Solid State or Tubes these days

[troggg]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I

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

Bob

I'm aware of that.

I have access to rooms full of holy grail tube and solid state amps.

I'll still take S-Gear over any of them for recording. Let me know if you'd like me to provide some examples.

If it was last milennium, I'd take tubes for live since they're great for classic rock music, which alas for better or worse is a dying genre.

But really it barely matters these days cause a good recording or live engineer is going to make anything sound good provided the performance has good energy.

[JakeStone]

Doesn't this thread belong in Electric Guitar area?


Seems like every acoustic amplifier on the market is already Solid State ..


Just sayin'

[troggg]

Yep they all are though I'm surprised some company hasn't thought to market a tube acoustic variant ... not that it would be any better, but some minds with money would be susceptible to thinking it would be. It would definitely be heavier in case some players are looking for a workout!

[varmonter]

I would think a tube amp would be less profitable
for a manufacturer.?

[Alister]

Originally Posted by troggg

I'm aware of that.

I have access to rooms full of holy grail tube and solid state amps.

I'll still take S-Gear over any of them for recording. Let me know if you'd like me to provide some examples.

If it was last milennium, I'd take tubes for live since they're great for classic rock music, which alas for better or worse is a dying genre.

But really it barely matters these days cause a good recording or live engineer is going to make anything sound good provided the performance has good energy.

Yes to all of this.

[Guitaurman]

It's all subjective! The more things change, the more they stay the same. Vinyl records are still preferred by many audiophiles, and it's popularity is growing! Fender has reissued the '64 Deluxe Reverb amp with point to point wiring. It's priced at around $2500. I have a real '64 Deluxe Reverb and I love the thing. I have old RCA tubes in it and a couple of spare sets for the future. I paid $225. for it back in '81. I can't say I've ever played an electric guitar through a solid state amp. Some might sound great but I have my old Deluxe Reverb, so why?

For my acoustics, it's a totally different story. the newer dedicated acoustic amps are the way to go. I want them to sound like my guitars unamplified sound only louder (amplified). Nothing really seems to be able to do that. But the newer solid state amps come closest.

Then some folks want their own sound and aren't interested in true reproduction of the guitars sound. Willie Nelson is a great example of that. A classical Martin through an old Baldwin Amp gives him his unique sound that everyone seems to love!

[perttime]

Originally Posted by varmonter

I would think a tube amp would be less profitable
for a manufacturer.?

Nope.
You charge more money for the amp. And people will pay.

I just bought a very small tube amp. Probably mainly to be able to say I do have one. There's so many great analog SS amps available now. No computers involved. The best SS amps cost about the same as a small pretty average tube amp.

[troggg]

Originally Posted by Guitaurman

A classical Martin

Say no more. Love these to death. And yes I am sick enough to have run one through the aforementioned amp sim for a sound no one would ever dream was a sixties Martin nylon. Sorry, we were talking about amps ...

[Pnewsom]

Tubes offer me more volume per rated watt, and have a depth and texture of sound that I prefer.

For example, I have 1964 Princeton White knob. It is rated at 15 watts, that very light weight and easy to carry, and sounds great when played clean, and amazing when pushed to distortion. There is no 15 solid state amp that I have found that can come close to it volume or tone.

It also has a great sounding tremolo, so I don't need any extra pedals, and I can ride the texture from clean to dirty from the volume control of my guitar. Not having to put pedals in my signal path keeps my guitar sounding rich like it is supposed.

This amp works well in 60 seat pub on its own, and mic's up well for bigger jobs.

If you consider that this little Princeton Amp is 54 years old and gets gigged weekly, it is older than any commercially available SS guitar amps and has out lasted many.

Not to say that there aren't good sounding SS amps...

[perttime]

Originally Posted by Pnewsom

... I can ride the texture from clean to dirty from the volume control of my guitar. ...

I have an early 80s SS amp that lets me go from clean to crunch by varying my picking.

[Steely Glen]

If I’m using an amp, I want a tube amp.

But top tier modeling (Kemper, Helix, etc.) is to a point of sophistication now that no one can tell the difference between modeling and a tube amp. Andertons did a series of blindfold videos on YouTube where they demonstrate that with blindfolds on, there is no difference. So I’d rather pay $2K for a Kemper with literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of amp profiles loaded into it than own a wall of tube amps.

So my recap: SS amp < tube amp < Kemper/Helix/etc.

[Chickee]

[QUOTE=Paultergeist;5697246]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.

Sorry Paultergeist. I totally forgot to say YMMV.

[troggg]

Originally Posted by Steely Glen

If I’m using an amp, I want a tube amp.

But top tier modeling (Kemper, Helix, etc.) is to a point of sophistication now that no one can tell the difference between modeling and a tube amp. Andertons did a series of blindfold videos on YouTube where they demonstrate that with blindfolds on, there is no difference. So I’d rather pay $2K for a Kemper with literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of amp profiles loaded into it than own a wall of tube amps.

So my recap: SS amp < tube amp < Kemper/Helix/etc.

Or save $1900 by buying S-Gear since blindfolded folks won't know the difference between your Kemper and my S-Gear either

[Steely Glen]

Originally Posted by troggg

Or save $1900 by buying S-Gear since blindfolded folks won't know the difference between your Kemper and my S-Gear either

Touché!

[Moocheng]

SS amps have come a long way. I have a couple of tube amps but never feel disposed to use them much.

Reliability is a big factor. 10+ years of using SS amps and nothing has ever gone fut, fizz or pop