Ever experienced a change in gear for the worse?

Hi guys,

I was discussing this with my old guitarist friend. Back in my loud band days as a rhythm guitarist, I used my beloved Fender Am. Std. Telecaster through a 100W Marshall half stack. Set the master to 6 and the gain at 3ish and voila! Live at Leeds tone. KACHANG!

I left the loud band (regionally successful but loaded with interpersonal tensions) and moved away from my hometown. While living in Montreal I decided to purge my gear. I sold everything and took some of the money and bought a Gibson ES-335 Dot and a 22W Mesa Boogie DC-2 Studio Caliber.

I played this combo for years but I could never find my tone in it. After a while I traded away the 335 and sold the amp. My daughter was little and I had no need for an electric setup anymore.

It took time to realize that I was expecting to find that Tele/Marshall tone in my 335/Boogie combo. I had changed my sound from single coils to humbuckers and from 100Ws of EL34s to 22Ws of EL84s. No wonder I couldn't find my tone. I was expecting the wrong things from my gear.

Have you ever made a similar mistake?

[Dru Edwards]

Hey Doug, great thread. A little different take than yours.

I was gigging in a metal band and I had EMG 81/85s put in my Schecter and gigged that many times. I used the mid-scooped button to remove some mids on my JCM2000 TSL 100. I was the only guitarist in the band so I didn't get lost in the mix. 6 months later I pushed in that button to bring the mids back and wow, my tone improved. I didn't even realize I had lost it.

[blue]

Yup. I have (still, thankfully) a Chandler Avenger. It's basically strat electronics and a 6-point trem in a Mosrite body. 10 or so years ago I bought a strat because the Chandler is super rare, and I didn't want to play it out any more.

I quickly discovered that 3 single coil pickups, with the bridge one slanted is not necessarily "baiscally strat" electronics. The Avenger has three 30 year old Chandler lipstick pickups, and a volume and master tone, 2 knob setup.

I never got anywhere near the Avenger's tone with my Blackface Bandmaster and Showman with the strat. Lowered the strat pickups until they were almost flush with the pickguard. Ran a Graphic EQ on the strat trying every frown and smile shape, and dropping the level. Tried everything I could think of.

Don't have the strat anymore

Thanks for the responses guys!

Originally Posted by blue

Don't have the strat anymore

I discovered the same thing when I bought the fraternal twin brother Strat to match my Tele. Obviously (but not obvious to me at the time) the Strat played and sounded almost nothing like the Tele so I was disappointed with it and it became my second fiddle. Pretty dumb of me, eh?

[blue]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Thanks for the responses guys!



I discovered the same thing when I bought the fraternal twin brother Strat to match my Tele. Obviously (but not obvious to me at the time) the Strat played and sounded almost nothing like the Tele so I was disappointed with it and it became my second fiddle. Pretty dumb of me, eh?

If you ever have a half hour to kill, I really enjoyed this video. I like his take on the Strat being less versatile than the tele. The strat is basically variations on only two sounds, while the tele has 3 legitimately distinct sounds.

I do want both around, but a tele is more important to me than a strat. And more and more these days a tele with a humbucker is my huckleberry!

[rmp]

I've gone in to these changes with eyes opened, it's a compromise.

the older I get, the less I'm apt to try to lug an 85Lb amp around with all the fixins (pedals/pedal boards)

there's give and take involved.

but ya nothing quite as much fun as cranking along thru a 100w marshall head with a 4x12 cab.

we used to use Ampegs back in the day, but it was pretty much the same experience..

long live rock and roll!!!!!!

[blue]

Originally Posted by rmp

I've gone in to these changes with eyes opened, it's a compromise.

the older I get, the less I'm apt to try to lug an 85Lb amp around with all the fixins (pedals/pedal boards)

there's give and take involved.

but ya nothing quite as much fun as cranking along thru a 100w marshall head with a 4x12 cab.

we used to use Ampegs back in the day, but it was pretty much the same experience..

long live rock and roll!!!!!!

