Tube vs Solid State

[jamman]

There are many parts that make sound from your amp. the type of speakers is so important. My Marshall AX cabinet is great , but when i'm in Brazil i use my old, Fender Ultimate Chorus(from 1987 or so) and that a fine sounding amp. It gives me everything i want from a Fender. There are good S.S. amps out there.

[L5Larry]

... but if I was a jazzbo I'd want a Roland Jazz Chorus or a Polytune amp.

 

I use a tube amp for playing Blues (ES-345 through a Music Man amp), and a solid state for playing Jazz (L-5CES through a Roland amp), and wouldn't have it any other way. The exact qualities that make tube amps great for blues and rock & roll (tube saturation, overdrive, compression, attack suppression, etc), make them suck for jazz, and vice versa. There have been monumental improvements in "professional" solid state guitar amp design that were fostered by the success of the original Roland Jazz Chorus amps.

 

Tube amps are great for most modern music, but solid state amps also have their place.

[duane v]

original Roland Jazz Chorus amps.

 

 

 

I had one of those for a short time when my pal needed to borrow some money from me' date=' so I took his amp as collateral.... I didn't want to give it back to him[crying'] ...... I should circle back and find one at some point.

[Basshole]

You still think tube is best? I guess you have never tried out one of theses...

 

 

Thing kicks butt for piano, guitar too!

[deepblue]

At lower volumes solid state can keep up with the tone of tubes.

But,at higher volumes theres no comparison. You cant match power tubes being pushed out of their comfort zone.

The warmth, the harmonics, overtones....and the creaminess of all natural distortion.

 

I have both as well, and I can hear a difference.

[Josh James]

I have a Crate V30 made in St. Louis and it is a pretty *****in lil amp! I did change out the el84's to groove tubes and tad's. Solid state just does not cut the mustard...

 

 

J

[rockstar232007]

Not all solid state amps sound bad.

Not all solid state amps are cheap.

 

Just sayin'

+1. My (now sold) Fender Princeton Chorus was comparable to my Marshall DSL 401 Combo' date=' especially with an LP plugged into it.

[Robin Nahum]

I play jazz on an ES345 and go through phases.

 

Sometimes a tube amp sounds right - I am using an SFDR at the moment and switching to a Pro Reverb for a bigger room.

 

Sometimes my ss Henriksen JazzAmp sounds right. This is also my choice if carless travel with an amp is required.

[cookieman15061]

I found that were my SS amps really suffer is outdoor gigs. The sound just seems to disappear more rapidly even miked through the PA.

I do use both though as they do have there place in recording and gigging.

[DiamondJig]

I think a tube amp is like an extension of my guitar playing, it adds another technique to my style I can make the guitar amp and even speakers react in certain ways that a SS amp won’t respond to, and not all tube amps have the same response. Turn up your tube amp and get that power tube breakup, SS can’t do it. SS just get louder then fart out. I have played some great SS amps, old Acoustic’s where used by many a pro players and DimeBag was a big SS guy. I love the way I can just plug in and play no tube wearies just turn on and go, no warm-ups, no tube swaps, less heat too, more reliable than tubes. I think a SS will color your sound less than tubes, but may be a little too sterile. There are all types of both and mixed types too and good and bad of all types. Most Bass players go with SS and most guitar players prefer tubes. Play’m all and have fun.

 

The same debate go’s on in the HIFI world too.

[Silenced Fred]

I like tube amps for most styles, but a good solid state amp has its uses. I like good solid state amps for cleans if you need it to be super clean, but for most of my playing, I like a little bite. But yes, good solid state beats crappy tube.

[SHO]

Not all solid state amps sound bad.

Not all solid state amps are cheap.

 

Just sayin'

 

Agreed. And a lot of tube amps out there doesn't sound all that great, and certainly doesn't have much "tube sound" in them. Seems like these days they can just stick a few tubes into an otherwise ill designed cheap peice of garbage and people will be amazed and in awe of something that just isn't there.

[deepblue]

Agreed. And a lot of tube amps out there doesn't sound all that great' date=' and certainly doesn't have much "tube sound" in them. Seems like these days they can just stick a few tubes into an otherwise ill designed cheap peice of garbage and people will be amazed and in awe of something that just isn't there.[/quote']

 

Tubes or not, it still has to be a quality amp.

I had a Crate amp that was all tube and it never quite got me there....sold it.

[Laaz]

lol, I had a old Crate amp back in the 80's that looked just like a crate. It was a little SS amp that sounded great.

[dem00n]

My park SS amp sounds great.

For a little cheap **** it sounds amazing.

