Tube amps are going away…. again.

JiveTurkey said:
BUT YOU'VE BEEN WONDERFUL?!?!?
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Tongue in cheek, because me.

I mean, I get the clickbait rage. But it's nothing new. If magazine were still as viable a form of media for us as they were circa 1989, the covers would have all sorts of "buy me" story-lines just like these. "Are tube amps dead?" Would be in orange just under "to relic or not to relic, that is the question" in green and over on the right "why deal with individual pedals when these 6 multi-effects units sound just as good but do so much more?" And "this one little trick that can make your chugs even chuggier"
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
If magazine were still as viable a form of media for us as they were circa 1989, the covers would have all sorts of "buy me" story-lines just like these. "Are tube amps dead?" Would be in orange just under "to relic or not to relic, that is the question" in green and over on the right "why deal with individual pedals when these 6 multi-effects units sound just as good but do so much more?" And "this one little trick that can make your chugs even chuggier"
Click to expand...
You missed one: This 15 minute exercise will have you playing like ______ in NO TIME!
 
Clickbait is rampant on YouTube, no matter what your interested in, its everywhere
if your interested in space or the James Web Telescope you would not believe the clickbait bullshit
pick another subject and its mostly all BS
its very hard to find any meaningful truthful topics

1684457318500.png
 
I like forum threads and even YouTube videos that are informative about a certain piece of gear. Something entitled "Tube amps are a dying luxury" is really unlikely to have any useful information for a player. It's only likely to generate a lot of bickering between the amp vs modeler crowd who apparently are willing to bicker endlessly about the subject.

Content generators know this and some are willing to pander to that crowd in order to generate revenue from YouTube.

I don't blame them for trying to make money but I don't click on those type of videos because in my experience they're not very informative and are a complete waste of my time.
 
Part of the blame lies on guitarists as well. You need to go no further than TheOtherPlace and you will have people who are so absolutely on one side of the fence as if they need to pick a side. Tribalism is a scourge on society.

Both of these are likely to watch a video like in OP and then complain about it online. Clicks and ad revenue for the baiter, ads for Google, nobody else wins.

For me, tube amps have come and gone, same as modelers. I've probably bought and sold way more well working solutions than I should have looking for that elusive "perfect setup" which of course doesn't exist.

I sometimes think I should try my hand at building a tube amp since a local company sells some pretty sweet kits. I wouldn't be surprised if I do that sometime in the future just for fun.

But my current situation is that I don't gig, don't play in a band and don't have a space where I could play a tube amp at the 90+ dB @ 1m volumes I feel are necessary to make them sound great. So using a modeler into headphones or studio monitors works just great for me. I honestly don't have huge preferences for real guitar speakers vs full range solutions.
 
Well why should it matter what X Tuber says , we all know what we want and what we like no?
so we get that which best suits our needs, I do like some YouTube or Text article content for what features any X gear has and how you can use it and what can be done with it
When I decided to commit to learning guitar and what i wanted to accomplish I knew that path would best be served going the Modeling route and not the amp and pedals route
so thats what was best for me and still is
but I dont bash other gear options i dont use just because it dont suit my needs
 
Desertdweller said:
I like fluff, but you missed nothing.
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I like Fluff too, but quit watching his stuff a long time ago after I came to the conclusion I don't like how he dials in ANY tone on ANY amp. He's like the Anti-Ola in that Ola can get a useful, if not killer, tone from just about anything, while Fluff takes an SLO100, Dual Recto, Deizel, Uberschall etc and dials them in to sound like a $100 Crate combo. Nothing against him as a person, cause he seems really cool, but man, his tone just sucks IMO. #DifferentStrokes
 
not sure why I happened to watch this video but I actually agreed with basically everything he said here.

I have friends playing in touring bands, one is even an amp tech and they’re either using modellers or seriously considering it. The savings in cost for travelling around (especially abroad) really do make a difference. One band is getting offered some nice festival dates in the US (which is a huge step for them), but even in UK dates they’re basically having to share cars together to make it work and lugging amps and cabs around makes it really complicated.

Likewise; the cost and uncertainty of arranging back lines just doesn’t really add up to them (at least for every gig).

I’ve also spoke to a very prominent touring sound guy who works with some of the biggest metal bands, he said it’s basically ALWAYS digital for guitars live, very few bands are using real amps live.

I can’t say I like that direction, and I’m still buying valve amps like a maniac. I do wonder why younger bands would care in the same way we do when using them. I don’t generally watch Fluff’s videos but he as actually fairly concise and to the point here, and his experiences seem pretty close to what I’m hearing.
 
Yeah did anyone actually watch the video? I agreed with him quite a bit.

Fluff doesn’t really shout hot takes. I don’t watch most of his stuff but he’s a pretty chill and reasonable guy. He’s not the fake studio producer dude yelling all the time.

Tube amps aren’t going away anytime soon, but they are becoming more of a luxury than a need to have. Beginner players are never going to start with a tube amp (they haven’t for 40 years). But where most of us would get a tube amp for our first real amp, I think most intermediate players are more likely to go with modelers, plug-ins, pedals, etc.

For home playing, tubes don’t make much sense. They are really loud unless attenuated and that’s always been an issue. Way too many options for low volume playing that don’t involve tubes.

For touring bands, it depends on the style. I saw Sunny Day Real Estate a few weeks back and those were all tube amps. But I saw Blink 182 a couple weeks ago and he was using an Axe FX 3 (I could spot the FC12 even from the nosebleeds). A lot of big bands with silent stages run modelers now, but a lot of the mid level bands especially the more punk and raw rock bands are running amps.
 
