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  #16  
Old 04-13-2019, 09:01 PM
Otterhound Otterhound is offline
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They glow .
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  #17  
Old 04-14-2019, 06:48 AM
MC5C MC5C is offline
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For me, a tube amp can be a part of the tone party, an equal contributor to a sound that someone thinks is perfection. Oddly, tube amps can be as crystal clear high fidelity as one could ask for, but what a guitar player usually thinks of is a design created to be imperfect - a slight compression to the sound, an overdriven output transformer, overdriven input stages, a completely wonky tone stack with excess middle scoop, a brite circuit that over-emphasizes the high frequences - and all of the these frequencies in a range that a hi-fi amp considers around 10% of what the job is all about. So it's a happy confluence of a crap design, cheap construction and a magical result that is "tube tone", and designers have been chasing the perfection of those happy early mistakes for decades. Solid state amps tend to either be very clean and rely on pedals and other modifiers to get a satisfying sound - but jazz guys have been loving the Polytones and Rolands for years, very clean amps. Now power is basically free with Class D power amps, and digital software emulates any tone your can imagine for almost free, so the choice is endless. End of the day - play what you like!
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  #18  
Old 04-14-2019, 06:59 AM
harpspitfire harpspitfire is offline
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this reminds of an earlier post about swapping out the tube section for SS and mixer guy didnt even know, friend of mine played a sunn beta (forget the model) heavy sucker with 2-12, loud as you wanted and over the years the speaker went threw the wringer, i always thought it was tube amp- it wasnt
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  #19  
Old 04-14-2019, 07:15 AM
Chickee Chickee is offline
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This may have been mentioned already, but I truly feel unless you are playing at full tilt with the amp dimed the nuances everyone talks about never are any better than a good solid state amp. And also, 99% of the listening public would never know the difference even then.
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Old 04-14-2019, 07:39 AM
perttime perttime is offline
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Originally Posted by Chickee View Post
This may have been mentioned already, but I truly feel unless you are playing at full tilt with the amp dimed the nuances everyone talks about never are any better than a good solid state amp. And also, 99% of the listening public would never know the difference even then.
One thing is, people are often reluctant to pay the price of a GOOD SS amp (which is usually less than a sorta OK tube amp)
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  #21  
Old 04-14-2019, 09:01 AM
aknow aknow is offline
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I have/had about 35 amps. Modelers by Line 6, Boss, Kemper, Helix. Cute toys that have potential but don't deliver. After Marshall, Vox, Mesa, new and vintage Fenders, I always go back to pairing a Bugera V-22 with my 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb. The sound of these appeal the most to me, because they deliver the sound I grew up hearing in my teen years -- 1960's.
I can spend 2 hours putzing around with modelers, and not get the instant sound of vintage Fender amps.
As a side note, Yamaha makes a nice sounding bedroom modeling amp too.
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  #22  
Old 04-14-2019, 09:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Otterhound View Post
They glow .
The definitive answer , and they are empirically "warmer"
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  #23  
Old 04-14-2019, 09:49 AM
LyleGorch LyleGorch is offline
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Yes, like sitting in front of a fire on a cold night.
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  #24  
Old 04-14-2019, 09:59 AM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Band Guitar View Post
Tube amps are better if you believe they are better. After spending a thousand dollars more than the solid state equivalent it has to be better.

A short story I have told many times.

I replaced the tube chassis on my old silverface Deluxe with a solid state chassis Sidekick bass 65 that I cut down to fit in the box. I played in a pit band shortly after that and from a distance it looked like a black face Deluxe.

After the show the soundman ( a die hard tube man ) said to me "You just can't beat the sound of those old tube amps", I said no you can't and never let him know it was a solid state amp.

So if it looks like a tube amp and sounds good it must be a tube amp.

As a electronic technician for 39 years I would never waste money on old obsolete technology.
Old and obsolete are not the same things. Dovetail joinery in drawers is old-school but superior to what typically is used in building today.

Cheap SS amps sound fine clean but pretty atrocious dirty and for lead work.

Good well built SS amps can come very close to sounding like a tube amp, but just close - not exactly.

There is a warmth in the natural distortion in tube amps that is very difficult to achieve with SS technology.

