
 
I deal with this all the time. I track/mix pretty loud, even though I’m 100% AxeFX going direct. I just really enjoy music more when the kick hits me in the chest. I track everything with a DI and then go back in the mixing stage and find an amp that works best for the song. Sometimes I’ll just print several different amps into their own track so I can compare really quickly. After a couple hours my brain turns to mush and I can’t decipher anything. When all you hear is white noise, it’s time to stop.

Same deal with drum sounds. If I tweak just a snare or just a kick for more than 30 minutes my brain goes “Fuck you, buddy! I’m shutting your ears down in 3, 2, 1”.
 
I know it's not exactly rock 'n' roll, but mixing at or around 85dB is the solution to ear fatigue.

You'll require far-less breaks that way and of course not cause damage.
 
Not really ear-fatigue related, but try comparing the same amp into different cabs/speakers. Now that makes a huge difference. Different high amps into the same cab only have slight differences in my experience, especially once you get them up at high volume. Speakers are like 80% of the tone. The final filter if you will. :)
 
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