Yeah. There's ideal, and there's practical. Back in my Surf Days, at the turn of the century, I was playing through a Dual Showman. For convenience it became a Blackface Bandmaster. Then I figured, well, why not just use my backup amp? That was a 4.5 pound Crate Powerblock! I needed power and clean tone. It had both.

The beauty was I could carry the Crate in it's shoulder-bag, and a 15 inch cab on one side of my body, My guitar in a gigbag with a tremolo and cables in the accessory pocket on my back, and my Fender Reissue Reverb unit on the other side of my body. One trip from the car.

The rumor mill said that the Powerblocks overheated. Never had an issue...

[Pnewsom]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Hi guys,

I was discussing this with my old guitarist friend. Back in my loud band days as a rhythm guitarist, I used my beloved Fender Am. Std. Telecaster through a 100W Marshall half stack. Set the master to 6 and the gain at 3ish and voila! Live at Leeds tone. KACHANG!

A 4-12 Marshall cabinet is a force of nature, it would take a while to get used to a 22watt 1-12 amp after that.

I went the wrong way going back to a Strat after many years of gigging with a P90 LesPaul. It turns out I'm a Gibson sound kind of guy. I still like and own Fenders too, but...

Amps are a big deal too.

[roylor4]

Not in recent years, but many moons ago, when I still had (some) hair, I made a LOT of Bonehead moves. I started blowing harp over 25 years ago and I have had some stellar vintage tube amps (at least 30). I have none of them now.

My life was hard then, and many times I had to sell gear to eat or pay rent. I am largely satisfied with what I have now, but I don't have any better amps than I had then. Wish I could go back in time. Some standouts:

"57 Tweed Gibson Explorer
Silvertone model 1482
Alamo Challenger
Kalamazoo model 1 Blackface

I have even had a tweed Bassman and a real 57 Champ and nothing touched the ones above.

Thanks again for the responses! And 4X12 cab to 1X12 combo... Yeah what was I thinking?

[rmp]

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

A 4-12 Marshall cabinet is a force of nature, it would take a while to get used to a 22watt 1-12 amp after that.

I went the wrong way going back to a Strat after many years of gigging with a P90 LesPaul. It turns out I'm a Gibson sound kind of guy. I still like and own Fenders too, but...

Amps are a big deal too.

It's a "thing" for sure.. I have a couple of really nice strats... sound and play great, I am more at home on a SG, or Les Paul. One of my SGs has a set of Gibson P90s, which are GREAT pickups

And amps ARE a big deal.. the marriage of the two makes it.

[rmp]

Originally Posted by blue

Yeah. There's ideal, and there's practical. Back in my Surf Days, at the turn of the century, I was playing through a Dual Showman. For convenience it became a Blackface Bandmaster. Then I figured, well, why not just use my backup amp? That was a 4.5 pound Crate Powerblock! I needed power and clean tone. It had both.

The beauty was I could carry the Crate in it's shoulder-bag, and a 15 inch cab on one side of my body, My guitar in a gigbag with a tremolo and cables in the accessory pocket on my back, and my Fender Reissue Reverb unit on the other side of my body. One trip from the car.

The rumor mill said that the Powerblocks overheated. Never had an issue...

There's a few companies offering things like this, Crate for sure, Quilter I think is another. Small heads, Solid State, small, very powerful, massive head room.

Remember the Roland JC120s? loudest, cleanest amps on the planet, didn't do over driven tones all that good but holy crap the head room on those amps was spectacular.

[M Sarad]

I hated my Boogie.

[rmp]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

I hated my Boogie.

I've tried a bunch of them, TBH, I was never moved by what they offered.

Certainly not enough to ever buy one.

On the other hand.. Marshalls?? "Whoop there it is..."

[blue]

Originally Posted by rmp

Remember the Roland JC120s? loudest, cleanest amps on the planet, didn't do over driven tones all that good but holy crap the head room on those amps was spectacular.

Had one. In the early 80s. Used it for metal. The Distortion knob was a waste of space. Should have just left it off! Used to run a Boss DS-1 in front of it for distortion. Strangely, in keeping with this thread, I later got an MXR distortion+ that just didn't work with it. Even did a passable Black Sabbath tone with the DS-1!