did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

[Quencho092]

i was just curious-a week ago i posted about the fender twin, etc, and jeff seal chimed in and explained the diff between blackface and silverface and how fender believed that distortion was characteristic of crappy amps.

Did leo intend the deluxe reverb to sound so good for blues turned up? Or did they simply design the circuit around getting defined, pleasant cleans? How many players in the early 60's, late 50's used fenders and other fairly clean amps to turn them up and distort them a bit?

 

[Scott_F]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Leo, like everyone else, was trying to get clean headroom out of their designs. It wasn't until some guys started cranking blackfaced fenders and marshall stacks that we clued into that tone.

Clapton on the Beano album is one of the very first. Lots has been written about how he cranked up his stack and the engineers were trying to get him to turn it down, but he insisted. Balls to the wall tone.

It was a very fortunate byproduct of early design.

 

[YJM_Rocks]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Well, maybe he said, "If it's gonna distort, it's gonna be nice". lol

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Those were the days when a guitar amp was built to be fairly similar to the 'new' radios and TV's. The idea was to make an electric that could be played alongside band instruments. So, the wattage was appropriate for it's use.

Guitar players soon realized they had more sustain to their fairly clean tones, the louder they turned it up. That pretty much invented the idea of a guitar with gain. From that time forward, amp companies sought to implement gain structures into the amp for more and more sustain, which is why we've now arrived at modern amps with cascading high gain preamp sections.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

i think the reason we think old amps distort nicely is because that's the sound all the guys we grew up listening to used...

Maybe Hendrix would've really found his tone in a Fender Frontman 15.....hahaha

-X

 

[Breogan]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Twins were advertised like the "most clean amps avaliable". The increase of power was with the intention to get more clean headroon not more power and distortion.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Twins were advertised like the "most clean amps avaliable". The increase of power was with the intention to get more clean headroon not more power and distortion.

and they're still too loud to give up the goods in anything less than a small stadium!

 

[B2D]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

Can you believe that in the 70's Rose-Morris (Marshall's distributor at the time) advertised Marshall amps as having "more power without distortion" ? :laugh2:

...he cranked up his stack and the engineers were trying to get him to turn it down, but he insisted. Balls to the wall tone.

Forty years later and I still have trouble finding a sound man that understands this. :smack:

 

[Quencho092]

Re: did early amp companies intend their amps to distort nicely?

and they're still too loud to give up the goods in anything less than a small stadium!

yeah, but their cleans are a whole different kind of goods. I'd take twin cleans over any distortion :32: