Does an amp make sense for what I'm describing?

[mercifulfuzziness]

He can only land on the THR AFTER spending at least $3.7k on (someone else's dream) amp and realizing he's still at square one!

Can always buy a Nux

 

[JiveTurkey]

Can always buy a Nux

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Local Facebook group has a late 80s era Gorilla combo. Just pulled out of storage; doesn’t know much about it; $50.

 

[la szum]

This thread was a tubes vs digital post all along

Replace the "vs." with "and" and we can lock the doors and all go home, right?

 

[GTR37]

A tube amp that versatile good at low volume
I would say the Astro or the SYN20 are probably going to be the best for the amount of different tones you can get not from a modeller

Astro is like a twin / plexi/hot 800/ boosted SLO
Obviously not exactly those tones but certainly able to cover a lot of ground

Syn20 would be even more versatile depending on module choices

 

[la szum]

No. Don’t do this. Keep either the Axe or the QC. The FM3 will leave you frustrated that it is always behind a little on firmware updates and can’t run every new feature. You (and I) have both been down that road.

I am on that road, though.... and have no FOMO.... and feel pretty damn stoked about it
on a regular basis.

It can happen.

Maybe I am more beat down by life and miles on the Gear Road to Absolution than
others, or have really low expectations.... or God forbid... and more well-adjusted
than anyone gives me credit for, including myself.

I also tend to be a both/and guy, and am weary of any either/or tendencies to believe
Life (let alone Gear) is about battles and victors, rather than options and compatibility.

I know, weird.

 

[la szum]

I do think @Jarick can do better than a Rocker 15. Easily.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I am on that road, though.... and have no FOMO.... and feel pretty damn stoked about it
on a regular basis.

It can happen.

Maybe I am more beat down by life and miles on the Gear Road to Absolution than
others, or have really low expectations.... or God forbid... and more well-adjusted
than anyone gives me credit for, including myself.

I also tend to be a both/and guy, and am weary of any either/or tendencies to believe
Life (let alone Gear) is about battles and victors, rather than options and compatibility.

I know, weird.

You are you. Jarick is Jarick. I am me.

 

[la szum]

I'd say this is more of a "Know your own patterns and habits vs. I'm sure it'll be different this time!" thread. NTTAWWT.

Truth! So much of this seemingly outward journey of capturing gear is really also an inside job.

If we don't know what we want, and what our goals are, then we can just end up spinning
our wheels. And yeah, spinning our wheels can be exciting. It can also be exhausting to
the point that we run out of GAS.

Being specific about what we are ultimately trying to achieve with our Gear is a great first step
to gaining some clarity about how to proceed.

 

[la szum]

You are you. Jarick is Jarick. I am me.

Just sharing the possibility. Not taking over anyone's life
or freedom to choose. Geesh!

 

[Aelred]

I had no idea my Orange 1x12/V30 was so awful!

I currently have an Engl Fireball 25 connected and the Gain channel doesn’t seem fizzy or whatever – to me. And didn’t with Rocker 15 and Dark Terrors – to me.

The Bad Cat Black Cat combo and cab are specially made V30’s, and sound fine to me at low volume – although I have the extension cab in stereo with a Marshall 1912 (GB12-150) and an Engl Artist Edition 50 amp.

I almost always play low volume tube amps at home. Marshall DSL5C and Vox AC10C are my others.

Maybe ignorance is bliss in my case!

 

[Jarick]

If I ditch the Axe 3 I would replace with an FM9. I’m not selling all modelers just the heavy overlap.

I get distracted pretty easily by options so that’s something I like to avoid if possible. The cheap little amps haven’t done much for me.

I’m going to tinker with the Friedman IRX in the loop of the Axe 3 for a bit. I did like that setup a fair amount. Will run into the Fender FR12 as that sounds big.

That Fat Cab sounds like a neat idea…may have to look that up. Either a big 1x12 or 2x12 seems like a good play.

 

[Jarick]

What about swapping the 16 ohm Vintage 30 in the Orange 1x12 for a different speaker like an 8 ohm Creamback 65?

The Orange 1x12 is a well built birch cab with good internal volume. Vintage 30's have a strong upper mid spike, and from what I've read the 16 ohm ones are brighter than 8 ohm. So maybe swapping that out for a much warmer speaker like the M65 might be worth a shot?

 

[laxu]

What about swapping the 16 ohm Vintage 30 in the Orange 1x12 for a different speaker like an 8 ohm Creamback 65?

The Orange 1x12 is a well built birch cab with good internal volume. Vintage 30's have a strong upper mid spike, and from what I've read the 16 ohm ones are brighter than 8 ohm. So maybe swapping that out for a much warmer speaker like the M65 might be worth a shot?

Sure, if it makes financial sense. Sometimes just selling the cab, buying another used cab can be cheaper.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

What about swapping the 16 ohm Vintage 30 in the Orange 1x12 for a different speaker like an 8 ohm Creamback 65?

The Orange 1x12 is a well built birch cab with good internal volume. Vintage 30's have a strong upper mid spike, and from what I've read the 16 ohm ones are brighter than 8 ohm. So maybe swapping that out for a much warmer speaker like the M65 might be worth a shot?

Yeah, the cab itself should be fine. You should be able to flip a V30 on your local Facebook marketplace for a little cash.

 

[Jarick]

Sure, if it makes financial sense. Sometimes just selling the cab, buying another used cab can be cheaper.

I'd say your reviews and what I'm hearing in videos of the Fatcab sound exactly like what I'm after. A 1x12 that's voiced to sound like a 4x12 and works well at lower volumes too.

The cabs themselves look really similar:

FatCab is a 1x12 birch ply closed back cabinet with dimensions of 16.5 x 21.6 x 11.8 ~ 4,205 cubic inches
Orange is a 1x12 birch ply closed back cabinet with dimensions of 17.7 x 21.7 x 11.4 ~ 4,378 cubic inches

From clips and from all the IR's I've used, the Creamback 65 is a pretty warm sounding speaker, doesn't have the V30 mid spike. Dave Friedman seems to use these in his 1x12 cabs quite a bit, so maybe in a smaller cab with fewer speakers it balances out a bit better?

 

[Jarick]

Yeah, the cab itself should be fine. You should be able to flip a V30 on your local Facebook marketplace for a little cash.

That's what I'm thinking. I tried swapping the V30 for a V-Type but it was a really subtle difference. I think trying a speaker that's not so similar would be a better first move.

From what I know about amps, the speaker cab shapes the sound substantially, so changing that out would let me better judge everything else before making bigger moves.

 

[laxu]

I'd say your reviews and what I'm hearing in videos of the Fatcab sound exactly like what I'm after. A 1x12 that's voiced to sound like a 4x12 and works well at lower volumes too.

The cabs themselves look really similar:

FatCab is a 1x12 birch ply closed back cabinet with dimensions of 16.5 x 21.6 x 11.8 ~ 4,205 cubic inches
Orange is a 1x12 birch ply closed back cabinet with dimensions of 17.7 x 21.7 x 11.4 ~ 4,378 cubic inches

From clips and from all the IR's I've used, the Creamback 65 is a pretty warm sounding speaker, doesn't have the V30 mid spike. Dave Friedman seems to use these in his 1x12 cabs quite a bit, so maybe in a smaller cab with fewer speakers it balances out a bit better?

The Fatcab is front ported with a beam blocker though, so that already will subdue some of the highs.

If you want to try the beam blocker thing, literally take any round, flat object that is larger than the speaker dust cap, then tape it on the grille cloth of your cab. It's not the same as a proper beam blocker but can give you an idea how the cab might sound with one.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

That's what I'm thinking. I tried swapping the V30 for a V-Type but it was a really subtle difference. I think trying a speaker that's not so similar would be a better first move.

From what I know about amps, the speaker cab shapes the sound substantially, so changing that out would let me better judge everything else before making bigger moves.

The speaker is absolutely a big deal, and your tones always seem on the slightly smoother side to me so V30 or even V-Type probably not what you're looking for. Creamback is definitely a better bet. But I will say that while swapping speakers can be a pretty darn big deal, its not really the same kind of impact you get from swapping from a close-mic'ed V30 IR to a close-mic'ed Creamback IR. Not necessarily more subtle, just a bit different. So don't set your expectation of swapping speakers based on your experience with swapping IRs.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

That's what I'm thinking. I tried swapping the V30 for a V-Type but it was a really subtle difference. I think trying a speaker that's not so similar would be a better first move.

From what I know about amps, the speaker cab shapes the sound substantially, so changing that out would let me better judge everything else before making bigger moves.

Also, I'd still strongly advocate heading to a shop where you can try out your orange cab along with a few others rather than just firing off the GC order. You can learn a whoooooooole lot more in an hour at a decent shop for the price of a pack of strings and some picks than you can spending an hour over-analyzing stuff online.