What makes a tube amp better?

[Dru Edwards]

I'm a big fan of tube amps and I have 6. Just something special about the way it breaks up and some of the touch sensitivity. My Marshall Vintage Modern has a lot of that.

[rdawsoniii]

It is all a matter of taste.

I have had a couple of SS amps. They were ok, but I never really warmed up to them. They sounded too “artificial”.

Then I bought the Bugera V5 and later, the V22, tube amps. They provide the tone I was looking for. So for me, it’s tubes all the way.

[Dru Edwards]

We live in a world that has had leaps and bounds in technology improvements including internet on phones, live streaming on devices, and everything going digital. But when it comes to playing guitar we're using decades old analog technology ... and we love it.

[AxeDude]

Originally Posted by Marley

I've been all tube for the past 24 years or so, first with a Mesa Boogie then a Fender Bassman. Now I play a Yamaha THR100HD. I love it more than both of my previous amps combined. I defy anyone in a blind test to differentiate between my Yamaha or one of my tubes. You can't do as they sound nearly identical. I can get so many more tones and sounds out of my Yamaha than the Boogie or Fender and the built in dirty tones are all over the map and sound so good. Never would have thought I'd give up my tubes after all these years but I did.

I love my THR10C, and it’s good to see this glowing comment on the THR100HD. I haven’t seen many comments on these. I’d love to try one for a band gig. I bet they are fantastic.

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by MartyGraw

Hey... No problem, glad to pull it up for you... I have a Mustang II as well that I bought for a specific purpose (acoustic leads with Sunrise p/u) and it served its purpose well.... A tube amp?, well no, but worked for me at the time.

I also own a Mustang solid state amp and wouldn't be without it for home playing purposes. (For a fantastic price gives me three quality Fender amp settings plus a multitude of others even if I don't use them, a tuner, multiple effects including my favourites delay and reverb and a headphone socket so I can play silently).

Even if you have a preference for tube amps (and I'm a tube fan also), there's no denying their advantages.

[Otterhound]

Originally Posted by MartyGraw

That maybe true but the overdrive is overdriving tubes....Neil Young does not use an overdrive . It is all natural tube distortion from a '59 Tweed Deluxe. The amp has to have fans cooling it to keep it from bursting into flames as it runs so hot.
I do have 2 SS amps for really clean sound if needed, but nothing like a tube amp all the way baby....

There is a great video out there somewhere that shows Johnny Winter setting one alight just by playing through it .

[Edgar Poe]

Solid state electronics is too stable. Like mentiuoned vacuum tubes have inherent vibrations and weaknesses that make for interesting sound..


Ed

[Beakybird]

Originally Posted by Marley

I've been all tube for the past 24 years or so, first with a Mesa Boogie then a Fender Bassman. Now I play a Yamaha THR100HD. I love it more than both of my previous amps combined. I defy anyone in a blind test to differentiate between my Yamaha or one of my tubes. You can't do as they sound nearly identical. I can get so many more tones and sounds out of my Yamaha than the Boogie or Fender and the built in dirty tones are all over the map and sound so good. Never would have thought I'd give up my tubes after all these years but I did.

The Yamaha looks like a killer device. I've been noodling around with a THR10C and a 90's Ibanez super Strat, and it sounds pretty convincing to me, but I haven't been able to A/B it with tube amps.
Just like with acoustics, I think that we must all be aware that we're susceptible to the placebo effect. That's probably why Yamaha put an artificial tube glow and old school design on their THR practice amps.

Notwithstanding the placebo effect, I don't dismiss the opinions of those who think real tube amps are the bees knees.

[perttime]

I have an old Sessionette 75 SS amp on 1980s. It overdrives in a very pleasant way. One of my favorite sounds is when I use the possibility to mix the clean and drive channels: some hair on the clean sound or more attack on the driven sound.

Their current SS models might be even better, and they do upgrades to the old amps.

http://www.award-session.com/bluesbaby-complete.php
There's a couple of British reviews linked on the product page.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

We live in a world that has had leaps and bounds in technology improvements including internet on phones, live streaming on devices, and everything going digital. But when it comes to playing guitar we're using decades old analog technology ... and we love it.

Obviously some vintage amps are still highly sought

I tend to prefer tube sound and feel BUT am not closed to an SS either just have not found one yet.

And when you talk a boutique amp builder while they often use the design concepts from the past, the actual components in the circuits are in fact often some the best current analog and sometimes even some digital hybrid technology as well .

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Nymuso

When someone else carries it.

Isn't that the truth I reluctantly sold my Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special 1X12.. Combo,,, at 59 lbs I could not find a reliable roadie

But I am eyeing the new REVV D 20 tube head 9 lbs

[Jerry D]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Isn't that the truth I reluctantly sold my Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special 1X12.. Combo,,, at 59 lbs I could not find a reliable roadie.

Well, then they certainly wouldn't like my Super Reverb at 65 pounds!

[AxeDude]

I love my LSS but it let me down at many gigs. It took me over 5 years for Mesa to figure it out. They finally fixed it for free even though it was out of the warranty period. Thankfully I have many other amps for backups. I have a MKll made of exotic hardwood I special ordered in 1978 that still works like new. My MKIV stack sounds great. I have no gas for another am. For jazz I had Gerald Weber build me a K-Spot. Unbelievable tone. For me, they is a warmth and feel that only comes with tubes.

[adaw2821]

Ill throw my experience in there, although I'm relatively new to the tube amp game. I've been playing acoustic for 15 years. When I started out with electric guitar I thought modeling was the way to go. I went with a HD500x (cheaper than a tube amp, included affects, pedal board, just all around convenient)

I got some decent sounds but wasn't quite satisfied so I bought a ac15 pretty quick and played both for a long time.

My opinion is the digital can get really close to dialing a certain sound, especially clean. The overdriven sounds don't ever get perfect but can get close, but it takes lots of tweaking. But it doesn't react like a tube amp. I like to play with lots of dynamics and go from clean to crunchy and back. I feel like I can spend lots of time dialing in a good sound with the 500x but then back off the volume a bit a the clean sounds like crap.

On a tube amp I just plug in and play and it works like I expect and I can just play.

Edit: I am about to try out a helix and see if its worth trading. I would love to have the helix replace everything but its going to have to be much better than the 500x to convince me.

Funnily enough I play through the HD500x every Sunday with a acoustic guitar and sounds great, but its purely clean with some delay.

[M Hayden]

Just played one of these on the gig last weekend; it was downright scary how good it was. The one I used was the Mojo Diamond, which is basically a modeled tweed circuit, and it was outstanding. I’ve also played others in the series and they are equally good - the Marshall and 5150 clones are surprisingly good.

The input was a jazz box with a Bartolini pickup in neck position, and the cab was a Yamaha PA speaker with 1x10 plus horn. It weighed almost nothing and sounded GREAT.

It’s definitely enough to play a club, has a good output to send to a board, and the tone is entirely usable, well within the bounds of what listeners expect.

Nota bene: I usually schlep a 1965 DR with JBL D120F. The new rig weighs less, is quieter (less hum from fluorescents etc) and takes up less space. So it’s a win all around for some of the places I play where space, setup time, and noise are at a premium.