Solid state or Tube

For me, it's all about different flavors. I have an Ampeg Reverbrocket that sounds great, records great but is useless live because it won't stay clean loud enough. I recently bought a Cyber Deluxe to use live. This amp flat smokes. I had a chance to A/B the 55 Deluxe patch against a real 55, and the results were so close it was a pick 'em (YMMV). I'm only just figuring out all the amp can do. I'd recommend checking one out.
 
I really love my Fender Vibrolux Custom Reverb :D

It's my first tube amp and was a complete revelation to me.
So responsive compared to the transistor amps I tried!

It also does 'proper' distortion rather than a simulation of distortion.
Get a good tube amp IMO :)

BTW - to the guy who advised about cooling-down time...
Should I be leaving my amp on 'standby' or turning it off altogether before moving it? Or maybe I should leave it on standby for a few minutes and then turn it off, leave it alone some more and _then_ move it?
 
Turn it off. Standby keeps any audio from going to the tubes. But the filament is still on. This heats the tube so you gotta turn the amp off to cool the tubes.
 
Turn it off. Standby keeps any audio from going to the tubes. But the filament is still on. This heats the tube so you gotta turn the amp off to cool the tubes.
 
boingoman said:
Turn it off. Standby keeps any audio from going to the tubes. But the filament is still on. This heats the tube so you gotta turn the amp off to cool the tubes.
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Thanks for the reply - I'll make sure I do that in future.
 
Tubes all the way. There is no comparison between a good tube amp and a solidstate, hybrid, or modeller.

Having said that, if you are going for a pristine clean sound, you have to carefully select a tube amp. I love my Budda Superdrive 30watt-- it sounds freaking awesome. But on the clean channel, it tends to break-up too soon for really clean sounding stuff. Granted, I use humbuckers which probably aren't the best choice of pickups for really clean guitar work.

The point is, take your axe to the music shops and find the amp that does what you want-- it'll probably be a tube amp :D.

By the way, Lt. Bob is exactly right about the fillament thing. I've taken an aircraft accident investigation course at the FAA and that is one of the methods they use to determine if certain controls were operating at the time of the crash. It's not perfect, of course, sometimes the impact forces will bust fillaments even if the light was not on-- but that's irrelevant for this discussion... unless you like throwing your amp around.
 
I appreciate all of the responses. I know that ultimately I will buy what sounds good to me but everyones unique perspectives are very useful to me and I plan on exploring all of the suggestions. I am not concerned with sounding like any one other than myself and my purpose on starting this thread was to find out what others experiences are regarding the "tone" flexability of certain amps are. Thank you all very much, even the smart asses.
 
I have to chime this in. If you love the sound of tubes, but also love the versatility of amp modeling, Eganter, Randall, and Rocktron have made an amp to accomodate that. The Egnater M4, Randall RM4, and Rocktron Vendetta VP4 are all tube "modeling" amps. You buy different modules to get whatever sound you want, similar to a modeling solid state amp. So these people who say "solid state is better for versatility reasons" are no longer correct.

Just my $.02
 
I've owned a whole bunch of amps in my 29 years of guitar playing... both tube amps and solid state.

The thing I've found out is that all of them have their strong points and their weaknesses. There is no "holy grail" of amps. If there was, every other company would be out of business and the one with the "perfect" amp would corner the market. The best possible scenario is to have one great tube amp, one great solid state amp, and one POS beater amp that you can lug around and play anywhere without worrying if it gets destroyed by some drunk dropping a beer on it or knocking it over.

That being said, my one and only amp right now is a Marshall AVT50 1-12" Combo. It's a tube/solid state hybrid that gives you the best of both worlds, without killing your pocketbook. It's light, small, and puts out a HUGE amount of volume with it's closed-back design. It's got two channels (clean and overdrive) and a footswitch, which is all I want from it. It sounds killer when you record with it. Using a real tube for the overdrive section really makes this amp sound sweet. Guys who are "tube purists" dislike my amp, because it isn't quite as harmonic when overdriven as their pure tube amps. But it's better than any solid state amp I've ever heard, including the Peavey Transtube 2-12 Special I recently sold, which is supposed to be one of the best solid state amps that can emulate a natural tube sound. And it has 90% less noise and hum than your typical Fender tube amp. That alone is a BIG plus. There's nothing worse than listening to all that BUZZZZZZZZ and hum from a Fender tube amp, especially between songs at a live performance.

Just my 2 cents... for what it's worth. :)
 
Last week when I bought my newest guitar at guitar center they let me play through the AVT250. I think that is tha one I may end up buying. How long have you had your AVT50?
 
If anyone says anything other than tube-driven amps, they're dumbasses and they should be shot whenever eye contact is made.

Solid state technology makes me cry. :(
 
BigFlyingBooger said:
If anyone says anything other than tube-driven amps, they're dumbasses and they should be shot whenever eye contact is made.

Solid state technology makes me cry. :(
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Another highly educated post from one of the "Tube Nazis." :rolleyes:

I'd be willing to bet I've been playing guitar longer than you've been alive. I used to have basically the same opinion about tube amps 20 years ago (without the death wish)... when I was young and stupid.

There's no arguement that tubes sound better.... DUH!

Some people just don't like all the shitty-ass NOISE that goes along with it.


HUMMMMMMMMMMMM........... BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
 
BigFlyingBooger said:
Then they need to learn how to use the volume knobs on their guitars. :p
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Have you ever played at "club level" at a decent sized venue?

There's no way around getting that buzz, hum and hiss when you have to turn up the volume to fill out the place.
 
I am a die hard tube fan, but I was playing my friends solid state Marshall (don't know which one...5-6 years old...20 watts?) and I just could not believe the shimmer on the clean channel. Even if I made it to the level of the richest rock star on the planet I would still have to use that amp to record with because there was some nice ass tone hidding in there.

Now for live situations... :rolleyes: :p
 
Jimmy Page used Rickenbacker Transonic Series 200 solid-state amps (with matching trapezoidal cabinets) on the first Led Zeppelin U.S. tour.

He also used a Vox AC-30 Solid State as a studio amp on many Zeppelin songs. It has 36 watts output and features two 12" Celestion Greenback speakers.

Now, I might be mistaken, but I believe those Zeppelin kids sold a few albums back in the day and there's been a few guitar players here and there who have tried to copy Page's tone.
 
Dont be fooled by what you see on stage, there are those who will have a stack of Marshalls for effect when behind them is the miked reverbrocket they are really playing through.
 
the will never be the same

we can sit and argue all day about tubes vs. solid state. One fact still remains - they will never sound the same - especially if you are looking for something beyond clean sounds.

Its all in the harmonics. Tubes sound "louder" (which is a psychoacoustic effect) because they have a Very strong second harmoinic. Solid states sound "harsher" because they only bring out the odd harmonics which happen to be the not so pleasant ones.

Oh, they'll try to make transistors sound like tubes, but due to thier harmonic limitations it will never work - becuase the physics is completely different!!!
 
Buck62 said:
Jimmy Page used Rickenbacker Transonic Series 200 solid-state amps (with matching trapezoidal cabinets) on the first Led Zeppelin U.S. tour.
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Played 'em on the first tour, used 'em as wheel chocks for the truck on every other tour........
 
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