50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

[misterwhizzy]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

Mesa Mark XXIII

What about the much sought-after Mark XX B+? It's much better than the Marshall Future Modern.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I wonder if there'll even be pop music as we know it 50 years from now.

You know back in the 1910 -1920 period, just thirty or forty years before rock 'n roll music was invented, people played in mandolin orchestras and the banjo was more popular than the guitar.

Fifty years from now what we like today may be completely replaced by something that hasn't even been created yet.

 

[Ninja Monkey]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I wonder if there'll even be pop music as we know it 50 years from now.

You know back in the 1910 -1920 period, just thirty or forty years before rock 'n roll music was invented, people played in mandolin orchestras and the banjo was more popular than the guitar.

Fifty years from now what we like today may be completely replaced by something that hasn't even been created yet.

And it's my generations job to make sure it has guitars!:naughty:

 

[B Bent]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I think good old simple tube amp designs will still be king!

 

[Stratfan]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

Maybe we´ll have plug in tube (replacement) emulators that sound better than the originals, will work in your classic amps and you can select what brand of NOS tube you want it to sound like...

This could possibly be a great compromise between tube and digital, if it could be done. You just plug the tube emulators into the tube sockets and play. Look inside a hand-wired tube amp and a digital modeling amp; which is built sturdier, and is easier to repair? Digital amps are basically throwaway amps. I say that if tubes become obsolete then replace just the tube, and not the rest of the circuitry.

I find it very sad that the kids in today's "computer age" want to digitize everything, including playing music (which is an ART). Some people spend their whole day hooked up on-line in one form or another. IMO it seems like they want to live like in the "Matrix" movie, and be permanently connected to the internet.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I think modelling will gradually take over. You hear about various bands using modellers on tour now. Valve amps will probably still get used in the studio and at some gigs but as modellers get better, the need to have several valve amps with all their inconvieniences would decrease.

Just look at how digital photography has taken over, or how CGI has improved since Lawnmower Man. Same thing i think

 

[Tor]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I bet there were those who weren't easily convinced that tube stuff was the way to go way back then?

Someone mentioned Moore's law, and that's interesting. Computer technology is relatively new, and it seems that with the AxeFX, that marked the point where the sound differences between tubes and computers are really small. However, computer technology will continue to evolve (at the rate Moore's law predicts?), while you still will see improvements in tube/circuit designs - it won't be touching the improvements of computer-based amps.

When computer amps finally have nailed the vintage and boutique amps perfectly, what will be the next step? It will be interesting to see, but soundwise, digital amps will outdo tube amps in 50 years. Mojo-wise.. that's another discussion!

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I find it very sad that the kids in today's "computer age" want to digitize everything, including playing music (which is an ART). Some people spend their whole day hooked up on-line in one form or another. IMO it seems like they want to live like in the "Matrix" movie, and be permanently connected to the internet.

I'm not sure I buy the fact that digital makes it bad or less of an art form. I love high-definition television. And I think recording has gotten better with digital equipment, not worse. I think the feeling comes out through the touch of the fingers on the strings and the emotion inspired in the player by the sound coming out of the amp. And I don't know about you, but I find the tone played back from CDs to be more inspirational than that from tape decks.

I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about analog versus digital. Right now, I just find that the digital world hasn't caught up to the analog world in guitar amps. (And I haven't played all that many. I have a bit of an allergy to Line 6, but I'd love to give some of the Hughes and Kettner modeling amps a go.) That being said, I think my home theater's digital receiver sounds fantastic.

 

[MattPete]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I used to think that digital modeling would be the future (don't get me wrong, it has it's place), but I think ultimately tube-based amps will still be where it's at. The reasons I think this are two-fold:

First, there is an inherent delay in signal processing that is a function of the linear digital algorithms rather than the hardware per se. For example, an 80 Hz tone (low-E) has a period of 12.5 msec. There is going to be a 12.5 msec delay before a Fourier transform can extract the frequency for subsequent processing.

Second, tubes can do much more complex and interesting calculations that would need to be either done with a 5+ dimensional filtering map (e.g. clipping depends on frequency and amplitude, as well as a host of other things, including being dependent on what happened the split second before, as in 'sag') or you would need to simulate all of the analog parts in the signal chain. Some of these things simply can't be done in real time, but are easier to do with tubes. My analogy is with a pickup simulator that uses the input from a single bridge pickup ala a Line-6 Variax: it will never be able to simulate the complex mechanical interactions that occur due to phase differences that occur due to different fretting locations interacting with coil placement in a multi-coil guitar (either two singles in the notch position, or a humbucker's dual coils).

In essence, the timbre you can get from a tube amp is potentially much more rich and interesting than can be digitally modeled in real-time. It would be best to use tubes for what tubes do best, and digital for what digital does best.

What we might ultimately see it is a hybrid, where the amp uses tubes, but the circuit is digitally reconfigurable on the fly. For example, you could stomp on a footswitch and the signal path would change from a Plexi to an AC30 (assuming you have EL84 and EL34 tubes installed).

 

[Stratfan]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

In essence, the timbre you can get from a tube amp is potentially much more rich and interesting than can be digitally modeled in real-time. It would be best to use tubes for what tubes do best, and digital for what digital does best.

I agree with the above. All of this digital technology is fine for business, media, the health care field, and other uses. I even prefer listening to CDs over cassettes. But, making music is supposed to be "magical". It's Art... don't try to break it down into 1s and 0s!

