Re: RI Bassman "limited" PTP vc PCB



On 2/27/04 1:47 AM, "harp-l-digest" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 15:16:27 -0800 (PST)
> From: Howard Young <blues_harp68@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: RI Bassman "limited" PTP vc PCB
> 
> In the past I have bought into many of the myths and hype regarding
> amplifiers and have spent a LOT of money accordingly.  I have often
> noticed that the extra money doesn't always buy that much (if any)
> better tone from the amp.  Better quality, generally, but not always
> better tone.
> 
> Awhile ago I stumbled across the following web site:
> 
> http://www.tone-lizard.com/
> 
> It is recommended reading.  I don't agree with everything this guy
> says, but my experiences put me in his corner.  He explores and shoots
> down a lot of the myths and hype surrounding tube amps and boutique
> amps, including a whole lesson on the Bassman amp.  He also gives some
> good technical knowledge.  Be advised, it is an extensive site.
> 
> Howard
> www.melissaneelsband.com
> 
> __________________________________

Yeah, this site's been around awhile. A lot of his stuff is so way
overboard, like the description that the Bassman is not even a bass amp...

But WHO CARES??!?!

I don't know if the guy is even a player. The bottom line is that I, as a
player, can tell the difference. He can explain away all he wants...Tech is
tech, but where the rubber meets the road, on stage at the gig, I can hear
and feel the difference, and again, even if it's only a perceived positive
difference, chances are, it will positively affect my performance.

I know that with a tube amp, I can, with technique, push, or move, the amp
into the sound I want at any given point. I can overload the outputs, or
come back down on them to get a clean sound. I can hit them hard and fast,
or slow and easy, and they respond accordingly. I prefer tube amps because
of their playability, not because LW/KW/RP/GS used them.

As I said, it's like the custom harmonica thing. I mean, how hi-tech can you
get with a 10-hold diatonic? Yet what price are the most desired types
fetching? The players who buy them insist they play easier, and therefore,
their confidence in these instruments positively affect their playing.

There is a point of diminishing returns. I can't, or won't, play high prices
for a custom harp. So I customize my own. I won't pay mega-bucks for a repro
or even an original, and I won't try to recreate one, but I will buy an amp
that gets me the sound I want, and pay a reasonable price for it.

I actually came from "the other side". Because of the relative hi-tech
nature of my business, and some sort of high geek factor in my own
personality, I went down a path early on in my amplified experimentation
that was decidedly more hi-tech than what is considered the "norm" in blues
amplified playing. I wondered why blues players seemed stuck in a time warp
with all their old gear. I was nearly 100% solid-state. I've never been one
to follow the crowd, but after years of trying different rigs and combos and
little bits of gear that promised to make things easier and improve my tone,
I found myself back at square one...a straight-up guitar tube amp, a bullet
mic and Marine Bands, and major work on my tone.

Ray.





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