Cardboard rankings

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

Lets not get carried away-top 5 most cardboardy amps @braintheory

 

[braintheory]

This is a great topic, but I don’t know why Fender is on the list or Bogner when only one amp model I’ve heard from them sounds that way

Now to be fair, I get strong opinions from AB comparisons and admittedly never AB’ed all these cardboard-y sounding amps to say how they truly rank amongst each other for undesirable qualities, but I will say top 2 for me are probably the UU and Omega Obsidian (haven’t tried the Granophyre and have no desire to). Some others for me would be the KSR’s and Driftwood Purple Nightmare. The Revv’s may have been too, but don’t remember anymore thankfully. I just remember them being very uninteresting. There are lots of amps I haven’t bothered trying that probably could be on this list

Let’s not forget also which amps sound most plastic-y (EVH), quacky (cough cough Splawn), sterile or filtered. I have to consider what makes those lists too

 

[braintheory]

But Bogner generally makes amps that are more the opposite of cardboardy, so let’s not just say Bogner. If the upcoming Snorkler sounds cardboardy or filtered I’ll wanna shoot myself and regret my pre-order lol

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

What is cardboard tone?
The term makes me think of playing guitar through my old Sunn 300T, tbh.

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

This is a great topic, but I don’t know why Fender is on the list or Bogner when only one amp model I’ve heard from them sounds that way

Now to be fair, I get strong opinions from AB comparisons and admittedly never AB’ed all these cardboard-y sounding amps to say how they truly rank amongst each other for undesirable qualities, but I will say top 2 for me are probably the UU and Omega Obsidian (haven’t tried the Granophyre and have no desire to). Some others for me would be the KSR’s and Driftwood Purple Nightmare. The Revv’s may have been too, but don’t remember anymore thankfully. I just remember them being very uninteresting. There are lots of amps I haven’t bothered trying that probably could be on this list

Let’s not forget also which amps sound most plastic-y (EVH), quacky (cough cough Splawn), sterile or filtered. I have to consider what makes those lists too

Fender was on because of evh. Diezel and bogner just because of the certain models. I dont know if i have played a cardboardy amp. But i have played some bad sounding ones

 

[Deleted member 55483]

This is a great topic, but I don’t know why Fender is on the list or Bogner when only one amp model I’ve heard from them sounds that way

Now to be fair, I get strong opinions from AB comparisons and admittedly never AB’ed all these cardboard-y sounding amps to say how they truly rank amongst each other for undesirable qualities, but I will say top 2 for me are probably the UU and Omega Obsidian (haven’t tried the Granophyre and have no desire to). Some others for me would be the KSR’s and Driftwood Purple Nightmare. The Revv’s may have been too, but don’t remember anymore thankfully. I just remember them being very uninteresting. There are lots of amps I haven’t bothered trying that probably could be on this list

Let’s not forget also which amps sound most plastic-y (EVH), quacky (cough cough Splawn), sterile or filtered. I have to consider what makes those lists too

From what I’ve heard, a bunch of people like the granophyre substantially for for rawer tones compared to the obsidian but who knows- I never played an obsidian

 

[braintheory]

What is cardboard tone?
The term makes me think of playing guitar through my old Sunn 300T, tbh.

It’s just an interpretation of what I hear. Sort of like how a harpsichord gets described as sounding metallic, blackface fenders sometimes get described as sounding glassy for cleans, a lot of vintage amps get described as warm or woody, like some Fender Tweeds or a ‘60’s JTM45

I think the cardboardy quality I interpret comes from a severe lack of warmth or richness to the sound or maybe a lack of some overtones or other good stuff going on around the notes

I actually didn’t make this term up. I got it from a great classical guitar luthier I respect a lot not liking maple as a tone wood for the back and sides of his guitars because he would say it lacks tonal complexity and sounds like cardboard and I totally agree with him. Honestly many of the descriptions I use I learned from him. He gets it

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

I have also heard the cardboard description with amps. Just havent experienced yet. But it is known

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

It’s just an interpretation of what I hear. Sort of like how a harpsichord gets described as sounding metallic, blackface fenders sometimes get described as sounding glassy for cleans, a lot of vintage amps get described as warm or woody, like some Fender Tweeds or a ‘60’s JTM45

