My Vision of the Future Guitar Amp

[Gollum]

I'll send a PM regarding what I was saying, to prevent further clutter of mine (sorry).

[Steve Conner]

Yes, that's exactly how it works. Instead of keeping your eggs in a basket, you give them to Eggle (company motto: Don't be a bad egg) who keep them in a huge warehouse called the Eggleplex, and they mail you back one for breakfast every day, with a carefully targeted ad printed on it.

[zhyla]

Here's where I think it gets very interesting. If manufacturers adopt an open software model for their amps, modders could begin modding the sims or creating new ones - including your own custom faceplates (Line6 already has software available that you can use to create your own effects). The ability to create your own sound AND look would be very compelling, I think.

This is something that sounds good to someone who doesn't know how to do it. DSP programming is harder than you'd think. I've spent some time with Line6's ToneCore dev kit and have implemented some simple effects. It is one of the more difficult things I've done, and I do embedded programming for a living. I imagine amp modeling to be an order of magnitude or two harder. The hobbyists who will be able to do much in this area are few.

I think the last thing most people want to fiddle with on stage is a computer. Especially a touch screen. Knobs, switches, etc, provide good feedback and can be operated while playing.

Basically I think tube amps with onboard effects will eventually take off.

[Tele-Cat]

THey can have my tube amp...when I'm pushin' daisies. Not before.

[Phostenix]

THey can have my tube amp...when I'm pushin' daisies. Not before.

Could I interest you in a Line 6 Variax?

[Tele-Cat]

Could I interest you in a Line 6 Variax?

I'll play "My Generation" with it and then...well, you know...

[Phostenix]

You Tele guys are hard core.

[Tele-Cat]

You Tele guys are hard core.

Tele's a hard-core guitar, man.

[Phostenix]

LOL.

[cminor9]

Yes, that's exactly how it works. Instead of keeping your eggs in a basket, you give them to Eggle (company motto: Don't be a bad egg) who keep them in a huge warehouse called the Eggleplex, and they mail you back one for breakfast every day, with a carefully targeted ad printed on it.

Well played

[Patrick M]

This is something that sounds good to someone who doesn't know how to do it. DSP programming is harder than you'd think. I've spent some time with Line6's ToneCore dev kit and have implemented some simple effects. It is one of the more difficult things I've done, and I do embedded programming for a living. I imagine amp modeling to be an order of magnitude or two harder. The hobbyists who will be able to do much in this area are few.

I think the last thing most people want to fiddle with on stage is a computer. Especially a touch screen. Knobs, switches, etc, provide good feedback and can be operated while playing.

Basically I think tube amps with onboard effects will eventually take off.

I undersatnd that DSP programming is pretty hard - particularily when trying to model a complex non-linear system with transients.

'Basically I think tube amps with onboard effects will eventually take off'

This kind of 'hhybrid design' may very well be 'the best of both worlds', assuming than the on-board effects are easy to control - and with some kind of pedal/footswitch. Kind of an extension of what Fender has started with the vibrochamp/superchamp XD.

I think the challenge will be to come up with the right ergonomics to make a complete amp/effects system that is truly 'guitarist-friendly', and practical/useable in an on-stage situation.

[tedmich]

At the risk of setting Chuck H off again I'll just say that nobody wants to pay for reliabililty. We've become a society that shops on price point first, features second. If I made a bullet-proof amp with the same features as some other amp, but it cost twice as much, it wouldn't move off the GC shelves.

Unless the added capabilities can be used as marketing ploys, witness the many high performance sports cars which never get used to ~50% of their limits. Similarly the actual power output of amps is regularly used for marketing; witness the many 100-120w stacks which are sold to guys who drink beer and play "Enter Sandman" covers in a buddies garage every 2-3 weeks, and through an attenuator all the rest of the time. Check the design features at the Mako web site: SS RV4 2w pots, flying leads on pots and sockets, 4oz Cu turret/PCB 0.125" boards etc. perfect for touring musicians but total overkill for duffers.

[Old Tele man]

...sounds like a MIL-SPEC product of the 1950-1960's...built like a tank and able to be dropped off a cliff and be guaranteed to still work.

...of course, it co$t like hell too!

[Phostenix]

Unless the added capabilities can be used as marketing ploys,...

I was thinking reliability-only features. Things that can't be marketed, like using voltage regulators instead of zeners....

Check the design features at the Mako web site: SS RV4 2w pots, flying leads on pots and sockets, 4oz Cu turret/PCB 0.125" boards etc. perfect for touring musicians but total overkill for duffers.

It doesn't look like they're trying to sell to the mass market. Looks like they are a boutique type builder, no?

It's too bad they couldn't add the hands feature to their mannequin.

[Phostenix]

Mako - Guitar amps for the heavy metal fisherman?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpHgQWXx7tk"]YouTube- mak2x2[/ame]