Tube or Power Amps?

[keysersoze808]

try compare tubes amp and SS at studio.. jamming along with the bands, with drums and everything.. the bigger the room the better.. both amp half or full crank.. both same watt rating.. then u can judge which one better..

 

[faizal_rocks]

bluesmonkey: So does this mean that SS will make me a lousy player? I`m using a SS n I`m not getting any worse in my playing. Hoho.

Personally, its down to out preference. I once played on a SS Fender Deluxe 85 amp (discontinued since the 90s) at a jamming studio. The cleans were soooo nice n sweet. I later found out Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead uses this amp exclusively, in addition to his Vox AC30 amp

Even with my current SS Fender Frontman 25R amp with Eminence speaker, my mum keeps complaining that I play too loud. Actually, I don`t mind investing in a tube amp, but as we all know, we need to crank up the volume to hear its power. Just imagine if I did that with a tube amp in my house, my mum will hit the roof

For now, I`m happy with my amp. Clean sounds are good enough for me. If I want OD/dist, I`ll rely on pedals

 

[bluesmonkey]

Actually I didnt say that Faizal. If you like your SS then by all means play it. Im talking about my personal experience, I cant say for you. And, out of all the SS amps cranked, they dont sound good. Maybe you have had different experiences, thats up to you. And no, you dont have to blow the roof off to enjoy tube power, and no, they are not an "investment", making them sound extremely expensive etc. If you are spending so much on a SS trying to emulate tube sounds why not just get a tube amp?

In addition to helping me with picking dynamics, a good tube amp made me want to play day and night, and play more expressively. Anyway talk is moot, let the man try out both.

And I dont think your mum complaining is any indication of a very loud amp. I would say most mums wont appreciate a moderately loud instrument, let alone the blasting an overly loud electric guitar, but hey thats another generalisation, and some mums may be different.

 

[shredrat]

Sorry but what is SS?

 

[keysersoze808]

Sorry but what is SS?

solid state a.k.a transistor amp a.k.a silikon valley a.k.a monica bellucci dosnt need those(silikon)..

 

[shredrat]

ohhh haha i see i see.Well i think i dont like the sound of SS amps when its cranked up,sounds too "dirty" and out of control don't you guys think?

 

[jameshetfieldkirkhammet]

ahaha.. mmm

in that case. I will have to go arnd trying out diff amps and see which is to my liking.

If sound isn't very much different, i'll just stick to a good SS because i don't wanna blow my budget. But if my budget allows it, i'll reconsider. (of course wunt be anytime soon. mayb 1 months time, after i work and get my pay)

right?

any1 knows where i can get a gd range of amps to test out? i dunt wanna lug my guit all over singapore. imagine.... omg.

 

[faizal_rocks]

bluesmonkey: I was just jokingly making fun of ur comments. No offence, yah

I played thru a Vox AC15CC1 and a Fender Pro Junior before. The Vox has tat chimey sound tats not to my liking while the Fender PJ sounds a lot like my Frontman 25R but only louder.

Perhaps, I should try other tube amps of different makers.

And to the TS, u can try Davis for their Marshall amps, CityMusic for their Vox/Line 6 amps n Swee Lee for their Fender/Epiphone amps

 

[subversion]

ohhh haha i see i see.Well i think i dont like the sound of SS amps when its cranked up,sounds too "dirty" and out of control don't you guys think?

depends on which SS amp that's cranked up.

no rotten tones at higher volumes coming from Peavey/ Sound Drive amps.

 

[celahircelebrindal]

As the others i had my fair share of playing thru SS and tube amps....and i remembered dilemma feeling of choosing between those two when i wanted to buy one.....
I chose the latter and never looked back....it will prolly not disappoint you.

 

[jameshetfieldkirkhammet]

wow... ok. thanks a million guys!

now i roughly know what to do. hehe. wish me luck

 

[bluesmonkey]

haha no worries faizal.

good luck in your search hetfield!

 

[Whitestrat]

depends on which SS amp that's cranked up.

no rotten tones at higher volumes coming from Peavey/ Sound Drive amps.

i always had an impression that SS amps when cranked to full volume only had one bottleneck: the speaker, and don't necessarily need to be cranked to sound good. While tube amps basically NEEDED to be cranked to sound good.

