Are tube amps worth the price?
I’ve been playing for over a decade now, gigged small venues, recorded a few EPs, taught students, nothing too fancy but not a complete beginner either.
I wanted to love tube amps. I bought into the hype early. Owned a Vox AC15, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, even flirted with a Mesa for a while lol. But after years of use i feel like:
They’re insanely expensive compared to what solid-state or modeling offers now.
Tubes wear out. Biasing, microphonics, noise. It’s like owning a vintage car.
You can’t push them to the sweet spot at home without annoying the neighbors.
And they’re heavy as hell. Like actually miserable to move to a gig.
Meanwhile, modelers and modern solid-state amps sound damn close, cost half as much (or less), and give me consistency and volume control.
At this point, it feels like tube amps are more about identity than practicality.
I know tone is subjective, and that’s fine, but am I crazy for thinking tube amps just aren’t worth the hassle anymore unless you’re a collector or purist?
Anyone else hit a wall in their playing lately?
I’ve been playing daily for years, but for the past month, I’ve just been stuck. Same licks, same routines, no excitement. Even new gear didn’t help.
Strats are objectively uncomfortable to play sitting down.
No amount of contouring makes up for the weird balance and horn digging into your ribs. I said what I said. Sorry Hendrix fans
Tonewood doesn’t matter. At all.
I put two guitars through the same amp settings and couldn’t tell which was mahogany and which was alder. Can we stop pretending it makes a difference on electrics?
The Guitar Is a Corpse, and You’re All Posing with the Body
Guitars used to mean something. They were a middle finger to the world. Six strings screaming rebellion, pain, and truth. Hendrix set his on fire. Cobain smashed his to splinters. It was raw, ugly, alive. Now? You’re all just influencers with calluses, polishing your Strats for Instagram likes and TikTok loops.
You don’t play guitar to say something. You play it to sell something. Your “brand,” your “vibe,” your sad little bedroom aesthetic. You’re not artists, you’re content creators with $5000 pedalboards you don’t even know how to use. The algorithm’s your god now, and it’s turned your “rebellion” into a 15-second clip with a lo-fi filter.
The 60s and 90s weren’t perfect, but at least they had soul. Now? You’re too busy color-matching your amp to your wall art to notice your music sounds like a Spotify ad. You’re not dangerous. You’re not even interesting. You’re just another cog in the content machine, chasing clout while the guitar’s corpse rots in your hands.
And don’t give me that “Gen Z is saving guitar” crap. Those kids are just aping your nostalgia, recycling riffs from bands you jerk off to on vinyl. The guitar isn’t dead—it’s worse. It’s a zombie, shambling through your curated feeds, and you’re too busy posing to notice the stench.Do you guys boil your guitar strings?
I've only seen Americans talking about it, but do people actually boil their guitar strings or is it just a joke?
Tiesitkö
Helsinkiläinen,
Espoolainen ja
Vantaalainen meni uimarannalle
Somali hukkuiGuitar used to be a way out. Now it’s just another brand strategy.
You didn’t pick up a guitar because it was cute.
You picked it up because nothing else made sense.
Because you needed a weapon.
Because screaming wasn’t loud enough.
Now you pick it up to chase algorithms.
You rehearse your lighting before your riffs.
You post one clean take and delete the rest
Not because they sucked,
but because your face looked weird.
Used to be: you played because you had to.
Now? You play because you think you should.
It used to be about danger, about mess, about something raw and half-wrong.
Now it’s soft filters and “vibe.”
You used to bleed into the fretboard.
Now you color-match your pedalboard to your bedroom.
This isn’t bitterness.
This is mourning.
The guitar isn’t dead.
But it sure as hell doesn’t smell like sweat anymore.
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