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Advantages of a one-channel amp?

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  • Advantages of a one-channel amp?

    What are the advantages of a one channel amp, besides "they're cheaper!" and "they build character"

    There are quite a few out there, and some of them are quite pricey. I'm just wondering why someone would shell out top dollar for a one-trick pony
    Gibson LP, Burstbucker 3 A6, 490R A4
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  • #2
    Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

    There is less to go wrong...
    My first guitar amp was a Montgomery Ward Airline head from the 60's. Cost me $20. It was in a homebuilt cab wrapped in light blue shower curtain. About 20 watts, all tube - an AX7 preamp, some odd power tube, and another AX7 for the tremolo. It had volume, tone, real tremolo (volume changes, not pitch), and a power switch. Plugged into the back of a borrowed Galaxy Audio TL cab with a 12 in it. Sounded great.
    I eventually built a nice combo cab with a slot for the head, and a ported spot for a Celestion speaker (purple, I think?). Kicked major ass. Did actual gigs with it. Like a dumbass I sold for $150. It never failed me.
    aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

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    • #3
      Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

      Simple amps sound better than complex ones.
      green globe burned black by sunn

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      • #4
        Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

        They encourage learning how to get more variety in tones through your hands & instrument rather than by simply changing channels.
        In much the same way, a single pickup guitar can teach you a lot about touch & tone as you work without a pickup switch.

        All the great classic rock of the 50s, 60s, and 70s was made using single channel amps.
        Sometimes one channel is all you need. That's still true true today in genres like traditional jazz, roots rock, and the blues.

        For recording, simpler amps are easy to dial in and they offer better consistency from one session to another.
        Vintage single channel tube amps remain the tone of choice in many studios worldwide.

        There's a whole generation of single channel boutique amps helping to satisfy the appetite for classic sound, many adding modern improvements and/or conveniences to the (often pretty primitive) vintage designs.

        Nowadays we have a whole generation of amplike drives and modelers that work best into a clean or semiclean amp. A huge variety of amp sounds with minimal investment and easy portability compared to acquiring, maintaining and moving a bunch of classic tube amps. And you don't have to play 'em loud to sound great.

        Many players are going the foundation-pedal route for convenience, low cost, portability and controllable stage volume.
        For that kind of setup a lead channel is unneccessary, almost superfluous.
        .
        "You should know better by now than to introduce science into a discussion of voodoo."
        .

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        • #5
          Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

          Originally posted by Empty Pockets View Post
          Simple amps sound better than complex ones.
          I realize the irony here, based on what I just posted, but this is true.

          Every item is optimized for one sound. The power supply is optimal for the target tone, the output transformer is designed for that sound, the preamp and tone stack, etc. To get the elusive Fender clean/Marshall dirt, you’ve got different power supplies, preamp structure, tone stack, output tubes and transformer. (Not to mention the cabinet/speaker).
          Oh no.....


          Oh Yeah!

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          • #6
            Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

            My Mesa Blue Angel is 1 channel, and since I get any dirt from pedals, I am cool with it. I can happily live with 1 channel amps.
            Administrator of the SDUGF

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            • #7
              Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

              Originally posted by Mincer View Post
              My Mesa Blue Angel is 1 channel, and since I get any dirt from pedals, I am cool with it. I can happily live with 1 channel amps.
              No master volume as well, right? So funny to me that it’s part of the Dual Rectifier series.
              Oh no.....


              Oh Yeah!

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              • #8
                Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                Originally posted by PFDarkside View Post
                No master volume as well, right? So funny to me that it’s part of the Dual Rectifier series.
                No master volume.
                It does use 2 rectifiers, and it came out before people associated the 'Dual Rect' thing with Nu Metal. It was just a particular line of amps that use 2 rectifiers. It can use either 6v6s and/or EL84s, but also can use 6L6s, which is what I have in there now.
                Administrator of the SDUGF

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                • #9
                  Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                  Originally posted by TMD
                  A one-channel amp isn't necessarily a one-trick pony. Often they are capable of a wide range of overdrive levels and are also touch-sensitive and respond well to changes in the guitar's volume and tone knobs. In a scenario like this, the player can control the amp with the guitar's controls and wring much more out of it than you might think.
                  ^ THIS

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                  • #10
                    Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                    Multi-channel does not necessarily equate to the multiplied quality of a few single channel amps.

