Amplifiers are often categorised as sounding either British or American, but what's the difference? British Distortion - Marshall JCM800 Thomann - www.thomann.de/intl/marshall_2203.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/Qkv6a American Distortion - Peavey 6505 Thomann - www.thomann.de/intl/peavey_6505_gitarrentopteil.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/kx1W0 Victory Kraken: www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180307324002008--victory-amps-vx-the-kraken-head Thanks to Patreon for funding this video. Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars #distortion #gainappreciation #csguitars More from CSGuitars: Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk
Hey Colin, thanks for your channel it is really valuable. I have a question as we both has Vx Kraken, how you manage your clean, as i have no any other amp, so i came with an idea to add V4 countess or to use Engl E503 preamp rack, or it's better to get Super VX 100, all the options are in the budget, but i;m looking for the best sound quality and variety solution, the VX 100 has more power than i need, for me 25 watt in enough,also it is heavier but not a big deal, one of the other options is to get Engl fireball 25 and V4 kraken, but i feel the pedal is not the same as the amp. so what is your recommendation? mainly i play prog. metal, you can say dream theater but a shit music :) I use 7 strings guitar
I've always leaned towards a more British sound. I love how scratchy sounding British amps can be. Since I play rhythm more than lead, it makes since for me to go with British for that more full and clear tone.
depends on what you play. american is tighter on the lows, which you may need if you play at high tempos, but british cuts through the mix like no other :D
That's an incredibly useful side-by-side. Always felt like I was generally aware of the differences, but the various examples are great to hear. Btw, love that you more or less capped it off with the whole "neither is wrong" viewpoint. I tend to see these sort of comparisons as taking a binary viewpoint, so I have to appreciate a video that can appreciate both types of distortion
I turn my nose way up to the sky. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. Distortion from a pedal just doesn't have the dynamics of a point to point vintage tube am." Meanwhile you're probably a far better player than me. Keep killing it!
I really appreciate your way of explaining. Including the basics and then taking it all the way down to the details without making the videos too long is very impressive.
This dude's videos are hands down some of the most complete and informative guitar related videos on UA-cam. Without question. Definitely my go to channel.
Mastodon used a vintage Marshall for the album “Crack The Skye”. They tried a bunch of newer amps and the sounds that they wanted came from that vintage Marshall. I haven’t kept up with Mastodon, so I’m not sure what, or if, they switched to something else.
This is part of the reason I have the Blackstar ID:Core 100. The ISP dial is really cool for changing between American and British tones while also having the option to blend the two with all the space in between. I, personally, like being a little further on the American side of the dial, but with it still being turned enough to add some of the British tone to the sound. It sounds quite awesome! Great video and playing, btw!
Great fingerboard work there, man. I've been following you for a few years now, and your playing has just gotten better and better. Great channel - thank you!
Thanks so much for this; as I'm planning to play in a band someday, I'm already on the lookout for a real amp, where I've been using Neural DSP before. I always had this sound in my mind that I liked and also knew what I didnt like; this video, with some others, made clear that it is indeed the british sound that I'm more interested in, as it comes closer to what I enjoyed playing digitally the most. Thanks a lot!
I have an 80s Marshall Master Reverb 30 (Solid State) and Boogie Mark III. Your description of the British and American tones are right on the money. Even though only one is a valve amp there is still a distinct difference.
thank you for picking bits of songs that really exemplify what you're talking about well - am older, so american vs british tone just kinda defaults to fender vs marshall in my head, but I appreciate the expanded explanations and examples \m/
The American side of the Kracken does a "low end thing" that I have found difficulty describing and only a scant few other amps do - it's the tight bass associated with American high-gain, but in a very specific way. American distortion can definitely get lost in a mix, but MAN when you get the EQ right it hits so hard.
The Egnator Renegade also uses both tube sets and can pull from both at once. Great for A/B-ing this kind of stuff. Also get to have my super clean 6L6 sound in one channel and the roaring EL34s in the other.
I work in a music store and I often tell my colleagues to watch your channel cause you are the best to explain the science related to music gear. Chers from Québec.
To me, the "right" distortion totally depends on what I'm playing. I hate to generically say I prefer one over the other since it's all so contextual. It's the tonal version of picking your favorite color...favorite color of what? Cars? Red. Clothes. Blue. Even within those categories there will be nuanced picks that differ. Maybe it's because I was born in Scotland and live in America but, to me, it's all subjective on the piece. Great video as always. This is one of only a few channels I subscribe to and for good reason. Keep up the good work.
This was such an awesome comparison video! Thank you so much Colin! Greatly appreciated! Definitely going to look into getting a Kraken in the near future!
Look at full wave vs. half wave DC rectifier. All voltage is dropped across the full wave rectifier resulting in unfiltered direct current. You will get a picture of alternating current across diodes. Then look at a special diode that has the characteristic of dropping a characteristic amount of voltage such as Zener diodes. Zener is commonly used to build a simple power supply regulator to provide say 5 volts by dropping 5 volts when say 9 volts is provided. An audio signal is clipped at the characteristic voltage across the diode. Audio signals are alternating current. Look at a sine wave and notice there is a positive and negative swing across the bias offset. The circuit is built so that the clipping only occurs on one swing of the signal. Sorry, not an edumacated engineer, but anyway.....
@@K1llerTunes It has been featured on this channel here before. Boss SD-1 is asymmetric, cheap, and everyone should have one. My opinion is that an SD-1 gives you a classic 80's metal thing plugged into a tube amp. Pretty cool. Harmonics seem to sing out of them.
Funny you should mention that, the latest That Pedal Show episode goes into quite a bit of detail on that exact topic. Briefly explaining how it works and in depth discussing how it sounds. If you're more concerned about the technical aspect of it, I think Brian Wampler has gone into it - I could look the video up if that's what you meant.
Now that is some awesome riffing mate!!! This video reminds me why I bought my VX100. One of the most versatile amps despite the fact of the shared eq... tbh I dont mind it at all. Colin, that Flying V is of the chart... what a guitar
I always thought it stemmed from the types of valves that were available either side of the Atlantic in the olden days. Now I will watch and see if I was right...
