wateroftyne

'Can you remember the first time you sang in public..?' 'Yeah - that was about two years ago in a pub...' That's got to be the dictionary definition of a meteoric rise, especially when you consider she was (and is) pretty much unique.

FWIW this isn't a new policy from them. I enquired about buying a new neck for one of mine (for cosmetic reasons) and he wouldn't entertain the idea unless I sent the whole thing back to him.

I’m confused now - that’s three amps I didn’t get on with..?

Ah, one of the rare joys of nicotine.

Interesting - I wouldn't have had the Streamliner, TC RH450 or Demeter down as "Euro-modern hard rock/metal" flavour.

So in that case I would say I never found a preamp I clicked with on the Cass D's owned, but had a very good hit rate on the A/B's. Quite a coincidence!

OK, but I’m a musician, not a scientist. Don’t have time for that.

Fair enough. I'd say my issues in general are more due to response than voicing, though.

When I was on the amp merry-go-round years ago, trying to work out what was missing from my sound, people weren't saying 'Oh, it's a Class D thing'. I had to work it out for myself - I wasn't listening with my eyes.

Of course you can't - hence my conclusions drawn from real-world experience and evaluation over many gigs. It's worth mentioning that I was an early adopter - my journey with Class D began about 20 years ago. At that time, there was no hype for me to get swept up in. Maybe there's a head with a different power module from the last few years that does the job? I dunno. I'm still seeing more and more people coming out to say class D isn't for them. It's a moot point for me anyway, I've found the perfect head for me, and it's not exactly big or heavy.

My own real-world experience is not ‘talking around the issue’.

Why would you want to do that? Who uses an amp in that environment? I prefer my own real-world experience gleaned from proper gigs. Bear in mind I have no axe to grind. Who wouldn’t want a tiny amp that does the job just just as well as a slightly bigger one? Wxperience tells me they’re not the same, and I’m afraid until I try one that ticks the boxes after I’ve gigged it in a number of scenarios (not once in a church hall with a blindfold on), you’re not going to be able to convince me otherwise. Same goes for a new bass. A blindfold test against the old one in a church hall will tell me nowt.

or maybe … Class D power amps don’t behave in a way people who prefer A/B find pleasing.’ I used a Demeter for a few gigs once. Liked the simple preamp, but at volume the sound was the usual blah that I’d experienced many times before with a micro. Tried the Handbox, which has a very similar pre bolted to an A/B power stage. Bingo. Never looked back.

By extension, your comments above apply to everyone in this thread who has said they find class-D lacking. I trust my own experience, and I'm sure the other posters have a bit of faith in theirs.

I dunno - 13 years later there still doesn't seem to be a gap in the market for it 😄 Nope... still struggling to see it (just like the target audience 13 years ago, I guess).

For that to be a strong selling hook, the combination of modules would have to offer something pretty much unique. Was that the case?

I had one of them. Kept cutting out. Sent it back.

Absolute marketing con, that. I hated that amp with a firey passion. I was in two minds whether to sell it on, or ceremonially smash it to bits to get some sort of closure.

This popped up in my YouTube and I clicked it purely ‘cos of the clickbaityness of it (because it definitely is), and was slightly taken aback at how much of a mountain is being made out of a molehill. ‘A livestream to discuss our feelings about it’? C’mon, man. The glove is creepy too.

Ha ha - is the exact opposite to me. It’s like he’s really thought about the first few bars, then got bored and filled the rest with… whatever. But then I’m not really listening to it as a guitarist, so how hard it is to replicate doesn’t really win any brownie points in my book.

No, but it helps if they're memorable (again, this is all IMO). He has plenty that start well but he tends to fizz out into a flurry of notes.

Agree re: his rhythm playing. I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of the band, but it saddens me to say that - to me, anyway - Alex's solos are generally forgettable.