I think the cardboardy quality I interpret comes from a severe lack of warmth or richness to the sound or maybe a lack of some overtones or other good stuff going on around the notes

I actually didn’t make this term up. I got it from a classical guitar luthier I respect a lot not liking maple as a tone wood for the back and sides of his guitars because he would say it lacks tonal complexity and sounds like cardboard and I totally agree with him. Honestly many of the descriptions I use I learned from him. He gets it

I thought it was used mostly when in multipiece classical ensembles specifically for it's brightness and ability to cut through the mix. Seems opposite of cardboard, I have no idea. I do suppose it lacks overtones and warmth, but I feel like the term warmth would lean toward cardboard more than brightness when not knowing what cardboard tone means. Seems more mellow of a term. I dunno, think I'm more lost now than when I started .

As far as the OP; If talking about lack of all around character, I guess Revv?

 

[braintheory]

I remember the EVH’s being more plastic-y sounding and don’t recall the Herbert sounding cardboardy

 

[DanTravis62]

Probably Revv IMO

As far as modern amps go, I really don't care for them - they are anodyne sounding. Like a knockoff of a 5150 or Rectifier preset on a Kirkland Signature modeling amp or something.

 

[braintheory]

I thought it was used mostly when in multipiece classical ensembles specifically for it's brightness and ability to cut through the mix. Seems opposite of cardboard, I have no idea. I do suppose it lacks overtones and warmth, but I feel like the term warmth would lean toward cardboard more than brightness when not knowing what cardboard tone means. Seems more mellow of a term. I dunno, think I'm more lost now than when I started .

As far as the OP; If talking about lack of all around character, I guess Revv?

Yeah I wouldn’t say it’s about being a bright or dark sound. Most of the amps I mentioned are darker leaning anyway. I think where this luthier may have come about this is he taps on the wood he gets like other luthiers to hear its tap tone and also described it sounding more like the sound of hitting a piece of cardboard

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

I’ll tell ya one thing. Those original Peavey 5150 cabinets with Sheffields are ‘the’ definition of cardboard tone.
I always had a hard time believing that Eddie actually used those…

 

[Deleted member 55483]

Probably Revv IMO

As far as modern amps go, I really don't care for them - they are anodyne sounding. Like a knockoff of a 5150 or Rectifier preset on a Kirkland Signature modeling amp or something.

My first amp was a revv, and I thought I just didnt like real amps as much as my axe fx into a poweramp- and then I tried other amps and realized it was just Revv

 

[DanTravis62]

My first amp was a revv, and I thought I just didnt like real amps as much as my axe fx into a poweramp- and then I tried other amps and realized it was just Revv

I've played the older versions of the generator and 100p and they might be the most overpriced high gain tube amp that exists in this universe

 

[DanTravis62]

Yeah I wouldn’t say it’s about being a bright or dark sound. Most of the amps I mentioned are darker leaning anyway. I think where this luthier may have come about this is he taps on the wood he gets like other luthiers to hear its tap tone and also described it sounding more like the sound of hitting a piece of cardboard

I associate this with "deadened attack" or over compression in the low mids in amps

 

[Brandonrz]

Cardboardy, boxy, honky I just think of mid range being over bearing 300-900, not so much the definition explained here.

So that to me would be peavey’s commonly. Shit ton of mid range usually gets sucked out by anyone doing post processing… basically making it sound like a recto instead lol.

 

[braintheory]

I associate this with "deadened attack" or over compression in the low mids in amps

Could be. I just notice that no amp (stock at least) that I’ve tried that I can think of made before 2000 or so sounded cardboardy, plastic-y or filtered in the same way, so my guess would be something also about some of the newer components used at least in a lot of these amps

 

[WizardAmpIphoneClip]

Cardboardy, boxy, honky I just think of mid range being over bearing 300-900, not so much the definition explained here.

So that to me would be peavey’s commonly. Shit ton of mid range usually gets sucked out by anyone doing post processing… basically making it sound like a recto instead lol.

My Peavey XXX's body controls firmly at zero?

 

[Deleted member 55483]

Could be. I just notice that no amp (stock at least) that I’ve tried that I can think of made before 2000 or so sounded cardboardy, plastic-y or filtered in the same way, so my guess would be something also about some of the newer components used at least in a lot of these amps

I think it might also correlate with builders trying to mimic the sound of stuff like line 6 and plugins that were popular