I love the British tone. I have a Rocktron Piranha which sounds like a mix between a Rectifier and a JCM800. Given I prefer the Marshall sound, I also really like the sound and especially the attack of a Rectifier. I set my sound to have a grinding attack, with the "meat" of a JCM800. It sounds phenomenal!
Apples to oranges - the Lonestar is trying to be more like an amp that stevie ray vaughan might have loved, and isn't one of Mesa's better high-gain amps. A better comparison for such high gains that this vid showcases, would be something like a Mesa Mark series or Mesa Rectifier series amp. But the Lonestar is very good at what it is trying to do!
My Mini Rectifier has el84s in it, and when set to the vintage mode, gives a really nice approximation of what both sides have and combines them into this liquid gain tone with a slightly scooped feel. love it.
Cool video! But in over 25 years I'm playing rock music I encountered the terms "British" and "American" to be connected rather with Marshall (UK) and Fender on the US side of things. I get that your channel is about metal mainly where Peavy amps might be more popular but the general understanding on those terms is like I said. Apart from the equipment thing (which you are right on) all this started with the so called" British Invasion" of the USA caused by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the Who etc. in the early/mid 60s, which were on their part influenced by the US bands of the 50s. In those days these distinctions were coined also by the musical influences on pop/rock music on each side of the Atlantic: Mainly represented by blues in the USA and classical music in the UK & Europe. Nevertheless, great content & videos!
Traynor and Garnet. Canadian amps that do both. YCS50 and the dark horse both have a USA/Brit switch. YCS channel 1 has a lot of gain on tap along with some great switches for tonal bliss. Highly recommend that readers try one if they ever see one.
ua-cam.com/video/juBzNhP7VUA/v-deo.html Modern Traynor YCV20 WR(wine red) with a strat. Great playing on this one. A more american sounding Traynor with one of their not so great crunch channels. But still a great amp. The YCV50B is much more british. YCV20 comes with a greenback stock, speaker defeat button and has DI out for recording. Lovely studio amp.
Recently, I started wanting play Jazz, as much as my triple rectifier has nice cleans, it's not quite what ai need anymore. I'm going for the dual Rec Roadster, which has a plexi and tweed mode.
Hey Colin. Thanks again for another very informative video. I'd like to recommend another "informative" video if you haven't already done it: Could you please go into detail about the differences between +4 dBu and -10 dBV with regards to FX loops in amplifiers. After ALOT of trial and error and reading a buttload of articles and watching videos, it became clear why my foot pedals worked fine in front of the amp, but seemed to sound like ass going through the FX loop. It also convinced me that "what was missing" was a "line level shifter" that could drop the FX Send's +4 dBu level going into my footpedals down to a managable -10 dBV that my FX pedals could work with. No bull...before I learned about the different line levels between FX pedals and "rack gear" (which FX loops were originally designed to work with) I actually burned out a chorus pedal (it still worked in terms of bypass, but it didn't modulate my signal anymore) and it damaged 2 other pedals that I had. I noticed that the FIRST pedal in the chain was the one that was damaged/no longer working/sounded like ass and that pedal's output "dropped" the signal that the other pedals in the chain could use...saving them from damage. Some amps come with a +4 dBu and -10 dBV switch...which is great. Anyways...I thought the "+4 dBu and -10 dBV " topic could be a good one for you to cover, as I'm sure there are a bunch of players out there wondering why their pedals don't really do what they're supposed to when they're going through their FX loops. And at the very least, you could save a bunch of guitarists alot of grief from damaged/no longer functioning pedals that need to be replaced. Thanks for your channel and all that you do. Oh yeah...one day I'm gonna steal that beautiful Flying V of yours. j/k ;-)
Blackstar’s ISF concept is quite interesting, just a mid band sweep more or less but can lend to some interesting tones. Also, I find a tubescreamer in front of a British voiced amp gives the best of both worlds, with tighter low end and searing highs
I have my Mesa Roadking setup for channel 1 clean with 6L6, channel 2 is edge of breakup with EL34, Channel 3 is my liquid metal with 6L6 and channel 4 is my downtuned monster with both EL34 and 6L6. I love the way that amp uses both valves in Channel 4. Its surprising how it handles the lows with 6L6 but I get the mids and bite of EL34 on top.
Even up in the great white north. We used a lot of mullard branded product. Many old Traynors are full of mustard caps. Though the YBA was designed on the 59 Bassman, much like the JTM45 was, it has its own tone going on. If you ever hear a vintage Traynor, great with a boost in the front, they sound like a meatier marshall(of the 60's) and more like a JMP or JCM marshall. Lots of clarity with a 4 meg volume pot. But way to loud to play anywhere normally. Easily could have been recognized for their bulletproof design and great sound, but Canadas small population and Americas "we're number 1" attitude held back this company. Lucky for us Canadians you can find a lot of late 60's to late 70's Traynors that give you 3000 dollar tone for just 500(usd). I laugh when I see what an old Fender or vintage Marshall go for because the Traynor can get into both territories and cost less than 4 figures.
Well I can tell the difference and this American grew up on the British sounds of Sabath, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and I like that sound the best. Although like most of us we appreciate all the different tones. Great explanation and Nice playing btw!
True as far as vague typologies in conversations are important. The difference as explained here is mainly focussed on high gain PRE amp typology. These use most of the time the same tubes: 12AX7 / ECC83 but with different tone control and filtering. And that's why switching between voicings is so convincing like the Blackstar ISF control. The truth is so much more varied. Feedback,or not, presence, cathode bias or fixed... these all cross national borders big time. Power tube choices are much more subtle. With the master volume fairly low you won't hear or feel any difference. If you design a JCM800 but built around 6L6 tubes, the amp will still sound quite 800 ish. If you add negative feedback and fixed bias to a VOX AC30, the "EL84" sound will be gone a bit, while the same tubes are there. All because circuit design trumps tube choice. The first Fender tweed amps like the 5E3 Deluxe are brutal in their distortion range. But 100% American. Completely different from the later Blackface era. The Marshall sound and Vox sound are quite different and both are British. It all depends on what is ment by which audience when saying American or British.