                    For example, a 4 channel amp does not make it 4 times the value of a single channel amp.

                    Any amp designed to nail an authentic Marshall, Fender, Vox, and Mesa tone will probably fall short on each of them to varying degree. Some amps can contain drastically different circuitry, pathways and components to get their distinctive sound that would be otherwise be near impossible to cram into one single package or accurately emulate with extra bells and whistles. To the player that HAS to have a specific sound then this can be a compromise and therefore cancel out any value proposition that a multi-channel amp would offer.
                    Last edited by Animal; 05-16-2020, 12:32 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                      I like one channel amps specifically so tone stays consistent from dirt to clean et cetera... There's no on/off tones, but I can move through different tonal shades seamlessly. It feels more musical and intuitive.
                      "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
                      Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

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                      • #12
                        Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                        Originally posted by TMD
                        A one-channel amp isn't necessarily a one-trick pony. Often they are capable of a wide range of overdrive levels and are also touch-sensitive and respond well to changes in the guitar's volume and tone knobs. In a scenario like this, the player can control the amp with the guitar's controls and wring much more out of it than you might think.
                        Plus, you can always drop boost or od in front of it and have all the benefits of channel switcher without complexity and not be limited by amps capabilities.
                        "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
                        Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

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                        • #13
                          Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                          Weird, I don't think you should look at single channel amps as inferior. It's all about application.

                          I've never considered a one channel amp to be one trick, you just aren't relying on the amp switching for gain levels and tone shaping.

                          I've never liked high gain switching channels on amps as much as I've liked fuzz, OD, and Distortion pedals that I can mix and match and change.

                          I find the optimal gain and tone through the amp and leave it alone at the amp -and then smack or dial back for changes from the guitar and pedals.

                          For heavy gigging -many multi channel amps can be a liability unless you.are traveling redundant honestly -open up a modern Mesa and trying to quickly troubleshoot is ridiculous -more circuitry more valves more weight etc etc

                          For me, I'd rather have a single channel amp with an FX loop than a multi channel amp.
                          Last edited by NegativeEase; 05-16-2020, 07:23 AM.
                          “For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts.” Yvonne Chouinard

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                          • #14
                            Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                            I'ma multichannel amp man, but my dreamtone is a Fender Blackface Deluxe Reverb, which I take as a one channel amp, with two modes (one dry, the other with tremolo/reverb).

                            I come from pointy Metal guitars, now I favour vintage designs, the exception being SuperStrats, so the future will probably point me to true one channel amps someday.
                            Guitars:Gibson LP Trad ('57 Classics); Ibanez SEW761FM (TB-16/STK-S7 m&n); Charvel DK24 (TB10/SSL-6/A2Pn), DK22 (HRb/SSL-6 m&n), SoCal Style1 (Distortion set) & SoCal Style2 24 2PT (Fluence OCC); ESP LTD MH-1000HS (TB-14/Lil59n); Effects: Line 6 Helix Floor, Digitech Drop & FreqOut, ME EP-1L6,Shure GLXD16, Headrush MX5;

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                            • #15
                              Re: Advantages of a one-channel amp?

                              I can only guess from the "1 trick pony" comment that the closest you've ever been to one of these amps is a Google images search.

                              All you have to do is watch that YouTube vid with Joe Bonamassa - he plays with 1 amp setting and gets about 10 different tones - to see that it's the player that determines how many tricks there are.

                              I guess we do have to make definitions.....
                              Single channel amp - no internal switching but possible multiple inputs.
                              Multi channel amp - internal channel switching....generally 1 input only.

                              These are required because I count things like vintage Marshalls and Fenders as single channel. Even though you can technically run them together the amp itself has no capability to switch between them.

                              Channel switching typically came with a tonal penalty. I've lost track of modern iterations.....mainly as there's no way I'd have one again.
                              But even then you still typically have the same tone structure between channels, even if the eq sections are independent. The tonestack and tubes remain the same between channels. So its not like you can dial in a vox drive with a fender clean, then a marshall lead channel.
                              That's still the realm of the modeller or the pedal platform.

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