Very cool, I never got into building guitars. I bought a Fender Mustang series modeling amp earlier this, I'm really impressed with it. You can dial up any sound easy, and they all sound good but, of course, it's made in China! I had a mid 70's gold top Les Paul for a long time, sold it 2 years ago.Originally Posted by carverman
We try and avoid buying "made in china" food products. One has to be real careful here. The kids came home with lots of candy last night that were "made in china" that we had to throw out.
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Wow! They've taken over Halloween as well. Besides the costumes and masks and decorations, they are now making candy too?
Somebody must have shopped at the dollar store. How did you know the candy was made in China..did it say on the plastic wrap?
Don't blame you for throwing it out. You just don't know what's in that candy anymore.
About 75% of the affordable guitars are made in China or Japan. So are the name brand tube/transistor amps.Top of the line Gretsches such as the White Falcon are made in Japan..bcause the Japanese instrument factories still produce better quality...but more expensive obviously.
Gibson has an Epiphone plant in China since 2002. There are still some boutique amp makers here in NA as well as custom guitar small production/boutique luthiers..but most of the manufacturing is in China now.
While Gibson guitars are still made in the US, there are a lot of counterfeit knockoffs coming out of China sold very cheaply on E-Bay. When they can copy Les Paul standards and customs as Epiphone brands which are sold throughout the world. It's easy for them to change the headstock name and try to sell it as Gibsons.
Counterfeiting is a big problem these days.
Last edited by carverman; 2012-11-01 at 11:54 AM.
Speaking of labels, what's with these new Union made labels that are appearing more and more.
Most recently, I saw this on a bottle of ketchup manufactured by the Heinz company.
Why do I need to know if a bottle of tomato ketchup was made by unionized labor or non unionized.
Will they give me a discount if I buy the non union tomato ketchup instead of the unionized one?
At least my ketchup won't go on strike and burn down my pantry.
I guess if you are a member of some union or a union supporter..it might be of some interest. An if the unionized workers at Heinz ever go on
strike, you may want to boycott their ketchup? The big beer brewers have been putting on the union made on their labels for years now,
if they go on strike (usually in the summer months), I guess you're not supposed to drink beer during that time?
You should make your own! I have 5000-10000 vacuum tubes in stock ... of course to actually find any particular one, not so easy. I have hole punches, and tube sockets, and high voltage transformers, and ... Most inherited from my mentor who could make and fix anything electronic from any era.
As I recall, many musician types prefer tube amps. I believe something to do with the power series expansion of the gain function being odd harmonics as opposed to even harmonics with a transistor.
hboy43
So many sailboats, so little time.
It is true that most guitarists prefer the sound of a tube amp, but they are also picky about the tubes themselves. Apparently tubes that work in pairs in an amp sound much better if they share the exact specs. This has prompted some companies to sell pre-tested matched pairs of the most common tubes for guitar amps...at a premium price. While I agree that tube amps sound better I stopped using them many years ago due to several factors, one being they are more fragile than solid state amps, and our Canadian winters. If you use a tube amp for several hours at a gig in the winter and don't let it cool sufficiently before packing it out to the truck the tubes explode. Another reason is major advances in solid state technology has produced more tube-like sounding solid state amps. But you never know who might be interested in your stock, you may want to try running an ad in the musical instrument section of Kijiji.
Yes, I could build one from scratch using the old school turret board construction but by the time you find a decent power and output transformer that is matched to the wattage of the
tubes..it can run several hundred more than just buying one of the shelf.
???As I recall, many musician types prefer tube amps. I believe something to do with the power series expansion of the gain function being odd harmonics as opposed to even harmonics with a transistor.
The trans conductance characteristics of tubes vs transistors and the sound they produce. is "that tone", guitar players appreciate and prefer.
While tubes are "old school", the tone they produce from guitar amp speakers is still a lot more pleasant to the guitar player's ear..especially when you overdrive them, like some guitar players do into distortion.
Distortion on a tube amp still sounds better to the human ear because tubes produce more even order harmonics. vs transistor (amps) that will clip when over driven and produce odd order harmonics, which is basically a harsh sounding square wave instead of a sinusodal musical wave.
Another problem with tubes (besides being stored in a equipment trailer at extreme temperatures in the winter (-20c), is that they wear out. Especially if used on stage by professional musicians at high volumes. So these amps require a lot more maintenance than an equivalent transistorized amp of the same wattage.
Generally speaking, no one would try to use a cold amp right away cooled down to -20C outside temperatures, same as with an electric guitar.
These have to be warmed up to room temperature before using, so normally stored at extreme cold is not a problem, if sufficient room temperature warmup is allowed.
Some musicians will play THOUSANDS for a hand wired boutique amp with the right choice of musical instrument speakers.
Last edited by carverman; 2012-11-02 at 02:30 PM.
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