I must have missed the original post this came from because, no it is not stupid to take out vintage amps or vintage guitars of any year. First if you bought it what should anyone care what you do with a piece of equipment. 2nd, I've never understood people who buy really expensive guitars and don't take them out because they are afraid it might chip or something. maybe if there is some sort of sentimental value to a guitar I wouldn't take it out, but I can't see myself buying something really expensive and sounding really good in my basement and then playing out and telling everyone that thought I sounded good, "You should hear me in my basement".

You have a better chance at smashing up your car then wrecking expensive gear at a show.

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I bought my vintage stuff to be played. Amps can always be repaired. Guitars, I could see not bringing them out since people who own a very expensive guitar likely own 3-4 other really great guitars. I do bang up my guitars a lot. We have 5 people on stage, our headstocks meet quite a bit.

I just checked with THE BOSS.. nope - only one round at life. So.. if you bought it, PLAY IT. These are guitars and amps.. not oil futures.

I should mention that my vintage Showman costs less than most the RI amps if you buy the Showman in head form and then build a cab. I got my Showman for $475 a little over two years ago.

I'm sure I could hear the difference between a poly and nitro guitar. But for a test like that to be done you would have to have the same electronics and parts. The only thing that could be different is the finish. And that rarely happens in a guitar. Another problem is when people test gear they aren't testing their gear. It takes time to get used to a piece of gear to hear all the nuances of that piece. I also haven't been standing in front of a amp for 20 years. Got my ears tested and custom ear plugs made about a year ago. My ears were fine as it turns out. I had really nasty tinnitus but that was caused by something other than music unfortunately. No permanent damage though as tinnitus is in most cases.

I just hate the whole "I can't tell the difference" argument. Prefer what gear you want and that doesn't bother me but don't say there isn't a difference.

Ill play my powerblock just as soon as my bassman, well not quite but to a large extend. I dont own any really expensive guitars, but if
I bought one it would be to play, and to wear out. but hey, Im a happy camper with my cheap guitars.

I just hate the whole "I can't tell the difference" argument. Prefer what gear you want and that doesn't bother me but don't say there isn't a difference.

but for once Ill be in Jake's corner and add my two and a half cent to the discussion.

people who claim they cant hear the difference between one thing and then other and then go beserk about it and say other people cant hear the difference too crack me up. non musicians usually cant even point out the bassline in music. if you don't know how a compressor works you cant hear any differnce between the on and bypass modes. you can be in fornt of a speaker, focussing on the high frequencies and completly miss somebody's fooling around with the lows. Hell, Ive shown people the same movie clip 10 times in a row and they did NOT notice there was a chance in music from disco to Rachmaninov. bottomline, if you don't know what you should listen to you can miss it. doesn't mean it's not there and other's can't not miss it.
apart form that, from around age 20 up you suffer slight natural hearing loss. if you're a musician and played a lot in fornt of an amp: hearing loss. went to live shows a lot: hearing loss. headphones/ipods: hearing loss.

just some reasons to be humble and wonder if it could actually be true, if somebody claims he can hear something and you cant.

this by the way is of course not an argument for or against vintage gear.

WR

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the y look good and sound good. personally i prefer something smaller than a showman or twin. actually looking for a blues jr or blues deluxe. don't do the band thing anymore so i don't need the power. a deluxe reissue would be nice. don't like to fiddle with used amps cause i have blown up too many of them and my dear wife says --no warranty no buy--so thats how that goes!! so take it or leave it!! peace

Of all of the musical genres that "require" a certain sound, this is a non-issue, really. Surf/Instrumental, etc. seems best pulled off through vintage amplifiers. If you can get along with a Soldano or whatever, the best to ya. At the very least, simplicity of design kinda rules the day when it comes to getting this particular sound. Still, that's a whole can of worms by itself.

I would further argue that when the records are made, most producers and engineers do their damnedest to capture the sound through old mics, mixing desks, compressors, tape decks, and whatever else they can get their hands on. What's the point in making a sacrifice when playing live? If you have old guitars and amps in good playing shape, use em. I would be more inclined to NOT play a certain guitar or amp if it were a dog, not because of it's vintage status.

Having had much experience with older Fender amps, there is typically very little need to bring out the fresh-from-the-factory character. They're well made, very quiet by vintage standards, and if anything catastrophic were to occur you're almost certain to find the correct replacement parts.

Matt Aqua

_surfneptune
I couldn't find any post that talked about player skill... if it was a response to my post then you missunderstood what I was trying to say, I meant "experience" to mean how the amp reacts when you pick hard vs soft for instance...

[/_

I'm pretty sure I didn't misunderstand "Modeled amps don't "feel" like a real tube amp. so it is mostly the experience of the player that comes into play. "

The experience of the player meaning time spent honing one's skill? The implication is only someone who doesn't know better would prefer a solid state amp, because an experienced player, or as I chose to state it, skilled player, can get things out of a tube amp those knuckle dragging solid state boys never could Relax Surfneptune I am grossly exagerating and joking, I'm not in any way attacking you. I have beautiful old gear too, and as I stated, wouldn't ever begrudge someone wanting to use it. I appreciate tradition and the linkage to the past. Stupid was a stupid word of me to use I just think that alot of folks havent' tried the new generation of solid state stuff.

I gotta say that Line 6's Classic Amps Collection with the Model of the Dual Showman is pretty damn good. They even have the spring reverb down with the exception of "kicking the tank". So, if you don't have a huge amount of cash throw out, the POD Lve XT is a decent solution.

As for the issue of the topic - I believe gear should be used and not being put in the closest just for bragging rights. I love the old amps, but my back can't take lugging them around all the time. So, I try to keep my gear under 60 lbs. per piece. Everything fits on a cart or has wheels. But you gotta lift it onto stage and in and out of the vehicles. Gettng old is killing me.

ECsurf
Its all just perference..

Or preference. But you could say that about 99% of all forum questions.

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