#171 - 29th September 2024 - moving air

Despite all progress in modeling guitar amps and advancements in digitally reproducing electric circuits, analog distortion is still superior to digital distortion and moving air remains moving air.

With that truth bomb out of the system, I want to glorify my cheap old Laney GH50 single channel tube amp. It is very JCM800 like which in turn is the epitome of a classic rock amp from my perspective.

If I were to seriously hunt for a guitar tone these days, it would be on the heavier side of what a JCM800 can do. That means the modded, hot-rodded sisters, cousins and weird uncles: SLO-100, Diezel VH4, 5150. That kind of growl.

But the Laney isn’t too far off. It would need a bit more gain and tightness in the lows and it‘d be there already.

Criminally underrated by all guitar players is the effect of the cabinet and loudspeakers used. My DIY cabinet sports a WGS Veteran 30 and a WGS Green Beret. Essentially, a copy of the classic Celestion V30 & Greenback combo.

I have tried a lot of speakers and this combination just spits the best blend of dry af rock and heavy attitude for my ears. So I kept them. Clean sounds? Okayish, not great.

Dare I say the EMG81s give the amp a solid kick in the preamp? What Tim Cook‘s micing technique couldn’t capture: The pressure in the air. To me, that‘s the most satisfying thing about playing with a cabinet. The heft, the oomph when palm muting and 50 tube watts demand the speakers to kneel down.

Glorious.