This video has just made me realise all the British metal I listen to is from the 70's to the 90's and American from the 90's to now... Excellent vid though, TY
I'm not sure how true this is but from what I have heard is that the main reason as to why Jim Marshall used different valves from Fender in his 'copy' of the Bassman is that it was the kind he could get hold of as the ones that Fender used were not easy to get hold of on this side of the Atlantic. Also there is supposed to be a difference of the kind of musician influencing the sounds of the two companies. While Jim Marshall was playing host to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and other early distortion playing pioneers, Leo Fender was getting most of his feedback from Country and Jazz musicians who wanted cleaner and brighter sounds.
There’s nothing better to my ears than the sound of a hotrodded British tone. It’s that beautiful middle ground between the sounds...unless it’s an SLO100
I have a Blackstar HT100 that has a knob called ISF where you can change from both British and American sound. In the middle you have the amo sound, but if you turn it right it's British and on the left it's American. Kinda cool to switch it once in a while when playing around!
Colin I'm surprised that you didn't tell the story more accurately. I will: Thre was very little difference between English or American amps, either in sound or build! But rock and roll was ON and the people wanted LOUD! The existing triode tubes were just not cutting it, power-wise and the race was on to break the mu factor of 100(limiting factor of a triode) with a more powerful tube. The English scored first blood with the pentode tube design-the vaunted el34. But it was kind of noisy and whiney in general (but it made one hell of a guitar amp.) The American manufacturers didn't want to pay for the patent rights to the tube so they developed a (literal in this case) go around with the directed-beam tetrode. The directed-beam tetrode was sweeter, creamier and a lot quiteter than the pentode. It was a tad bit more powerful and somewhat more expensive and trickier to produce. So you see Colin, the difference in sounds was based on technology and on patent law not on what people "wanted". P.S. love your channel but I couldn't let this one slide. Peace
@@jsullivan2112 So which mellow tube did the English invent, and which rowdy tube was it that the Americans invented?? Am I missing out on a sextode or septode?? Or was it an octode?? I'm rather curious
Honestly, it's both an evolution of Fender amps. The british style of aggressive mids and loose bottom comes from the coveted Fender Bassman, and the mid scooped and treble heavy american sound with tight bass comes from the Fender Blackface circuit. The reason for this is that Mesa Boogie started by hot rodding Fender amps for more gain with more preamp stages. Even the modern Mesa Mark series amps have a lot of Blackface DNA in them. Of course, tubes did have a big impact, it's about as you described, but it's not the full story.
While somewhat correct you are linking the pentode (1927) and kinkless tetrode (1932) development as being related to guitar amplifiers. These technologies were developed before guitar amplifiers were invented! As with 99.9% of valve technology, the driving market was radio, television and hi-fi equipment. Guitar amplifiers were not even a consideration, being probably less than 0.01% of the market for valves. Also, a mu of 100 might be applicable to a preamp valve e.g. ECC83 with a few mA of plate current but triodes used in power stages such as the 300B have a mu in the region of 3 or 4 generally. To compare, an EL34 power pentode has a mu of 11.
@@dasschaf2476 So they were using multiple el34 pentode tubes in guitar amps in the early '50's correct. And who exactly was building that??(I want one) And when was the 6L6 directed beam tetrode first used?? And by whom?? And how many tubes?? I can't exactly go over a half century of tech development in 2 paragraphs, so go find out who had which patent and when things were used, and in what chronological order and my statement will begin to make sense. A LOT of sense. It requires some actual study outside of wikipedia bub.
@@jomamma1750 the 6L6 was introduced in 1936. If you can name a guitar amplifier built in 1936 you win the Internet. You were correct in that beam tetrodes were developed to avoid paying Phillips for licencing the pentode design. It all happened about twenty years before dedicated guitar amplifiers existed though. I design and build valve amplifiers as a hobby outside of my day to day electronics work, both guitar and hi-fi. This stuff isn't controversial, bub 😁
Finally, someone who talks sense about cryptic amp sim nomenclature. At least, terms like "plexi" are being used since they are _inofficial_ designations of famous amplifiers, but the whole "don't sue me" cringe has really resulted in multiplying the confusion about amp tones and where they come from. These days, you need to _study_ amp history *and* nomenclature to stand any sort of chance of knowing your way around the amp sounds that define rock culture. The only way of circumventing this problem is to buy amp sims/amps by the official brands, like the Fender CyberTwin, which _does_ use all the original model names - but it only simulates Fenders... the next best thing is the graphic design on amp sim VST plugins, which also give you a hint at their origin, but again, you have to be quite adept at identifying those iconic _looks._ It is a hot mess of copyrighted bullshit, really. Like it always is. No room for common sense in corporate politics. So thank you for talking sense on this one.
I don't even use an amplifier. Full stop. In any case, I guess the same sort of concept applies to pre-amp pedals, or "amp in a box" pedals. Case in point? I use the Effectrode Blackbird. The clean channel is a Fender Blackface, and the distortion channel is a Dumble. And then we also have the Amptweaker Tightmetal, which is made by the same guy who made the original 5150, so it might as well be a 5150 in a box. The Alexander Jubilee is a Marshall Silver Jubilee in a box. The Wampler Catapulp is an Orange in a box. The list goes on. Suffice it to say, anything mirroring a Marshall, or Orange, or Vox is going to have more mids. Anything mirroring Fenders or Dubles is going to be all about mids. Anything mirroring a 5150 or Rectifier is going to be mostly lacking of mids, and having much more distortion than anything else. Plus, "amp in a box" technology has become very accurate to real amplifiers these past couple years, so they mirror their target amplifiers equally as well as amplifiers mirroring other amplifiers.
@@michaeldoerksen2841 Traynor amps are amazing. I love my vintage my ygm-4 studio mate, and I love my Custom Special 100 even more. They both sound amazing. The custom special 100 has sooooo many modern features too that make it an awesome amp to practice with, record with, or gig with. I also bought my custom special for 400 dollars canadian off reverb so the amp is completely over looked imho. Has a brilliant clean channel, and a brilliant bass filled gain channel. The third channel is nice too but i don't use it as much.
