tubes pros and cons?

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bball_1523

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I want to ask you guys what the pros and cons of playing through a tube amp are. Do tubes work well with stomps, effect pedals, etc? Can tubes sound good at low volumes (I'm talking volumes at 1 or below). What is the cheapest priced, yet most efficient tube amp on the market?
 
bball_1523 said:
I want to ask you guys what the pros and cons of playing through a tube amp are. Do tubes work well with stomps, effect pedals, etc? Can tubes sound good at low volumes (I'm talking volumes at 1 or below). What is the cheapest priced, yet most efficient tube amp on the market?
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You're serious, aren't you?
 
ggunn said:
You're serious, aren't you?
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I can't entirely tell whether he is or not.

Pardon our surprise, but in case you really don't know, you just asked every question that we see here all the time, and these questions are really considered to be basic knowledge.
 
just get one w/ master volume, that allows you to overdrive the pre-stage and leave the power stage at low volume ...

my personal favourite: SOVTEK MIG's ... google it or e-bay them ... the best bang for the buck by far, and it smokes a lot of "big names" out there for rowdy-rock :-)

ohh ... yeah ... do what I do ... move into the woods, than you can "open it up" to 9.00 o'clock w/out a lynchmob in front of your house ... everything above 9.00 o'clock is "stadium only" ...

I lended mine to a friend for a gig in a very big venus (1,000+ people) ... and he never got the master vol. above 10.00 o'clock
 
yes I'm serious, I'm a beginner when it comes to guitar parts/amps, etc.
 
HAHA be nice guys, he doesnt know whats up...given its a basic question...at least lets help him out a bit...effects pedals work fine bro...look at any band they all use tube amps well 95% and they use effects pedals....some even use addictional distortion pedals....volumes 1 and below...i dont know what ur playing at below 1...but tube amps generally need to be cranked up to get that good tube sound....pros: the tone/sound!!!! cons: ehhh there alittle less reliable then solid state amps..cost more...tubes need to be changed. Best bang for the buck....everyone learns this the hard way....you get what ya pay for....(but if you use ebay you get more then what you pay for hahah)...try a used marshall jcm900/2000 they go between 500-900 on ebay. Cheaper then that you could get a used older peavey or a crate but i wouldn't...ya get what ya par for bottom line....there are no outragous steals...hope i helped a bit.
 
what do you think of Solid State vs. Tube when it comes to just using amps for practice and small jams? You see I set my 15 watt practice amp to 1 because above that is too loud for my house and I live with my parents in an apartment complex, so I wanna be respectful by not blasting my amp.
 
Well there again you're going into what Janesaid2me said... Tube amps can have absolutely beautiful tones, but generally to do so, they must be turned up very loud. If you really want a tube amp and want to draw the sweetness out of it without blasting everyone's eardrums, then you might want to look at an attenuator like the Hot Plate. It plugs in between your amp's amplifier output and your amp's speaker. It lets you turn the amp portion up loud to draw the tone out of it, but then just decreases the actual volume sent out to the speaker. It's a decent solution...
 
well I'm not 100% interested in buying a tube amp in the first place and I'd rather have any type of amp that is around 300-500 bucks, and sounds good to me when I can just use it for practice and small jams/gigs. But I keep hearing people say "get tubes get tubes!!" so I'm questing why. I can understand that for gigs and stuff that they are better and it's personal preference. But I tried some SS and liked their tones too.
 
At low volumes, in a modest price range, for jamming and practicing, solid state can be a fine choice. Some are pretty decent and you can then crank them if you get a bigger gig that requires more volume.

There are some boutique low-watt tube amps out there, but absent a steal on ebay, they're very expensive. I'm just not sure you can get a tube amp for under $500 that you can play at such low volumes. But poke around ebay and see what you can find - actually, I just did and saw a pignose 60 watt all tube for $499. That might still be too high a wattage for you, though. The attenuators can run a couple hundred themselves, adding to the price, so you'll want to stay low-wattage. Still might be worth it to take a peek, though, and see if you can find a low-wattage tube amp, if that's the direction you want to go.
 
