Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

[Lewguitar]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Christian: You'll love the Aurora!

Like I said at the beginning of this thread, our booth was right next to Gerald Weber's Kendrick Amplification booth.

I played a few licks and Gerald was in our booth like he'd materialized there!

First words out of his mouth were: "That's the best sounding new amp I've heard..."

And it is too.

I'm thinking very seriously of investing a little money in the Aurora line both to help get Bruce off the ground and also because I really want to own a couple of them.

What do you guys think about output power? Originally Bruce wasn't going to make it in a 50 or 100 watt version...

But then at the All Star Jam and also at most of the concerts at the Dallas Show it seemed like everyone from Junior Brown to Paul Reed Smith to Rick Derringer were playing very loudly through very loud amps.

So I'm advising Bruce to offer it as a 50 watt and also as a 80-100 watt version both as a two 12 combo amp and also as a head with a two 12 or four 12 cab. Seems like there's still a market for loud, great sounding amps.

For me, the 30 watt is plenty. I can get all the tones I love out of it: everything from Mike Bloomfield to Hendrix to Jeff Beck.

It has a killer growl to it too! I can up pick a "G" on the third fret of the low E and squeeze it out so it sounds like a hot rod burning rubber...without any pedals other than the pedal that's the gain boost of the amp itself.

That's the note that got Gerald materializing in our booth as if out of thin air!:laugh2:

Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Bruce is telling me that I can get Plexi type tones out of it and more so Im pretty excited.

A 50 and 100 watt version woudl be cool but way too much for me...Im with you Lew, 30 is plenty and 50 would actually be overkill...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Bruce is telling me that I can get Plexi type tones out of it and more so Im pretty excited.

A 50 and 100 watt version woudl be cool but way too much for me...Im with you Lew, 30 is plenty and 50 would actually be overkill...

You know, the Aurora gets that growl and bark of a plexi, but the highs are not so glassy and shrill as they can be in some Marshalls. I hear it sounding more Voxy.

To me, it's a blend of tweed Super or Bassman/Vox/Marshall...but more Vox than anything.

Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

You know, the Aurora gets that growl and bark of a plexi, but the highs are not so glassy and shrill as they can be in some Marshalls. I hear it sounding more Voxy.
To me, it's a blend of tweed Super or Bassman/Vox/Marshall...but more Vox than anything.
Lew

Ok, I'll ask you the same question I asked Bruce...

ya know that upper midrange peaky tone in a Plexi (a JTM-45 don't have it...but a Small Box 50 does)? Does the Aurora have that kind of push in the upper mids? Kind oif like a Tweed Bassman or your Super...

 

[ErikH]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

IMO, go 50 watts max to start. If the doors start busting down for a 100 watter, then add that in. A 50 watt with a 1x12 and 2x12 option would be great, even a head version. There's only 3db difference in volume between 50 and 100 watts and less than that between 30 and 50 watts.

You hit that G note a couple times while I was there, even in our jam. Man, it sounded great. I wish we could've come back on Sunday to see Buddy Whittington at your booth. Amy has even heard of him.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

The only thing is that a lot of players like to have a 100 watt amp even if they never even get close to using all 100 watts...they want to know it's there if they want it!

 

[Corbic]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Aurora or Edana....this is hard....very very hard....I'll eventually have to own both of them :arms: .

 

[ErikH]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

The only thing is that a lot of players like to have a 100 watt amp even if they never even get close to using all 100 watts...they want to know it's there if they want it!

Good point.

Here I am saying go 50 watts max and I own a 100 watt Marshall...:laugh2: What a dope I am sometimes. :6:

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Good point.

Here I am saying go 50 watts max and I own a 100 watt Marshall...:laugh2: What a dope I am sometimes. :6:

Even thoughjt Im completely OK with a 30 or so watt amp I still belive that for a pure clean tone 100 watts is the way to go...that is even more true if you use buckers...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Even thoughjt Im completely OK with a 30 or so watt amp I still belive that for a pure clean tone 100 watts is the way to go...that is even more true if you use buckers...

Yeah...at concert levels, the low end of humbucker guitars stays clearer and tighter with 80-100 watts. I'd go deaf playing that loud myself...but some people, well, they gotta have it.

Truth is, my hearing has still not recovered from the All Star Jam. I've sat through sets of Cream, Jeff Beck and the MC5...but that was the loudest concert I've ever been assaulted by. It was WAY to loud.

Rick Derringer didn't play at the jam, but I saw him play on the main stage outside, and he played through two Jacksons and I'm sure he was pushing well over 100 watts.

Christian, as for the upper mids, the Aurora has it. What it doesn't have is that kind of harsh shrill sizzle way up on top that some Marshalls have when you crank up the prescence and treble. I've always thought that was sort of a defect in some Marshalls...but alot of them have it.

In some old Marshalls (maybe all?) it almost sounds like a wiring issue or something with the lead dress...the way the wiring is laid out inside the amp or something. It's kind of a ringing way up on top.

Lew

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Even thoughjt Im completely OK with a 30 or so watt amp I still belive that for a pure clean tone 100 watts is the way to go...that is even more true if you use buckers...

Back in the day when I was an audiophile wannabe, I did alot of shopping for receivers and separate power amp preamps. I found that higher output systems always sounded better at lower volumes than a lower output system. I don't know if it's because the high power stuff was built with better components. My 160 watt per channel Yamaha sounded much better and cleaner at conversational volume levels than the 25W Technics.

Christian, this may be analogous to what you are saying. A 100w head will sound better at lower volumes (85-90dB) than a 30W. The 100 watter will likely sound better at (100-110dB). But, at that volume the bar manager may not ask you to come back.

But, I have no experience with a 100w amps, so you guys will have to verify whether or not this is actually the case. Conversely, some guys who have 100W amps and always crank 'em may not know how their amps actually sound at low volume levels 75-85dB.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

They picked the dumbest spot to put the stage. All the sound was pointing smack dab at a brick wall, and in to a corner no less. What kind of idiot would set up a concert stage like that? Sure, it was outside but the soundwaves would just tumble around in there like a freakin' mixing bowl and kill ya. Not to mention that the space wasn't that big either.

I love my 100 watter, and it does sound good at lower volumes, suprisingly, but I'd like a lower wattage tube amp too for those smaller places where the 100 is totally overkill, which is pretty much everywhere except the arena and ampitheater, and probably the bigger clubs.

Lew, I know what sizzle or ringing you're talking about. I hear it more when those old Marshalls are really saturated. It's not present in later models, like my 900, but those old Plexi's, it's there, even in the reissues.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

Lew, I know what sizzle or ringing you're talking about. I hear it more when those old Marshalls are really saturated. It's not present in later models, like my 900, but those old Plexi's, it's there, even in the reissues.

Yep...it's like a grainy whistley ringing riding along on top of the note when the amp is really cranked. I don't know what it is. I thought it was a mistake in the wiring...but if it's in the RI too, that couldn't be true because the RI is a PCB amp. Must be something else that causes it. Jeff Seal would know...or one of the Marshall techs. Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Back from the Dallas Guitar Show...and some observations about tone:

yeah ive run into that marshall thing alot. with the volume and treble cranked it gets a weird harmonic overtone riding on top of the notes, gets worse with the channels jumped. i could never figure out what was going on but i am far from an EE.