As someone that started out playing Blues harp (harmonica) over 25 years ago, I can tell you that I have NEVER played a SS amp that sounded good with harp. Tubes feel necessary to me for Blues and old school rock.

There is a place for both technologies. When my wife gigs with her bass I am certainly happy that her 40 watt bass amp is SS and thus -weighs about 18 pounds.
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  #25  
Old 04-14-2019, 10:47 AM
MartyGraw MartyGraw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Band Guitar View Post

As a electronic technician for 39 years I would never waste money on old obsolete technology.
Maybe you should call Neil Young to tell him his sound is crap....Along with Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder, Santana.... should I continue?
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  #26  
Old 04-14-2019, 11:57 AM
perttime perttime is offline
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Originally Posted by MartyGraw View Post
Maybe you should call Neil Young to tell him his sound is crap....Along with Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Ry Cooder, Santana.... should I continue?
Not sure about the rest, but Eric Clapton has recorded on a SS amp. The rest have been using SS cirquits to get their overdrive.
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  #27  
Old 04-14-2019, 01:18 PM
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Whoa guys "Better" is totally subjective

So objectively it is not even close to being a matter of "better" . It is only a matter of preference. It does not matter who uses or does not use, which to do what .

To pretend otherwise is to be unable to clearly see the correct reflection in the mirror
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  #28  
Old 04-14-2019, 02:16 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
My Bugera V22 cost me all of $300 @ GC in 2011, another C-note for primo tubes...

Picked up a Bugera V5 Infinium two years ago for under $150, $50 for a tube upgrade...

Had some nice tube stuff over the years - Ampeg, Fender, Music Man (actually hybrid SS pre/tube power) - currently looking at a Vox AC10...

I own/have owned/will continue to own analog solid-state amps - Randall, Kustom, Ampeg, Peavey, Carvin, Tech 21, Fender...

When I need clean power and/or light weight - jazz comping, clean country/pop, amplified acoustic, bass - I'll grab one of my SS rigs...

For lead work it's tubes every time, hands down: there's a real touch sensitivity that allows me to change subtleties of dynamics/expression not only across a passage but within the individual notes themselves - and not necessarily at flight-deck volume levels - that I find impossible to achieve by any other means with my preferred instruments...

I've tried all the highly touted pretenders to the tube tone-throne through the years (MOSFET, J-FET, SCG, TransTube et al./ad infinitum/ad nauseam - and don't get me started on modeling) - including many of the big-buck solid-state boxes - and I've yet to find anything that satisfactorily replicates the sound of those little glass tone bottles singing their hearts out...

Bottom line: in today's market good tube tone doesn't need to cost a grand more than a decent-quality analog solid-state rig (when you consider high-end specialized SS jazz amps like Evans and Henriksen you're in four-figure territory anyway), and for many players - myself included -there's a legitimate need for both types; as regards the obsolescence question it isn't obsolete until there's something that performs exactly the same function, to exactly the same standards (in this case tone), with unquestioned advantages of economy and/or ergonomics - as the old saying goes, if it ain't broke...
Excellent, Steve!
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  #29  
Old 04-14-2019, 03:57 PM
alnico5 alnico5 is offline
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I've used tube amps for 50 years. A SS clean sound can be just as good as tubes in my opinion. Some OD sounds from SS amps can be just as good as tubes. "Behind the curtain" a lot of tube vs SS differences are harder to pick out.

If it sounds good, it sounds good. Once my Twin Reverb was on the blink and I used a SS Peavey PA head for guitar . Overdriving an input gave me a very nice dirt sound. Any mention that SS can possibly compete with tubes, after 50-plus years of technological improvement, is frowned upon by some guitar players.

Folks pay big bucks for tube amps and then pay big bucks for a SS OD unit. I use a Deluxe Reverb tube amp and a SS Barber Direct Drive.

My acoustic guitar amp is SS.
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  #30  
Old 04-14-2019, 04:38 PM
MartyGraw MartyGraw is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perttime View Post
Not sure about the rest, but Eric Clapton has recorded on a SS amp. The rest have been using SS cirquits to get their overdrive.
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....
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