Practice amps before solid state amps were invented while playing with high gain
- Thread starter Wayne27
- Start date
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
There were none.
Nobody played high gain (let alone high gain in bedroom situations) before the invention of solid state amps, which came out in the mid-60s. Early 60s and fifties everyone was playing clean, and getting annoyed when their amps crapped out into distortion because of volume. If someone wanted to practice quietly they were likely either pulling out an acoustic or playing unplugged.
Nobody played high gain (let alone high gain in bedroom situations) before the invention of solid state amps, which came out in the mid-60s. Early 60s and fifties everyone was playing clean, and getting annoyed when their amps crapped out into distortion because of volume. If someone wanted to practice quietly they were likely either pulling out an acoustic or playing unplugged.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
^ This.
For practicing at low volume, student amps like the Fender Champion 600 were around. But no one played with high gain quietly. Only the pros had high gain because only they could afford that equipment and had places to play that loud. The closest I came was using a cassette tape recorder as a preamp. Distorted the heck out of that then ran it into a stereo for monitoring.
For practicing at low volume, student amps like the Fender Champion 600 were around. But no one played with high gain quietly. Only the pros had high gain because only they could afford that equipment and had places to play that loud. The closest I came was using a cassette tape recorder as a preamp. Distorted the heck out of that then ran it into a stereo for monitoring.
In the neck of woods I grew up I got to practice at some point on a bass power amp bought really cheap. Had no idea what a proper guitar SS amp would sound like, let alone a real tube amp. Come to think of it, we didn't even have MTV at the time, the only western pieces of gear we had in our house were 2 tape cassette recorders, a Swiss made Standard - extremely well built, but so obscure now no search engine knows about it - and a Japan made Sharp. Everything else was made in the Eastern European communist block.
