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  #16  
Old 02-27-2019, 11:57 PM
perttime perttime is offline
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I recently went googling because an intriguing amp showed up for sale: Hughes & Kettner Puretone. It is out of production.

Apparently it was designed by simplifying. As few steps between guitar and speakers as was deemed possible. There's a tone stack but there's also a pot that gradually cuts it out. Just one volume. 25 or 40 Watts, depending on speaker impedance, I recall. On various forums, people praise its touch sensitivity. At the same time, it is mentioned that it highlights anything you do. If you play badly, that is highlighted too....
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  #17  
Old 02-28-2019, 08:44 AM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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I mostly play an amp with about zero touch sensitivity - a polytone teeny-brute bass amp (same as the other Polytone Brute amps but 10" speaker and only vol/treble/bass controls). It changes nothing with touch, with high output pickups vs low output pickups, you can just set it for how loud you want it and you get clean headroom volume. Very one-dimensional but classic jazz tone. I had a blackface (1967) Fender Bandmaster that was very touch sensitive, to me. If I wanted clean volume I set the volume quite high but dialed back the guitar volume so as to not overdrive the input stage. If I wanted to rock out a bit, pickups up all the way and distortion started around 3 on the volume dial. It was very sensitive to pickups as well, you would really notice which ones were high output and which ones were a little calmer.
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  #18  
Old 02-28-2019, 09:28 AM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostnote View Post
First rule if you want touch-sensitive: make sure you have decent pickups in the guitar. If the pickups aren't responsive, you're going to lose much of the subtleties of your playing. You might have the exact amp you want, but it will sound like something's missing. Having said that, I'm not much of a pup swapper - I think the stock pups in a decent guitar are usually quite good. I have a couple of cheaper guitars with raunchy, nasty stock pups, but I left them in there - that tone can be fun if you need to bludgeon a song into submission!
Yes, it used to be having good pickups required either buying an expensive guitar or upgrading the electronics on a lower price instrument. Nowadays a new Epiphone or Squier classic vibe will get you there.

About nasty high output pickups, yes I have a copy of the super distortion humbucker in my Tele Deluxe which is rated at something like 16 ohms. Pushing an amp into distortion with it is easy but it sure does allow for a lot of messy playing/ mistakes - touch sensitive indeed (humor).
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  #19  
Old 02-28-2019, 09:46 AM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perttime View Post
I recently went googling because an intriguing amp showed up for sale: Hughes & Kettner Puretone. It is out of production.

Apparently it was designed by simplifying. As few steps between guitar and speakers as was deemed possible. There's a tone stack but there's also a pot that gradually cuts it out. Just one volume. 25 or 40 Watts, depending on speaker impedance, I recall. On various forums, people praise its touch sensitivity. At the same time, it is mentioned that it highlights anything you do. If you play badly, that is highlighted too....
I think this is key for starting a young guitar player on the road with electric. Instead of falling into the trap of high gain thick tone, which can turn out to be a dead end (boring), it’s better to have sensitive equipment that encourages greater and greater finesse.

It’s no secret the Stratocaster was the launch pad for many talented guitarists due to its plain, naked single coil platform that pushed the envelope of the possibilities of talent by providing the player detailed articulation to improve technique upon.
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  #20  
Old 03-01-2019, 12:54 PM
J Patrick J Patrick is online now
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....my take...touch sensitivity is sometimes referred to as velocity in tube amps....its referring to how quickly the amp responds to the signal it receives..in much the same way we talk about an acoustic guitars responsiveness...some acoustics are more touch sensitive than others...generally there is less effort required to get to the sweet spot...I find that amps with simple signal paths are likely to be touch sensitive...I prefer them and currently play through a Benson Monarch...the most touchy amp I've owned yet...
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  #21  
Old 03-02-2019, 04:13 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J Patrick View Post
....my take...touch sensitivity is sometimes referred to as velocity in tube amps....its referring to how quickly the amp responds to the signal it receives..in much the same way we talk about an acoustic guitars responsiveness...some acoustics are more touch sensitive than others...generally there is less effort required to get to the sweet spot...I find that amps with simple signal paths are likely to be touch sensitive...I prefer them and currently play through a Benson Monarch...the most touchy amp I've owned yet...
How quick is the response of a quick amp? 1 mS, 0.1 mS? Sound travels 1.1 foot per millisecond. Say you are three feet from your amp, the delay is roughly 3 mS. If you are six feet, 6 mS. How long does a signal take to get from the input to the output of your amp, say you have a 10 kHz frequency response?
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  #22  
Old 03-03-2019, 04:09 AM
paulp1960 paulp1960 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by printer2 View Post
How quick is the response of a quick amp? 1 mS, 0.1 mS? Sound travels 1.1 foot per millisecond. Say you are three feet from your amp, the delay is roughly 3 mS. If you are six feet, 6 mS. How long does a signal take to get from the input to the output of your amp, say you have a 10 kHz frequency response?
I think electricity travels through a circuit at approximately the speed of light so I can't accept the notion of a quick amp. A modelling amp, however, will have an analog to digital convertor at the front end and these do introduce a time delay but usually of the order or less than 1 millisecond.
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  #23  
Old 03-03-2019, 06:05 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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My Marshall Vintage Modern is a touch sensitive amp. Reacts great to playing dynamics and volume control.
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