In search of an amplifier
Since buying the Weddington in October, I’ve been playing it through my PowerBook using either Native Instruments Guitar Combos or AmpliTube Uno. To be honest, both have worked well. Guitar Combos, which sports models of a Vox AC30, Fender Twin and Marshall JCM800 (?), is more versatile while Uno is good enough for quick “grab and go” tunes. I tend to favor clean to moderately overdriven tone, and some of the models in the “Twang” (a.k.a. Fender Twin) and “AC Box” (a.k.a. Vox AC30) sound really excel in this area. In general, I find it a bit harder to get the kinds of tone I like out of the Marshall model, and it seems to be a lot noisier.
In some ways, playing through a model on my PowerBook has some advantages: I can have a backing track running in Garage Band or an instructional DVD open in another window. How cool is that? Cool indeed, but I’ve noticed that the 1.5 GHz G4 sometimes has trouble keeping up with multiple CPU-intensive apps like an amp modeler and Garage Band or DVD player. And, to be an elitist snob, modelers ain’t real amps. (Could I really hear the difference between a good model and real amp? Depends. If the two were played by someone more skilled than I am, I probably could, but not if I played them myself).
So, armed with what little knowledge I have, I set off in search of a real, tube amp. The quest has taken up most of my free time for the past week, including a couple of 3:00AM, I can’t keep my eyes open to read one more amp site or forum page, nights. But what kind??? Well, as I mentioned, my preferred tones tend to go from clean and slightly overdrive, to warm overdrive with a bit of hair, to a bit of grind. I don’t typically play with crystalline clean tones, nor do I prefer over-the-top shred. Country and Nu-metal are out; blues, blues-based rock and “classic” rock are in. Think Led Zeppelin or think Allman Brothers/Gov’t Mule, but not Korn or Metallica.
Interjection: A needle skates over an old LP and, just like in the movies, a voice-over says, “hey, wait, didn’t you say you can’t really play guitar?” True, but I can’t stomach the thought of buying a crappy little practice amp. I want real tone, even while I’m learning to use it.
So, real tone it is. From vacuum tubes. That leaves scores of great-sounding amps to choose from. Narrow it down to the kind of tone I prefer and the list is somewhat shorter, though not considerably. There are some great amp builders that offer beautiful sounding amps that I really like. Listen to sound clips of a Carr Mercury or Carr V6, or Komet Constellation and you’ll get an idea what I like. Same with a good Matchless DC30 or Fargen Bordeaux or Fargen Dual. But these are all boutique amps costing thousands of dollars, which I can neither afford to spend nor justify spending right now. Let’s set a cap of $1000 for this endeavor. Not pocket money, but I aught to be able to find a great sounding amp in this range. I just have to consider alternatives to boutique amps like used and kits.
What makes this search especially challenging isn’t the kind of tone I’m after, or even my $1000 spending limit, it the simple fact that I want this to sound great at practice levels. (I’d say bedroom levels, but I practice in my living room or dining room after the kids have gone to sleep!) Most “low powered” tube amps are 15 to 30 watts; this translates into upward of 100 dB peak which is far from quiet enough to practice while the little honeys sleep. The simple fact is that even low-watt tube amps aren’t quiet enough. I don’t need 15 to 30 watts, I need one tenth of a watt. There are a few factory amps that still fit the bill, notably Fender’s new Princeton Recording Amp. It sound great in the demos I’ve seen online, but it’s not shipping yet so there’s no reports on how well this amp sounds in person. Suhr is coming out with the Badger, which features power scaling from London Power, but, again, it isn’t shipping so no word on how it sounds in person. The Carr Mercury would be a great alternative… except for the $2000 price. Other alternatives? Sure, there are some amps that are that small like the Zvex, but they don’t fit in with my tone agenda so my ideal amp must include either an attenuator or power scaling.
Power scaling, as it turns out, might be just what I’m looking for. In a nutshell, power scaling reduces the B+ voltage to the power tubes so they only put out a fraction of their full power. Go from practice amp to playing with a band—hah! Like that will ever happen!—just by adjusting the output power. Power scaling also seems to suck tone less than traditional attenuation. Nobody will think that a Marshall half-stack putting out 1/10W sounds the same as the same rig pushing a full 100W, but that’s a trade off I have to accept. (I should note that a big part of why power scaled don’t sound the same as their louder brethren is simply because they’re not as loud. The more volume, the more detail, texture and richness you can pick out. Up to a point, of course.) My understanding is that a power scaled amp sound the same, just quieter with all the associated limitations. Power scaling can either be retrofitted to an existing amp, or it can be built in to a kit amp, so I have plenty of options if I decide to go this route.