Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

I am also a "tube snob" and agree with what he is saying. Once you learn to hear the difference , you can never go back to ss amps. I have over a dozen amps of all makes , but my favorites are my home built ones. I was able to tailor these to my needs. I am also talking about playing guitar not bass thru the tube amps.

I'm a tube snob as well. But I still keep an open mind to SS. SS amps are more touch responsive in the clean channels. If you have a good SS clean channel and a good Dist. or overdrive pedal, you can get some really good results. I've mainly been a tube amp player until recently. I gig with my SS fenders more than any other amp right now. The crowd can't tell the difference, so what do I care. The SS amps I'm using are built rugged and there's no fear of tubes blowing, so it's become a reliable choice for me. I still have a soft spot for my tube amp, but it's bigger, heavier, and well.. Who knows when a tube problem will arise just at the wrong time. I personally think they both have advantages.

I think people would be really suprised if they knew how many big recordings are done with modelers and not the real thing.

Ive been playing tube amps for 34 yrs and I can feel the difference playing, but listen back to a recording I couldnt tell you if it was tube or solid state.

Theres just nothing like a tube amp howling behind you at full tilt boogie!

I think people would be really suprised if they knew how many big recordings are done with modelers and not the real thing.

I'm not a major studio label player session guy. However, when I record studio sessions, I'll either run direct or use a modeler that imulates an SVT head and 8x10 cab. Listening to the modeled tone, you can't really tell a difference between that and micing an amp.

I voted pro-tube, but both have their rightful place in my opinion.

Generally, I prefer tube amps for live performance and SS for studio work.

Most guitar players in the studio if they use modelers will re-amp them thru a tube amp before they finalize a track.

Howdy folks,

I have played tube amps exclusively now for about 16 years, and you just can't beat all of the little nuances that you get once you have a really good one and know how to control it. The volume knob of your guitar comes alive with a great tube amp and the break up is just amazing.

Having said that...My RoadKing costs a little under 500 bucks to retube which bloooooooooooooooows. Not to mention the fact that the head is about 200 THOUSAND pounds. I'm not complaining...just showing both sides.

I use a Fender Blues Deluxe and an '88 JCM 800 50watt for cleans so I'm set, but I'd love to have a roland solid state one day.

There is just something about solidstate clean that I have always liked...it's actually pretty reliable.

I'm a tube guy, but I don't scoff at anybody.
Um...wait...Line 6...I won't go near a Line 6. They jus kinda smell funny

Gear Snobs are funny, I seen some flip their lid when some one manages to get a better tone out of cheaper or lesser known brand amp.
I like both tube and Solid State.

Bass can get away with SS or even direct in a studio. Jaco Pastorius plugged directly into the mixer for his recordings.

Big Tube Bass amps are nice... but too heavy to be practical.

Maybe a Clean guitar sound can be rendered adequately by SS, but imho tubes are the only way to go for guitar (or harmonica).

I have lots of solid state devices inline on my guitar signal... but the heart of the sound is a mahogany guitar with humbuckers thru a tube pre and power amp.

Who dug this thing up? No contest, tube.

I don't have a preference. I have had both but have sold all but one small 5W tube combo, and have two other SS amps. I can get what I want out of either. My last cover band, I was going direct to the PA a lot with pedals and I didn't mind and, more importantly, neither did the crowds.

I love my tube sound the best, but my sound comes more from being able to find the tone "sweet" spots. Gear only goes so far - most people who would pick up Eddie VanHalen's guitar immediately after he quit playing would not sound like him. For beginers, SS is usually better because the cost is usually better. My performance rig is a Mesa set-up and I bring along a Crate SS head as back up. I get more comments on the sound of the $300 dollar Crate than I do from the Mesa. Only problem with the Crate, I had to return 3 of them before I found one that worked well (4th times the charm).

I have NEVER gotten an acceptable distortion or crunch sound out of a tranny amp. I also dislike most hybrid amps, with the exception of my Fender Cyber Twin. And I will caution you; simply because it's a tube amp doesn't guarantee great sound. I had a Peavey Classic 50 2x12 combo that sucked balls. Very shrill high end. Try bunches before you buy. Never buy sight unseen from a catalog.

I think people would be really suprised if they knew how many big recordings are done with modelers and not the real thing.

Ive been playing tube amps for 34 yrs and I can feel the difference playing, but listen back to a recording I couldnt tell you if it was tube or solid state.

Theres just nothing like a tube amp howling behind you at full tilt boogie!

Fender Amplitube
Pod Farm
Native Instruments Guitar Rig

to name a few

I have been playing a solid state Peavey Renown for the past 20 years. I have used it for practice, in many gigs, and other applications through the years. I love the sound of it. I had a Fender Twin Reverb tube amp when I was growing up - it had constant tube issues, and to me did not sound as good as the Peavey. THough there is no doubt that a good tube amp has an awesome tone, I have always been very happy with the tones that I get from my SS Peavey.

[b][b]It seems in my case, though I haven't even come close to my "dream rig" would be to have a half stack that is simple, no push in/out switches or tiny toggles in the wine, just a nice Marshall with a set of Rubies and an a user friendly Presence, Master, Gain, Bass, Treble, Mids, MABEY A SCOOPED MIDS, a good rear set of inputs / outputs for mastering to a solid state to obtain CRYSTAL CLEAR CLEAN TONES. Tube amps tend to distort past 5 o'clock, at least in my exp. even on the CLEAN CHANNEL simply by the mere fact that the pre-amp is driving the tubes which in most cases are being done so at club or rehearsal volumes - enough to start "break-up". Why they call it a clean ch. I don't know. The only Marhsall I know that stays clean up to about 8 is a 100 watt plexi Lead (I used to own one years ago and Im still crying over selling it). The tone of a plexi with a good distortion pedal and noise gate before it is unreal once you crank it. Combined either with a stereo Boss Digital Delay where you can opt to bypass running the amps output to the solid states' input by using the pedals OUTPUT instead is purely a matter of tonal and volume (unity gain) preference. I'm no amp tech but I've tried it both ways. I love pedals on a home-made job, like I have seven boss pedals powered by the Noise Surpressor. Beyond that I know I would likely have to obtain a more durable and grounding switched power pack to handle up to 12 pedals, a few Boss latch or momentary switches to have more control over the sounds shared between the two half stacks. Alex Lifeson of Rush is one of my favorite guitarists for his pioneering the full sound he alone mastered as far back as A Fairwell To Kings but really seemed to have nailed it on Hemispheres and Permanent Waves - and it just got better once he started rack-mounting everything and using a foot / midi controller to engage amazing loops so he could play the solo from "Limelight" with its high B fluttered tremelo and have it still playing going into the choruses clean open Bm9 open chordal effect. He's not a shredder so much as a shrewd powerchord giant of a player who can rip when he wants to. That's the kind of sound I'm into, not after per se. I love those white Gibson SGs with the three gold Humbuckers and Blonde Strats with the HB / SC / SC config. Even a Gibson ES 335 modified a bit down the middle section to fill out the hollow F-hole area just enough to play a volumes slightly louder than he did. All guitars of course would be retro-fitted with Duncan Hot Rails and jumbo frets. I'm not much into the newer guitars that feature a million frets and some detune machine gizmo fitted on the tailpiece - for me its old school as much as possible and done right, well, it could hold a candle to any high-end Jackson out there. Its the player, not the player guitar so much to me. One last thing: Boss's METAL CORE, or whatever they are calling it now, I use to have that, the METAL ZONE, and in between both the simple tonally sensitive and extremely effective when backing off on the guitar's volume - BOSS DS-1. I mean, for just over $40.00 its truly an amazing pedal. Think Van Halen's "Dance The Night Away" or "Little Dreamer". For that pure guitar tone with gain you can manipulate using the volume control (which you can't do with most super high gain pedals) its the sh*t. The METAL CORE is a BEAST, its ferocious once you tweak just right and no use complaining about a lack of no mids knob; it gives you again, a pure death metal attacking with artillery and nukes if you so desire. Only problem is feedback which may be a rather complicated issue of what guitar you're using, proximity to the amp, the guitar's pickups, the amp (its got to be a WARM TUBE AMP, THAT MUCH I KNOW). I had two songs recorded at two separate times on the same recorder, same settings etc. and it was so cool to find a tone and gain that fit that particular song like a glove - the METAL ZONE though a great second choice, would have been too synthetic sounding for just that song. This is the key to recording I have learned, and live too. Choose the right pedal for the right song, and for the love of Pete, or Judy, keep your clean and heavy differentials as close to the exact volume as possible or the soundman will be fader chasing you and in general not happy. I've seen some Thrash Metal bands where the guitar player during soundcheck strums a few chords, plays a few leads CRYSTAL CLEAN at a volume that allows for control over the mains volume, then the guitarist steps on one of his distortion pedals and BAM!! Its so completely unbalanced volume-wise it just doesn't allow for any dynamics or raising a fader for incoming leads. Sad thing is, some guitars think this is a "cool" effect, or they don't hear the difference and won't be shown by the soundman (if he's any good) the value of unity gain. I think I touched on my dream rig though as brands go, I'm not sure about solid states; maybe a Randall or a Marshall MGV (did I botch that?). I know the dude from STATIC X prefers SS for his detuned Guuunn guttt Gunnnnn Guttt bottom end grunt. I'm all typed out for now. I welcome any input or free gear!!