Too many choices

The fascination with vintage intrigues me.
Not all that is older is better. Edsel, Silvertone(the Sears guitars and amps), GM Stock.

So I am playing with a Fender Frontman amp, and MXR distortion + and a cry baby.
For half an hour I could not get the tone I was looking for...not fat enough, fat but the treble is also piercing, et cetera.
Finally I hit the sound I wanted and was pleased.

This led to an epiphany of sorts.

When I first started playing you had an amp and that was it.
Then effects appeared and you bought one maybe two. In fact all I ever used was the MXR distortion + and the cry baby.

But now that amps can emulate amps. and they come with distortion built in, gain, aux in & out et cetera.

There is too much shit to fiddle with. No wonder people like a tube amp.
Once you crank the master volume and the amp is clipping there is very little left to do.
Add one effect or two and you're on your way.

But a modern amp has too many possible combination built in so it becomes a fucking chore. No wonder they include blank templates for you to record knob positions.

/rant

I play bass, so it's fairly simple to begin with unless I want to mess with heads that have (inset number)-band EQ. I bought a simple Eden WT-300 head, tube preamp. Simple knob controls and a 3 band semi-parametric EQ. Very simple, small, and elegant. :sunny:

So you're liking the Eden?

Stilgar I know you've got some nice gear so I think you may be able to swing it... Blankenship Amplification (http://www.blankenshipamps.com). He builds his own versions of a few popular amps but with tweaks for better sound quality/clarity. They're $$ and "boutique", but 99% of the time you're gonna pay out the ass for vintage anyway.

This guy built my Bassman and it fucking screams/has the nicest unique and dark fender clean tone I've ever heard. It was $250, but I don't know if he makes them anymore. Taking a ton of effects and otherwise general bullshit out of a rig doesn't dumb it down, it makes it sound better with tasteful effects.

heh
I found a way to get any sound from that frontman.
My point was it is easier to get a sound from vintage due to lack of choices.
I can make it sound exactly like my super six.