[deepblue]

lol' date=' I had a old Crate amp back in the 80's that looked just like a crate. It was a little SS amp that sounded great.[/quote']

 

Mine was a Crate Blue Voodoo 2x12 combo.....I learned from that purchase that not all tube

amps are created equal.

[charlie brown]

Tube vs Solid State?

 

 

Whatever works!

 

CB

[Dub-T-123]

I've personally never played a Crate that I thought was even decent.

 

I have an old solid state one and it is a truly horrible amp.

[ChanMan]

Back in the early eighties, Dub-T, when hair bands were supreme, the early Crate amps could deliver a pretty good guitar tone. I suspect, as with most of the older tried and true manufacturers, changes in the product in order to reflect a more positive bottom line have sacrificed quality for profitability.

 

 

It seems as if "good enough" becomes "excellent" in the coporate boardroom when there is good money to be made.

[Murph]

I went from a Champ (1st amp) to a black faced Super Reverb (2nd amp).

 

I tried a few solid state amps in the 80's but could never like them. Even had a Peavey Deuce (solid state pre-amp, 4 6L6's) for a while. It sounded like a hybrid.

 

I'm a tube snob.

[milod]

First, I agree entirely that different amps have their place. I too like the SS for the lesser worries of breaking or otherwise messing up tubes.

 

CajunBlues - Hey, I still think the Deluxe Reverb is the most versatile tube amp ever made. Period. I wish I hadn't traded mine for one that I just ain't got the courage to try to carry up a narrow staircase. for a number of reasons.

 

Right now I'm using an inexpensive 30-watt Kustom acoustic amp that can make a humbucker set on a hollow (my mid 70s Ibanez "illegal" 175) sound like jazz guitar or a soundhole pickup on a flattop. I can just plug the thing easily into my computer. Add a mike and mike stand and I have separate channels for guitar and a mike for a small solo gig. Even with the wheels and extra junk one carries, it's under 40 pounds.

 

I will freely admit that I look at a lotta music equipment differently today than I did 30 years ago when I was kinda an equipment nut. I've concluded that the "right" equipment has to do with far too many factors than even those mentioned so far on this thread.

 

I s'pose if you had a nice little 800 sq. ft. warehouse and studio and a lotta cash to have anything you might need for any room from 800 sq ft up to a Woodstock-size outdoor gig, you could have enough stuff to meet about any contingency. I ain't got the cash and I'm not likely to.

 

In ways I'd swap the big 120 watt tube combo for a DR again. I almost never use it. It's too heavy and most folks can't hear the difference or don't recognize the difference when it's actually put to work. The last gig I did - another benefit - I borrowed another guy's Marshall that was miked. After a super rehearsal, on gig night, by the time the stage crew messed with it, the very skilled and talented guy on the board couldn't make it sound any better than the little Kustom shot direct into the 5-600 seat theater the year before.

 

I dunno. Amp and guitar settings, the venue, how one plays, audience expectations, costs... a dozen more variables... including hey, is it gonna be run through a solid state PA anyway????? Add a multi-effect board or a tube emulator?

 

m

[MojoRedFoot]

I have a Line 6 Spider. It's ok. When I play it (which is pretty rare these days) I play thru the Line 6 XT Live which gives it a little more umf. But the reason I play 99.9% of the time through my B52 AT-100 (all tube 100 watt) head and Line 6 4x12 cab is because I feel it in my feet. Clean or dirty, when the volume is on 4, I feel it in my toes. SS cannot do that even when the volume is at 10. I have a good SS amp but I will probably never buy another now that I have a good tube head.

 

Someone mentioned some sort of sacrifice. More $ for tubes but it is worth EVERY penny. I have been very happy w/ my B52. I have had it for about 1.5 years and I think I only paid like $400 new (marked $499 at GC).

[Silenced Fred]

Last Battle of the Bands, I was the only amp that could be heard about 150 feet back, everyone else had so much distortion and a solid state amp to be heard, it all got washed out

[Josh James]

Would love to have a Vox AC30 to do a sound clip comparison with the crate v30. I bet you might have a harder time telling the difference than you would think. Check one out sometime...the american made ones from St Louis Music Co., Not the Vietnam made ones...yuck! Run's hot with the same preamp and output tubes as the vox.

 

 

J

[djroge1]

I have both. In the past I would use my SS Fender M80 when I need a clean sound - when I played in a jazz band.

 

Now however, I primarily only play tube amps. In fact my Ceriatone OTS clean is as good and clean sounding as the M80... come to think of it, it sounds better... Nothing beats that Dumble sound ~ clean or distorted IMO.