Fender Tonesaver - The price of convenience

[Passinwind]

The jcm900 uses some solid state components for the clipping I think? I could be totally wrong but I vaguely remember being told that by an amp tech who fixed mine a few times.

There are tons of opamps in the front end of those things, at least the couple I've worked on. "All tube"...not.

 

[andare]

I guess this is where I confess to having a relic bass guitar. I dig the look but what I really love is the feel of the neck. It's all rounded over, dinged and dented and finished in gummy nitro that shined up to an incredible feeling gloss after a few weeks of use.You'll have to pry this neck form my cold dead hands...and replace it with a pre-1963 P bass neck w/slab rosewood board.

 

[andare]

I didn't know that. I only use their enclosures and I do like the 1590BB size ones.

I really don't get the whole mojo thing about carbon comp resistors. Under tough use they drift in value, they can be noisy, they cost more than carbon film - why not just use carbon film? That's what I use in my amps unless I need something more heat resistant or higher wattage than 1 watt. I don't spend my time looking at the resistors - I play the amp. I have fixed a heap of amps with CC resistors where the resistors have drifted wildly in value until the amp sounds sad - and not in a cool blues way. One BF Super Reverb I worked on had plate load resistors (which were supposed to be 100K) measure almost 1M. No wonder there was hardly any volume coming from the amp - the plates couldn't get any voltage.

I think that if you can use something of better quality but make it look like an original part then that's fine, as long as it's not being done to trick anyone. But when that part is inside an amp or pedal or whatever where it's not on display typically then that's getting to be a little tragic.

Making new stuff look like old stuff is not just limited to the guitar world. Triumph make motorbikes where the throttle bodies are cast to look like 1960s Amal carburettors. Airboxes are hidden and the connection made to look like old-school air filters. It will be interesting to see what happens when more motorbikes become purely electric - will there be a market for retro-styled electric bikes? I wonder how you would even do that??

I read carbon comp resistors are preferable in certain parts of tube amps.

Are carbon film resistors better than metal film for amps? What about fuzz pedals? Do they add pleasant noise or is it just that they're cheaper?

 

[peccary]

To be fair that's not any weirder than me when I order humbuckers. If I'm having a set custom wound I always order them with zebra coils because zebra coils just look cool.

But then I have nickel covers put on so you can't see the zebra coils. I still do it every single time because I know they're there and that's all that matters.

I also put fancy caps inside guitars. Not because they sound better but because they look cool and make me happy whenever I do have to go into the control cavity and see them.

As long as these things make YOU happy that's all that matters. Anyone else who doesn't like it can do one.

I agree. Not many people will ever see it but I think it looks cool, so I'll take it

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I guess this is where I confess to having a relic bass guitar. I dig the look but what I really love is the feel of the neck. It's all rounded over, dinged and dented and finished in gummy nitro that shined up to an incredible feeling gloss after a few weeks of use.You'll have to pry this neck form my cold dead hands...and replace it with a pre-1963 P bass neck w/slab rosewood board.

Yeah, I played one of the fancy relic fender jazz basses in a shop and was ashamed at the gas that ensued. Thankfully it was crazy expensive. I also really like the look of the relic sandbergs, like Gregor from basstheworld features so often. Kind of a guilty pleasure.

 

[HamishR]

There are tons of opamps in the front end of those things, at least the couple I've worked on. "All tube"...not.

That's why it's all so silly. I should have put "all tube" in quotes. That was the perception. While I like simple all-tube amps the best I really don't mind what produces the dirt as long as it sounds good. And I don't like amps with too many knobs. But a good dirt sound is a good dirt sound. I remember a friend of mine who loved his Marshall Jubilee until he opened it up and saw that it used red LEDs to clip the signal. He was disgusted. I said to him "Does it not sound any good any more?" and he said "no".

While I love the sound of one of my amps cranked to the point of glorious overdrive it's rarely a practical option and honestly not necessarily the best sound. My 50W small box plexi sounds incredible cranked but it's SO LOUD!! And my 5E3 sounds fantastic cranked but I actually prefer the sound of it relatively clean with a great OD pedal in front of it. It's more controllable and repeatable. I can get a better sound for the way I play and what I want. For raw, 50s style blues and rock'n'roll yeah, crank it! For other styles I really like my fave OD. And I can get VERY close to the cranked sound with the right pedal.