 

[dominus]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

It's going to be pretty much all modeling. In fact, I'm betting 25 years from now it'll be mostly modeling. There will still be a few old-timers playing tube amps, but it'd be more from nostalgia and the refusal to get with the times.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I agree with the above. All of this digital technology is fine for business, media, the health care field, and other uses. I even prefer listening to CDs over cassettes. But, making music is supposed to be "magical". It's Art... don't try to break it down into 1s and 0s!

And no one is trying to break it into 1s and 0s.
The people that make the modeling stuff have done that for us.
We as musicians just need to simply plug in and make music, regardless of whether it's analog solid state, analog tube or digital modeling, it's all tools for making music.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

New modelling amps always contain emulations of the most modern valve amps as well as the vintage ones. When no-one makes new valve amps anymore what will there be left to model ?

At that stage, we can stop obsessing over the past and forge new, innovative sounds
Seriously though, In fact, some amp modeling guys are already doing this, striving to create tones purely from scratch in the digital world, not based on any tube amps.
They should be available for use possibly within a few months for people to be able to hear to cast judgement on how they sound.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I'd love to be able to plug my guitar into a modeling amp that would make my guitar sound like a Stradivarius violin...or Miles Davis' trumpet...or John Coltrane's saxophone...or ???

 

[bungalowbill]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I envision amps with pitch and vibrato correction......maybe guitar hero type guitars.....YUCK!

 

[Zerberus]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

Interesting thread....

Assuming we are still alive as a species, in control of the planet, and haven´t bombed ourselves back to the stone age:

As more and more people become disillusioned to the whole concept of "rock star" (thanks to the media and record industry milking it and every other celebrity genus for every penny), I think the mass market appeal of guitars will continue to wane, unless some absolute genius comes along.

As a result we may eventually see a widespread return to single piece, high quality manufacturing, but TBH I fear that all those companies will be belly up by then. Others may take their place, but eventually much of the knowledge will be lost that´s required to do it right.

I think tube amplifiers will still be around, but the tubes themselves may not. I think it can be taken as a given that at some point in time there will be little electronic doohickeys that you plug into a tube socket and get the tone without the tube.

Modeling amplifiers / guitars and virtual home recording studios will become the norm for probably 75-90% of the players out there.

We´ll see more and more guitars being built out of synthetic materials or "wood analogs"...

 

[shawkey]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

digital is getting closer n' closer. fractal and digidesign eleven rack are at the top of the heap. what do ya think? 2 or 3 more versions and they might be able to impress us tone chasers (impress=coax money out of my pocket)

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

This thread kinda reminds me of the discussion that turned up when hard disk recording first turned up.
At the time most people had a tape player at home and if you were a musician you probably knew someone with a portastudio at least.
These days I have to hunt for the one walkman in the house if I want to play an old cassette and I really can't remember the last time I saw a portastudio or real to real tape machine.
I suspect Valve amps will go the same way, at which point ever gig you go to will probably have at least one stop when someone's amp crashes

This is probably not as far off as we'd like to think.

 

[Bludave]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

This thread: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?p=2337020&posted=1#post2337020 made me wonder about this.

What kind of amp or rig do you think guitarists will be playing through 50 years from now?

Do you think they'll still be playing through Marshall or Bogner style stacks?

Or do you think they'll be playing through Lap-Tops?

Do you think there'll even be tubes 50 years from now? I don't.

I think everyone will be playing through modeling amps.

I hate to say it Lew, but I think your right. I love my tubes & the sound I get with them, but it is just a matter of time before the people who make the tubes are going to throw in the towel & we will have no choice then to move to a modeling amp of whatever we feel is going to work. I have a Vamp now and use it just for some very basic recording of some of my ideas..... and it works OK so 50 years from now the technology will be so much better that I think the tone will be there. I also think guitars will eventually be setup to where you can select from a button or switch to go to HB to SC at the flick of a switch. Think of the possibilities that has. TO be able to play the rhythm parts with a Tele sound, then flip a switch & go to a Les Paul. Heck if they had that in the late 80's Fender never would have had to make the "Clapton" Strats. This is all subject to tone of course and as long as they can model the tone properly I don't see why it would not give a good overall sound. Us purists will fight it as long as we can but sooner or later the raw materials necessary to build these great amps we have today are going to disappear. As far as using stacks even today; you really don't need them if you are playing a a large arena like so many of our heroes still do. I saw Clapton earlier this year at the Garden here in NY (seats about 17K) and he was playing with one little tweed Fender on stage. Obviously everything is miked and going through a PA to get the volume to where it needs to be. This will only become a bigger part of the equation and the sound engineers will play a bigger roll in the overall sound of a live show.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: 50 years from now: what amp will guitarists be playing through?

I'd venture to guess that all the tones will be downloadable online to a tiny computer head, then amplified with a SS power cab. Basically a better version of Line 6 Amp Farm into something like a cellphone, fed into something like a powered monitor.

The first time I'd seen someone do this live was another Colorado guitarist I'm sure you've heard of - Todd Mohr from Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Even though he's a roots/blues player, he did something you'd be more likely to see a player like Mincer do.
He had a rack with a laptop computer sitting on it. He was utilizing Amp Farm, then running it into an Avalon tube preamp to warm it up. It was then fed into a power amp (can't remember what) and out to two speaker cabs. This was about 7 years ago, and I remember it sounding decent, but not quite as good as his tube amp rigs.
I'd expect the future to improve on this idea.

Maybe we should be buying stock in Line 6 right now???