By Mark Grove
Some of the best amps for tone and low level volume are 15 to 30 watts at the most. These were used in session recording situations in the 50's and 60's in Nashville, Los Angeles, New York and Motown. Most players still seem to think they need monstrous wattage and a boat load of accessory gear to get great recordings or live sound. Smaller amps with lower wattage seem to give off a tone that's naturally warmer and purer. A lot of players have problems with their tone on low watt practice amps as well.They don't seem to be able to tweak them because they aren't either modelling amps or have effects in the chain. Remember what I said about players who start by recording everything digitally and never learn how to be creative recording any other way,and then if they're asked to record an Analog Demo they can't be creative. The same thing holds true with amps and creating your tone with your axe and amp. No effects either guys. See if you can do it. I bet most of you can't because you don't have the balls to do it during your shows. I don't mean acoustic shows I mean full on electric shows with your full band.
I'm a prick aren't I? Some of the best vintage amps have been turned into guitar amps that aren't recognizable anymore because of all the trick outs and renos done to them. Basically, too many state of the art features like overdrive, too many tone controls and compression dials. Drives me nuts when players constantly fiddle with this shit!
Now here's what I think. Some of you are laughing now, and some of you are rolling your eyes. You should learn how to set up and play your vintage guitar amp along with setting up your guitar so they work for you, not against you. The best well known vintage amps are naturally Marshall Blues-Breaker or Fender Princeton which were used for some of the best recordings for Chess and Vee-Jay Records in the 50's and 60's.
I'm actually surprised revamped vintage amps like Fender and Marshall aren't modelling amps which would infuriate me even more. I shouldn't give these people evil and stupid ideas just to make money. Damn marketers!
Attaining good Tone Control on Vintage and Old Amps:
For overdrive and tone control you should know how to set it up with your guitar like I said above, and use your bass and tone controls with your guitar together so you when you need extra volume or to back off, you can do it without fiddling with everything. This way you develop a keen sense for building great tone for blues,country and rock.
For more info on Vintage and custom made amps from an expert: Dan Torres is the man!
I did an interview with Torres who has done guitar,amp and pickup mods for some of the best players around. Go to his site below to learn more.
http://www.torresengineering.com
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