A thread about simplicity

Simple is good.

Guitar with a single humbucker, volume, and maybe a tone. I've made a few guitars with multiple options, but ended up never using them.

Similar with amps. I have a few with multiple channels, switches, etc. While some of it is cool I never make full use of it. Mostly I just find the setting I like best and stick with it. I much prefer a single channel amp I can get a good sound from.

I could be just fine with 1 guitar, 1 amp, and a 4x12. As long as the guitar plays well and the amp doesn't sound like a fizzy mess I can make it work in most situations.

I have more gear than I really need. When it comes to production gear, I'm fairly particular about what I actually purchase. I'm not one that buys just to try and flip a month later. Its not about the grass is greener, trying to fill a void, or the endless search for the perfect tone. I see it as what is unique about that piece of gear and what inspiration can it invoke. I buy something for a specific reason with intent to keep it for life because of that.

The other part of gear for me is building things myself. Outside of playing and creating music I really enjoy building the "tools" I use. There's something special and more inspiring about playing a guitar or amp that I brought to life with my own hands.

Last count was 45 guitars. 30 of those were either scratch builds or complete tear down and refinishes. Building 1-2 guitars a year for 20 years adds up. LoL

I'm heading that way with amps too. Except for getting one from a local amp builder I'm mostly done with buying production amps. Anything further will be stuff I build myself.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Jesus christ man, I would go back in time and slap the shit out of myself for not just getting the correct shit as soon as I figured it out. I wasted so much time and money, it was insanity

I'm guessing you tried to explain to him that no, nothing will scratch the itch until you actually get the thing you need?
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Lately, he is flirting with an EVH Stealth. And I already steered him towards the silver jubilee and he bought it. But he isn't getting what he needs from it. I want to show him how to push the thing. Because he is moving from low gain, and he is putting the boost in the loop. He isn't pushing the front end. I don't know if he knows how to make an amp jump with palm mutes. I don't know if he is turning the master up enough to make it talk to you. He lives ten minutes from me and I don't know if he is embarrassed to play in front of me, but I can't get him to let me put that thing through the paces. I also want to show him the MGL so he can see the next tier.

I tried to talk him into going to an amp fest to get an amp and we arrived at silver jube because he wasn't trying to spend too much money. The jube can be flipped and is an amazing sounding amp in it's own right, just got to hit it hard on the front end.
 
Smash said:
Lately, he is flirting with an EVH Stealth. And I already steered him towards the silver jubilee and he bought it. But he isn't getting what he needs from it. I want to show him how to push the thing. Because he is moving from low gain, and he is putting the boost in the loop. He isn't pushing the front end. I don't know if he knows how to make and amp jump with palm mutes. I don't know if he is turning the master up enough to make it talk to you. He lives ten minutes from me and I don't know if he is embarrassed to play in front of me, but I can't get him to let me put that thing through the paces. I also want to show him the MGL so he can see the next tier.

I tried to talk him into going to an amp fest to get an amp and we arrived at silver jube because he wasn't trying to spend too much money. The jube can be flipped and is an amazing sounding amp in it's own right, just got to hit it hard on the front end.
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I love jubes, but I think they work best for like rock or punk, kind of like my engl, not really a metal amp

What kind of tone is he going for
 
DanTravis62 said:
I love jubes, but I think they work best for like rock or punk, kind of like my engl, not really a metal amp

What kind of tone is he going for
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I fucking wish I knew. I told him the EVH could easily be the amp for him if he wants a super compressed easy to play amp. I had one and it was fun. But you know...I asked him if his dream tone was a can of bees.
 
MadAsAHatter said:
I just make the Tames Jyler knockoff version.
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In my research I have found that it is possible to carve a James Tyler headstock down into a workable telecaster shape rather easily. However, one cannot just simply reverse the process and carve a James Tyler headstock from a telecaster. This is why you do not see Chames Tywah Chinese knockoffs. That and the schmear paint prevent that totally.
 
I can really speak to this post man.

When I was an Airman in the 90s, I didn't make a lot of money and had one Washburn guitar and a Fender M80 combo and played that for years. I couldn't just go out and get whatever I thought i wanted so didn't even think about it.

In the current day, I have a great job and am retired from the military. At one point I got an AxeFx-II, bought a Gibson Les Paul Standard fresh off the factory line, etc, etc. Over the years I got the new Mesa Dual Rectifier and chased all of these tones.

I learned a valuable lesson. Just because you CAN buy stuff doesn't mean you should buy stuff. It can become a never-ending tone chase that never satisfies you.

I have a new way I go about my playing now. I have my main guitars and amps for gigs. Separate from that, I have my Strat for those tones, Les Pauls for those tones, and my Chubtone for metal stuff. I will say that having the bases covered keeps me from wanting tons of other guitars.

I get the Subway reference. We have all of these guitar tools at our disposal and doesn't mean we should use all of it.
 
