The right amp for the guitar

[solspirit]

I've had this Tagima tele for about a month and today was the first day I plugged it into the Shaller/Hofner. I've been playing it through my Carvin and it sounded kind of flat. Pretty lifeless and dry. Well not with the Hofner, it came to life and had sustain for days.
. What's this all about, a vintage amp combined with low output pickups?

 

[beaubrummels]

Vintage tube amps have a natural compression, which adds sustain.

 

[Mincer]

I'll go the other way- you gained touch-sensitivity. That is a reason so many love lower output pickups.

 

[solspirit]

It's SS

Is it the wattage maybe? The modern amp is 100 as opposed to 40 for the vintage.

Explain that please Mincer.

It's sort of like an awakening to me, my musical interests and playing focus have changed drastically over the years. I'm really in uncharted territory trying to play and take a sort of a jazz direction, on equipment for rock blues & metal.

 

[jeremy]

i doubt its the wattage, i assume its just the difference in the amps. how old is that hofner? they built things different back then, and i dont just mean by hand and with different components, they were used to building tube amps so they built ss amps in a similar fashion but using transistors. the wants of guitarists also change quite a bit as time rolls on in some ways. glad the guitar and amp match up so well

 

[solspirit]

The grill has been reclothed so it doesn't say if it's a Schaller or Hofner. Through some research I've discovered that they both sold the KV line of amps but Hofner made them for Schaller. The closest I can get to a date on this amp is between 72 and 74. Schaller had a tube version up until at least 71 or 72 but I only see SS after that.

 

[NegativeEase]

The higher the output from your guitar, the less headroom inside each subsequent device which makes for a progressively there or not there" condition (ON/OFF almost like digital) due to the rounding and clipping of the sin wave into more a square wave condition, and this changes the feel in your playing from a swell and or ramping up and down of the wave form.

Can be very problematic for certain players.

 

[solspirit]

The higher the output from your guitar, the less headroom inside each subsequent device which makes for a progressively there or not there" condition (ON/OFF almost like digital) due to the rounding and clipping of the sin wave into more a square wave condition, and this changes the feel in your playing from a swell and or ramping up and down of the wave form.

Can be very problematic for certain players.

I cartainly have more 'feel' an definitely think I play better through this amp besides I feel that it's doing what I want it to do. Last month I thought it was the guitar because I achieved the sound I wanted when I was playing the others through the modern amp but not this one.

 

[alex1fly]

It's like cooking. A little bit of this seasoning, plus a little bit of that ingredient, cooked in a particular way, makes for a delicious meal. Sometimes you want a cheesy dish. Sometimes you want a crisp, refreshing one. With music, sometimes you want a touch sensitive spanky response, sometimes you want a smooth compressed response. This is the benefit to having multiple avenues for making music. I regularly switch between a 2x12 and a 1x12 with the same guitar because they give me different responses. Different speakers make a massive difference for me personally.