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Where has creativity gone?

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6/16/2003 2:18 AM

Where has creativity gone?

Seems that most new guitar amps and effects are just clones of stuff that has been around for years. I can't count how many times I've seen boutique amp companies claim their new amp sounds just like a Plexi or just like an old Vox. Big deal. So they recreated a sound that we've all heard a million times before.

Where has creativity gone? There are lot's of ideas that have not yet been commercially explored. So why isn't anybody doing anything original.

For example, why hasn't anyone built a commercially available triode amp yet? No I don't mean using the usual beam power tetrodes in triode mode. I mean a guitar amp with real power triodes such as 211's or 845's that pump out 50 or 100 watts? Why hasn't anyone made available a 100 watt SE amp yet?

To be fair, the ZVEX nanoamp is an exception, as are some other ZVEX products. But where are the other boutique innovators.

6/16/2003 6:13 AM
Regan	I think with amps, the market dictates the style. Guitarists are real conservative with their gear, they seldom play with new gear, and when they do its gear based on old designs. Bassists seem to be much more open to innovation. This doesn't really include pedals, since they can be clicked out of the chain, they seem to be allowed Regan

6/16/2003 1:44 PM

Nothing wrong with creativity, but it is important that there needs to be a reason for creativity in the first place. I'm certain there are other potential configurations for the wheel, but the round one works pretty good and folks haven't seen much reason to look beyond that. You can call that lazy if you will, but sometimes if it ain't broke, then why fix it....or invent it.

Whether one views exhausting the permutations and combinations of existing amp designs and tube types as creativity is another thing. For the most part, a great deal of what we think of as being creative (and this is certainly not to disparage it) is simply marrying existing circuit fragments and permitting performance control of different types.

Probably the most "creative" things I've seen in the last 20 years are products that "read your mind" a little more in terms of either responding to playing or in terms of allowing presets or unusual performance controls.

6/16/2003 1:48 PM
moosapotamus	Maybe most people/companies just don't know how to "think out of the box." IMO, nobody really thinks out of the box. It's just that some folks have bigger boxes. And, as companies go, the more shareholders and debt, the smaller the box. ~ Charlie

6/17/2003 7:38 AM

I agree, but I'm going to use an example here.
The Parker Fly came out what, 1994? this was a revolutionary idea, and probably one of the last ones related directly to guitar. People talked about it, a few bought it. Ten years later its still cutting edge, and still there really isn't that many around.Ken Parker brought out a couple of other models that used slightly more traditional materials and lower cost, but still innovative and still they are a niche market in the guitar world, maybe a little better known than, say Klein guitars, but still a small market. Now if Parker used his build quality and some of his innovations on a strat style guitar, he would in my opinion, sell quite a few more instruments just because its more mainstream.
I'm not saying that Ken Parker is hurting for business or that he should branch out, I'm just saying that guitarists are generally pretty traditional, even most of the innovators are playing the same old strat or les paul etc.
Regan

6/17/2003 10:41 PM
CR	The people who take basic ideas then expand on them keep the juices flowing. TopHat makes an amp called the King Royal. It's idea comes from the AC30. Brian Gerhard, owner of TopHat has expanded that basic idea and created an amp that greatly improves on the original concept. So creativity is out there with quality and innovation as a better value.

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