What makes a tube amp better?

[beninma]

The volume thing is only an issue with tube amps if you're playing a design that is missing a master volume and/or an attenuator.

If you have both and the attenuator goes down to 1W or less you can have a tube amp that matches SS amps for low volume use. Of course no amp tube or SS sounds it's best that quiet, but lower volume levels is definitely a key feature of modern amps. I think over time we will see more and more small tube amps switch over to having attenuators built in.

I have had 4 amps I think, only one is a Tube Amp (Orange Rocker 15), it is my favorite. The Attenuator + Master volume mean I never bother anyone.

Right now I also have a Roland Street Cube, it's quite good for amplifying my acoustic and it has very nice clean sounds & a real nice chorus. It's distortion is pretty "meh" though.

I also have a THR5, I think the THR amps are great but they are not built for hard use. I've played a lot of time on THRs.. I am sure the THR100 is a lot better built but I've had a fair amount of trouble with my THR5 malfunctioning. The THR5/10 models also have an achilles heel that they have an external power supply and are very finicky about power. If you lost the power supply or damaged it a new one from Yamaha costs about $100! My THR is currently plugged into my son's electronic drum kit through the Aux because the pots for the effects are breaking (they are cheap pots built right onto the PCB) and it causes the a super-heavy delay sound to come and go all by itself while you're trying to play. I fixed it once but when it did it again within 6 months I got the Roland amp. Similar price, but the Roland's build quality is a lot better.

[anodyne]

Haven't had a tube amp for a bit now ... don't think I will be returning as I'm loving my Kemper through the effects return on my Quilter MicroPro HD and extension cab. I guess I just have low standards.

[Bob Womack]

Tube amps are like peanuts: it's impossible to have just one and you can't seem to keep from reaching into the bag for more.

What's wrong with me? I'm sniffing around a vintage combo again.

This even though most of my work these days is done on modelers.

Bob

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Tube amps are like peanuts: it's impossible to have just one and you can't seem to keep from reaching into the bag for more.

What's wrong with me? I'm sniffing around a vintage combo again.

This even though most of my work these days is done on modelers.

Bob

What's wrong ?
Well the lab results show your numbers put you on the borderline between moderate and severe AAS. As your benevolent consultant in order to keep you from completely crossing the line, you should immediately institute a "one in one out" policy, and as I currently only have one tube amp, I would be willing to accept your outgoing discard Which vintage BTW ?

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by KevWind

What's wrong? Well the lab results show your numbers put you on the borderline between moderate and severe AAS. As your benevolent consultant in order to keep you from completely crossing the line, you should immediately institute a "one in one out" policy, and as I currently only have one tube amp, I would be willing to accept your outgoing discard Which vintage BTW ?

I've already instituted said rule and have taken some of mine to live at the studio where I work. This would definitely require one to leave. I'm sniffing around a Gibson GA-45RVT at a local dealer. Here's what they look like:



Everyone says the Gibson "whiteface" era stinks, but some of the best reviews of my lead sound came out of an era when I was playing a '65 GA-55RVT - basically this same amp with four instead of two 10" speakers, a midrange control on each channel, and seventy-five stinkin' pounds. The original owner of mine had added big ole wooden schlepping handles on each side, and it needed it.

That's it behind me in '78 below the Princeton and above the 2x12. How about that bass rig? That's a '50s band.

You just have to know how to drive 'em: jumper the channels and add a booster and you are there.

Bob

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

I had the 60 year old Tweed Deluxe crap out at a gig when it was only 57. Had to get a new power cord.

Oh, the horror!

[MBDiagMan]

I have not read the thread so someone may have already answered the Op.

Senmiconductors have about .7 Volt drop across the junction that distorts the waves being amplified. Tube amps OTOH do not change the shape of the wave being amplified, making for a cleaner sound.

Hope this makes sense. For those who don’t understand electronics it may not.

[MBDiagMan]

Originally Posted by phcorrigan

Oh, the horror!

In only 57 years. You’d think you could something that would last a while.

[AuntieDiluvian]

Originally Posted by Big Band Guitar

As a electronic technician for 39 years I would never waste money on old obsolete technology.

Of course this is correct. It would take an absolute fool to waste money on a guitar made of wood when so many newer materials are available.

[fazool]

People made the same arguments about digital versus analog music (CD versus vinyl).

When the digitization started it was course bit-rates. It's so high now that a human ear can't tell the difference.

The same argument was made about digital versus chemical photos.


Nowadays digital amps can sound as good (or better) than tube amps.

What most don't realize is that virtually all their effect pedals are 100% digital so their sound is not a pure analog sound with a tube amp.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by fazool

What most don't realize is that virtually all their effect pedals are 100% digital so their sound is not a pure analog sound with a tube amp.

Yeah, the couple of pedals I used were driving me bonkers even when the effects were bypassed, and I finally figured out that this was why. I should get around to selling them.

[AuntieDiluvian]

Originally Posted by fazool

Nowadays digital amps can sound as good (or better) than tube amps.

Really? I've played through more amps than I can possibly count. I have yet to hear anything digital that sounds like my Bogner - if I knew of one, I wouldn't still be lugging around a 55 lb tube head. There are some that come close to my Marshall, but not across a wide dynamic range.

What most don't realize is that virtually all their effect pedals are 100% digital so their sound is not a pure analog sound with a tube amp.

Both untrue and irrelevant. Untrue because distortion/overdrive pedals are analog, as are most compressors, wahs, and other similar effects - and these are the areas of signal processing where tubes make a difference, as well. The time-delay FX (echo, reverb, phase, flange, etc.) are pretty much all digital, agreed - but they are not now and never have been part of the amp. They are also much, much simpler to execute in a small, inexpensive DSP than the sort of transfer function that can duplicate a tube amp's sound.

Now, I will agree that if you get your sound from a stack of pedals, it is almost irrelevant what sort of amp you use. If you are using the amp as your primary gain/overdrive/distortion stage, however, it makes a HUGE difference - and digital just ain't quite there.

[OK, Kemper is getting pretty darned close]

[MBDiagMan]

Originally Posted by fazool

People made the same arguments about digital versus analog music (CD versus vinyl).

When the digitization started it was course bit-rates. It's so high now that a human ear can't tell the difference.

The same argument was made about digital versus chemical photos.


Nowadays digital amps can sound as good (or better) than tube amps.

What most don't realize is that virtually all their effect pedals are 100% digital so their sound is not a pure analog sound with a tube amp.

Great point! I didn’t realize that there are digital amps now. That is another way to take away the bump in the wave when going past zero volts.

My explanation was about transistor amplifiers versus a push pull tube amplifier.

Technology marches forward even if some old folks like myself don’t keep up with it.

[Aspiring]

One thing I have learned with the new dsp amps is the near infinite configurability also means there is a lot more opportunity to make it sound crap.

I think the result of this is people who are not inclined to tinker and experiment and research are a lot less likely to get to the point they could with digital and are likely to have a lot less favorable impression.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

One thing I have learned with the new dsp amps is the near infinite configurability also means there is a lot more opportunity to make it sound crap.

I think the result of this is people who are not inclined to tinker and experiment and research are a lot less likely to get to the point they could with digital and are likely to have a lot less favorable impression.

When I bought my Gretsch I also bought a Fender Mustang LT 25 and no matter what I did it sounded like crap. It went back a couple of days later.