i admit, you cant beat the sound of a cranked tube amp. however i live in a student house with 5 other people. i cant have my amp up too loud to get the tones i want. thats partly why i use a line 6 vetta combo. i also enjoy the wide range of tones i can easily get.
Solid state or Tube
- Thread starter bixlmalta
- Start date
musicsdarkangel
New member
lol well said acorec, couldn't have said it better myself.
That's what I've been trying to say in my last 5 posts all in one beautiful sentence, impressiver.
That's what I've been trying to say in my last 5 posts all in one beautiful sentence, impressiver.
musicsdarkangel
New member
lol well said acorec, couldn't have said it better myself.
That's what I've been trying to say in my last 5 posts all in one beautiful sentence, impressive.
That's what I've been trying to say in my last 5 posts all in one beautiful sentence, impressive.
ecktronic
Mixing and Mastering.
I thought that you had to leave the amp on standby to cool down the tubes. Thats what the guy in the shop said anyway. So you can just turn it off? cool. And the standby is used to stop blowing the tubes from power and audio surges when turning off the amp?
But what about the charge in the tubes. Do you not need to wait a while until the charge disperses from the tubes? or does it just stay there?
But what about the charge in the tubes. Do you not need to wait a while until the charge disperses from the tubes? or does it just stay there?
ecktronic said:
Standby is for when you turn the amp on. It allows the tubes to warm up but keeps signal and the "Thump" from the initial power surge from going through them if the amp has a solid state rectifier. Putting signal through cold tubes decreases their life. There is some truth in the notion that tube amps take a long time to warm up and sound their best, but 30 sec. or a minute is enough to ensure longest tube life. But don't worry about it too much if you forget. The things are fairly forgiving. Realize what's going on, but don't freak about it. Standby also lets you, say, turn off the speakers during a set break, but keep the tubes warm without worrying about resetting your volume, or a drunk jumping onstage and wailing.
The tubes themselves don't keep a charge. You are prob'ly thinking about the filter capacitors. And they can hold 350-600 volts. Deadly! But nothing to worry about unless you take the thing apart(don't)- and they need no special on/off procedure.
To cool the tubes (highly recommended before moving) you have to turn the amp off, not just put it in standby.
ecktronic said:
Some history is in order here. The term "stand-by" is used because of the magnetic resonences given off by power tubes. This energy is very bad for you and can cause certain kinds of cancer. The "stand-by" switch is always turned on when you (or others) are standing by the tube amp. The radiation given off by the tube amp is directly related to the wattage. As a rule, you should stand 25ft away from a 50watt amp and 50ft away from a 100watt amp. The fastest way (and the beast way) to cool down the tubes after power down is to run ice-cubes on the tubes moving from top-to -bottom until cold.
Good Luck with this one!
Wide Awake
New member
Micsales said:
How about this history- most trolls end up getting banned. Your witty posts were slightly amusing at first but now they are just annoying and tedious. If I was a moderator here you would have been voted off the island yesterday.
Have a nice day
Thatupstateguy
New member
I have set up bands since the 80s, and being a stagehand, have witnessed all kinds of rigs,.... but I can say without a doubt that well over 80% of the bands out there touring are using Tube power for amplification,.... now as far as effects,.... and other things to add twists and such to the signal chain,..... there is much diversity,..... almost all of the arena players have had racks behind the stacks to bend and twist the sound to their liking,.... but in the end,.... it all goes out thru the huge PA stacks,... so I have also seen miced small amps like a little supro,... or old fender tweed and when it comes to the fans,.... they really don't pay too awful much attention to how the sound is made,.... they are all just too involved with the whole 'concert' experience to pay that any mind,.....
as for recordings,.... I don't set up the studios,... just the live shows, so I cannot verify anyones ideas about that,.....
I think my favorite setups are always the bands like CSN, and Steely Dan, and such because they use miced old amps,.... and usually they don't even belong to the players,.... they are rented from some Amp Freak,..... who owns like literally 100s of em,.. in every vintage, and flavor,.....
I wish,.....
Most I can do is change tubes for different tones,.....
Steve
as for recordings,.... I don't set up the studios,... just the live shows, so I cannot verify anyones ideas about that,.....
