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n while an unintended technical shortcoming players embraced it and amp distortion would go on to become closely associated with the electric guitar 3 one such amp known to distort at high volumes the fender deluxe of 1948 became regarded as one of the earliest amp designs to achieve iconic status 4 like other fender amp models in the 1940s and 1950s the deluxe came in a tweed covered cabinet 1950s 1960s rock and roll edit a vox ac30 in 1950 fender debuted its first mass produced solid body electric guitars the esquire and telecaster then known as the broadcaster using a solid body design eliminated the unwanted feedback caused by pickups on acoustic jazz guitars when they were amplified 3 fender released the twin in 1950 and followed in 1952 with the bass oriented bassman while the twin excelled at clean tones the bassman s distortion at loud volumes became popular among both bassists and guitarists the bassman later served as inspiration for marshall s debut amp model the jtm45 2 vox released its ac30 combo in 1959 and then updated the amp in 1960 as a three channel model that became famous for its jangly tone and widespread use during the british invasion 4 in response to players like pete townshend of the who who wanted more power marshall released the 100 watt 1959 super lead in 1965 the jtm45 and super lead were heads which combined the preamp and power amp in a dedicated enclosure that was paired with an external speaker cabinet pairing the super lead with one or more 4x12 cabinets became known as the marshall stack the combination has been used by many notable guitarists of the era and played a major role in shaping the sound of rock and roll 4 throughout the 1960s fender continued updating the circuits and cosmetics of their amplifiers fender s twin reverb of the mid 1960s became a standard amp model for clean undistorted tones 2 hiwatt s dr103 was similarly highly regarded as a loud clean amplifier and has frequently been associated with david gilmour 4 in 1965 peavey released its first amp models which used transistors rather than the standard vacuum tubes which had been replaced by solid state technology in most industries following wwii by the 1970s fender vox marshall and others had all released transistor based amplifiers with the most successful being the roland jazz chorus which became a popular alternative to the fender twin for clean tones 5 1970s 1980s master volume amplifiers edit jcm 800 head and 4x12 cabinet as rock music evolved so too did the need among guitarists for greater amounts of distortion amps like marshall s super lead could produce distortion but did so by a player pushing the power section into saturation by playing it at high volume levels that were not always practical 6 many players turned to effects pedals like the maestro fuzz tone and arbiter fuzz face as a solution the former notably being used by keith richards on the rolling stones hit i can t get no satisfaction 7 by the early 1970s it had become popular for technicians to hot rod fender amplifiers to achieve more distortion through methods like adding a master volume circuit 8 which used two volume controls one to control how much the preamp tubes distorted and another to control overall output 9 one such technician was mesa boogie founder randall smith whose modified fenders evolved into the brand s mark series which used a series of variable gain stages that cascaded into each other to create more distortion than any previous amplifier could 8 in doing so smith pioneered high gain amps 10 howard dumble used a similar cascading gain design with his overdrive special which gave players a foot switchable lead mode with extra gain stages 11 while early mesas and dumbles were popular among guitarists like carlos santana the heavier guitar tones of black sabbath s tony iommi using a laney supergroup amplifier and a modified dallas rangemaster treble booster inspired players in the growing heavy metal genre to pursue more aggressive tones 6 marshall looked to meet this demand with the 1981 release of the jcm800 2203 which was initially a close copy of the brand s first master volume equipped amp the jmp 2203 released in 1975 but underwent several circuit changes in the next few years 12 throughout the 1980s mesa boogie continued revising its mark series pioneering new features with their mark ii iterations like channel switching and effects loops smith and his company s most significant revision produced the mark iic variant which had a tighter more aggressive tone that was popularized by metallica 6 the jcm800 and mark series marked a transition from vintage style amplifiers to modern designs 6 technicians in the 1980s continued pushing modded amplifiers into higher gain territory and some became successful enough to launch their own companies including soldano bogner and rivera soldano s slo 100 helped establish the high end high gain amplifier market and inspired later german brands like engl hughes kettner and diezel 6 toward the end of the decade many professional guitarists adopted complex rackmount setups often consisting of multiple preamps power amps and studio grade effects all operated with a custom pedal controller popular rackmount preamps included the a da mp 1 mesa boogie triaxis marshall jmp 1 and soldano x88 r 13 1990s present boutique brands and digital modeling edit while rackmount setups were widely used by pros they were expensive and by the time affordable rackmount options came to the market in the early 1990s grunge had inspired a return to standalone amplifiers vintage style effects pedals and a less processed sound 13 14 the 1990s also experienced a new wave of boutique amplifier builders the old fender and marshall amps previous techs had modded were by then too valuable to alter so many instead founded companies that built new amps inspired by vintage designs a notable example was matchless and their vox ac30 inspired dc 30 combo 14 other companies continued to push the boundaries of high gain with mesa boogie s dual rectifier becoming the decade s quintessential high gain amplifier 6 peavey s 5150 co designed with eddie van halen became another frequently used amplifier among metal guitarists 4 an axe fx ultra modeling technology advanced significantly during this time tech 21 had released its analog sansamp amplifier modeler in 1989 but it became popular in the 1990s as a direct recording solution 14 line 6 released its first digital modeling amplifier the axsys in 1996 followed by the bean shaped desktop pod processor two years later early modelers were regarded as home practice tools 6 until the 2006 arrival of fractal audio s axe fx the first modeler considered sufficient for professional use 15 the kemper profiler followed in 2011 pioneering profiling also known as capturing a technology that allows users to create and use digital versions of their own physical gear 16 the success of digital modeling in an otherwise analog landscape has led to a long running debate over the merits of tube amplifiers compared to modelers 17 tube amp players often appreciate the nostalgia of the technology and argue analog amps and cabinets have a soul that cannot be replicated modeler users value their portability consistency and reliability 17 many tube amp manufacturers have responded by implementing digital technology into their products especially impulse responses irs which are digital emulations of speaker cabinets and microphones irs allow for