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There is a lot of discussion lately about amps. My 2 cents:
1. I will not own a circuit board amp - I have a number of friends
that have had reliability problems, related I'm sure to regular
gigging - these amps can't take a lot of movement form car to stage
and back. If I rarely took the amp out of the house, I might
consider a circuit board amp.
2. sometimes it can cost more to fix a circuit board amp than it
costs to buy a new one.
3. If you play a reissue circuit board amp in a room by itself, it
sounds really great. If you have a good working vintage amp right
next to it and do an A-B, the vintage amp usually sounds better.
4. There is no technical reason why a circuit board amp can't sound
as good or be as reliable as a point to point wired amp. The reason
why today's circuit board amps don't sound as good or are as reliable
as P-to-P is cost. The amp companies have to put out a product that
will sell for a competitive price in today's market. So the circuit
boards are flimsy, the tubes are cheap, etc. If you run inflation -
a '68 Twin retailed for $479 - if you run the numbers to today's
dollars you will get like $2500 - right about what you pay for a good
brand new P-to-P amp today.
Most major metro areas have good amp techs - buy a Siverface Fender
(or 60's Ampeg which are real sleepers) and get it serviced - it's
your best bet if you're gigging (and will probably go up in value),
unless you want to get a recent Dual Professional like mine!
Boulder Bob
The Beloved Invaders