I also genuinely feel that tube amps are a luxury. I do prefer using them, and its a more fun experience. But I don't need any of them - I still have them because I like them.
 
Jarick said:
Yeah did anyone actually watch the video? I agreed with him quite a bit.

Fluff doesn’t really shout hot takes. I don’t watch most of his stuff but he’s a pretty chill and reasonable guy. He’s not the fake studio producer dude yelling all the time.

Tube amps aren’t going away anytime soon, but they are becoming more of a luxury than a need to have. Beginner players are never going to start with a tube amp (they haven’t for 40 years). But where most of us would get a tube amp for our first real amp, I think most intermediate players are more likely to go with modelers, plug-ins, pedals, etc.

For home playing, tubes don’t make much sense. They are really loud unless attenuated and that’s always been an issue. Way too many options for low volume playing that don’t involve tubes.

For touring bands, it depends on the style. I saw Sunny Day Real Estate a few weeks back and those were all tube amps. But I saw Blink 182 a couple weeks ago and he was using an Axe FX 3 (I could spot the FC12 even from the nosebleeds). A lot of big bands with silent stages run modelers now, but a lot of the mid level bands especially the more punk and raw rock bands are running amps.
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The title and the thumbnail were the main culprit in this. Really the only thing Fluff has made me twitch about is the whole gift of tone thing where he can't seem to be bothered to do anything promotional on it while over in the other corner, Steve Vai is making a vid giving you a personal rig rundown :hmm
 
laxu said:
Part of the blame lies on guitarists as well. You need to go no further than TheOtherPlace and you will have people who are so absolutely on one side of the fence as if they need to pick a side. Tribalism is a scourge on society.

Both of these are likely to watch a video like in OP and then complain about it online. Clicks and ad revenue for the baiter, ads for Google, nobody else wins.

For me, tube amps have come and gone, same as modelers. I've probably bought and sold way more well working solutions than I should have looking for that elusive "perfect setup" which of course doesn't exist.

I sometimes think I should try my hand at building a tube amp since a local company sells some pretty sweet kits. I wouldn't be surprised if I do that sometime in the future just for fun.

But my current situation is that I don't gig, don't play in a band and don't have a space where I could play a tube amp at the 90+ dB @ 1m volumes I feel are necessary to make them sound great. So using a modeler into headphones or studio monitors works just great for me. I honestly don't have huge preferences for real guitar speakers vs full range solutions.
Click to expand...
Stone said:
Well why should it matter what X Tuber says , we all know what we want and what we like no?
so we get that which best suits our needs, I do like some YouTube or Text article content for what features any X gear has and how you can use it and what can be done with it
When I decided to commit to learning guitar and what i wanted to accomplish I knew that path would best be served going the Modeling route and not the amp and pedals route
so thats what was best for me and still is
but I dont bash other gear options i dont use just because it dont suit my needs
Click to expand...
Both of these.

I don't bother watching, nor even wonder why people make them. I know what works for me, I know what I like, which comes from my own real world experimentation, so there's no point in watching something like that.

Coincidentally, I use a tube head with an internal load direct into the PA, so, I have BOTH sides of the coin covered. No need to pick one.

P.S. - I'm wondering, do they make videos saying the live/loud drum kit is pointless?
 
Baba said:
Both of these.

I don't bother watching, nor even wonder why people make them. I know what works for me, I know what I like, which comes from my own real world experimentation, so there's no point in watching something like that.

Coincidentally, I use a tube head with an internal load direct into the PA, so, I have BOTH sides of the coin covered. No need to pick one.

P.S. - I'm wondering, do they make videos saying the live/loud drum kit is pointless?
Click to expand...

Acoustic drums are also decreasing in popularity. I was a drummer growing up in the early 90's so my parents put up with a lot of noise at home. Then of course all the bands would play in my basement so a massive amount of noise.

I've met a few kids who played sports with my son (in the 13-15 age range) over the last couple years who were avid drummers. All of them have electronic kits and only ever play acoustic kits at school or church.

Hell, I sold my last acoustic kit about a decade ago as I never used it, and replaced it with an electronic kit (although that rarely gets used).

For me there's two reasons electronic drums lag behind modelers.

One is the feel...yeah people talk about how modelers don't have the same feel as tubes, but that's so minor compared to hitting a rubber cymbal or mesh drum head. It's a completely different feel and unless you spend a lot of money you aren't getting anywhere close to the feel of an acoustic kit.

Second is sound...cheap drums have modules with crappy sounds that sound straight out of the 80's/90's. If you want a great electronic drum sound, you need to use high quality samples, and that's just creeping into the high end modules now. It's really similar to amp modeling with the first Axe FX came out. Before that the modelers sounded okay but not great and not real, but then with impulse responses and more high fidelity modeling, it started to sound like a real amp.
 
Jarick said:
Acoustic drums are also decreasing in popularity. I was a drummer growing up in the early 90's so my parents put up with a lot of noise at home. Then of course all the bands would play in my basement so a massive amount of noise.

I've met a few kids who played sports with my son (in the 13-15 age range) over the last couple years who were avid drummers. All of them have electronic kits and only ever play acoustic kits at school or church.

Hell, I sold my last acoustic kit about a decade ago as I never used it, and replaced it with an electronic kit (although that rarely gets used).
Click to expand...
Man; it's hard enough to get a drummer to splurge on some sticks let alone a $5700 e-kit :oops::rofl
 
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