Tube mic VS. SS mic w/tube preamp?

As for my tube amp, another prime example of tubes not making a damn difference... I get a nice bluesy tone out of my Fender Blues DeVille, which is all tube-based. I was over a friend's house recently, and he has a Crate practice amp with an 8" speaker, and my Heritage sounded great through it - clean, clear tone out of this little solid state amp. So, don't assume you have to spend tons on tube equipment to get a good sound :)
 
Actually cusebassman, I was kind of disagreeing. There is nothing about a tube that makes it "warmer" or "better" then well built solid state. I agree that with guitar amps, tubes usually are more desired, but with microphones, preamps, compressors etc... the sound you will get seems to be much more dependant upon design and implementation than whether or not it has a tube.

Neumann may not be the best example of this though. Most of the coveted Neumann mics are tube based mics. In fact, many of the classic mics are tube based. Outboard gear on the other hand is quite often solid state and many outboard units are very capable of warm incredible sounds without needing tubes.
 
yea its really all just a matter of taste, whats available to you etc, unless your recording a symphony etc, your going to be eq'ing that lovely tube or ss mic anyway. If you can, find someone with equipment or lure one of those uber fake audio snobs at guitar center etc etc... into thinking your going to buy one and test them out. If you dont have the option of having a tube pre dont worry about it till you have access to one and then give it a shot !
 
After rereading, I think I was trying to convey that it doesn't matter what the components are based around - good design, parts and construction will yield good results. But, I've often been misunderstood on the forums before. As for Neumann, Im going to go spend some time reading up on their history :)
 
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