solid state or tube amp?

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robboster

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I was wondering, what are the differences between the two?

When you start electric guitar, is it okay to start with a solid state? My friend wants to start guitar, but his 400 budget can't get him more than a 10watt solid state amp with a guitar.

What are you people's viewpoints?
 
I was wondering, what are the differences between the two?

one has a tube/tubes and the other doesnt. heheheh. its about the tone. TONE. sorry i cant cover that coz i dont even know the difference in tone. solid state serves me fine. the other difference i know? the price! u will have to read alot to the whole difference between the two. trust me. personally, i dont really bother. for now, at least.

When you start electric guitar, is it okay to start with a solid state? My friend wants to start guitar, but his 400 budget can't get him more than a 10watt solid state amp with a guitar.

of course its ok to start with solid state. in fact, most of us guitarists start with solid state. reason being: its well more affordable. u dont really wanna spend ur dough on something expensive which u have so little info about. 400 cant get solid state plus guitar? u must be kidding! u can get both at half the price! trust me. and u get cable strap blabla whatever u need to get starting. but of course dont expect a gibson or fender or *insert fav brand*. i got my first guitar + a 15w amp for $350. kick ass!

my suggestion for ur fren: go around penin and bras basah go to the guitar shops just ask what they recommend for the budget. go with someone who knows about guitar, someone not biased. if not, there's always second hand! first stop: soft guitar buy/sell section!
 
robboster said:
I was wondering, what are the differences between the two?
Click to expand...

this will help. http://guitarguru.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_archive.html

with that budget u might have to rule out tube. the cheapest tube combo amps are around that price. solid state is much safer for beginners. most tubes amps only show their full potential when played at high volumes, so not so good if u dont want to disturb the neighbours.

i'll swear by tube amps because of the tone. however i dont have money )):
 
Yea, he found the $399 Schecter Omen-6 extreme w/ 10 watt amp, cables and other stuff at Guitar77. It came coil tapped. He likes versatality (or what he refers to as versitality :p) in his guitar... in other words, the single coil - double coil thing...
 
thats cool. do note that the amp plays one of the biggest roles in shaping of tone. a 10 watt amp might let him down soon. so tell him to start saving!

i recommend the vox valvetronix series which has an 12AX7 tube in its preamp but its still not a full tube amp. or the roland cube. that amp seriously is bang for buck.
 
The amp comes with his "dream guitar", so what can I say? I'm also thinking of getting a new amp soon, so I decided to check it out. My budget for the amp alone is 339... anyone know what I can get? Tube possibly?
 
epiphone valve junior http://www.zzounds.com/item--EPIEPABKJR

sorry dont know where to get it in s'pore. i hope u dont get turned off by its one knob. its a darn good small tube combo amp. i saw one going for 300 at the buy/sell section. suggest u wait.

then theres the ibanez valbee. should be cheaper.

these are probably the smallest tube combo amps u can find alrdy.

got the money save up for an orange tiny terror and a 1x12 cab PPC112 will be nearly 1.5k or.. a vox ac15cc
 
i swear by digital modelling amps (line6, roland cube, vox valvetronix). great sound, great price. most bang for buck i would say.
 
I know this might be a stupid question but... Is the Roland Cube a tube amp? The Epi valve junior has too small a wattage for me...
 
no it isnt. dont be fooled when u see 5 watt tube amps. they dont compare to normal solid state amps. solid state can sometime be 50watts or 100watts. one damn good example is vox ac15. its freaking 15 watts, ur normal bedroom amp is usually 15 watts too. just go try that amp out it'll blow u away.
 
dudelove said:
no it isnt. dont be fooled when u see 5 watt tube amps. they dont compare to normal solid state amps. solid state can sometime be 50watts or 100watts. one damn good example is vox ac15. its freaking 15 watts, ur normal bedroom amp is usually 15 watts too. just go try that amp out it'll blow u away.
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It will? Some reviews here say the construction will require you dismantle the whole amp just to replace the tubes lol. If it's easy, reliable, convenient and tube, I don't mind half the wattage of the solid state randall at Guitar77 going for 339...

Could be wrong though, what do you think?
REVIEW
 
Rolland Cube , no they are not. It's best just get something that you can afford now and later save some big bucks for the tube amp. Everyone has to start somewhere. Good luck.
 
robboster said:
It will? Some reviews here say the construction will require you dismantle the whole amp just to replace the tubes lol. If it's easy, reliable, convenient and tube, I don't mind half the wattage of the solid state randall at Guitar77 going for 339...

Could be wrong though, what do you think?
REVIEW
Click to expand...

yes but u only need to change the tubes like once a year if u play like super often everyday. combo means the head and speakers are combined into one amp. so yes dismantling the amp is needed. yes the ac15 is damn loud.

what randall is it? hahah listen to everyone lah. roland cube will make u very satisfied. i think that tube amps leave it till u really understand and appreciate its tone and then start investing big bucks into it.

i first appreciated it at a jamming studio i realised how much better my sound was. and i was really noobish then like 2 years ago. so even when i dont understand whats the difference i could definitely hear it.
 
at your budeget i would jus save like a couple of hundred more to get the blackheart or epi vj stack. definitely worth it. especialy for blackheart there's a 3 watts setting for me to crank it up without disturbing too many ppl.
 
You only need to change the tubes when it shows signs of weakness. By this time it's best to service by retube and recap.

Also lots of ppl around uses a small practice amp to judge their tone etc... Always test your equipment in a jamming studio with stage quality amps. By this way, its more accurate to judge your gears performance.

(www.guitarproshop.net)


dudelove said:
yes but u only need to change the tubes like once a year if u play like super often everyday. combo means the head and speakers are combined into one amp. so yes dismantling the amp is needed. yes the ac15 is damn loud.

what randall is it? hahah listen to everyone lah. roland cube will make u very satisfied. i think that tube amps leave it till u really understand and appreciate its tone and then start investing big bucks into it.

i first appreciated it at a jamming studio i realised how much better my sound was. and i was really noobish then like 2 years ago. so even when i dont understand whats the difference i could definitely hear it.
Click to expand...
 
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It says it'll take hours to dismantle the amp and change the tubes, and I don't really think the time is worth it, so... I'll go check out the cube and save up for a tube next year. I've estimated my savings for the whole (school) year to be around 1.8k in November... That ought to get me something decent :mrgreen:
 
I generally also prefer solid-state amplifiers because I can get a 100-watt head and it will sound nice even if the volume is at 1, and I can crank it up when playing gigs. Furthermore, solid-state amplifiers are cheaper and do not require 15 minutes warm-up time. Just plug and play.

Only thing I dislike about solid-state amplifiers is that most of them have poor distortion tones, but most have excellent clean tones. I personally use pedals for my distortion so if you're gonna be like me, solid-state seems more practical in my opinion. But there're some solid-states with excellent distortion tones (in my opinion), like the Marshall MGs and Ibanez Toneblasters.
 
Actually, I never thought of using the amps distortion when buying an amp... I always use pedals... I'm always only looking at the tone of the amps, that's why I suddenly got an interest in tube amps, people say they rock in tone...

But I think I'll just stick to a solid state for now, though, I noticed something called "tube preamp". Anyone care to explain what that is?

btw, I'm getting the Randall V2XM Solid State 30 watt amp ;)
 
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