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Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
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even without different valve choices, there are a pile of different preamp designs and they all have quite different tonal characteristics.. theyoffer different amounts and types of gain.. like a JCM never gets that dirty and is bright / edgey.. the 5150 mk3 red channel is really hi-gain and silk smooth.. the hotter Boogies will get as dirty as the 5150 mk3 but their low end gets dirty too [more so than the 5150] so you end up with looser / flubby lows if you set the bass control too high [actually it's better to use a pedal for "pre-EQ" to prevent strong lows from getting into the Boogie in the first place].. and then there are the cleaner amps like the Hiwatts etc..
but like the preamps, the poweramps are pretty varied too.. some of them stay very clean [so all the drive comes from the preamp], others provide some of the drive [which is quite different to preamp drive.. it's not so silky smooth, it's grittier] likw the cleaner Mashalls, AC30 etc..
although the preamp [as previously pointed out] has the most significant tonal impact, it's the preamp / poweramp combination that dictates the amp's voicing..
that said.. your cab will have quite an impact on your final basic tone too..
it's a "sum of the parts" thing.. guitar / pups -> preamp / poweramp -> cab / speakers.. they all stamp their individual fingerpoint on the tone to varying degrees..
Biasing can have a big part to play. The standard fitall for 83s is 1k5 but you see big variations.
The world has gone digihappy and convolution but I reckon there is a lot of scope for software control of HARDWARE parameters?
Dave.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
"@ecc83 and @jpfamps, would you care to flesh out anything about the topologies of different preamp types, and how the choices affect the subsequent tonal performance, please ?"
Not possible IMHO because tiny changes in response and/or level can have an effect on tone and "feel" (or so I understand!) . You would do well to study "Designing Tube* pre amps for Guitar and Bass by Merlin Blencowe and I am sure others will suggest other texts.
In just one section on cathode followers Blencowe imbues the DC coupled common cathode-cathode follower stage used in many F.M,V. amps as a tone stack driver with an almost magical status as a source of the tone that many find so appealing in those amplifiers.
It is, as with many "tuneful" parts of guitar amp systems, a "bad" design!
But you cannot design a pre amp in isolation. First decision is, tho' you may not like it, "how much will it sell for and to whom"?
Then you star at the output. What sort of speaker, i.e. middly, bassy, bit neutral, bites yer ears off? Having chosen a speaker pro-tem, does it fit in with question one? Will they still be making them in 2020? Will the price go through the roof?
This, and many more factors will decide the voicing of the pre amp and of course the genre the amp is aimed at.
MUCH of it is cut and try (well, more...solder, play, tea, fag, tea, solder, *&^%$K! solder, tea, play.........**k!)
*Fear not. "Tubes" was only on the cover for our colonial brothers, inside it is nicely British!
Dave.
"I now patiently await my flaming from @ICBM and @ECC83 (please say hello to Louisa in HR for me)."
Heh! It is my firm belief that there is at least as much myth, misinformation and outright bllx talked about guitar amps as there is about every other aspect of audio, probably more!
Much of the handwringing and debate about various valves and brands is, I fear totally lost on the punters at the Mucky Duck.
Will say hi for you Chris. I shall probably pop back in next week because I have bought a Core 40 and have some software queries. How does she know you?
Dave.
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
I do generally find you need to make that scale of change though - the idea that you can vastly improve the sound of your amp just by changing one preamp valve to a NOS as seems to be often recommended is much more questionable. The differences can be audible, but more easily lost in the general mix.
I agree with that - although not worse than high-end hi-fi...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein