tubes pros and cons?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bball_1523
  • Start date Start date
Scottgman said:
These players can play any amp they want. But they use tube amps. Why? Because they sound so damn good.
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Yeah, maybe because they sound so damn good...but also consider that they have the luxury of always being able to play so damn loud too. Most of the rest of us don't always have that luxury, and so we have to make do with what is available to us.
 
bball_1523 said:
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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How long have you been playing the guitar?

They have low wattage tube "practice" amps. But they are still loud compared to the crap on solidstate market that gets labled "practice amp" - which is usually just a nice way of saying "bottom of the barrel".
 
sile2001 said:
Yeah, maybe because they sound so damn good...but also consider that they have the luxury of always being able to play so damn loud too. Most of the rest of us don't always have that luxury, and so we have to make do with what is available to us.
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You do. Its called an attenuator.

If more people would buy these and would start buying tube amps then more tubes would be bought and the tube companies could spend more money making better tubes and then we could spend more time playing on nice tubes and not spending an arm and a leg for NOS.

Wew...
 
I've been playing for 3 years. I've heard about tubes having switches where you could go from 60W to 30W to 15W or something so you can hear the tones at low volumes, but I don't know what amps that are around 300-500 would have that feature.

I probably wont be turning my volume knob past 1 a lot since I live with parents and in an apartment complex. I'm ok with playing at 1 with my practice amp, so I want an amp that has better tones, reliable, capable of using pedalboards, and will let me play loud if I wanted to.
 
bball_1523 said:
switches where you could go from 60W to 30W to 15W
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Most 15 watt tubes amps will go head ot head with a 100 watt solidstate. Maybe not in the clean area, but if the ohms and speakers are the same, volume wise its a close call.
 
Outlaws said:
You do. Its called an attenuator.

If more people would buy these and would start buying tube amps then more tubes would be bought and the tube companies could spend more money making better tubes and then we could spend more time playing on nice tubes and not spending an arm and a leg for NOS.

Wew...
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How much of this thread have you read? :D

sile2001 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...
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But then Monsoon shot that down by saying:
Monsoon said:
The attenuators can run a couple hundred themselves, adding to the price, so you'll want to stay low-wattage.
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So I just started talking about low wattage solutions.
 
.

Unless you quit playing guitar, somtime within the next 5 years your gonna be pawning/trading in that $300-500 dollar amp for a Mesa/Marshall. Thus will begin the lifelong love affair. Playing on a tube amp changes the way you play. You'll notice that by adjusting the settings on your amp it will actually change the way your guitar feels. You'll change everything from string and pick gauge to the amount of "wet" signal you allow your fx to infect your tone. This will go on for the rest of your life until you have such bad tendonitis that you cry everytime you hear a guitar...

Tubes become part of you. Solidstate just amplifies noise.
 
mamcdonal said:
Tubes become part of you. Solidstate just amplifies noise.
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Well said!

I think going through a string of cheap, SS practice amps before purchasing a real amp is kind of the standard learning curve for guitarists.

The longer you play the more picky you become about your tone. You ears also become better at hearing subtle differences in the performance of guitar amps.
 
sile2001 said:
How much of this thread have you read? :D



But then Monsoon shot that down by saying:


So I just started talking about low wattage solutions.
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Not enough I guess. lol

But its just part of the cost. Look at it this way.
Say you just started offroading in your shitty car. Now you have a choice. YOu can go buy a 4 wheel drive pickup that you can maybe use for some other things around town, or you can buy a vehicle built for offroading, but that isn't the best suited for street driving. Well, you can buy some normal tired so you can drive the thing on the street without feeling like you are always on a rocky road. Sure the tires might run an extra couple hundred dollars, but doing it right when you do offroad is better than half assing it with a pickup whose wheel base is just plain wrong for the task.

Is it worth it? Thats up to you (I mean everyone) to decide. But if it isn't then stfu and don't asked why you amp sounds like shit but you don't want to pay money for something that WILL solve the problem.

Enough of these dumb ass threads.
 
mamcdonal said:
Unless you quit playing guitar, somtime within the next 5 years your gonna be pawning/trading in that $300-500 dollar amp for a Mesa/Marshall.
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I have a Mesa and a Marshall, and they both sound good, but I rarely play them any more. My main squeeze is a 1965 (not reissue) Fender Deluxe Reverb. Sweeeet!
 
Dude...go to a few stores and play any amp you see in your price range...ask the dudes there about it...ask us about a few you like so we make sure you dont get a complete piece of trash...and youll be fine....nothing is that good and nothing is that bad...everyone complains about something...so get what you like, your the one thats gonna hear it not us!
 
Or I could build you one...........



email me,....


about $400 plus shipping and other service charges...



12-15 watts of class A tube power,.... all about tone ....


Steve :D
 
As a tube amp fan, would I be satisfied with a Roland JC-120 and a sansamp pedal for distortion? This seems like a practical setup for a touring band that has no roadies or techs.
 
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