YouTube amp reviews

[AutomationBias]

SUPER happy with the Power Station. That opened the door to a lot of amps that I wouldn't otherwise be able to use to their full potential (Hiwatt, Bassman, Super Reverb, Plexi, etc).

 

[Chocol8]

So are these YouTubers using load boxes connecting them to studio monitors?

How they are listening doesn't matter, but many if not most are using load boxes connected to their recording interface and that is what you are hearing. They may be listening on monitors or passing the signal on to a cab, but you certainly are not hearing that.

Exceptions exist, I know Tim Pierce often uses cabs miced in an isolation room. He is listening on monitors, and you are hearing the same mic'ed cab he is. Neither of you are hearing what the cab sounds like in the room, just what the microphone is capturing. I have seen some Pete Thorn videos where he is micing a cab or combo amp. You hear the sound of the mic, plus whatever he does in post, he is hearing the sound in the room. That said I think he is using an OX, PS-2 or Suhr RL in most videos.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

A lot of these YT demos are heavily doctored/produced.
It doesn't invalidate them, as it shows how the amp will sound like in a studio environment but as far as showing how the amp really sounds like in front of you, it might be better to look for demos from smaller channels with less production.

 

[Baba]

Years ago I wanted a “real” amp and cab so I scoured the forums looking for a good amp that sounded good at apartment levels. The general consensus was that the 5153 50 watt head sounded “good” at bedroom levels. I got it home, hooked it up, and could only turn it up a hair before it would blow my hair back. I was so confused - I was told by many people that THIS amp was THE one I needed.

At a volume that didn’t annoy my neighbors, it was bassy, yet thin, and just didn’t sound good to me. I eventually gave up and put it on CL. A guy came over to test it out with his Les Paul. Since he was trying it out, I let him open her up - SOUNDED GLORIOUS. This was what I was looking for! No way I would ever be able to play it that loud without an eviction notice. Every time I get an itch for a real amp, I remember that experience. I would definitely get an attenuator if I did.

This is my situation now, I live in an apartment, but spend most of my playing time live with my band, so, I need a loud amp, but I can't play one at home. Annoying AF, and VERY hard when I decide to switch gears and play with a different amp. I pretty much have to depend on YouTube clips, thinking it will sound similar when I use it, or trying something in a store, which, face it, it's near impossible to play something in a store, at band volume, for 15 minutes straight.

Unfortunately, I have returned quite a few pieces of gear, and bought the "wrong" stuff, because of this, and I'm currently in this same cycle

 

[laxu]

SUPER happy with the Power Station. That opened the door to a lot of amps that I wouldn't otherwise be able to use to their full potential (Hiwatt, Bassman, Super Reverb, Plexi, etc).

Those are the best usecase for it.

But if the volume needs to go very low, the experience will still be mediocre.

 

[Whizzinby]

It actually works pretty well as long as your bedroom level doesn't mean someone sleeping next to you.

This is pretty much it. At certain low volumes it doesn’t really matter what gear you’re using, but if “bedroom level” is something other than mouse fart levels, the power stations are awesome to knock the edge off for domestic use.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I bought a EH Mig 50 after watching 2 videos by JHS Josh Scott.

It’s been my favourite 50 watt tube head since the day it arrived
I bought the 2X 12” cab that was in a GAK sale at the same time .

 

[ejecta]

A big reason people don’t get the same exact sound is in large part because it’s the sum of the parts and you don’t have all the same parts. Hands ie… pick attack style and muting style, pickups, pick thickness, string gage, guitar wood, cables, pedals in the chain, amp style and build variances, speakers, cab size, mic or direct, post production or not etc. There’s so many variables.

I think Youtube demos can be a fun watch and to a degree can give you a rough idea of sound capabilities but more times than not those demos don’t really tell much on sound until you get it into your situation. They are great for showing how it’s built, how to use it etc but that’s about it in reality.

 

[Dave Lewis]

A big reason people don’t get the same exact sound is in large part because it’s the sum of the parts and you don’t have all the same parts. Hands ie… pick attack style and muting style, pickups, pick thickness, string gage, guitar wood, cables, pedals in the chain, amp style and build variances, speakers, cab size, mic or direct, post production or not etc. There’s so many variables.

I think Youtube demos can be a fun watch and to a degree can give you a rough idea of sound capabilities but more times than not those demos don’t really tell much on sound until you get it into your situation. They are great for showing how it’s built, how to use it etc but that’s about it in reality.

Rooms play a big part
one of the worst sounding gigs I’ve ever been to besides Barry White at the RAH (Don’t ask) was Rush at Wembley on there washing machine tour.
12 rows back from the front in the middle on the ground and it should of sounded great .
Why there sound man didn’t go out front and have a listen I don’t know??

 

[AutomationBias]

I bought a EH Mig 50 after watching 2 videos by JHS Josh Scott.
It’s been my favourite 50 watt tube head since the day it arrived
I bought the 2X 12” cab that was in a GAK sale at the same time .

These are a lot of fun. I worked in a guitar store as a teenager when these first came out and remember unpacking the boxes and plugging them in for the first time.

 

[newpedals]

I am skeptical of gear demos in general.