Noice. I'm in the US but my local music shop only carries Orange amps, so that's what I use. I have less metal influences than a lot of folks, so my reference for how "British" I sound is how much I'm sounding like Billy Bragg XD. An orange Bass 50 sounds killer with gold foils put through it. Thanks for clarifying about how pre and power amp applies to solid state amps on that other vid, btw!
The British is very much the kind of sound any kind of typical metal band should sound like. The American sound tends to be a wee bit more experimental, without any of the mid, since the guitar doesn’t tend to get much dominance in the mix where the bass takes up the bass and mid. Any thoughts on Mesa Boogie?
When I think of American distortion, I think of a Fender Bassman dialed up like this: Volume above 7, Bass at 5, Treble at 6 (for my 70's drip face head). Preferably with a tube screamer-type pedal in front of it. When I think of British distortion, it's either a dimed Marshall or a Vox (can't remember the EQ I used though). However, we have the British to thank for popularizing the Les Paul guitar (ridiculous to think of guitar tone absent the pickup selection) so even as an American, can't help but be pleased with that.
I think it should be mentioned that part of the reason that the JCM800 and 6505 are also very popular among studios is that in a "professional" sense they are very inexpensive. Both riding around $1000 (USD), which is pretty affordable compared to something like a SLP or random boutique amp. I really like the British sound overall but I was never happy with Orange, Vox or Marshall. It took the Peavey VTM to get me to fall in love. American take on a British circuit.
I have a Carvin X100B 100 watt amp head with EL34s, and a Peavey ValveKing 100 watt amp head with 6L6s. I love them both, but the Carvin is my main amp. Love that British sound.
I read somewhere that the Marshall sound came about because the tubes available in the US were not available in war damaged UK after the war. The UK companies went with what was available to them.
Amplifiers are often categorised as sounding either British or American, but what's the difference?
British Distortion - Marshall JCM800
Thomann - www.thomann.de/intl/marshall_2203.htm?offid=1&affid=367
Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/Qkv6a
American Distortion - Peavey 6505
Thomann - www.thomann.de/intl/peavey_6505_gitarrentopteil.htm?offid=1&affid=367
Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/kx1W0
Victory Kraken:
www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180307324002008--victory-amps-vx-the-kraken-head
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Can you make a video about the truss rod and demystify it for us?
I would love to hear an explanation on how to get a Japanese math rock "barely on the cusp of distortion" sound
Hey Colin, thanks for your channel it is really valuable. I have a question as we both has Vx Kraken, how you manage your clean, as i have no any other amp, so i came with an idea to add V4 countess or to use Engl E503 preamp rack, or it's better to get Super VX 100, all the options are in the budget, but i;m looking for the best sound quality and variety solution, the VX 100 has more power than i need, for me 25 watt in enough,also it is heavier but not a big deal, one of the other options is to get Engl fireball 25 and V4 kraken, but i feel the pedal is not the same as the amp.
so what is your recommendation? mainly i play prog. metal, you can say dream theater but a shit music :) I use 7 strings guitar
@@g.e9832 what did you go with in the end? I've got the same predicament and am thinking of getting the v4 preamp copper pedal by victory
but when you hear a recording can you actually tell a british sound from american?
These are nothing compared the kind of distortion I apply to reality in order to convince myself that I'm living a happy life...
That's my favourite kind of distortion.
Very cool, where did you get that? i only have a clean channel... Thats why I'm always depressed.
@@silent-trouble same. Fourtunately I found a pedal called wholesome friendship. It's incredible!
Best I can ever get is a crunch channel and it usually takes an alcohol overdrive to get there.
@@joepope5793 How much headroom is there though? You might need to clean your mids and.... Sorry I've lost track of the metaphor
Damn that V is gorgeous!
May the algorithm be ever in your favour.
It's a really good looking guitar!
@@ScienceofLoud I agree, what model is it?
@@billybobhouse9559 From memory its a Gibson Gothic, theres a full video series on his channel on the upgrade process!
@@dildojizzbaggins6969 Favor is the American spelling whereas Favour is the British spelling, just like with color and colour.
@@dildojizzbaggins6969 lolno go step on a Lego
Someone was in a Maiden mood this morning LOL!
I'm having a brain-fart - I should know what Colin is playing starting at 9:17 but I just can't place it. Help? :)
@@adriansperling5012 Blood and Thunder from the mighty Mastodon.
@@lazylegolars There we go - thanks much!
@@lazylegolars I just want to point out because it is bugging me but he's actually playing the last 4 chords wrong.
A match maiden heaven
I've always leaned towards a more British sound. I love how scratchy sounding British amps can be. Since I play rhythm more than lead, it makes since for me to go with British for that more full and clear tone.
depends on what you play.
american is tighter on the lows, which you may need if you play at high tempos, but british cuts through the mix like no other :D
It’s simple: American guitars, brutish amps, and Japanese gear
what do you mean by gear? like pedals?
Brutish is very brutal
American Amps, Japanese guitars, Japanese gear
@@TIMExBANDIT German amps, Japanese guitars... And let's be honest, gear made in China.
As a Brazilian guitarrist... Chinese guitar, Chinese amp, mostly Chinese pedals and a few Brazilian boutique pedals 🤣
That's an incredibly useful side-by-side. Always felt like I was generally aware of the differences, but the various examples are great to hear. Btw, love that you more or less capped it off with the whole "neither is wrong" viewpoint. I tend to see these sort of comparisons as taking a binary viewpoint, so I have to appreciate a video that can appreciate both types of distortion
My favourite distortion style is the swedish style
HM-2 FTW
If the British distortion is a laceration, HM2s are an evisceration
I turn my nose way up to the sky. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. Distortion from a pedal just doesn't have the dynamics of a point to point vintage tube am." Meanwhile you're probably a far better player than me. Keep killing it!
Me too. I have a Marshall style preamp pedal that I run an HM-2 into and boy does that shit rip you a new one
Used by a lot of the early black metal bands. It’s the greatest.
I do love my IKEA distortion pedals
I really appreciate your way of explaining. Including the basics and then taking it all the way down to the details without making the videos too long is very impressive.
This dude's videos are hands down some of the most complete and informative guitar related videos on UA-cam. Without question. Definitely my go to channel.
