Solid State or Tubes these days

Chickee · #1 04-10-2018, 02:21 PM

When it comes to acoustic/electric guitars which amps are king in your world? Is it Solid State or Tube amps that rule the roost? Me, I'm SS whether I'm playing acoustic/electric or full electric. I had my fill of tube amps going sour. Way too temperamental, noisy and need too much maintenance. Yeah, I know, tubes-the holy grail of sound blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. Todays Solid State offerings can emulate any sound imaginable. Tubes are the dinosaur of sound reinforcement in the new millennium.
But then again YMMV

Big Band Guitar · #2 04-10-2018, 02:38 PM

I gave up on tubes years ago when I ran out of my new old stock tubes.

Solid state is much lighter and for me no different sound.

I spent 39 years in servicing industrial electronics so I am familiar with the circuitry.

I once removed the tube amp from my Fender deluxe and replaced it with a cut down Sidekick 65 so it looked like a black face Deluxe from a distance. I played a show in a pit band. I got a number of glowing compliments from a tube worshiper on how good that old tube amp sounded. I agreed with him without telling him it was solid state.

If it looks like a tube amp then it sounds like a tube amp.

CASD57 · #3 04-10-2018, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Band Guitar

I gave up on tubes years ago when I ran out of my new old stock tubes.

Solid state is much lighter and for me no different sound.

I spent 39 years in servicing industrial electronics so I am familiar with the circuitry.

I once removed the tube amp from my Fender deluxe and replaced it with a cut down Sidekick 65 so it looked like a black face Deluxe from a distance. I played a show in a pit band. I got a number of glowing compliments from a tube worshiper on how good that old tube amp sounded. I agreed with him without telling him it was solid state.

If it looks like a tube amp then it sounds like a tube amp.

I've had my share of tube amps, twins, pro reverbs, Rivera's, blues jrs, dual showman's, on and on and in this day and age I would probably get a nice SS.and save my extra tubes for class A single ended champ style amps where I don't need match sets, So SS for me these days

Nymuso · #4 04-10-2018, 04:03 PM

Oh, man, gotta have that Marshall stack!!

If you're playing an arena and roadies are schlepping the gear. For me, playing an occasional gig with old friends, my Katana is just fine.

troggg · #5 04-10-2018, 04:12 PM

Then there's the $99 Scuffham S-Gear amp sim which is simply fantastic with no tubes or transistors. Not to mention total recall.

Guitaurman · #6 04-10-2018, 04:15 PM

I'm looking for two distinctly different things when playing electric vs. acoustic. For my Strat I typically use my '64 Deluxe Reverb all tube amp. Tubes still sound great when driven hard. It's about natural distortion. I love that sound for my Strat. For clean sounds solid state is king. If you want to be loud and clear as most acoustic players desire, solid state is the way to go. If I dial my old Deluxe Reverb up to 5, it doesn't get much louder but it starts to distort in a very musical way. I don't know of any dedicated acoustic guitar amps that have tubes. Acoustic guitar amps are voiced differently than Electric guitar amps anyway.

Paultergeist · #7 04-10-2018, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chickee

When it comes to acoustic/electric guitars which amps are king in your world? Is it Solid State or Tube amps that rule the roost? Me, I'm SS whether I'm playing acoustic/electric or full electric. I had my fill of tube amps going sour. Way too temperamental, noisy and need too much maintenance. Yeah, I know, tubes-the holy grail of sound blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. Todays Solid State offerings can emulate any sound imaginable. Tubes are the dinosaur of sound reinforcement in the new millennium.

Gee, what a charming way to initiate a thread......start off by asking people what their preferences are between tube vs. solid-state, and then go on to essentially dismiss and belittle the option which does not happen to align with your own choice. Nice.

I don't suppose there is any point to mentioning that reliability much has to do with the quality of construction/design -- with respect to either tube or solid-state-powered amplifiers?

BT55 · #8 04-10-2018, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitaurman

I'm looking for two distinctly different things when playing electric vs. acoustic. For my Strat I typically use my '64 Deluxe Reverb all tube amp. Tubes still sound great when driven hard. It's about natural distortion. I love that sound for my Strat. For clean sounds solid state is king. If you want to be loud and clear as most acoustic players desire, solid state is the way to go. If I dial my old Deluxe Reverb up to 5, it doesn't get much louder but it starts to distort in a very musical way. I don't know of any dedicated acoustic guitar amp that have tubes. Acoustic guitar amps are voiced differently than Electric guitar amps anyway.

