The time has come... I'm selling my tube amps!

  • Thanks, haha! Yes there are some heavy bastards among them... my first one-walk-from-car-to-stage gig with the KPA is an experience I'll never forget. I am keeping the cabs however, specially a 1x12 Two-Rock, 2x12 Two-Rock and 2x12 Marshall.


    I must add though that 95% of the time I play my own profiles of these amps. I have a recording studio so I have made quite some profiles of each of these amps with quality mics and preamps.

    If you are happy with your own profiles, sell all of your amps, buy new amps you would like.. profile'em all.. play .. repeat.

  • I would keep one. Your favourite. Looks like nice stuff to choose from.

    And sell the rest.

    You have the tube amp experience and the huge variety of the KPA.

    That's what I would do today. Some time back, maybe not.

    It seems, in general, we have too much gear.

    But that's another story ?

  • I mean, yeah, the guitar cabs are empty, but they're playing through a $100k PA system. Since it's unlikely I'll ever play through a PA system with even 1/10 of the power, I'll stand by my 2x12 cab. ?

    ...but bands shouldn't ( in my opinion) don't rely on their backline for FOH, even in the smallest of venues. So the size of the PA shoudln;t make a difference.


    Your cab should be for your band monitoring only...


    I built myself a false 4x12 for the look too :)

  • ...but bands shouldn't ( in my opinion) don't rely on their backline for FOH, even in the smallest of venues. So the size of the PA shoudln;t make a difference.


    Your cab should be for your band monitoring only...


    I built myself a false 4x12 for the look too :)

    My point here is that I see this meme pop up a lot when people are talking about cabinets, and the general response is "nobody needs more than a 1x12 because look what the rock stars do." There's no substitute for pushing air, and while this cab is unloaded, you can bet that PA and monitors are pushing a ton of air, which makes things sound huge onstage. In my experience, it's best never to rely on anything from FOH, because your monitor can go out at any minute, or any other number of other things can go wrong. We're probably saying a lot of the same things here, but I just get kinda annoyed by that meme for some reason. ?

  • I sold most of the newer amps that I used to use live. No need for me, any more. I've kept three old jewels in my home that I will never sell, just because I think every guitarist should collect a few favourites. Besides that they just look gorgeous in my living room, there is no more beautiful furniture. Maybe I will take them out for very special occasions but so far they are only for making me smile whenever I see them. Should I ever really "need" a tube amp for a live event (cannot imagine one right now but only "if") I would ask a friend or a music shop to lend me one.

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

  • Surely there's one you couldn't let go of? I couldn't sell my JCM800, but I've sold off some other random stuff I wasn't using, felt a bit guilty about spending a wad on the Kemper. Since discovering what a Trainwreck is (thanks to the Kemper) I've been keeping an eye out for a Ceriatone clone, I'm probably more likely to buy a tube amp now than I was before I guess

  • Kemper has some applications and amps have others, most of them overlap but not all of them. I suggest keeping at least a combo or a head/cab.


    Played a small open air gig last week and decided to use the backline (after 6 months locked in my room with a Kemper and studio monitors). I had forgotten the awesome growl of my 335 through a Twin Reverb. :saint:

  • My point here is that I see this meme pop up a lot when people are talking about cabinets, and the general response is "nobody needs more than a 1x12 because look what the rock stars do." There's no substitute for pushing air, and while this cab is unloaded, you can bet that PA and monitors are pushing a ton of air, which makes things sound huge onstage. In my experience, it's best never to rely on anything from FOH, because your monitor can go out at any minute, or any other number of other things can go wrong. We're probably saying a lot of the same things here, but I just get kinda annoyed by that meme for some reason. ?

    Off topic a little but I think we are coming from a slightly different viewpoint although saying a similar thing.


    Most mainstream bands now use IEM's so on stage monitoring is becoming less and less common. Like you I'm not saying don;t run any monitoring, but I also don't need a 4x12. I have run one gig without a backline for guitars ( me, the other guitarist and bass player) all just using the PA monitors. It was wierd but worked. Like you, I wouldn't do it every gig but conversely it wouldn't stress me out.


    The meme is actually highlighting they are both un-necessary and in reality rarely used. With the wall of 4x12s and amps shown by most rock bands, even back in the 80's, most were rarely switched on.


    You have to rely on the PA/FOH sound. Any PA engineer would prefer silence on stage so he can control the FOH sound. The main reason is balance. If you have a cranked amp thorough a 4x12, you will melt the face off the people in front of you and anyone off axis/at the back will hear nothing ( even in relatively small venues). Hence I never have the debate of if you should put guitars and drums through the PA. The answer is always yes. The meme also implys that the sound on stage is not used as part of the FOH.


    I love moving air on stage and feeling it, but to me its now counter productive...wrecks my ears, loses overall balance ( I want to hear my guitar in context not overpowering) and means lugging massive cabs around.

  • Here's my worthless opinion©®™: ask yourself what you would replace immediately if it were stollen and you received enough insurance money to cover your losses. What would you be sad about if you couldn't replace, and what would you be happy about being able to replace with something else?


    I have bought and sold a ridiculous amount of gear in the last 2-3 years after getting back into music after a long break. The 3 pieces of gear that I miss the most are all things that I would consider not practical to my current situation of being a keyboard warrior musician (because of Covid, mostly). That's the reason why I miss them, because although I can afford to buy them again, I can't really justify their practicality right now. But if I still had them I'd fire them up every now and then.


    If you're curious, the 3 things I've sold that I miss the most are a Mesa Maverick 2x12 combo, a Mesa Rectoverb Series 2 head, and a Music Man JPX 7 string.