bball_1523 said:
well I'm not 100% interested in buying a tube amp in the first place and I'd rather have any type of amp that is around 300-500 bucks, and sounds good to me when I can just use it for practice and small jams/gigs. But I keep hearing people say "get tubes get tubes!!" so I'm questing why. I can understand that for gigs and stuff that they are better and it's personal preference. But I tried some SS and liked their tones too.
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Ahh the tube snobs got to you first!!!!! Tube snobs will tell you that if an amp doesn't use tubes, then it sucks. Such narrowmindedness! I used to be one of them, and got a Peavey Classic 30 and modified it up a bit. Yeah it sounds great! But then I got a Tech21 Trademark 60 solid state amp...and guess which one I use every week :D

Try and find a store somewhere that has a Tech21 Trademark 10 and play around with it a bit. They really do sound very good, "even though" they're solid state. They are 10 watt amps that will sound really decent at low volumes, but if you ever need more volume for gigs, they have their SansAmp direct line out that you can run to the PA for the extra volume.
 
yeah those tube snobs got to me haha. But I am also curious as to how much worth tubes really have.

I would feel fine with a SS 100 watt amp that has a sweet clean tone, good enough distortion, and will let use an effects pedal such as the boss gt-6/8 to the fullest. Reliability would be a huge factor as well, as long as the amp can stay in good shape, sound good for long periods of time, and isn't costly, I'm down for an SS.
 
Maybe try a hybrid half tube half solid state like a marshall valvestate....you can get them new for like 500...they work well at decent volumes...i still use my old one occasionally and it sounds good to me....not as good as a tube amp cranked up...but good enough for what you need. Just a suggestion.
 
If you look at a hybrid, seriously consider the Vox Valvetronix series. I'm not a huge fan of hybrids myself, but every time i've compared the two, the Voxes always sounded better than the marshalls. Just my $0.02...
 
bball_1523 said:
yeah those tube snobs got to me haha. But I am also curious as to how much worth tubes really have.

I would feel fine with a SS 100 watt amp that has a sweet clean tone, good enough distortion, and will let use an effects pedal such as the boss gt-6/8 to the fullest. Reliability would be a huge factor as well, as long as the amp can stay in good shape, sound good for long periods of time, and isn't costly, I'm down for an SS.
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Well, I'm a tube snob, so keep that in mind.

Do some research into what kind of amps all the "big name" guitar players are using. I'd be willing to bet (this is just a wild guess) that at least 90% of the "big name" guitar players are using tube amps. These players can play any amp they want. But they use tube amps. Why? Because they sound so damn good.

Now, obviously, this does not mean that you cannot get a good tone with a SS amp. It just means that the sonic characteristics of tubes tend to be desired by more guitarists. There are some people who can describe those sonic characteristics in words-- but I cannot. I can simply say that tube amps seem to have a "magical" aspect in their response to your playing.

You should go try out a few amps (tube, SS, hybrid, modeller, whatever) and let your ears be the judge. That's the only way you will know what is right for you.

But, if you are playing in an apartment, 100 watts (tube or SS) seems like overkill. If you are planning on playing gigs, maybe 100 watts would be cool. But if this is just a practice amp... 100 watts is stupid.

Also, don't worry about effects pedals. I don't think any amp will have problems with effects pedals. The effects loops in some amps can be picky about what you put in the loop. But, generally, people don't run effects pedals through the effects loop.

Go try some amps and decide for yourself.
 
ive definitely been trying amps, some I've liked, some not. I'm just here to ask why people are recommending I get tubes when I just wanna practice.
 
bball_1523 said:
ive definitely been trying amps, some I've liked, some not. I'm just here to ask why people are recommending I get tubes when I just wanna practice.
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The reason people recommend tube amps is because they sound better. It's really that simple.

Of course, someone will probably post a rebuttal arguing that their SS or modeller amp sounds just as good as any tube amp. Whatever. :rolleyes:

If you just want a practice amp, go buy the amp that sounds best to your ears and is in your price range. It's not too difficult.
 
Scottgman said:
The reason people recommend tube amps is because they sound better. It's really that simple.

Of course, someone will probably post a rebuttal arguing that their SS or modeller amp sounds just as good as any tube amp. Whatever. :rolleyes:

If you just want a practice amp, go buy the amp that sounds best to your ears and is in your price range. It's not too difficult.
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I think you're right. What sounds good is up to each person. I can understand using Tubes if I was gigging a lot, but I've never gigged before and I'm usually just playing guitar when I practice.
 
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