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00:00 Truefire best deal
00:20 Happy New Year and thanks for checking in!
00:50 @DippedInTone @RhettShull had Reverb’s data analyst on
1:00 no tube amps in the top 20 best selling amps
1:22 is the digital stuff replacing the tube amp?
1:50 the top 5 “amps”
2:20 that’s an AC15….that was number 22
2:39 Helix Native (but with a BK Butler Tube Driver at some point)
4:53 if you use a modeler ever, can you be an amp guy too?
5:30 there’s an AC15
5:42 last year’s list had a few tube amps…
6:14 are tube amps too expensive?
6:20 affordable tube amps?
7:00 plenty of amps are cheaper than a modeler?
7:45 if people are buying less new amps – increasingly difficult to keep building them?
8:32 or amp companies branching into the digital world?
9:07 if you’re a tube amp purist – are you even buying new or modern amps?
9:20 “the older stuff sounds better”
9:33 vintage fenders aren’t as expensive as you might think?
10:00 the used market is probably a huge competitor
11:00 can anything be done? buy a new amp or something….
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Get my PADs bundle here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=TVZN39QQAAKTG (this folder will grow, and I’d encourage you to ask for different keys/songs and stuff that might suit this type of preset?)
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Try my general patches for Helix or HX Stomp in this bundle for £3 using this link – I will then send out the patches! https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=45L8AZ4RYL3HW
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https://www.buymeacoffee.com/johnnathancordy – if you like what I do and
only if you wanted, you could buy me a coffee!
source
This is bigger than just tube amps, for myself at least, but I don't buy anything off Reverb. Occasionally I buy gear on eBay or Guitar Center's and Sweetwater's sites, but finding stuff in person is a more viable situation. Btw, I love tube amps and use them most.
Mate I love valve amps and build my own simple 4 to 5 watt SE amps. To me, simple says easy to diagnose and fix and sounds really good. Old amps with turrets, eyelets or tag boards are really fixable., Open up a typical modern valve amp and holy shit it might as well be a digital PCB in there.
This year I picked up two 2nd hand amps, a Quilter Block USA and a Joyo Blue Jay for stomp box money and was blown away by the sounds + I can turn them down and plug in headphones at night.
So, I think people are responding to a quality, price and utility equation which often falls towards digital and ss amps. However, I will cry volumes if valves disappear.
Sorry for the rant.
Tube amps sound great, but anyone who’s says they could A / B between a modern modeler and pick out the tube now a days is full of s***. Go ahead and tell me it’s about “feel” all you want, you’re not that guy bud.
I want to own a tube amp one day but while I'm still as broke as I am I'll stick to digital
I don't have any non-tube amps. They just just don't have the sound. My fav is 55 years old this year. I acquired it from a skip and it cat £330 to have it professionally sorted. It appeared to to be 100% original. The, now replaced capacitors, were date stamped 1968! How many katana, fractals, kempers will be serviceable in 20 years?
It sings!
You can keep your landfill Tone master.
You make crap videos which are just an excuse to widdle away to the gullibles.
Aren’t tube amps 1950s technology?
Great point
Start collecting your tube amps, unless you all start buying them. They will become relics and WAY more expensive. 😎✌
I use tube amps most of the time, but also a small plug in my family bought me to become noiseless at home. And I like its presets! I like plugging it in and instantly have a good tone. But with my band I play tube amps which are heavy and need space and need a car to transport them. So I think about using a pedal amp like the small orange which at least has a tube and is said to be very loud.
I've been using my Helix with a Marshall JCM2000 TSL602 for about a year … I sold it last month and bought a Fender Tone Master FR-12 … best gear purchase I've made since buying my Helix.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
turns out once you got an ac30 for example its good for another 50yrs or so, don’t need to buy one every year. Modelling stiff comes with its own obsolescence as tech moves on so it has created a forced market as we spuddle around effectively choosing between vhs, betamax, laser disc and dvd
I didn’t think my Mesa Fillmore 25 was too expensive. When I bought it the price of my original choice, a Deluxe Reverb had gone up to the point that the few hundred more for the Fillmore was worth it. Especially since I really wanted a master volume amp.
Home recording, bedroom artists, small 'coffee shop' gigs, venue mixing desks are all reasons conventional amps are low on the list plus the type/style of material being played 'on stage'. Then there's the flip side of those diehard pub rockers who are and will only consider tube amps. Personally solid state amps are a happy medium. Tube amps are ridiculously and unnecessarily expensive.
I don't see a problem with that. Tube amps will not die, don't panic. Those modelers are a trend but they can not replace a tube amp – why? Feel, look, and the most important thing: repairability! You've noticed I didn't mention tone (because those new technology modelers are great when it comes to tone). But in the end: try to repair a modeler with CPU, RAM and a lot of proprietary chips inside.. in let's say … in about a decade or two! Good luck with that… The are just digital waste… A tube amp may no be for everyone, but for those who appreciate an amp which will last waaaay more than just two decades.
I recently returned to Guitar after a 30 year hiatus, back then I had a Laney 30watt and then went to ADA MP-1 before getting out. Returning I was leaning to a Katana until a friend told me to checkout the spark! It’s amazing especially for the money! That said I kept my eyes out once I was sure I was back and scooped up an amazing deal on a Archon 50 combo on FB marketplace. Being 2 years old and less than half the new price was just too hard to pass up! I prefer it to the spark but do 80% of my practice on the spark – I “save” the tubes for rocking out or getting the sweet warm tones that can be 80% emulated. For many like me, i think it’s cost
Bought a Katana new a little over a year ago & recently gave it to a friend after buying a filmosound. The amp had been rebuilt & put in a 1×12 cabinet so it’s mix of vintage & new. Recently purchased a Revv G20TS new from Revv & also purchased a second hand Dr Z ZWreck Jr. I don’t gig, I record. I own Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 & my DAW has digital amps. I’ve opted for tube amps & torpedo capture x for going direct to my interface.
Tell an acoustic guita player that he sounds better through a Tube amp. For most people it's hard to imagine that an electric guitar player doesn't need an Tubeamp, or it's sound and feel… if you have some sort of an acoustic approach through an electric guitar.
I use and have both worlds. My Tubeamp makes me sound an play differently but my non-typical-rock style of playing gets what it needs with two pedals and a Solid-state. I dont know if there's an TAmp that fits my sound. Do i search for it? No, cause i have what i need. I think that the occidental stereotype need this Tube emphasis to sound convincing and give the needed feedback during the playing.
Fuzz is great, but when i use one it's only to play clean or slightly driven (don't like the Fuzz Distortion). Tremolo, exclusively before Modulation.
If your playing isn't blues and/or rock based, shoegazing a concept you don't understand and don't need to, if you stop thinking in stereotypical fusion like Latin-ROCK, Folk-ROCK, etc,… cause it's played with an electric guitar and therefore it has to have the ROCK element in it… then you've left the american and british led way of "logic of sounding and playing" and become mature.
I think, it’s a simple as the needs of the many non-professional players showing in the statistics.
Many amateur players, whose jobs are outside of the music industry, have way more money than most, working inside the artistic realm. Their buying habits have impact.
The approximation of dozens of amps, speakers and peripherals can be appealing advantages for any buyer, pro and amateur.
A modeler is not an amp at all. It's more or less some kind of multi effect.
Good video John. Happy New Year. In this past year Ive had to retire my Peavey Classic 30 tube amp from gigging, it messes up my back too much. I bought a Spark 2 and a Katana MkII 50. They dont have the feel of my tube amp but they sound fine. The Katana I will use for live gigging with a full band. The Spark, I modified with 2 speaker jacks into a 2 x 10" cabinet for busking on full battery power. Have a great day. Thanks for the video.
“Fun” isn’t a good enough reason to make my friends, family, clients, wallet and colleagues suffer. That’s the cost of a tube amp. Only the guitar player is happy about it. All mine sit around anyways I haven’t gigged them in a while. It’s not a complex issue imo. They’re just bad for everyone that’s not the person playing it most of the time. Very fun tho.
I haven't played a tube amp in more than 25 years, and I don't miss them. I've been using modelers since the early 2000's for all of my recording, and love them. The Line 6 POD Go and Express, and Neural Amp Modeler plugin have become my go-to devices for recording. I've even used the Stevie T Amped modeler for a few songs. It really comes down to convenience and ease-of-use, because at this point, in a full mix, you simply cannot tell the difference. Unless you have dog ears.
I find this a little overblown TBH. It’s a little like saying “there are no V8 engines in the top 20 best selling used cars of 2024”…
Doesn’t mean folks will stop buying cars with V8s 😂
I guess building a new amp won't be about selling the actual thing but could be in creating a new sound and then replicate that digital … take redseven with their tonex involvement for example
3:28 wow that snare roll was incredible 🥁 who's on drums
i have always had a tube Fender Twin on hand as one of my go to amps. Got a Tonemaster Twin last year and it was eye opening. I think a mass market for tube amps is coming to an end. There will always be boutique tube amp builders, but technology is only going to get better and better so the need for Fender, Marshall, and other big brands to produce new tube amps will be less and less.
I am quite excited about the digital stuff. I only use physical amps though. I like the feeling when I rehearse or if I gig at a bar/restaurant there will not be a PA. But I really see the need for it.
A decent solid state plus a tube based preamp is the key to this
Tube amps made in California are TOO expensive. They are basically so expensive it's pathetic. California has taxes WAAAAAAY to high and the cost of living is insanely Stupid! Then all these other countries want to match or increase the cost to match the said stupidity of California and Oregon made Amplifiers. Then they are made with flaws to insure they can only last 2yrs before they burn up. Trash. Just trash.
Happy new year! Great video. Thanks!
I been going back and forth between real amps and modellers. If I am practicing alone or not feel like setting my full rig. I go modeller. Plus, you got a ton of options of what amps you wanna use. But if I am jamming with my band, I might go with a real amp. Once you get the amp cranked, it sounds awesome!
The guy from Reverb even said the numbers are skewed since a lot of people just aren't buying/selling amps on Reverb because of the cost of shipping.
It’s ok to model, it just means your gay
I wonder if many of the tube purists can really tell the difference in a mix. One day a real controlled test will clarify if it makes a difference to the audience.
Would be curious to know what those very few tube manufacturers are thinking with this telling list from Reverb. Something tells me though that they could have predicted it before that list even came out. I've already stockpiled about thirty years worth of tubes for my Two-Rock in anticipation of declining interest in tube amps. Truth is though…..my Fractal Audio FM3 sounds every bit as good. Hard to believe I'm saying that as I've been playing tube amps now for over 40 years. Still doesn't 'feel' as good as a tube amp though, if that makes sense. I remember when LCD televisions first came out, there were people who still thought the colors of a traditional cathode ray tube were still superior but that didn't last long. I don't think it's the same thing with tube amps though being how lovely all those delicate harmonics sing out with a good tube amp. But man……….those guys at Fractal Audio sure know what they're doing. That FM3 could certainly fool my ears in a blindfolded test. That I'm sure of.
sounds right compromising your ideals for money is the new thing lol.