Mastodon used a vintage Marshall for the album “Crack The Skye”. They tried a bunch of newer amps and the sounds that they wanted came from that vintage Marshall. I haven’t kept up with Mastodon, so I’m not sure what, or if, they switched to something else.
I believe they use orange amps now but I could be wrong
Emperor of sand was recorded using vintage Marshall’s. Brent does like his thunderverb 200’s though live and also he has used his rocker amp live.
Orange amps are THE thing to have nowadays for any band with beards, ear-stretchers and nautically themed tattoos.
If I'm not mistaken bill uses a friedman now
@@nekrovulpes honestly I still see A LOT of Laney AOR's. Iommi's connection sealed Laneys doom metal heritage in 1970.
This is part of the reason I have the Blackstar ID:Core 100. The ISP dial is really cool for changing between American and British tones while also having the option to blend the two with all the space in between. I, personally, like being a little further on the American side of the dial, but with it still being turned enough to add some of the British tone to the sound. It sounds quite awesome! Great video and playing, btw!
A guitar channel that doesn't do UA-cam drama or make videos about cringe comments?
Subscribed.
Great fingerboard work there, man. I've been following you for a few years now, and your playing has just gotten better and better. Great channel - thank you!
Thanks so much for this; as I'm planning to play in a band someday, I'm already on the lookout for a real amp, where I've been using Neural DSP before.
I always had this sound in my mind that I liked and also knew what I didnt like; this video, with some others, made clear that it is indeed the british sound that I'm more interested in, as it comes closer to what I enjoyed playing digitally the most.
Thanks a lot!
I have an 80s Marshall Master Reverb 30 (Solid State) and Boogie Mark III. Your description of the British and American tones are right on the money. Even though only one is a valve amp there is still a distinct difference.
Great video as always, Colin, but more importantly thank you for showing me an easier way to do the Aces High riff.
thank you for picking bits of songs that really exemplify what you're talking about well - am older, so american vs british tone just kinda defaults to fender vs marshall in my head, but I appreciate the expanded explanations and examples \m/
that outro was the most cathartic thing i've heard all week
You have great taste Colin.
Love that NWOBHM sound so much. The sound of British distortion shaped me in to who I am today. Lol
The American side of the Kracken does a "low end thing" that I have found difficulty describing and only a scant few other amps do - it's the tight bass associated with American high-gain, but in a very specific way. American distortion can definitely get lost in a mix, but MAN when you get the EQ right it hits so hard.
Loved the way you played "Blood and Thunder" and "Waking the Demon". Needless to say, this video really helped me to buy the amp of my choice ❤️
The Egnator Renegade also uses both tube sets and can pull from both at once. Great for A/B-ing this kind of stuff. Also get to have my super clean 6L6 sound in one channel and the roaring EL34s in the other.
That British channel is pure NWOBHM.
Noice.
Ndlanding what does nwobhm mean
@@qsappy New wave of British heavy metal
I work in a music store and I often tell my colleagues to watch your channel cause you are the best to explain the science related to music gear.
Chers from Québec.
To me, the "right" distortion totally depends on what I'm playing. I hate to generically say I prefer one over the other since it's all so contextual. It's the tonal version of picking your favorite color...favorite color of what? Cars? Red. Clothes. Blue. Even within those categories there will be nuanced picks that differ. Maybe it's because I was born in Scotland and live in America but, to me, it's all subjective on the piece. Great video as always. This is one of only a few channels I subscribe to and for good reason. Keep up the good work.
Thats why i love how Keira Knightley sounds than Miley Cyrus.
Brilliant
Dude great video. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Those bullet for my valentine licks you casually through in were great also!
damn that's a cool amp ! it's been on my list of potential buy for a long time, but i'm pretty sure it just rose to the top.
Could you do something similar with bass amps? Also, thank you for your TATAs. They've helped me understand lots of things better.
Great sounds! I'm a proud owner of the Kraken. Btw, your playing improved a lot!
Would you recommend the Kraken for Heavier Thrash Metal tones like Slayer or even heavier like Nile. I would be pushing front end with an 808
Great video and a good explanation of the difference between the two
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! I have been looking for this for ages and now can actually put a name to what i like...
This was such an awesome comparison video! Thank you so much Colin! Greatly appreciated! Definitely going to look into getting a Kraken in the near future!
I'm not a fan of flying V's really, but the hardware/pickguard on yours is so sick!!!
I never thought of Zakk having a particularly British sound but listening to you play “Bloodbath in paradise “ it makes sense
How about symmetrical vs asymmetrical clipping? That's something that I've been confused about for a while
I touched on that briefly in here: ua-cam.com/video/16Vz6XHqGMY/v-deo.html
Look at full wave vs. half wave DC rectifier. All voltage is dropped across the full wave rectifier resulting in unfiltered direct current. You will get a picture of alternating current across diodes. Then look at a special diode that has the characteristic of dropping a characteristic amount of voltage such as Zener diodes. Zener is commonly used to build a simple power supply regulator to provide say 5 volts by dropping 5 volts when say 9 volts is provided. An audio signal is clipped at the characteristic voltage across the diode. Audio signals are alternating current. Look at a sine wave and notice there is a positive and negative swing across the bias offset. The circuit is built so that the clipping only occurs on one swing of the signal. Sorry, not an edumacated engineer, but anyway.....
George Paxson the theory is pretty simple, but trying to hear what characterises asymmetrical clipping is hard.
@@K1llerTunes It has been featured on this channel here before. Boss SD-1 is asymmetric, cheap, and everyone should have one. My opinion is that an SD-1 gives you a classic 80's metal thing plugged into a tube amp. Pretty cool. Harmonics seem to sing out of them.
Funny you should mention that, the latest That Pedal Show episode goes into quite a bit of detail on that exact topic. Briefly explaining how it works and in depth discussing how it sounds. If you're more concerned about the technical aspect of it, I think Brian Wampler has gone into it - I could look the video up if that's what you meant.
Everytime i look at my Blackstar with the IFS control i always think: Left (metallica) Right (Black sabbath)
I have blackstar Id 260 and I love having the combination of both.
my mate has a blackstar, gotta say i love that knob, you can clean up so much with it
My mate got one we call it the kill em all or Black album Button
Both are amazing sounds. Love the Orange sound! There is a classic mesa/boogie sound that is Godly as well...can't pick.