I think my favorite setups are always the bands like CSN, and Steely Dan, and such because they use miced old amps,.... and usually they don't even belong to the players,.... they are rented from some Amp Freak,..... who owns like literally 100s of em,.. in every vintage, and flavor,.....
I wish,.....
Most I can do is change tubes for different tones,.....
Steve
Lorddiagram
Moderator
son
Micsale..Son
Please go back to your videogames. Your BS is a no good.
lD
Micsale..Son
Please go back to your videogames. Your BS is a no good.
lD
juststartingout
New member
Micsales said:
Some other history is that the world is flat and the ocean has big monsters in it. Go far enough and you will fall off. Well, I guess I will get out the lead lined boxers before I jam again, and I will definitely stay out of the ocean.
musicsdarkangel
New member
It won't be as funny when a newbie comes in, and actually tries to ice his tubes.
I don't know, maybe he didn't mean it that way.
I don't know, maybe he didn't mean it that way.
-=¤willhaven¤=-
New member
TUBE. that is all.
Actually I would find that quite funny... then I'd feel bad... then I would laugh some more. I pretty sure I could convice most of the members in my band to do this.musicsdarkangel said:
Anyway, it bothers me that people would say that one way or the other is better, no matter what. Yes, tubes have beautiful tone, especially clean, but if your trying to pump 400+ watts of heavy, gutwrenching distortion, tube just doesn't cut it, but that's just my opinion I guess. I've never really been too big a fan of tube distortion anyway, and I know there are others who agree with me out there. I've known quite a few performers who set up a clean tube amp and a solid distorted amp and just use an A/B switch to change between them. Yes, if all you play is blues and jazz, tubes are pretty much always going to have their advantages, but in rock sometimes you just want that massive distorted sound that tubes seem to lack. I enjoy both tubes and solid state, and I would feel harshly limited if I completly ignored either amp type.
Kind of off the subject, but does anybody on here use Class D amps? I read a few articles on them and I'd like to know what kind of sound they get and if they live up to the hype.
-=¤willhaven¤=-
New member
mesa tripple recto head has the best distortion ever.
at least in a self-contained unit.
you also have to realize that watt-for-watt, tubes are much louder than solid state equipment. my 125 watt tripple rectifier will completely slaughter my friends (400 watt i believe) line 6 head. his head sounds great, dont get me wrong, but when playing in an un-miced enviornment, the tube amp will kill it.
his amp also sounds good, but not as good as the recto. its even got a recto emulating setting. it sounds really good, but against the real thing, its just not all there.
but then again, his amp comes with built in effects and cost half what i paid for my head... not including all the effects and cables i own to get my setup, and the tubes i have to pay to replace every couple years.
on a budget or if you dont want to deal with the maintenance, solid state heads are the best. but if you dont want to compromise sound quality, most people go with tube heads. especially in rock music. look at a lot of the hot bands of today. marshall & mesa reign supreme, and for good reason.
but then again theres people like dimebag from pantera who have used nothing but solid state from the get-go and have amazing sound as well.
but i think given the choice and unlimited funds, most people would snag a tube amp for at least part of their sound. but i may be biased, i was raised in a home filled with tube amps, blackface fenders and kustom tuck-&-roll setups.
at least in a self-contained unit.
you also have to realize that watt-for-watt, tubes are much louder than solid state equipment. my 125 watt tripple rectifier will completely slaughter my friends (400 watt i believe) line 6 head. his head sounds great, dont get me wrong, but when playing in an un-miced enviornment, the tube amp will kill it.
his amp also sounds good, but not as good as the recto. its even got a recto emulating setting. it sounds really good, but against the real thing, its just not all there.
but then again, his amp comes with built in effects and cost half what i paid for my head... not including all the effects and cables i own to get my setup, and the tubes i have to pay to replace every couple years.
on a budget or if you dont want to deal with the maintenance, solid state heads are the best. but if you dont want to compromise sound quality, most people go with tube heads. especially in rock music. look at a lot of the hot bands of today. marshall & mesa reign supreme, and for good reason.
but then again theres people like dimebag from pantera who have used nothing but solid state from the get-go and have amazing sound as well.
but i think given the choice and unlimited funds, most people would snag a tube amp for at least part of their sound. but i may be biased, i was raised in a home filled with tube amps, blackface fenders and kustom tuck-&-roll setups.