TUT 6 - Dumble?

[Darkbluemurder]

Well, I decided not to get TUT6 - as much as it peaked my Interest. I just ordered TUT 1 & 3. For me, TUT 6 is for another day.


Thanks for the Input.

Good choice - these are also the ones I like best, followed by TUT 5, then very closely followed by TUT 2 and 6. TUT 4 is by far the most technical, and it will probably take years that I can derive a real benefit from it.

[tyru007]

I purchased TUT 3 for the analysis on the champ and bassman. I found it usefull but not alot of circuit analysis (which is probably in previous TUT). There was lots of good content in build techniques. The only thing that disappointed me was the use of hand drawn (and often hard to read) circuit sketches.

[robertkoa]

I'm here as a player to possibly have a very low power amp or pre or Dumble amp made by someone so bear with me here. The guys like O'connor and Aspen Pittman whom I've talked to personally on the phone profess to be tube gurus and to SOME extent they may be. Oconnor's power scaling technology is definitely showing promise when done by builders like Reeves and Fargen and others. BUT neither Aspen Pitman NOR O'connor have EVER made a commercially available amp that is considered to be a benchmark for tone or even a "honorable mention" in forums,or magazines where guitar player's discuss what they use. So for raw material these guys may have great data but when it comes to actually voicing the front end of the amp they have not to my knowledge equalled Randall Smith ,Dumble,Bogner, Soldano,Marshall,Rivera,Peavey,Stephenson,Reeves, Carr, etc. etc. for building "TONE Machines" themselves. Is it really that tricky to get an amp that sounds great ?

[Structo]

So for raw material these guys may have great data but when it comes to actually voicing the front end of the amp they have not to my knowledge equalled Randall Smith ,Dumble,Bogner, Soldano,Marshall,Rivera,Peavey,Stephenson,Reeves, Carr, etc. etc. for building "TONE Machines" themselves. Is it really that tricky to get an amp that sounds great ?

Yes it can be.

First of all you have to know where to make the changes and what values of components to use.

The other part of the equation is kind of an art. You have to be able to take what the guitarist says he is wanting in the tone department.
He may be totally clueless about how to say what he wants, you have to interpret what he says and then try to steer the tone that way.
Many musicians don't know anything about the workings of an amp, so they may go on a tail chasing game or flavor of the month type amp buying spree.
You see this all the time at The Gear Page where somebody is always trying to sell an amp they just bought but decided it wasn't for them.
A guy can save some money by shopping there.

Also many people don't realize how important the choice in loudspeakers is.
Speakers are probably at least 40% of your tone.
But it gets very expensive to try them especially if you are filling a 412 or 212 cab.

[Jana]

What is tone? Who defines it? What is a great sounding amp and who is the one that bestows that title?

Some think that a Mesa Boogie has great tone. I don't. Who is right? I have certain things I listen for and want in an amp that to me defines a great amp with tone. Others may disagree with me, that is their right. So, given that, how can a definition of "tone" be arrived at?

I listen to Jeff Beck and hear the "tone" dripping from each note he plays. I call that tone. There are people who think he sucks and has no tone. There are people who like the overly compressed Rockman sound, ie. Boston, and think that is great tone.

As for voicing the front end, that is only a piece of the equation. The power amp makes a big difference. So do the speakers. So does the guitar plugged into it. So does the person playing the guitar.

Is it really hard to get an amp to sound great? No. You just have to define what "great" really is and most importantly, be willing to stick with that definition once the amp is built (and hopefully your ears and tastes won't evolve so that the definition of "great" changes).

[M Fowler]

I agree tone is so subjective the possibility of some amp guru building me an amp that I really would die for is next to null.

I love the attack Angus Young gets with his amps and that SC but I can't figure out how to get that sound. It isn't just get an old SC and then a marshall head/cabinet or a new Wizard amp, that isn't how tone works.

Look at all the freaking amps out there for sale and Peavey is continuing the modeling science that Line6 is so famous for.

Got to build something that I will enjoy and I too have to sell off my other amps to get more speakers like some EVM12L or maybe go with some 15 inchers.

Mark