You can gain an appreciation of distortion from this video
aaaahhh i see what u did there
Very cool to know! Love those 2 second blips at the end every time!!
Fabulous comparison and insightful explanations, as always. Cheers!
Awesome awesome awesome awesome 👏🏼 fantastic demo . Both gain structures were showcased incredibly well . Bravo 👏🏼
I love this channel, with headphones everything makes sense
Now that is some awesome riffing mate!!! This video reminds me why I bought my VX100. One of the most versatile amps despite the fact of the shared eq... tbh I dont mind it at all. Colin, that Flying V is of the chart... what a guitar
this explains so much to me, i always liked Orange/Marshall amps when they were cranked. that sound at 9:17 onwards is perfect to me.
What is the riff that he played there? I can't remember the song and I'm desperate trying to figure it out hahaha
@@shucrut63 sounds like blood and thunder by mastodon
I always thought it stemmed from the types of valves that were available either side of the Atlantic in the olden days. Now I will watch and see if I was right...
Really well explained and demonstrated as usual great video, thanks man!
I love the British tone. I have a Rocktron Piranha which sounds like a mix between a Rectifier and a JCM800. Given I prefer the Marshall sound, I also really like the sound and especially the attack of a Rectifier. I set my sound to have a grinding attack, with the "meat" of a JCM800. It sounds phenomenal!
Nice to see you using the Harley benton :) i bought it cuz of you and it makes me happy that its a decent guitar even to experts like you.
Great playing! Solid video.🔥🐐🔥
These are nothing compared to Norwegian distortion.
Maybe Swedish one?
Mt-2 for life
Wich is basically awful noise
@@PooNinja you mean heavy metal
*Laughs in sepultura*
I love this channel. I always learn something when I watch the videos👍
Very informative video especially for people like me who didn’t grow up with tube amps and have used digital modeling almost exclusively
This is The Best Brehtish channel about guitar tech in general.
This was really eye-opening! I have a Mesa/Boogie Lonestar, but turns out I think I like the british distortion better.
Apples to oranges - the Lonestar is trying to be more like an amp that stevie ray vaughan might have loved, and isn't one of Mesa's better high-gain amps. A better comparison for such high gains that this vid showcases, would be something like a Mesa Mark series or Mesa Rectifier series amp. But the Lonestar is very good at what it is trying to do!
Well said....again! Keep up the videos. Both entertaining and informative.
Rabea says that the Kraken British is actually modelled after a JCM900. Great video.
My Mini Rectifier has el84s in it, and when set to the vintage mode, gives a really nice approximation of what both sides have and combines them into this liquid gain tone with a slightly scooped feel. love it.
I do like your 'bias knob settings' in the introductory comparison ;)
Cool video! But in over 25 years I'm playing rock music I encountered the terms "British" and "American" to be connected rather with Marshall (UK) and Fender on the US side of things. I get that your channel is about metal mainly where Peavy amps might be more popular but the general understanding on those terms is like I said.
Apart from the equipment thing (which you are right on) all this started with the so called" British Invasion" of the USA caused by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the Who etc. in the early/mid 60s, which were on their part influenced by the US bands of the 50s. In those days these distinctions were coined also by the musical influences on pop/rock music on each side of the Atlantic: Mainly represented by blues in the USA and classical music in the UK & Europe.
Nevertheless, great content & videos!
1) great sounding amp
2) exquisit choice of riffs :)
OMG, THANS SO F MUCH.
Home hobby, looking for that sound back to back for years.
God send.
Les P Stewart
Great video, super informative and awesome tone man!
The best way to do it? Run British and American in stereo :]
Yuuup. JCM800-alike left, 6505-alike right, both kicked with a TS. Brutal beauty, beautiful brutality.
Queensryche does that on empire, with Chris DeGarmo on the left and Michael Wilton on the right
@@LuxTheSlav That's exactly the right way around as well in my opinion, it always sounds better to me.
Traynor and Garnet. Canadian amps that do both. YCS50 and the dark horse both have a USA/Brit switch. YCS channel 1 has a lot of gain on tap along with some great switches for tonal bliss. Highly recommend that readers try one if they ever see one.
ua-cam.com/video/juBzNhP7VUA/v-deo.html Modern Traynor YCV20 WR(wine red) with a strat. Great playing on this one. A more american sounding Traynor with one of their not so great crunch channels. But still a great amp. The YCV50B is much more british. YCV20 comes with a greenback stock, speaker defeat button and has DI out for recording. Lovely studio amp.
YBA-1 reissue ua-cam.com/video/Vnk-f42qVLI/v-deo.html New amp based on their classic. Great tone for USA-Brit tones.
ua-cam.com/video/nKfy__1U8ak/v-deo.html Vintage Traynor, USA or Brit sound??
Ι love the American tone. Lately though I have an urge to switch to a Marshal. Did I get old and mature?
Recently, I started wanting play Jazz, as much as my triple rectifier has nice cleans, it's not quite what ai need anymore. I'm going for the dual Rec Roadster, which has a plexi and tweed mode.
Old and mature, or a midlife crisis? Going from incision to lacerations!
You got British, obviously 😳
@@scriptosaurusrex Well not a crisis exactly but better appreciation of some things
@@schmoemi3386 Sounds fun!!
that V is really great looking you did a great job on it
Didn't think this scottish bugga could play......i was bloody wrong !! Well done lad , keep it going .
Great stuff!
2 minutes to midnight so classic and great!
Hey Colin. Thanks again for another very informative video. I'd like to recommend another "informative" video if you haven't already done it: Could you please go into detail about the differences between +4 dBu and -10 dBV with regards to FX loops in amplifiers.
After ALOT of trial and error and reading a buttload of articles and watching videos, it became clear why my foot pedals worked fine in front of the amp, but seemed to sound like ass going through the FX loop. It also convinced me that "what was missing" was a "line level shifter" that could drop the FX Send's +4 dBu level going into my footpedals down to a managable -10 dBV that my FX pedals could work with. No bull...before I learned about the different line levels between FX pedals and "rack gear" (which FX loops were originally designed to work with) I actually burned out a chorus pedal (it still worked in terms of bypass, but it didn't modulate my signal anymore) and it damaged 2 other pedals that I had. I noticed that the FIRST pedal in the chain was the one that was damaged/no longer working/sounded like ass and that pedal's output "dropped" the signal that the other pedals in the chain could use...saving them from damage. Some amps come with a +4 dBu and -10 dBV switch...which is great.
