"Amp feels good under the fingers"... WTF?

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Racerxrated said:
Disagree big time. If you've had a C+ with GEQ, that amp (any version) will have the best bounce. I've had a Wiz MTL and MC100, and while they do have great touch sensitivity(feel) they aren't even in the same ballpark as a GEQ C+. The C+ is the 'bounciest' amp out there, at least in the hard rock/metal category.
Feel is always the amp, not the guitar. Take the same guitar and play a vintage Marshall, or a Wizard, SLO, C+, vintage Fender, early Recto or Friedman and then play a Suhr PT100. The Suhr just feels very flat in comparison. A Splawn QR I played had the same response.
Not saying the Suhr/Splawn sounded bad, they sound just fine but the feel on those amps are nonexistent in comparison to the previous amps I mentioned.

Another way I've heard it put, it "feels like your fingers are attached to the strings at all times".....
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My 6l6 MTL2 has bounce and just do easy to play . It sounds nothing like my other wizards it’s do different.I like mu 3++ green stripe alot . I sold my 2c+ because I like it more , it just shows how everyone is different. But man you have so much good info. You been through all the amps ? I’ve never tried Surh or Splawn . Splawn looks cool . I’m at dinner so I’m texting fast and shitty lol
 
Racerxrated said:
Not saying the Suhr/Splawn sounded bad, they sound just fine but the feel on those amps are nonexistent in comparison to the previous amps I mentioned.
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Shhhhhh. Don't tell Al Estrada (Stradazone) that

 
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Im a big “amp feel under the fingers guy”,there’s a lot to it but it’s a squish and bounce thing. I think a lot of it comes back to the tonestack, and which style you prefer. It’s the same reason why some guys say a Marshall is hard to play, while a fender-ish amp might be easier for them. That being said once you start throwing gobs of gain in the differences become less noticeable.
 
Racerxrated said:
Disagree big time. If you've had a C+ with GEQ, that amp (any version) will have the best bounce. I've had a Wiz MTL and MC100, and while they do have great touch sensitivity(feel) they aren't even in the same ballpark as a GEQ C+. The C+ is the 'bounciest' amp out there, at least in the hard rock/metal category.
Feel is always the amp, not the guitar. Take the same guitar and play a vintage Marshall, or a Wizard, SLO, C+, vintage Fender, early Recto or Friedman and then play a Suhr PT100. The Suhr just feels very flat in comparison. A Splawn QR I played had the same response.
Not saying the Suhr/Splawn sounded bad, they sound just fine but the feel on those amps are nonexistent in comparison to the previous amps I mentioned.

Another way I've heard it put, it "feels like your fingers are attached to the strings at all times".....
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Agreed, the MTL and MC are great amps no doubt, but far from what I’d consider to be the best in feel (not bad at all though) and I can’t imagine just 6L6’s with appropriate tranny’s for them will all of a sudden give it feel that can rival the very best amps in that particular department

For me the best feeling high gain amps I’ve tired were my Hermansson Rev G Dual Rec and the Dino I tried. I somehow become also a much better player on those amps I feel. 2nd place for me would be the mark iic+‘s and OG Uber and then maybe a Naylor or CCV. I don’t really interpret iic+‘s as bouncy, but I do think they have amazing feel however one wants to describe it

I’m just gonna be honest and say I think Splawn’s don’t sound or feel good at all IME, but there are worse feeling amps I’ve had, some of which were also a lot more expensive than Splawn’s. Suhr amps I’ve admittedly not tried, but the clips and reviews from others seem like I’d not like them either. The new Friedman JEL 20 I actually thought had pretty good feel, but I didn’t keep it

EDIT: actually in just feel alone I think the Non-GEQ Mark IIC+ DR I owned had maybe better feel than the HRG I kept all these years (it certainly at least responded faster), but I liked the sound so much more of my HRG (even compared with its GEQ disengages) that it wasn’t enough for me to keep the DR
 
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Techdeth said:
The wizard MTL2 6l has the best bounce. Like a vht on steroids . Fun to play and so easy. If you like bounce you have try one
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i dont know ive ever heard anyone describe wizards or vht's as bouncy, its usually the opposite. id love to try a wizard, ive never seen one locally though and they go for too much for me to want to try an amp that i dont think im gonna like based on what i hear.
 
