Amps and Guitars Does It Matter
There is much discussion on the internet about tone woods on guitar necks, type of valves in the pre amp or power amp, whether a hollow body or a plank is better for this or that style of music and whether one should invest in single coil or hum-buckers. Well unless one wants to sound like someone else then it really doesn’t matter. When the search is continually out there to find a new sound from one’s electric guitar then why all the fuss anyway. The world is filled with effects and multi effects. So many sounds are now available plus the the ones created in the 50s and 60s. The choices are daunting.
There are also clean amp sounds and it seems one or another amp manufacture has its adherents claiming it is the cleanest amp out there. A couple come to mind, the original Ampegs for guitar were created when clean was the thing. I owned an Ampeg V4, and Fenders are acclaimed for their clean sound. One guitarist might prefer a particular tone found on a specific amp of a specific company. There is one that I recommend in whatever iteration it is found in and that is the Early Marshalls up to the JCM 800, but if you know what you are doing a JCM900 can sound wonderful. My experience is based on a 4102 100 watt dual reverb combo. I didn’t like it when I first bought it but after purchasing a 100 watt Koch load box going directly into the interface I got the sound I was looking for. Mainly the problems seemed to be the cabinet and speakers and the shrill sound I was getting in a large room untreated for reflections. I would not part with it today. It has a classic Marshall sound and that famous Marshall Growl. Set up properly the JCM 900 in its different configurations is as good as they come. There are two types of load boxes, resistive and reactive. Depending on your style of music you will have to decide which to use. For me the early analog sound of rock was what I was after and the Koch was what delivered it.
My advice is don’t buy and sell amps or guitars looking for the right one for your sound. When you buy one by a good tube amp and save up for the next one. Make it a different brand and with different preamp tubes, then you will have two and add to your collection. You may regret selling one for another. Today they’re alternatives to big heavy amps down to 5 amps. You decide what you need but variety even in a genre is important as no style of music relies on one type of amp or guitar.