Anyways...I thought the "+4 dBu and -10 dBV " topic could be a good one for you to cover, as I'm sure there are a bunch of players out there wondering why their pedals don't really do what they're supposed to when they're going through their FX loops. And at the very least, you could save a bunch of guitarists alot of grief from damaged/no longer functioning pedals that need to be replaced.
Thanks for your channel and all that you do. Oh yeah...one day I'm gonna steal that beautiful Flying V of yours. j/k ;-)
would love to see a breakdown of the circuits themselves, and how the harmonics they produce are different!
Blackstar’s ISF concept is quite interesting, just a mid band sweep more or less but can lend to some interesting tones. Also, I find a tubescreamer in front of a British voiced amp gives the best of both worlds, with tighter low end and searing highs
Marshall still sound Marshall, even just from my phone speaker
marshall is traditionally very pronouced on the mids
Great vid. Bonus points for playing half the riffs on my Spotify. 👨🎤
I have my Mesa Roadking setup for channel 1 clean with 6L6, channel 2 is edge of breakup with EL34, Channel 3 is my liquid metal with 6L6 and channel 4 is my downtuned monster with both EL34 and 6L6. I love the way that amp uses both valves in Channel 4. Its surprising how it handles the lows with 6L6 but I get the mids and bite of EL34 on top.
Great playing in this video!
In the '50s and '60s the components available in the UK and US where different. This was a significant cause of the differences in sound.
Even up in the great white north. We used a lot of mullard branded product. Many old Traynors are full of mustard caps. Though the YBA was designed on the 59 Bassman, much like the JTM45 was, it has its own tone going on. If you ever hear a vintage Traynor, great with a boost in the front, they sound like a meatier marshall(of the 60's) and more like a JMP or JCM marshall. Lots of clarity with a 4 meg volume pot. But way to loud to play anywhere normally. Easily could have been recognized for their bulletproof design and great sound, but Canadas small population and Americas "we're number 1" attitude held back this company. Lucky for us Canadians you can find a lot of late 60's to late 70's Traynors that give you 3000 dollar tone for just 500(usd). I laugh when I see what an old Fender or vintage Marshall go for because the Traynor can get into both territories and cost less than 4 figures.
Well I can tell the difference and this American grew up on the British sounds of Sabath, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and I like that sound the best. Although like most of us we appreciate all the different tones.
Great explanation and Nice playing btw!
True as far as vague typologies in conversations are important. The difference as explained here is mainly focussed on high gain PRE amp typology. These use most of the time the same tubes: 12AX7 / ECC83 but with different tone control and filtering. And that's why switching between voicings is so convincing like the Blackstar ISF control.
The truth is so much more varied. Feedback,or not, presence, cathode bias or fixed... these all cross national borders big time.
Power tube choices are much more subtle. With the master volume fairly low you won't hear or feel any difference. If you design a JCM800 but built around 6L6 tubes, the amp will still sound quite 800 ish. If you add negative feedback and fixed bias to a VOX AC30, the "EL84" sound will be gone a bit, while the same tubes are there. All because circuit design trumps tube choice.
The first Fender tweed amps like the 5E3 Deluxe are brutal in their distortion range. But 100% American. Completely different from the later Blackface era.
The Marshall sound and Vox sound are quite different and both are British.
It all depends on what is ment by which audience when saying American or British.
This video has just made me realise all the British metal I listen to is from the 70's to the 90's and American from the 90's to now... Excellent vid though, TY
I'm not sure how true this is but from what I have heard is that the main reason as to why Jim Marshall used different valves from Fender in his 'copy' of the Bassman is that it was the kind he could get hold of as the ones that Fender used were not easy to get hold of on this side of the Atlantic.
Also there is supposed to be a difference of the kind of musician influencing the sounds of the two companies. While Jim Marshall was playing host to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Who and other early distortion playing pioneers, Leo Fender was getting most of his feedback from Country and Jazz musicians who wanted cleaner and brighter sounds.
There’s nothing better to my ears than the sound of a hotrodded British tone. It’s that beautiful middle ground between the sounds...unless it’s an SLO100
I have a Blackstar HT100 that has a knob called ISF where you can change from both British and American sound. In the middle you have the amo sound, but if you turn it right it's British and on the left it's American. Kinda cool to switch it once in a while when playing around!
Colin I'm surprised that you didn't tell the story more accurately. I will: Thre was very little difference between English or American amps, either in sound or build! But rock and roll was ON and the people wanted LOUD! The existing triode tubes were just not cutting it, power-wise and the race was on to break the mu factor of 100(limiting factor of a triode) with a more powerful tube. The English scored first blood with the pentode tube design-the vaunted el34. But it was kind of noisy and whiney in general (but it made one hell of a guitar amp.) The American manufacturers didn't want to pay for the patent rights to the tube so they developed a (literal in this case) go around with the directed-beam tetrode. The directed-beam tetrode was sweeter, creamier and a lot quiteter than the pentode. It was a tad bit more powerful and somewhat more expensive and trickier to produce. So you see Colin, the difference in sounds was based on technology and on patent law not on what people "wanted". P.S. love your channel but I couldn't let this one slide. Peace
@@jsullivan2112 So which mellow tube did the English invent, and which rowdy tube was it that the Americans invented?? Am I missing out on a sextode or septode?? Or was it an octode?? I'm rather curious
Honestly, it's both an evolution of Fender amps. The british style of aggressive mids and loose bottom comes from the coveted Fender Bassman, and the mid scooped and treble heavy american sound with tight bass comes from the Fender Blackface circuit. The reason for this is that Mesa Boogie started by hot rodding Fender amps for more gain with more preamp stages. Even the modern Mesa Mark series amps have a lot of Blackface DNA in them. Of course, tubes did have a big impact, it's about as you described, but it's not the full story.
