Tone Versus Reliability
I’m sure we’ve all been in this situation……you’ve got the most killer sounding piece
of gear you’ve ever owned, but it’s a money pit. It just keeps breaking down.
I used to fall absolutely and completely on the side of tone. I had vintage
pedals whose metal housing were being held together by like, one single solder
connection on the battery connector wires. Sounded great……for the one song
per gig they actually worked for before eating it. Then I’d come home and
re-solder, or re-tape or re-glue more than likely……and make sure I stepped on
them much more lightly the next time. Well, after a few years of this, I came to the
brilliant conclusion…….’Wait……what good is good tone if there is no sound
coming out of your amp?’ I mean, it’s like, ‘Hey this pedal is the best you’ve ever
heard! Okay, now listen closely, because it only makes sound for about
a half a second.’
So, I moved out of that. And even further than that, I’ve been on a
‘toneful, reliable, versatile, functional,playable, and toneful, toneful, toneful’
rig overhaul the last year. (More blog posts on that tomorrow.)
But, I still have some remnants of ‘Tone over Reliability.’ Like this one:
This is my Mondo Amps bassman clone. Amp sounds fabulous, for
straight guitar–>amp playing and for ambient loops (which are basically the
two things I use it for). And it has a cool, vintage ‘found it in my grandpappy’s
basement’ thing going on looks-wise. But I’ve had it for four months, and it’s
already broken down twice past what I can fix.
See, I should never have bought it……..but I wanted an
‘American-blusey-6L6′ style amp, and I (for once in my life) actually stayed
in budget by buying this. (Ya, the whole ’staying in budget’ thing lasted for all of
about two weeks……..silly me……..good gear means in debt…….that’s all
there is to it.) And I should have sold another pedal or something or been
more patient, but……hey. And the funny thing is I sold it to replace my ’other
amp’ (a little boutique company whose name I won’t say to protect the innocent)
that broke down more than this one. Great sound……could never stay working.
I think maybe I’m done with combos. The constant vibrations of the speakers
just seem to be death for the amps.
So…..I’m curious…..doesn’t matter what instrument you play, but where do
fall in the ‘tone versus reliability’ issue? Or are you on a journey like me trying
to find the perfect balance? And anyone else have the same problem with
combo amps?
Splendid.
Karl.