easier home recording letting players skip the use of physical cabinet setups while still using a tube amplifier 6 alongside the development of modelers smaller lunchbox amplifiers amp heads that use metal cases and a low output power stage have become popular following the success of the 15 watt orange tiny terror released in 2006 18 boss debuted its katana line of analog digital hybrid amplifiers in 2016 and it became the industry s bestselling amp line 19 as digital signal processing technology has progressed modelers have become more compact and inexpensive with budget offerings from brands like mooer nux and joyo many brands now incorporate ai and machine learning into their products and design process 17 one such company neural dsp established itself through audio plug ins that create computer based virtual amplifier and effects modelling suites neural released their first piece of hardware the quad cortex in 2020 20 structure edit format edit fundamentally guitar amplifiers function by taking the signal generated by an electric guitar s pickup s and feed it through an electronic circuit in which the tone is shaped and amplified before being projected through one or more loudspeakers 21 an amplifier in which this entire process happens inside a single enclosure is referred to as a combo when the tone shaping and amplification occur inside a dedicated unit that requires a separate speaker cabinet it is known as a head 21 most amplifiers utilize a tone stack that consists of controls to individually adjust bass midrange and treble frequency levels reverb is a commonly included effect for models that use vacuum tubes the specific tube types used and the number of them have a significant impact on the amp s tone and ability to create distortion 21 many amps are designed with two or more selectable channels which allow for different volume distortion and equalization settings control layout edit the control panel of a bogner shiva amp head control knobs and buttons are typically located on the front of an amp s chassis common front panel controls include those for preamp volume or gain bass middle and treble frequency adjustments and master volume amps with more complex feature sets can also include presence and resonance controls or even a graphic equalizer as in the mesa boogie mark series these tone controls can be passive or active passive tone controls use parts like resistors and capacitors that do not require additional electric power and can only cut selected frequencies active tone controls can cut or boost frequencies but use parts like transistors and op amps that require external power to operate 22 guitars are connected to the amp via one or more 1 4 jacks back panel features include connections for the external speaker cabinets and optional features like an effects loop power attenuation headphone use and direct recording preamp and power amp edit the electronic circuit of a guitar amplifier can be divided into two sections the preamp or preamplifier receives the initial input signal from the guitar and is responsible for the amp s tone shaping and equalization controls 23 the amount of amplification applied to the incoming signal known as gain affects the amp s volume but to a greater extent affects its preamp distortion the power amp then receives the processed signal and amplifies it to the player s desired output level via the loudspeakers wattage is used as a measurement of how much power an amp can produce 23 for the first several decades of their use guitar amplifiers almost exclusively used vacuum tubes in both the preamp and power amp sections the 12ax7 is the most common preamp tube while power amps utilize el34 el84 6l6 or 6v6 tubes among others tubes are also sometimes used for rectification which convert ac power to dc and impart their own tonal character solid state amplifiers replace these tubes with diodes and transistors 23 power output edit the relationship between power output in watts and perceived volume is nuanced generally speaking more wattage equates to more volume but there can be a significant difference in perceived volume depending on the nature of the power amp tube based power amps for example will seem louder than their solid state counterparts at a given wattage with a 10 to 15 watt tube amp being roughly equivalent in volume to a 50 watt solid state amp 23 among tube amps however there is not a significant difference in maximum volume based on wattage as measured in dbs a 100 watt tube amp is not significantly louder than a 15 watt tube amp the major difference is instead in headroom or how loud an amp can be set before it starts to distort with the 100 watt amp being able to stay cleaner at much louder volumes than the 15 watt amp 24 for many players though the output level setting is chosen not purely for reasons of volume but also for the perception that tube amps often sound their best at specific volume settings that strike a balance between driving the preamp and power amp while preserving the dynamics of a guitarist s playing 24 distortion edit distortion or overdrive is an important characteristic of most guitar amplifiers distortion can be produced in either the preamp or power amp or both early amplifiers like the 100 watt marshall super lead used a single volume control to control the amp s overall output volume distortion was produced by increasing that volume control to overload the amp s power amp tubes which often required extremely high volumes the more volume the more distortion generally distortion is more associated with tube amps which have less headroom than solid state amps and are considered to have a more pleasing overdriven character 24 most modern amplifiers use two volume controls an initial volume control often labeled preamp or gain that affects the level of the input signal and then a master volume control placed at the end of the circuit after the power amp tubes allowing for level attenuation before the signal is sent to the loudspeakers a master volume allows distortion to be produced by pushing the preamp and or power amp into distortion before the output level is then set to the player s desired overall volume conversely amps like the soldano slo 100 produce distortion solely in its preamp allowing for significant levels of distortion at any volume 25 preamp gain is often preferred for its added compression and harmonic overtones 24 high gain edit amplifiers designed to produce heavy amounts of distortion for genres like hard rock and metal are often referred to as high gain early amps like the super lead could produce distortion and saturation but proved unsatisfactory as much of rock music became more aggressive into the 1980s and beyond master volumes were an important factor in the development of high gain tones as was mesa boogie s pioneering of cascading preamp designs in which multiple gain stages arranged in series would spill over one into the next as the preamp gain control is increased allowing for unprecedented amounts of distortion 26 high gain abilities are now considered a definitive quality of modern amplifiers 6 in popular culture edit the original up to eleven knobs in the 1984 film this is spinal tap volume control gradations are typically numbered from zero to ten in the 1984 film this is spinal tap guitarist nigel tufnel demonstrates an amplifier with volume knobs marked from zero to eleven believing that this numbering increases the highest volume of th...
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