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Thanks for the complement Sabaism, it genuinely means a lot to know that people are actually being helped by what we post here. I do think the ability to simplify to improve is being lost nowadays. Improvements are thought to only come from collecting more and more "things" to make changes. Time was when people designed and marketed things to fill a need in some peoples' lives and they were happy to help customers who had that need and leave those who didn't. Now there are always too many people just wanting to relieve you of some of your cash for things you don't need and have no use for by convincing you or scaring you into believing you can't live without them. And a lot of your friends fit into that category. Guitarists are the Holy Grail to that sort of persuasion.
I have followed the work and ideas of an engineering businessman named Ivor Tiefenbrun all my life. He is a brilliant and honest man, the founder of Linn Products who make some of the world's best hifi equipment. In the 70s I read a superb interview he gave to a hifi magazine. In it he explained this concept. He said, you want to buy a piece of hifi gear which you need. You talk to your friends and they point you at the equipment they have which is of course second to none, let's say the Nakafuchi HF1000. They let you listen and point out all of its strong points and instruct you to hear how it sounds so fantastic. You take all of that in and you go to the shop. The salesman listens to your request for the Nakafuchi HF1000 and points you towards a few others which are in the same price bracket - or more expensive. But he also tells you how great that choice is, and it does sound impressive in the listening studio. So you end up parting with your money and go home with one.
For a while it sounds great and your friends tell you how wise you have been to choose it. You can hear all of the things that you were told about. Then, as you live with it, it starts to change. It begins to sound strident and a bit rough in the top end where it first sounded detailed. It has an overly heavy bloated and lazy bass where it first sounded extended. You realise, Tiefenbruin's own words not mine, "you got f**ked!", by both your own friends and your salesman. Now the killer. A little later a friend talks to you about how he needs an upgrade to his hifi system. It has got a bit dull and needs taking forwards. And you advise him that - - - - - - - "I got this NakafuchiHF1000 which is simply the Dog's Danglies!" Being "f**ked", (apologies for that but it does fit), goes round in cycles from person to person and it is an integral part of the guitar world. People screw each other over and over and over without any qualms. Guitarists and hifi nuts can't admit to themselves they got shafted and made a bad decision and the answer is to pass it on to ease their own feelings of discomfort at being taken. The defence? Simply take no advice at face value, analyse it calmly and clearly and critically, look for the objective evidence not subjective "my ears tell me" stuff, and make your own mind up calmly whether it really is the be all and end all of gear that you are being told it is. If you have doubts trust them - don't go there.
Instead of having in our heads "that sound" that (fill in your own favourite guitarist here) achieves as most guitarists do, and constantly buying more and more gear to try to get it as most guitarists do, we should be critically trying out new gear and deciding, is that a good sound and do I want to use it more than my current sound. Not, does that sound like Yngwie or Gary? There is too much hype, fomo, guru status, peer pressure and plain old lying in this guitar field of ours. I'm currently trying to talk my friend out of spending some £1200 on a - wait for it - custom pedalboard! To me that is plain 'expletive' ridiculous and achieves nothing whatsoever. But he is adamant that it will sort out all of his pedal problems, (he's a scruffy disorganised non-technical guitar guy). If you keep that open mind as to what sounds you can play and live with in the real world then the idea of not following the "common knowledge" processes to get it becomes easier. My life as an engineer (and other things I am deeply involved in) has taught me to question, question and then when you think you have the answer question that too. My own advice is of course included in that. Never accept anything until you have experienced first hand the evidence, and make sure that evidence is objective, repeatable and free from human bias of any kind.
Glad the amp is living up to its design and your understanding how to get the best use of it is improving. The guys at H&K would be extremely pleased to hear what you have said. If you get bored get onto their Faecesbook page and post your experience there. It might even give us a lift in their estimation. Keep on rocking the house!
I have followed the work and ideas of an engineering businessman named Ivor Tiefenbrun all my life. He is a brilliant and honest man, the founder of Linn Products who make some of the world's best hifi equipment. In the 70s I read a superb interview he gave to a hifi magazine. In it he explained this concept. He said, you want to buy a piece of hifi gear which you need. You talk to your friends and they point you at the equipment they have which is of course second to none, let's say the Nakafuchi HF1000. They let you listen and point out all of its strong points and instruct you to hear how it sounds so fantastic. You take all of that in and you go to the shop. The salesman listens to your request for the Nakafuchi HF1000 and points you towards a few others which are in the same price bracket - or more expensive. But he also tells you how great that choice is, and it does sound impressive in the listening studio. So you end up parting with your money and go home with one.
For a while it sounds great and your friends tell you how wise you have been to choose it. You can hear all of the things that you were told about. Then, as you live with it, it starts to change. It begins to sound strident and a bit rough in the top end where it first sounded detailed. It has an overly heavy bloated and lazy bass where it first sounded extended. You realise, Tiefenbruin's own words not mine, "you got f**ked!", by both your own friends and your salesman. Now the killer. A little later a friend talks to you about how he needs an upgrade to his hifi system. It has got a bit dull and needs taking forwards. And you advise him that - - - - - - - "I got this NakafuchiHF1000 which is simply the Dog's Danglies!" Being "f**ked", (apologies for that but it does fit), goes round in cycles from person to person and it is an integral part of the guitar world. People screw each other over and over and over without any qualms. Guitarists and hifi nuts can't admit to themselves they got shafted and made a bad decision and the answer is to pass it on to ease their own feelings of discomfort at being taken. The defence? Simply take no advice at face value, analyse it calmly and clearly and critically, look for the objective evidence not subjective "my ears tell me" stuff, and make your own mind up calmly whether it really is the be all and end all of gear that you are being told it is. If you have doubts trust them - don't go there.
Instead of having in our heads "that sound" that (fill in your own favourite guitarist here) achieves as most guitarists do, and constantly buying more and more gear to try to get it as most guitarists do, we should be critically trying out new gear and deciding, is that a good sound and do I want to use it more than my current sound. Not, does that sound like Yngwie or Gary? There is too much hype, fomo, guru status, peer pressure and plain old lying in this guitar field of ours. I'm currently trying to talk my friend out of spending some £1200 on a - wait for it - custom pedalboard! To me that is plain 'expletive' ridiculous and achieves nothing whatsoever. But he is adamant that it will sort out all of his pedal problems, (he's a scruffy disorganised non-technical guitar guy). If you keep that open mind as to what sounds you can play and live with in the real world then the idea of not following the "common knowledge" processes to get it becomes easier. My life as an engineer (and other things I am deeply involved in) has taught me to question, question and then when you think you have the answer question that too. My own advice is of course included in that. Never accept anything until you have experienced first hand the evidence, and make sure that evidence is objective, repeatable and free from human bias of any kind.
Glad the amp is living up to its design and your understanding how to get the best use of it is improving. The guys at H&K would be extremely pleased to hear what you have said. If you get bored get onto their Faecesbook page and post your experience there. It might even give us a lift in their estimation. Keep on rocking the house!
