Machine Gun Amps
Tone Considerations
Some things to think about before you go ahead and buy those new tubes or get your amp worked on.


There are a few things I'd like to go over before you decide to get new tubes and other parts for your amp.


If you have an amp that you don't like, and never did, then new tubes and other parts probably aren't going to fix it. Especially if you have already had it serviced and had new tubes put in by a competent tech. The relative tone differences in tubes are kind of subtle sometimes, and aren't going to make the difference between a bad and good amp. Granted, if you have a Twin Reverb with 10 year old Chinese tubes and hi fi woofers for speakers, it's going to sound horrible! This is a good case for some fine replacement tubes and speakers, and general service. This amp will rock the house after some TLC! However, if you have an off brand tube amp thing that you don't like and you may have paid a little too much for, cut your losses now. Sell it. Putting more money into it is only going to be a waste.


Tubes will make all the difference to you if you have an amp that you like pretty well, but want to tweak it slightly to get better tone. Here's an example: If you gig with a Fender reissue or Deluxe/Deville every night, new tubes and proper biasing will knock your socks off. A new speaker will also go very far to improve tone. The amp will sound good enough before, but trust me, these changes will really make a big difference! The amp will still be the same kind of amp it was before, but it will be better. It's not going to turn the amp into something else, it's just going to make what's there even better. These amps do have decent tone when you unleash it with some good components. But, don't expect your 4x10 Deville to sound like a blackface Super Reverb! Think of it like this: It's like getting new paint and tires on your car that you love and drive everyday.


If you have an amp that you just can't get a decent sound out of, then you might want to consider selling it to get something else. It's just not worth it in many cases to buy new parts for it and spend the money on the labor. Here's an example: If you have a Bassman head sitting on top of a Marshall cabinet and it's not giving you a Marshall tone, then get a Marshall! People would like to think that installing EL34's and doing extensive mods will make it sound more like a Marshall, but that's not really going to do it. Not that EL34's in a Bassman will sound that bad (but it's still not really a good idea to do that mod), but it may not get you where you want to be. Why not sell the Bassman and get a 50 watt Marshall JCM800 or something? Alternately, that old Peavey head is not going to sound like a Twin Reverb no matter what you do.


It sounds like I'm discouraging you from trying different parts. I'm not at all. New tubes and parts will make a good amp sound better, or great even. If you love to tinker with tone, amps are a really fun thing to make some changes to that might give you the tone you're looking for. But, there's an old saying that goes "you can't polish a turd". It's true. BUT, that amp you have there may be a turd to you and a gold mine to someone else. Modding your amp irreversibly or extensively will make it desirable to nobody. Get the right amp before you start spending a lot of money on one that isn't going to get you to where you want to be. (My rule still applies though, no modding classic vintage amps!)


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Last updated 2/19/2000