Sometimes non famous, low youtube viewed videos and their producers put out interesting information and their comparatively "unpolished" content helps me decide whether I should visit a store to check out something which I may like and will be affordable for me.

A funny demo I had seen had an overdrive pedal plugged into an amp and the person demonstrating the pedal said that "he had a tiny amount of reverb coming from the amp."

I am a reverb fangirl but it was not a tiny amount. As he dialed in more gain, the sound became muddy.

 

[la szum]

Hi. I’m really tired of a phenomenon that has dogged me as a player over the years. It goes like this: I hear some guy playing a particular amplifier on YouTube. it sounds really good so I buy one. I get it home and I can’t begin to explore the tones that these guys get because at any meaningful volume, the amp is just too darn loud. I mean even at 1/2 it’s just ridiculously over loud for home use. As these players aren’t being filmed in Studio 2 of Abbey Road, and appear to be in a normal sized room, the quality of sound is often so good, I’m completely bemused over the distance between the sound I’m able to get and what I can hear in the YouTube clip.

I’m assuming that the amp is being driven hard to get these excellent tones. I’m no rookie, having been a player for 40 years. I suspect that some of the responses I receive will allude to an attenuator, but the players never mention their inclusion in the demos.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome.

I put almost Zero Stock in YT demos. Between the pay to play demos and the neophytes
posing as world-class experts there ain't much there for me to value or trust, at this point.

I've also been playing for 40 years, give or take. I know what I like. Know what I don't. I don't
need no whippersnappers or charlatans getting "free" gear trying to seduce me.

 

[Marco2073]

My amps are really good at tv level. Not all amps perform well at bedroom volumes. In any case, the majority of well-known youtubers are paid and the productions are made in such a way as to have the best possible sound. Usually before buying an amp I try it in person or look for videos made by ‘ordinary’ people and taken with IPhone and not mics or IR. If you hear the sound of the strings, what you listen to is a discreet representation of reality and of what you will find in front of your non-stadium room.

 

[laxu]

My amps are really good at tv level. Not all amps perform well at bedroom volumes. In any case, the majority of well-known youtubers are paid and the productions are made in such a way as to have the best possible sound. Usually before buying an amp I try it in person or look for videos made by ‘ordinary’ people and taken with IPhone and not mics or IR. If you hear the sound of the strings, what you listen to is a discreet representation of reality and of what you will find in front of your non-stadium room.

I have a different view on that.

An iPhone set usually so that you can see the player is pretty terrible at representing the amp.

To me properly miced, mixed etc videos will far better showcase how the amp sounds at its best, and how it works in your use is going to be a version of that. It's like a "If they can get it to sound that good, then so can I with enough practice etc" thing.

I remember watching pretty much every video of the Victory VC35 that was available at the time. It had just been released so it wasn't that many. When I got the amp, it sounded pretty much like a combination of what I heard on all those videos, so it matched my expectation well.

 

[2112]

In defence of "well produced demo content", i.e non smartphone clips, is consistency from demo to demo.

Watch half a dozen demos by players like like Ola, Zach Wish or Blake Mansfield and you'll often get the same set of guitars, mics and outboard gear AND the benefit of an experienced player with a good set of ears. If you want to hear the difference between two different amps you can compare demos by the same player and cross reference them with other clips.

The idea that a single person and their preferences can represent EVERY possible musical situation a piece of gear might be used for is an impossible standard to hold someone to.

 

[Baba]

Piggybacking on what Leon said, and adding to it, I don't think there really is a "better" way to do it, to reach the masses.

Having said that, I think for me, listening to demos online is good for just a reference, at best, because as always, your fingers, your ears, your house/stage, etc. will ultimately give you the best answer, and that makes total sense.

For me, I'm a live player only. I don't record.

Yes, my amp gets mic'd live, and yes, I care about what my tone sounds like, to other people, BUT, *I* am listening to it WITHOUT a mic, (or IR) through my own cab(s), and also, in a mix with other raw instruments, so if a clip features a double tracked recording tone, using an IR, THAT is going to be pretty far from what I'm actually going to be hearing, when I use said amp, in my situation.

 

[Marco2073]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19Ne39m3SG/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

[Chocol8]

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19Ne39m3SG/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Is it me or is he slowly turning in to Steve Buscemi?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

In defence of "well produced demo content", i.e non smartphone clips, is consistency from demo to demo.

Watch half a dozen demos by players like like Ola, Zach Wish or Blake Mansfield and you'll often get the same set of guitars, mics and outboard gear AND the benefit of an experienced player with a good set of ears. If you want to hear the difference between two different amps you can compare demos by the same player and cross reference them with other clips.

The idea that a single person and their preferences can represent EVERY possible musical situation a piece of gear might be used for is an impossible standard to hold someone to.

A lot of gear sounds great in YouTube videos because....a lot of gear sounds great these days. Doesn't mean its going to work for me, the way I want it to of course.

What I can absolutely glean from YouTube demos by you and others is...if you or Pete Thorn aren't making the thing sound really good...then I should probably just forget the thing exists no matter how useful the feature set may look.

 

[Humbug]

What I can absolutely glean from YouTube demos by you and others is...if you or Pete Thorn aren't making the thing sound really good...then I should probably just forget the thing exists no matter how useful the feature set may look.

Ha! That's actually a really good point.