New Fangled Guitar Amps

[jjasilli]

Looks like late 20th / 21st century technology has caught up with tube guitar amps.


Blackstar St. James:  switching PS instead of PT. 


Multi channel amps with everything from Fender clean to heavily distorted Marshall / Marshall clone tones, and everything in between.  Midi switchable channels & amp settings.


Roland cube: tube preamp > digital power amp simulation > transistor power amp > speaker.  Endorsed by Joe Walsh & Eric Johnson!!!


Apparently a nightmare to impossible to work on.  Any thoughts on this stuff?

[tdvt]

It was bound to happen eventually, but maybe with today's technology it will be a nice sounding final product.

I had my first hybrid bass amp 30 years ago (Ampeg tube pre/SS pwr) & a couple more in between, but now my bass rig is an all SS Ampeg micro head which sounds great.

And no complaints about the size & weight!

So, as a result & as much as I love tube amps, I wouldn't dismiss a guitar hybrid amp without hearing it first. Though I am unconvinced that the formula is so simple as tube pre/SS pwr. I think there can be more to it but DSP can come into play as things morph.

I can imagine working on them would not be much fun & I have a hard enough time remembering tube tech to want to go there...

[shooter]

Apparently a nightmare to impossible to work on.  Any thoughts on this stuff?

if you like the versatility, the sounds it makes, play it til it breaks, throw away like all "modern" electronics
I was traveling, looking to pick up gas money, i'd offer to fix broke stuff at guitar/amp stores.  One place had amazing vintage tube stuff, the owner says he's real happy with his tube guy, I asked about the SS stuff, he laughed said he only takes it in on trade to "get it off the streets" pointed out back to a 5yrd dumpster overflowing n said "have at it" we laughed, I left.

[Willabe]

Multi channel amps with everything from Fender clean to heavily distorted Marshall / Marshall clone tones, and everything in between.  Midi switchable channels & amp settings.

Apparently a nightmare to impossible to work on.  Any thoughts on this stuff?

 

                        

[jjasilli]

Shooter, that's what I was thinking.  If you're a pro earning good money, the convenience might be worth replacing a $1000 - $3500 amp every year if it breaks.  I couldn't imagine a DIY build of such a thing.  But it sounds intriguing to substitute-out a PT for a lightweight switching PS.  E.G.: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004053910505.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.8148356.2.30ff2c0fzl8YqL&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21EUR%21%E2%82%AC+60%2C50%21%E2%82%AC+54%2C45%21%21%21%21%21%402100bb4a16659849560997375e5366%2112000027875337081%21sh


Semi DIY possibility:  tube preamp > digital power amp / cab simulator > SS power amp (maybe D class) > FRFR speaker -- all housed in a combo cab to resemble a guitar combo rig.  Or the amp/cab simulator could be outboard.  This would be like a Roland Cube amp.

[shooter]

mixing sensitive tube preamp with a switch mode PA can get messy, the switch-mode is beyond the audio range, but harmonics can sneak into the audio range.  I spent longer than I should troubleshooting an LED light messing with my signal path. 
I'm just a tech so "worth it" for performing is left to the musician, the musicians however need to understand broke gear is now limited to the manufacturer for repair, guessing most gear has either a 90 day or 1year, so you folk will have to do the math on return on investment.


I fly a camera in the price range you've mentioned, i can swap out some parts, the problem is calibration, (tuning), the OEM won't give me the proper tools, so, send the assembly in, get a "like version" (reverb'd unit), yours goes into the repair que, rinse n repeat.  guessing that's how the pro gear repairs will be like

[stratomaster]

Recently tried to update the firmware on my Line 6 PodGo. It required heroic efforts just to get it back to where it started off after the update failed. 

I've never had to update the firmware on my Deluxe Reverb.

[jjasilli]

 


I think I need to get over my inquisitiveness for digital. New fangled analog is bad enough. Last Fri night I (eventually) played guitar through a Blackstar St. James amp owned by the lead singer.  I couldn't even turn the damn thing on!  It has no indicator light, a power SW & a standby SW - denoted by those #$@# international symbols for on/off, which mean nothing to me, plus I'm dyslexic.  Finally the owner had to turn it on for me, and also disengage the magical, hidden low power SW.

[shooter]

after the update failed.

lucky it didn't brick on you.
 got free lunch the other day at the dinner, one of the cash-register Ipad tablets went stupid.  simply powered done, did my mental 10 count, prayer, walla, free lunch.  the owners were told by their IT repair folks NEVER "unplug unit"  I laughed said "I never did listen well"

[Platefire]

I can't help but being curious about all these digital wonders even though I never hook a guitar to one in Guitar Center. Like someone said, if you likeum,play it until it goes haywire and then give it a repair shot but if it's major, as someone said disposable! I have to have something these tired oldeyes can see for repair. These new miniature circuits, I can't even see properly with a magnifying glass, much less work on them. But if someone wants togive me one, yeah, I'll take it:>)

[Woodrow F Call]

Recently tried to update the firmware on my Line 6 PodGo. It required heroic efforts just to get it back to where it started off after the update failed. 

I've never had to update the firmware on my Deluxe Reverb.

Have you tried a Tone Master Deluxe Reverb? 

[Lectroid]

I love my Roland Cube!  I run its preamp out straight into my JTM30's Effects Return jack.  It has decent effects and amp sims, to cover what I do (such as it is).  It's like a pedalboard that sits on my amp--with the controls right at hand instead of down on the floor.  At my age, this can be important.     Also, it's at least ten years old and cost me all of, what, $100?

the owners were told by their IT repair folks NEVER "unplug unit"  I laughed said "I never did listen well"

Always worth repeating Onoff's Law:  The attention span of a computer is only as long as its power cord.

Also jjasilla's link to the power supply is amazing.  Has anyone tried one of these?  Are they clean enough for tube amps?