Why so many amps?

[Greazygeo]

I used to have alot of amps…sold 11 at one time about 10-12 years ago. Most were redundent. Sold one Traynor I shouldn’t have, oh well. Since I mainly record, just kept the ones that have tones I would need at some point.
My main Wizard that I gig / record with, three vintage Marshalls, 1959 RR, Mesa Triple, Hiwatt DR103 and some vintage Fenders. Will probably add another UL when it gets released.

 

[stephen sawall]

Let's see... 11 guitars, 14 cabs, 11 amps and over 100 pedals.
So 11×11×14=1694 combinations. Sure that makes sense.

 

[Smash]

I was too and still have the tendency. I feel the "pull" of wanting more amps. But in the end it's ego if you have multiple models of a very similar thing and post the photos to people and mention it all the time, which happens alot with these folks.... it's absolutely an ego thing. You're seeing guys who can't play with 20k worth of tube amps now and that's due to youtube trends of racks with heads sitting on them. This whole trend blew the fuck up within the last 3 years.

And that whole situation there has alot to do with why alot of current amateurs have so many amps. Eventually they will come to their senses and realize they needed to just get an axe fxiii.

I believe people who can't let go of the amp wall, just aren't ready to give up what makes them feel like they have more riffing power.

They dial in the amps to sound similar because in the end you want a certain thing. Makes it pretty dumb. I can see having 4 amps. If you can't be happy with 4, or 2 for that matter... then you're lying to yourself, haven't tried it, or you are just feeding a false sense of pride/ego. It's one of those things.

I'm not saying it's wrong to have multiple amps. I'm stating why people can't let go of the other amps is because people like to possess things. It feeds whatever their ego is doing at the time.

FACT: most people plug into the same 1-2 amps 90% of the time regardless. This is what happens. The other amps collect dust and are there for "oh it does a special thing when I play it once every 2 years" when there is probably someone who would actually use the amps being neglected but can't because Joe Dipshit is hoarding so he can impress everyone with his trendy amp wall.

This is true for a lot probably. I always dial in amps the same, hence i only have one.

But there are some different from us. They actually play the bastards. Maybe it is ego, but maybe it is a constant search for the best

 

[Smash]

Because in the 80s the choices were few.
In the 90s I had the refrigerator sized rack set up.
By the 2000s and especially now, there are all sorts of builders making cool high gain stuff JUST FOR METALHEADS! This kinda gear didn't exist during my heyday in the 80s, and I certainly didn't have the disposable income then that I have now. My first ENGL made me wanna try them all. Same with the Herbert and Diezel. Then VHT. I eventually kept my favorites from each brand. Once I got my first weirdo amp, I realized there are other people making cool high gain amps and wanted to try them too. Then it got to the point that it was more of a hassle to sell and ship an amp than it was worth.

There have been unmitigated failures along the way. The REVV Generator. Diamond Nitrox. ISP Theta head. I never bonded with the Mark IV. Never really like anything Fortin designed either. Countless others that came and went. But a couple of good ones got away just to try something else...and now I refuse to let that happen again. All my keepers make me happy when I get to plug them in. I obviously have favorites. But I still wanna try amps I haven't got a crack at. It's not like you see a Wizard Hellrazor or a Hermanson at Guitar center in the boutique room...you gotta buy one to really know what's up. And 10-20 minutes on one at an ampfest will wet your appetite for sure, but you wont really know until you live with it.

In some cases, a best bro will know you well enough to say "I know you and your style of playing. You should get this amp.". Juggernaut Mike kept telling me to get an Ultralead. And for damned sure, he was right. Mailman Dan was right about a couple of amps I got from him and still have, mainly because they remind me of him at this point. Some have great stories, some have great tones. Some are just so different than everything else that I just dig them. Some were custom built or modded and signed for/to me. One was borrowed from me for a major concert and signed by the artist to me. How could I possibly let that go? I flew from Texas to California and back to buy an amp from a builder. The story on that one alone still makes me smile every time I plug into it.

But most importantly, I don't have to sell them. So why should I? I have zero debt and an insanely great credit rating. Plenty of money in savings. OK...I admit that my storage situation is out of control, as a few of my friends here can attest. But they all sound great to me and make me happy just knowing I have them. My guitars and amps all have a story. Those stories may only matter to me, but they are almost as important as the stuff I inherited from my mom and dad. Once you get old, memories are the most important things you will ever have.

But in all honesty, that is just how I justify my gear to myself. The rest of you can lick my taint.

Man. I really almost pulled the trrigger on the theta. You still have it?

 

[VHTStark]

Really great question. I have gone both amp where to minimalist back to where I am now, which is somewhere in between.

The journey started once I got my Ultra Lead in the early 00's. I LOVED that amp, but instead of being satisfied....it gave me a hunger to try out everything. So then came a Rev Green Uber...then a Mark IV....SLO....a couple Marshall's. In a couple years I was between bands with too many amps and focused on other hobbies, so I pretty well sold them all.

When I started a new group, I decided on one amp to do it all. So I grabbed a Hughes and Kettner Triamp mk2. It doesn't alot of love around here (like most multi channel amps it seems), but it did the job I got it for well!

The stable now is: a couple Wizards (MC1, w800), Friedman ssv2, KSR Colossus, jmp 2203 and a mkiv. I absolutely play them all and don't really want to or have the urge to expand the stable much. Although I too, will likely add the new Ultra-lead when (if???) Fryette decides to finish it and release it.

 

[saxxamafone]

I like having some different tonal options... however... I've also written more music when I've owned less amps because I spend more time writing and less time tone goofing

 

[Jdub]

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Man. I really almost pulled the trrigger on the theta. You still have it?

Fuck no! It sucked so badly that my other amps were ashamed to be in the room with it. I worked that bitch for two months trying to get something useful outta it. Then Bloodrock took it for a month and all he could say was "The cleans are pretty good.". I shit you not! I did seriously consider keeping it, but it was such a letdown. I was big into Buck Waller and was the first to score the ISP guitar subs. I thought that Theta head was gonna be the absolute bomb amp...what a fucking letdown. If it had been what I thought it was gonna be, they woulda sold like hotcakes. But they didn't sell for shit. That should be all you need to know. Ain't nobody on the internet claiming that amp is all that, right?! Certainly no metal players.

 

[Smash]

Fuck no! It sucked so badly that my other amps were ashamed to be in the room with it. I worked that bitch for two months trying to get something useful outta it. Then Bloodrock took it for a month and all he could say was "The cleans are pretty good.". I shit you not! I did seriously consider keeping it, but it was such a letdown. I was big into Buck Waller and was the first to score the ISP guitar subs. I thought that Theta head was gonna be the absolute bomb amp...what a fucking letdown. If it had been what I thought it was gonna be, they woulda sold like hotcakes. But they didn't sell for shit. That should be all you need to know. Ain't nobody on the internet claiming that amp is all that, right?! Certainly no metal players.

I understand. But it looked like what we all were wanting: someone to build a high quality solid state metal amp. It is a fucking shame. And yeah, i have heard very little good.