The Newbe

[samuelson]

Hello to all. I am a hobbyist guitar,keyboard,drummer - jack of all trades, master of none. currently I'm infected with GAS and can't help but buy unique tube amps. I'm 49 years old, married, two boys who don't play any instruments (try as I might) and I'm in a band as mainly a keyboard player and sometimes guitar player. my favorite stuff includes my 62 strat, my mesa boogie lone star, my marshall 1974x, my Dr. Z Max-38, my Les Paul custom (the wife bought that for Christmas) my Roland A-90 to name but a few. I still do guitar lessons weekly but use powertabs 1.7 and guitar pro to work out songs. I highly recommend powertabs 1.7. It's free and has thousands of songs.

 

[samuelson]

Hello to all. I am a hobbyist guitar,keyboard,drummer - jack of all trades, master of none. currently I'm infected with GAS and can't help but buy unique tube amps. I'm 49 years old, married, two boys who don't play any instruments (try as I might) and I'm in a band as mainly a keyboard player and sometimes guitar player. my favorite stuff includes my 62 strat, my mesa boogie lone star, my marshall 1974x, my Dr. Z Max-38, my Les Paul custom (the wife bought that for Christmas) my Roland A-90 to name but a few. I still do guitar lessons weekly but use powertabs 1.7 and guitar pro to work out songs. I highly recommend powertabs 1.7. It's free and has thousands of songs.

There's no such thing as a stupid question: just stupid people who ask questions !!

 

[Robert]

Welcome, samuelson! Where are you from?

Wow, you've got some sweet amps, my friend! Which one is your favourite? I have tried a few Dr. Z amps, and truly adore them! Fantastic amps.

 

[SuperSwede]

Welcome to the fretnet!!

Samuelson is a rather common last name in Sweden.

 

[samuelson]

thanks for the hospitality

to answer some of your questions: Dad was swedish, mom is scottish/irish so I'm a mutt. I live in fullerton, CA.

It's hard to say which amp is my favorite. The Max 38 with my zbest cabinet through a strat is wonderful, but the Lone Star with either the strat or Les Paul, being duel channel and with all those options, sounds great too. But my Deville sounds great, my Valvetronix AD120VT can sound great when I get it dialed in (which is hard to do). I have a Traynor YCV40wr that has a unique 80's sound. I make a habit of spending playing time with each so as to learn the differences and what each amp can do. But if I had to take one amp to play live and needed to sound my very best, I'd take the Dr. Z, my Strat, my OCD and boss chorus and delay pedals and hope for the best.

I also play in the church band which is an acoustic-electric thing, kind of like a CSN & Y thing. I have two Tacoma (pre-fender) guitars that I love and would highly recommend Tacoma for the quality/price ratio. and I took years of Baroque guitar lessons so I have countless classical guitars, with my Cordoba gypsy kings guitar the one I use at church when I play that stuff.
But I make a good living and GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) has always been a problem for me. In fact, this weekend I bought, on ebay, an avatar cabinet 2x12 with different speakers than what I have currently and they are running a very sweet price on a THD bivalve amp and so I'm going to buy that. I'm very intrigued with the multitude of tube options that are available, and the reviews on harmony central are very positive. I buy all my tubes from Bob Pletka at Eurotubes - check him out. and check out avatar cabinets which might be the best bang for the buck in cabinets ever.

so, over the years I've learned that amps have more input on your sound than does your guitar or pickup, speakers really matter, tube amps are way better for feel and expression than solid state amps. tubes matter. Eurotubes is the place for tubes as JJ's can't be beat for durability. and I'm still not as good as I want to be and I need to practice more.

thanks for listening.

 

[Robert]

I have played the Bivalve, and I was very impressed. Looks fantastic too!

Glad to have you hear, samuelsson! (good that you have Swedish name too! )

 

[ted s]

Welcome Samuelson, new here myself, great place.

 

[tremoloman]

Hello to all. I am a hobbyist guitar,keyboard,drummer - jack of all trades, master of none. currently I'm infected with GAS and can't help but buy unique tube amps. I'm 49 years old, married, two boys who don't play any instruments (try as I might) and I'm in a band as mainly a keyboard player and sometimes guitar player. my favorite stuff includes my 62 strat, my mesa boogie lone star, my marshall 1974x, my Dr. Z Max-38, my Les Paul custom (the wife bought that for Christmas) my Roland A-90 to name but a few. I still do guitar lessons weekly but use powertabs 1.7 and guitar pro to work out songs. I highly recommend powertabs 1.7. It's free and has thousands of songs.

Welcome aboard! I've used Powertabs in the past.... GREAT program. If it was sold commercially I bet it would cost easily $50-$100.

 

[Tim]

Your in the right place! Welcome, Samuelson! You will enjoy being a part of our family.

 

[kerc]

Welcome, Samuelson!

 

[M29]

Hello and welcome samuelson, I am somewhat new my self. A great place indeed!!!

M29

 

[Spudman]

Tweeeeeteeeeeah. That was me piping you aboard. Stay away frum me rum and galley wench and all will be well. Now you scurvy dog...get t' playin yer guitar.

Hey! How come we don't have any pirate smileys. Are those back ordered or did UPS loose them?

 

[SuperSwede]

Fender promised to ship them over 6 weeks ago!!! Bad customer service?