I dunno... but I still have that feeling...:mrgreen:

 

[penta-tonic]

hmm i always wonder where pple get all that shit abt having to crank tube amps to hear the sweetness or the bloom of the note or the tubes being driven. we're pretty much past the age where amps didnt have a master volume and distortion came from pushing the amps power section too much. even with modern tube amps theres no need to crank til everything is rattling. ud prob need to do that with old marshalls but like most of the amps i come across dont need that. ok maybe those single ended class A amps but those wont get more than a hairy OD no matter how loud u play.

mainly when ure choosing an amp u gotta take into consideration lots of things. there are many kinds of amps. there are many kinds of setups. and there are many kinds of players.

if ure a purist ud be talking abt direct guitar to amp. as little influence to the signal as possible. a good guitar and good amp would be sufficient for this. and also the context of music u play. a metal player would prob choose something like a diezel or soldano. a blues player maybe a dumble-esqe amp like fuchs or trainwreck or maybe something more suitable for a breakup tone like maybe a 5w single ended amp say fargen.

some pple who love tube amps like me but need to get a workable rig to move around (but have no money to lug amps around) would look to pedals, preamps, multi-fx. in my case i love high gain distortion and i still feel that there isnt any adequate pedal which can emulate an amp fully but as stated above that i require a stable tone so i use pedals as my sound and try to get those which work with any kinda amp situation. (again some pple can be wealthy enough to afford both but im not so i stick with pedals only and sold off my tube amp)

going deeper, some pple dont rely on drive or a basic signal but go thru tonnes of signal processors to alter and boost their tone. mainly electronica or those kinda modern post rock outfits. pple like them cant rely on amps only as amps are a really basic setup.

that said of course a nice tube amp would be good. but say u travel around alot and play loads of places, u get a nice mesa but u cant bring it around. pretty much a waste (ok ive no problems with pple just spending huge amts just to play at home. good tone goes a long way even if its just for leisure) if u cant use ur dream tone at ur gigs.

basically u gotta take into consideration whether u play loads of effects, whether u can transport ur amp, whether u like solid state or tube tone (i know most pple would ask who actually likes SS amp tone but look at dime), whether ure a purist, what kinda amp do u need(esp if u spend most of ur time playing at home in the night, i too spend most of my guitaring at night), whats ur budget ( gotta budget accordingly to instrument, fx and amps)

hope all this helps and if u think im long winded and naggy, just follow up to say i suck ahahaha.

 

[jameshetfieldkirkhammet]

hahaha. thanks pentatonic. will keep all that in mind.

btw. any1 knows where to get mesa boogies in singapore? what's their price range like? above or below marshall?

and does ebenex have marshalls?

thanks

 

[subversion]

that said of course a nice tube amp would be good. but say u travel around alot and play loads of places, u get a nice mesa but u cant bring it around.

you can always lug this around & enjoy MESA-like tones (btw, that ball-like extension there is a speaker, you won't believe what it can do to until you hear it in action):

 

[glblues]

hmm i always wonder where pple get all that shit abt having to crank tube amps to hear the sweetness or the bloom of the note or the tubes being driven. we're pretty much past the age where amps didnt have a master volume and distortion came from pushing the amps power section too much.

there IS a difference when you push amps to their limit, not to get just to get a natural organic overdrive tone, but to get a fat clean sound or even a clipped clean but dirty sound which is only obtainable via a cranked amp, not via pedals and modeling amps. trust me, i've tried and pedals cant do the clipped sound at all.

thats why people who are going for rootsy type sounds or vintage rock opt for another method - which is having different amps depending on the venue you play in:
home: 5 watts
small bar: 15 watts thru 10 or 12 inch speaker
medium bar: 22watts to 30 watts (eg deluxe reverb)
large bar or stage: 35 watts and above

even if its with a heavy band, putting your clean sound at its fullest and boosting it with a pedal for the oevrdrive or distortion or even setting your master volume high and getting a reasonably cranked tone out of it, gets you a fuller tone than anything you can augment via pedals *at low volumes*
at low volumes, you can EQ all you like or add as many pedals as you like but nothing sounds as full and rich as a cranked tube amp.
the solution is just get a smaller amp to crank it up and to gig thru and mike it up.
my ideal setup for home practise is a 5watt blackheart or a champion 600 (depending on the sound you go for) and augment it with pedals.
i gig in a bar in town and i very often use my 15w pro junior cranked to 5 on the volume knob, where the amp starts to break up and it sounds great (for its size) and never too loud.

 

[glblues]

tube amps reverence has its place. people tend to over-hype the differences often because they hear better tone from the tube units & advocate this widely (sometimes the differences are marginal...). in terms of drive, the SS technology today are on par with the tubes. however, when it comes to clean tones, the tube counterparts have more bells & whistles in store.

i dunno, subversion. after playing cranked marshall DSLs or even the peavey 5150, the tone is just unmatchable. there is a certain thunderous full tone which SS amps can't match and i've owned quite a few.
anyway, just look at your favourtie band and see if any of them play SS or digital amps. even if they do use the occasional SS amp, it is always alongside a tube amp, meaning that they have SS amps to augment their tone but they will never do without a tube amp. there is more than a valid reason why all of them play tube amps. because it sounds good.

 

[loathed]

hahaha. thanks pentatonic. will keep all that in mind.

btw. any1 knows where to get mesa boogies in singapore? what's their price range like? above or below marshall?

and does ebenex have marshalls?

thanks

i dont think theres a retailer in singapore that sells all types of mesa-boogies amps. price range depends on what you want to get. but generally, expect to pay about 100%-150% (maybe less) more than other brands like marshall, line6 etc etc.