Amplifier Essentials
“When a preamp tube starts to fail, you will play a note and, as the note dies away, it sounds like there’s a pan of frying bacon sizzling nearby… ”
During Guitarist’s recent trip to the home of legendary Birmingham amp company Laney, I got chatting with Simon Fraser-Clark – its resident expert on valve amp tone – about the things that people often wonder about amps but may feel too embarrassed to ask, in case they appear ignorant. Amps are, on the whole, less talked about than classic guitars, and the electronics jargon behind how they produce amplified sound can seem a bit impenetrable. The result is that some very basic