Smash said:
I think there are Three ways that we can fuck up.
1 We read these glowing reviews of an amp and buy the thing only to find we don't like it.
2 we play the amp with different guitar/speakers and think it is awesome only to find that it doesn't work with our setup.
3 we play the amp with our guitar with same speakers, but don't have our current amp there to compare.
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I think there is one more group:
“The collector” of whatever; Guns, Bourbon, lighters, comics, guitars, amps….etc
I don’t shoot all of my guns, only a few. But I love them because they are less common and each one has something about it that can help me learn, history especially. Doesn’t mean I am a great shooter..
Collecting amps or guitars definitely doesn’t make me a better player and I try not to flaunt it. I’m as good musically as I’ll ever be. Maybe little improvement here and there but I realize whatever amp, guitar, stage I’m on, It’s exactly the same sound when recorded.. I really don’t look for tone in an amp. I look for the odd and uncommon ones that are not readily available. I play the easily replaceable ones for the obvious reason. I don’t collect because it makes me “look” superior. I collect because there is something gratifying for me alone about having that rarity. Would I rather be like @Techdeth @DanTravis62 and all the others here who can slay? Sure. But the hobby of collecting has never interfered with my playing. If I could give all my instruments away and magically be John Sykes, I would do it. But that can’t happen. -the end 😏
 
alund said:
I think there is one more group:
“The collector” of whatever; Guns, Bourbon, lighters, comics, guitars, amps….etc
I don’t shoot all of my guns, only a few. But I love them because they are less common and each one has something about it that can help me learn, history especially. Doesn’t mean I am a great shooter..
Collecting amps or guitars definitely doesn’t make me a better player and I try not to flaunt it. I’m as good musically as I’ll ever be. Maybe little improvement here and there but I realize whatever amp, guitar, stage I’m on, It’s exactly the same sound when recorded.. I really don’t look for tone in an amp. I look for the odd and uncommon ones that are not readily available. I play the easily replaceable ones for the obvious reason. I don’t collect because it makes me “look” superior. I collect because there is something gratifying for me alone about having that rarity. Would I rather be like @Techdeth @DanTravis62 and all the others here who can slay? Sure. But the hobby of collecting has never interfered with my playing. If I could give all my instruments away and magically be John Sykes, I would do it. But that can’t happen. -the end 😏
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I don't think it's a zero sum game where being in one category or another is bad or good, but that there are different pitfalls for each category
 
DanTravis62 said:
I don't think it's a zero sum game where being in one category or another is bad or good, but that there are different pitfalls for each category
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Yes. This is correct. I wouldnt wish anyone to be like me. It is exausting and i work within the confines of walls closing in.

Were i less rigid, i would grab a prs mt100, and call it a day

Each one of us that expects perfection, though, push amp builders to not be satisfied with good enough and they have created some fucking badass shit lately
 
DanTravis62 said:
I don't think it's a zero sum game where being in one category or another is bad or good, but that there are different pitfalls for each category
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We covet what we don’t have. We want what we can’t get. I wanna be Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. The most interesting man in the world. On the flip. Maybe some people look at me and think maybe. I agree. We all have a plus and minus. Most important. I’m happy with me and what I can do. Happy for the people with abilities that I don’t have. I realized that a long time ago.
 
If you cannot get a great sound out of a great guitar through a great amp and a great speaker, the problem is YOU!
 
All I know, is I can and do make any guitar, amp, effects sound like doodoo. I’m not a good musician but guitar to me is an outlet. Stress relief. Buying and selling gear is not the worst hobby I could have to deal with stress. Having said all of that, i have gone the route of amps with many channels and all kinds of effects, even tried modelers. I always end up with option paralysis and chase tone vs working on my playing. The older i get I like simpler. Give me a good base tone and i’m happy making it sound like crap with my limited skills 🤣🤣🤣
But it’s all subjective. If one wants a meatball sub with chocolate sauce then have it but i dont want it. I will take a ham n cheese and be fine. Sometimes peanutbutter and jelly but I keep it simple myself.
 
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Agree with OP only regarding amp channels. For me my favorite amp has been the Uber Ultra. Realistically speaking the only channel i would need is the Ultra channel.

However that amp has a lot of switches, not the most by any means but a lot and I used every single one of them to tailor the sound exactly how I wanted. I highly prefer to sculpt my tone unless for some magical reason the amp sounds perfect with no options which is pretty rare.

With that said I also loved the clean channel on the Uber, one of the best I've heard. Didn't use it much but it was nice to have.

For guitars, they usually do sound perfect out of the box and don't need tons of switches, I personally have no use for them however for someone who plays blues, jazz, rock and/or something else I'm sure they could use all those switches. I can definitely get away with a single Hum bridge pickup and thats what i use 95% of the time but the neck pickup sounds great for those leads and arpeggios, so why not?

Theyre all just extra tone shaping tools to get what you want. I dont need any of it but someone else might.

I would highly prefer to plug into a single channel amp with nothing but a volume knob and sound perfect out of the gate but that's just not how it usually works for me.
 
OldGtrGuy said:
Agree with OP only regarding amp channels. For me my favorite amp has been the Uber Ultra. Realistically speaking the only channel i would need is the Ultra channel.

However that amp has a lot of switches, not the most by any means but a lot and I used every single one of them to tailor the sound exactly how I wanted. I highly prefer to sculpt my tone unless for some magical reason the amp sounds perfect with no options which is pretty rare.

With that said I also loved the clean channel on the Uber, one of the best I've heard. Didn't use it much but it was nice to have.

For guitars, they usually do sound perfect out of the box and don't need tons of switches, I personally have no use for them however for someone who plays blues, jazz, rock and/or something else I'm sure they could use all those switches. I can definitely get away with a single Hum bridge pickup and thats what i use 95% of the time but the neck pickup sounds great for those leads and arpeggios, so why not?

Theyre all just extra tone shaping tools to get what you want. I dont need any of it but someone else might.

I would highly prefer to plug into a single channel amp with nothing but a volume knob and sound perfect out of the gate but that's just not how it usually works for me.
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This is what i experienced with channel changers. I only needed the channel they created the amp for.

They often put in a clean because they know people will bitch if not. They put a crunch and lead channel because people will bitch if not. But 90% of people buy an amp for one of its channels
 
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