@Alfred short of overdrive can equalization be used to replicate tonal characteristics of vacuum power tubes such as a 5881? If so, what frequencies should be boosted or cut?
Alfred is a pointy-head newb.
Aside from being much louder at the same wattage of a solid-state amp, Tube amps have something far more important than the harmonic distortion or clipping that can easily be replicated by solid--state systems, they have something called sag that is a kind of compression that occurs when the player plays harder or output suddenly increases, and they also have something often labelled "presence" which is the Q of the power-amp stage, hard to mimic.
@Lulz4l1f3 @CanisPundit When I'm discussing tone in a forum, it's usually because someone (maybe me) called someone a @#$!.
; )
@AskTheDevil @Lulz4l1f3 tone is so subjective I refrain from getting into it on forums, but will look for consensus of opinions when making a purchase. Depending on the gear the points of argument disappear when the drums kick in. And very few pieces of gear are always holy grail special and consistently so. To that point I understand @Alfred’s non-committal it’s all relative answers, but understand it’s annoying. 😁
@CanisPundit @AskTheDevil @Alfred
I'm not big on pedal-platform clean amps like Fender, HiWATT, and VOX (though the AC30 is brilliant for chimey tones), but I don't think tone is subjective at all.
Amps are tools. They have characteristics. A good modded Plexi will take you from clean to a 70s breakup without that annoying buzzing (especially on an SSS strat), a JCM800 will do that late 70s humbucker distortion if you push it hard, etc.
Cabs/speakers are important too.
@Lulz4l1f3 @AskTheDevil I prefer amps with personality too and there are some personalities that turn people off sonically. Sometimes they’re blinded by tradition/brand.
I'm patiently waiting for AMP X and hope it's at least half as good as I expect it to be,
It would be nice to have something that gets 95-97% close to the tone of most of my favorite amps.
@Lulz4l1f3 @AskTheDevil as a pedal board only rig I went with a Effectrode Blackbird fed by a Tubesteader Beekeeper. It all sounds great without sounding like any one brand. Supposedly aiming for Dumble in design.
This is what I'm hoping solves a lot of my problems.
@CanisPundit
Yeah, I am one of those dudes who hangs out on forums discussing tone, signal path, amp mods, etc.