I totally agree! For electric guitar you can’t beat the growl of a good tube amp. Many years ago I had a pre-CBS Fender Bandmaster. Now I have a Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, same growl in a smaller box. My acoustic guitars sound like crap through it. I use a Fishman Loudbox with my acoustics and it is a perfect match.

lkingston · #9 04-10-2018, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BT55

I totally agree! For electric guitar you can’t beat the growl of a good tube amp. Many years ago I had a pre-CBS Fender Bandmaster. Now I have a Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, same growl in a smaller box. My acoustic guitars sound like crap through it. I use a Fishman Loudbox with my acoustics and it is a perfect match.

I used to think that tubes sounded best, but several amps and pedals have changed my mind: Quilter Labs, and Tech21 NYC.

Whatever type of transistors they use in these have me where I can’t tell the difference.

varmonter · #10 04-11-2018, 06:15 AM

used to be tubes were it., The technology has improved.
Just for nostalgia would be the only reason to use
tubes these days. The tone and warmth is hard to distinguish .
Between the two. Old tube amps still have a cult following.
especially on the left coast. I sold my last tube amp.
(A 66 bassman head) for 10 times what i paid for it.. yea ebay.

MikeBmusic · #11 04-11-2018, 07:05 AM

I sold my 69 Fender Bandmaster Reverb head (which had been rebuilt with new power transformer twice and caps) and 68 2x12 cabinet quite a few years ago - wasn't using them, the tubes needed replacing, which would have cost me close to $200. I paid $200 for the whole set up in 1975, gigged for years with it, just replacing single power tubes with Radio Shack specials, and got about 4X what I paid originally (I had done a lot of mods to the head, which lowered its value).
I don't miss moving that set up - the cabinet weighted 90 lbs, the head 40 lbs.
As I'm not gigging electric regularly any longer (done a few songs here and there), my Line 6 Spider 4 and a few pedals get me all the sounds I need in the studio. But I'd still like a 68 Deluxe, just for that 'once in a while' sound!

Johnny.guitar · #12 04-11-2018, 07:16 AM

Tubes for electric. There’s some great low wattage amps out there. Anything 6v6 floats my boat. I have a Deluxe reverb for that but to be honest I haven’t had the time to play electric since switching to acoustic.
For acoustic my Bose L1C is all I use.

Bob Womack · #13 04-11-2018, 07:40 AM

I have a couple of modelers that get heavy use but... um... uh... honestly... my two cents worth.

The Princeton Reverb on the bottom left is the latest. I quit solid state in the '70s with tuck n' roll Kustoms. Sorry you can't hear the difference.

By the way, modeling isn't the same as solid state.

Bob

pf400 · #14 04-11-2018, 07:48 AM

Must admit that my digital reverb and delay pedals and tremelo pedals all sound better to me than my Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, and I don't like the hum. Used totolerate it, not now. But as far as durability goes, I had a vintage tube amp many years ago. It was old. Played it hard for a few years, none of the old tubes needed any type of servicing. Then just 4 years ago a new Blues Junior lasted about a month and just died.

So just bring your guitar to a store, open your mind, and try out amps, tube or not, until you find one that works for you. Tons of excellent choices out there, tube or not.

Must admit too, that I plugged a cheaper guitar into an expensive Fender tube amp recently, and was blown away at the sound I got.

Alister · #15 04-11-2018, 09:38 AM

I've had the good fortune to play nearly every iconic tube amp anyone could mention over the past 45 years.
And also the good fortune, or the good sense, to not parse whether amplification sounds are "pure" or not. I tend to like anything that sounds good to me, but yes, I can tell the difference(s) b/w tubes and ss, if it's a contest.
But it isn't.

I tracked with a Quilter Micropro Sunday night, for an engineer who is -- WAS -- as skeptical as could be. I had some pedals in front, but Mr. Skeptical was as impressed with that Quilter as he could be. The truth is in the playback and everything subsequent.

AC