While somewhat correct you are linking the pentode (1927) and kinkless tetrode (1932) development as being related to guitar amplifiers. These technologies were developed before guitar amplifiers were invented! As with 99.9% of valve technology, the driving market was radio, television and hi-fi equipment. Guitar amplifiers were not even a consideration, being probably less than 0.01% of the market for valves. Also, a mu of 100 might be applicable to a preamp valve e.g. ECC83 with a few mA of plate current but triodes used in power stages such as the 300B have a mu in the region of 3 or 4 generally. To compare, an EL34 power pentode has a mu of 11.
@@dasschaf2476 So they were using multiple el34 pentode tubes in guitar amps in the early '50's correct. And who exactly was building that??(I want one) And when was the 6L6 directed beam tetrode first used?? And by whom?? And how many tubes?? I can't exactly go over a half century of tech development in 2 paragraphs, so go find out who had which patent and when things were used, and in what chronological order and my statement will begin to make sense. A LOT of sense. It requires some actual study outside of wikipedia bub.
@@jomamma1750 the 6L6 was introduced in 1936. If you can name a guitar amplifier built in 1936 you win the Internet.
You were correct in that beam tetrodes were developed to avoid paying Phillips for licencing the pentode design. It all happened about twenty years before dedicated guitar amplifiers existed though. I design and build valve amplifiers as a hobby outside of my day to day electronics work, both guitar and hi-fi. This stuff isn't controversial, bub 😁
I ❤️ “American makes an incision, while British leaves you lacerated!” 👍🏽
Finally, someone who talks sense about cryptic amp sim nomenclature. At least, terms like "plexi" are being used since they are _inofficial_ designations of famous amplifiers, but the whole "don't sue me" cringe has really resulted in multiplying the confusion about amp tones and where they come from. These days, you need to _study_ amp history *and* nomenclature to stand any sort of chance of knowing your way around the amp sounds that define rock culture. The only way of circumventing this problem is to buy amp sims/amps by the official brands, like the Fender CyberTwin, which _does_ use all the original model names - but it only simulates Fenders... the next best thing is the graphic design on amp sim VST plugins, which also give you a hint at their origin, but again, you have to be quite adept at identifying those iconic _looks._ It is a hot mess of copyrighted bullshit, really. Like it always is. No room for common sense in corporate politics. So thank you for talking sense on this one.
That PRS looks and sounds so amazing. Wish i had one just like it
i’d love to try a Victory amp for bass, through a pair of 115’s or a 215
I don't even use an amplifier. Full stop. In any case, I guess the same sort of concept applies to pre-amp pedals, or "amp in a box" pedals. Case in point? I use the Effectrode Blackbird. The clean channel is a Fender Blackface, and the distortion channel is a Dumble. And then we also have the Amptweaker Tightmetal, which is made by the same guy who made the original 5150, so it might as well be a 5150 in a box. The Alexander Jubilee is a Marshall Silver Jubilee in a box. The Wampler Catapulp is an Orange in a box. The list goes on.
Suffice it to say, anything mirroring a Marshall, or Orange, or Vox is going to have more mids. Anything mirroring Fenders or Dubles is going to be all about mids. Anything mirroring a 5150 or Rectifier is going to be mostly lacking of mids, and having much more distortion than anything else. Plus, "amp in a box" technology has become very accurate to real amplifiers these past couple years, so they mirror their target amplifiers equally as well as amplifiers mirroring other amplifiers.
Would that make Revv a Canadian distortion?
Asked by a Canadian who likes Revv and Peavey. (Owner of a Peavey)
Just like Diezel, Engl and Peterzburg are German distortion. Diezel vh4🤘
Don't forget Traynor. Classic Canadian Tone
@@michaeldoerksen2841 Garnet is decent too. Love my YBA-1 but my YCS50 is better than any modern amp I have played.
@@michaeldoerksen2841 Traynor amps are amazing. I love my vintage my ygm-4 studio mate, and I love my Custom Special 100 even more. They both sound amazing. The custom special 100 has sooooo many modern features too that make it an awesome amp to practice with, record with, or gig with. I also bought my custom special for 400 dollars canadian off reverb so the amp is completely over looked imho. Has a brilliant clean channel, and a brilliant bass filled gain channel. The third channel is nice too but i don't use it as much.
god dang master of puppets sounded spot on!
Noice. I'm in the US but my local music shop only carries Orange amps, so that's what I use. I have less metal influences than a lot of folks, so my reference for how "British" I sound is how much I'm sounding like Billy Bragg XD. An orange Bass 50 sounds killer with gold foils put through it. Thanks for clarifying about how pre and power amp applies to solid state amps on that other vid, btw!
The British is very much the kind of sound any kind of typical metal band should sound like. The American sound tends to be a wee bit more experimental, without any of the mid, since the guitar doesn’t tend to get much dominance in the mix where the bass takes up the bass and mid. Any thoughts on Mesa Boogie?
When I think of American distortion, I think of a Fender Bassman dialed up like this: Volume above 7, Bass at 5, Treble at 6 (for my 70's drip face head). Preferably with a tube screamer-type pedal in front of it.
When I think of British distortion, it's either a dimed Marshall or a Vox (can't remember the EQ I used though).
However, we have the British to thank for popularizing the Les Paul guitar (ridiculous to think of guitar tone absent the pickup selection) so even as an American, can't help but be pleased with that.
I think it should be mentioned that part of the reason that the JCM800 and 6505 are also very popular among studios is that in a "professional" sense they are very inexpensive. Both riding around $1000 (USD), which is pretty affordable compared to something like a SLP or random boutique amp.
I really like the British sound overall but I was never happy with Orange, Vox or Marshall. It took the Peavey VTM to get me to fall in love. American take on a British circuit.
I have a Carvin X100B 100 watt amp head with EL34s, and a Peavey ValveKing 100 watt amp head with 6L6s. I love them both, but the Carvin is my main amp. Love that British sound.
I read somewhere that the Marshall sound came about because the tubes available in the US were not available in war damaged UK after the war. The UK companies went with what was available to them.
Awesome and thanks for also doing the sign language, very helpful as I am partially deaf,