Sound Quality Vs. Measurements

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The next model of the same amp actually included a pot marked "Distortion". It turned out that most rock guitar players didn't give a damn about low distortion and whatnot, they wanted "the sound", and the only way to get it was to enable them to distort the guitar as they saw fit.

Not to defend or attack anyone, but I must admit that you can get some really cool sound from a distorted guitar, especially the bass guitar. And in the late 60ies, London and L.A. were the places to be.
I'm reminded of the business definition of quality, of how well a product or service matches the expectations of the customer. Certainly in some musical instruments and amps (in addition to electric guitars, there's a mod to the Leslie speaker amp that gives it the "right" kind of distortion for Hammond organs) a high amount of distortion is considered "high quality."

This (Marty Robbins "Don't Worry") is supposedly the earliest occurrence of bass guitar distortion on record (pun intended):
Marty Robbins: Don't Worry - YouTube

...so i ask the guitar-shop minion to show me an affordable amp. They said they had two available, one 1W that was nondescript and, well, lame and another one, a 15 W. Whatever, let's plug it in. I let it warm up (no big deal, about 10 seconds) and start noodling around.

my jaw reached mach 2 while approaching the floor.

I was frickin' awestruck. Grinning like a little girl that got her pony for christmas.

So yeah, i bought it. At a "Display item" discount, ~30% off.
Can you tell us the make and model? I'm wondering if it's something that might be for sale in the USA.
fun thing is, tube guitar amps respond VERY well to overdriven input. the more you give it, the better its distortion sounds. In stark contrast with ss guitar amps that if overdriven sound like, i dunno, a horrible car crash.
Not sure I agree, many SS amps sound like a jet plane crash. :D
 
What the Hell has all of this to do with sound quality or measurements?

Mendle determined how to selectively breed peas . Food is also about taste . Hi fi is about evolution and taste . When we get bogged down we discuss related issues .

I notice most of us have very set views about topology . What we seem to agree on although not the details is power supply design . We had an extremely long thread about what seemed to me to be 22000 uF capacitors . To others it didn't . Never once was big maths introduced . We were all hopelessly lost and I suspect remain so . However I doubt any of us will just bung in 10 000 uF and hope for the best now . We will listen . For my own part I like to keep to two capacitors if possible . When I said 47 000 uF someone said Nigel is from the German school of thought . Doubt I would as the price is frightful . It will be multiples of 22 000 uf , preferably just two . I doubt it will ever be less than 22 000 uF .

BTW . Guitar amps have two uses . Low down they are very transparent . The distortions they do have are similar to the sounds of acoustic guitar . As Wavebourn said the bass guitarist wants it clean . Over drive is a bonus . I mostly read guitar amps if wanting to learn about valves . They always give a hi fi perspective which might surprise many . Even if they advocate distortion they seem to say how it can be reduced . My suspicion is they all build hi fi's ? Marshall were thinking very seriously about doing hi fi at one time . Their designer told me how close the existing product was to useable , very close .
 
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I was trying to convince people we could make an All in One amp and speaker of universal appeal . The idea is that kids ( of any age ) buy one instead of a Marshall . At the flick of a switch it becomes genuine hi fi . By that I mean top draw and not cheap . The amplifier would do all the usual guitar stuff and also be an excellent PA . It would have a front panel with wheels to help transport it to gigs . If someone gets rich enough they buy two for stereo . I can see absolutely no reason why this wouldn't work . For cheaper stereo they can buy some satellites which are then rear channels in the future .

The loose link to measurements and sound is we would have to do lots of measuring to get the three modes right .
 
I can see absolutely no reason why this wouldn't work .

i think it is a bad idea, and it will cost more in money and effort to built one amp that will do both, than building two different amplifiers

i have limited knowledge but i know some things:

guitar amp/cab combos have speaker drivers that are not at all hifi. second, everything is used to color the sound... preamp, amp, driver, cabinet. The guitar amp/cab combo is designed for sound production not sound reproduction. Second, the crushing majority of guitar amps are mono. There are a few that are stereo. I'd estimate 0.1% of them.

I think the strongest point against the idea is the second argument i wrote
 
Hi-fi and guitar amps are two completely different applications of electronics which just happen to use superficially similar circuits and speakers. Very difficult to combine them, and rather pointless. Simplest and maybe cheapest method would be to have two completely separate amps in the same box, with a changeover switch. I don't know how you would make a combined speaker as you could not even do the 2-in-1 trick, as they need quite different boxes.
 
there is one way i can think of... it's crazy but... here goes: a hifi amp that is enclosed in a hifi capable speaker cab with hifi speaker drivers. so it works as a combo for music reproduction. It also has an effects processor which models guitar amplifier/cab combinations.

but that is quite different from what you suggested earlier

What you suggested might work, for the amplifier part only (because the speaker part is unworkable)... if the stereo amplifier for hifi usage could be rewired (by switch) to be two gain stages in series to achieve the high gain needed for overdriven guitar sound. Something like that.
 
While the idea may be intriguing, I think it's anything but practical.

I for one would never buy anything like that quite simply because I do not have a guitar, nor can I play one. And I think well over 90% of those buying audio gear play no instrument, whicle those who do play instruments also have their own sets of legitimate requirements.

It's like combining a road going car with a submarine. It has been done, it has been practically proved possible, but as far as I know, practically nobody bought into the idea. A Swiss company called Rinspeed specializes in such potpurris.
 
Tom Colangelo took over in 1976, while I was in Switzerland. I made the mistake of INSISTING that Mark get an engineer to work on the problems, while I was in
Switzerland, because the phone calls got too expensive.
He originally brought in another engineer George Mayhew, initially supervised Tom C. However, over time, my royalties were cut, and credit was not given to me as to the designs, including the JC-2 and the JC-3. Typical office backstabbing. Later, George was let go and Tom became Mark's right hand man. Tom's first independent design was the ML-3, class AB power amp.
 
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