RaceU4her said:
i dont know ive ever heard anyone describe wizards or vht's as bouncy, its usually the opposite. id love to try a wizard, ive never seen one locally though and they go for too much for me to want to try an amp that i dont think im gonna like based on what i hear.
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The biggest sounding amps . I know we all set up amps different.I turned my wizard up half way and it made my friends titties bounce lol fr . My Hermansons are the only the amps I like more . But then I have friends who hate Hermansons so it’s all preference I know
 
the anti-tan pant brigade would lose consciousness if ever confronted with my experience spending quality time in the high brow classical world of pianos.

i spent an afternoon with an authorized steinway piano technician working with my friend who was a concert pianist and chair of an esteemed university’s music department.

they spent an hour deliberating over which direction they intended to steer the nuancing of action and rebound of the keys on a steinway D series concert grand. A $170k instrument by current prices. restringing one -starts- at $10k, so the stiffness of the felt hammers striking and recoiling off the piano wire is apparently a life or death matter.

“Piano wire is made of tempered high carbon steel. This high grade of steel is also sometimes known as ‘spring steel’ due to it being highly tensile and highly elastic. Such strength and elasticity are crucial for strings. Together they will create approx. 38,000 – 40,000 pounds of tension when a piano is tuned to the standard universal pitch of A440. Piano strings are attached to hitch pins near the tail end of the piano and hundreds of tuning pins near the keyboard. The strings are tightly coiled around the tuning pins 3-4 times to ensure they do not slip off when tension is applied to the string. The strings pass over a bridge which transmits the vibrating string’s energy to the soundboard underneath.

Each hammer is then carefully fitted to the string to ensure it is struck at the proper location. Restringing is a process that takes time and care as there are over 200 strings on a standard grand piano. Each string must be properly fit, cut, coiled and tuned to create the beautiful tone that is desired.

To test the action and the keyboard, Steinway introduced a mechanized device which hits each and every key thousands of times, both to test the key's bounce and flexibility, and to season and indurate the hammer felts before shipment.”

Dumble who…?

 
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IMO there's more to it than fast attack vs sag and tight release vs loose lows.
Various amps really can make for a different kind of fingertouch on the guitar itself.

I've occasionally found something similar when swapping humbuckers in a guitar.
Of course that makes more sense - since they're in the guitar itself - but changing amps can do it too.

It's complicated and very cool how tone & feel interact.
The more subtle an aspect is, though, the harder it gets to describe in terms that are meaningful, not to mention specific.

If I'm using the Rectifier mode in my Triaxis and crank up the mids, it literally makes guitars feel as if they have lighter strings.
Can't say how or why it works, but that's the honest truth. Kind of freaked me out at first, actually.
 
Would it be disappointing if we’re all over-thinking this and people are just talking about how the tolex feels when you run a hand over it?

Maybe my side hussle idea of selling chinchilla fur wrapped amp heads and matching vests has legs after all…
 
tallcoolone said:
But that’s what we do here!
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Reminds me of this

IMG_5041.jpeg
 
tallcoolone said:
He's great but I agree the Splawns I've had have been stiff as hell. Great mid grind but the feel was just too distracting for my tastes.
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They are.. Stiff and dry. But great for rhythm, and great amps. I like the Competition best.
 
The feel and hearing the amp is one reason I always says "you gotta try something for yourself" instead of relying on opinion. Just way to many variables from tight, sag, bouncy, boxy, stiff, dry, boomy, tubby, liquid...all terms based on combinations of feel and sound.
 
If all you've ever played is super saturated metal tones, you wont notice any amp feel. It's all squished out.

You have to play with it not mega gained out to get enough dynamics to feel the thing.
 
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